English 4: Essay & Essay Writing

1. If we trace down the history of gender constructs, namely, masculinity and femininity, it will
expose the reality that even back in the days, the presence of comparison and expectations
between genders are biased, women remained to be hidden behind the shadows of men, given
that they are only allowed to do as they told and their privileges are lesser than those of men, i.e.,
men are allowed to study, be a leader, get involved in politics, etc., whereas women are and still,
up until our grand mother’s time, are expected to always be in their houses and be in-charge of
doing the household chores, taking care of their family, always be presentable, modest, and so
much more, BUT, never more/greater than their brothers, fathers and husbands. This being said,
gender biases never ceases to pick sides to consider greatness and capabilities between these two
genders, there has been criticism from some feminists towards the political discourse and
policies employed in order to achieve "progress" in gender equality, with critics arguing that
these gender equality strategies are superficial, in that they do not seek to challenge social
structures of male domination, and only aim at improving the situation of women within the
societal framework of subordination of women to men,and that official public policies (such as
state policies or international bodies policies) are questionable, as they are applied in a
patriarchal context, and are directly or indirectly controlled by agents of a system which is for
the most part male.
It can’t be denied that even if we are already in the 21st century and is living in a modern, and
supposed-to-be a much more aware and open-minded generation, women still experience
discrimination and men are still men, filled with pride and arrogance, always believing that they
are more dominant than women. Gladly, women of today’s world are more bold and confident,
to show that they are more than what the society dictates, that they could and should be treated
and respected in the same sense that of men, given that even in the course of skills,potential and
population, numbers of women in the world are equal or even greater than the number of men.
Now, we would steer a bit more on the issue of “gender equality”, that remained to be an
unsolved issue for so long, even after how many centuries. Gender equality, besides being a
fundamental human right, is essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and
sustainable development. Moreover, it has been shown that empowering women spurs
productivity and economic growth.
I know that the way that I started my written piece seems to give a strong idea of which stand I
am siding with or even give you the wrong impression, but even with deep dissent of my own
choice, I am,with no doubt, in favor of EQUALITY, because, personally I find these two genders
contradicting but in a sense that they are complementary of each others strengths and weaknesses.
I do believe that women are also capable of doing manly duties, but there are also some things
that they can’t do without the help of men. And there are also things that men can do even if it is
a woman’s work. What today’s generation should learn to do is accept and be more
understanding of people’s choices and stand in their lives, and that we should never instill in our
minds that we are better than someone else, or the rest of our peers, because in reality, no one is
ever better than the other, there are just some individuals that excels in a certain field of expertise,
and we should be more open to accept that. More importantly, to avoid conflicts, we should learn
to just mind our own businesses and lives.

2. I am confidently claiming that this year gave me and made me feel all the emotions I never
knew I could and would experience, more specifically, 2020 is not the whole world’s favorite
year, because a lot has happened, sadly, it took more than it gives. This year welcomed us with
an unexpected virus(Coronavirus) that took the normality we all so longed to have, everyone’s
lives were greatly affected in an unpleasant way. Personally, I suffer from anxiety, even before
we were put in our present situation, and without a doubt, my anxiety worsen and even widened
its scope. In terms of online classes, I find it really hard to cope with this “new normal” way of
studying, primarily because I don’t have enough resources, i.e., laptops and stable connection,
secondly, I am forced to be away from our hometown, my family, because back in our province,
we cannot obtain even a cellular signal. These facts alone, left me worried of my standing in my
studies and how I will survive the rest of the semester, another thing that I am really anxious
about is the fact that I/we don’t know our class evaluation. Moreover, as I have mentioned earlier,
even before these catastrophe’s occurrence, my mental health is never stable and it greatly
affects my physical health, because the effects of these stress and panic attacks are taking it’s toll
on my body, stress gives me sleepless nights and unhealthy daily routine, waking up late in the
afternoon, means that I will be missing two meals of the day already, sadly, I would still end up
waking without an appetite. What stresses us, students, is the pressure that we are having from
the deadlines, exams and activities that we are tasked to do and submit on a given date/time. I
know that this “new normal” would be a lot easier if both the students and professors consider
understanding each other and give reasonable and valid considerations.
Going back to the sole topic of this written piece, year 2020, let us make a wrap out of it. January
1, 2020 marked the beginning of a brand-new decade that many looked at with optimism and as a
chance at a new lease on life. But as summer 2020 progresses, many are wondering if this year
can get any worse, following a string of wild fires, airplane crashes in Iran and Pakistan, the
death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, social unrest over the killing of George Floyd, the
deadly explosion in Beirut, and various natural disasters, all under the cloud of the COVID-19
coronavirus pandemic. the whole world, specifically on the economic industry, lots of businesses
were greatly affected and were forced to declare bankruptcy and lose some of the branches of
their businesses, some actually experienced worst, because they had to lose their livelihood and
end up being job less.
As if this year was not happy enough to leave numerous family without any source of living, I
will indicate some of the many tragedy that 2020 brought upon our country(Philippines);
(1) Taal Volcano eruption: On January 12, Taal Volcano had a phreatic blast that resulted in ash
fall over Batangas province and nearby areas. The volcano’s alert status quickly reached level
four. Several weak eruptions followed, and over a month later, the entire Calabarzon region was
put under a state of calamity with nearly half a million people in the region affected. On March
19, the alert status was eventually lowered to level one. Prior to this year’s burst, Taal’s last
eruption was in 1977. While not as powerful, this year’s explosion still caused a great disruption,
not only to the affected population but also to different sectors, most especially agriculture and
infrastructure where damage was reported to cost over P3.4 billion in Calabarzon. In addition,
14,082 houses were either damaged or destroyed, 264 cities suspended classes, and 643 flights
were canceled. Power interruption was also reported in 24 cities in the region while three cities
in Batangas province experienced water interruption.
(2) African Swine Fever: The outbreak of African swine fever in the country started in
September 2019, but by June of this year, there are still reports of ASF-infected hogs in some
provinces. Back in February, the government of Davao Occidental declared a state of calamity
and around 100,000 hogs were culled, for which the local government eventually paid P50
million.
(3) Typhoon Ambo: On May 14, the first typhoon to hit the country made landfall in Eastern
Samar. Typhoon Ambo, which was described as “Yolanda Jr.,” left four people dead and 169
injured. Damage across the country were estimated at around P2 billion, and Northern Samar and
nine Eastern Samar towns were placed under state of calamity. Some 57,269 houses and 336
structures (hospitals, schools, etc.) were also reported damaged.
Regardless of all the bad things that 2020 have brought us, we should still be thankful that we are
still and able to live safely, and somehow in a better state.