For my TCOM220 class, we explore goals within communities. Specifically, I speak on gender equality and women's empowerment.

1. SHARED GOALS WITHIN COMMUNITIES
TCOM220 – ALLISON NGUYEN

2. #3: PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN
 Why does it resonate for you?
 How can your interest be applied locally?
 Where can you personally make the greatest contribution?
 Is there a feature of social media that can be uniquely applied to this goal?

3. WHY DOES IT RESONATE FOR YOU?
Promoting gender equality and advocating for women resonates for me
because I am a woman. I’ve faced struggles because I am in the gender minority,
where I am perceived as weak, emotional, and less intelligent because of my
gender. Where men make more money doing the same jobs, and occupy
important spaces politically, women are undermined and underrepresented.

4. HOW CAN YOUR INTEREST BE APPLIED LOCALLY?
Gender equality can easily be applied locally as gender roles and stereotypes are
everywhere. On one side, women are expected to do housework and child
rearing, while on the other side now expected to do work outside the home to
help provide for the family. It’s impossible to do both while they are denied jobs
because of their perceived incompetence or paid less for the same job as a man.
We can make education more gender sensitive, we can stop raising our girls
with these stereotypes, and we can stop sexualizing and undermining them so
they can have more power as adults.

5. WHERE CAN YOU PERSONALLY MAKE THE GREATEST
CONTRIBUTION?
The smallest changes in my behavior and perspective makes the greatest
contribution. In my day-to-day life, I will demand respect and speak with
confidence. I won’t doubt myself or other women simply for being women, and
act as such. The main things we can do is to teach children and others around us
that women are not to be doubted and to empower them. Doing this slowly will
create a generation that seeks to be seen and that will hopefully reflect in the
state and national level through legislation.

6. IS THERE A FEATURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA THAT CAN BE UNIQUELY
APPLIED TO THIS GOAL?
There’s been a recent feature on Instagram that you can “tag” or add your own
version of a trend that someone has created. For example, there was a tag
spreading around stating “show your pet,” and it creates an opportunity for
anyone to post photos of their pets without any shame. Similarly, we can use a
“tag” feature to empower women and promote gender equality by letting
women or other people show their talents, skills, or show how hard working
and intelligent they are without the judgement of others.