The topic of “Maternity Leave” itself has
been a problem that I have been interested/aware of lately. My encounter with
the problem was mainly back in Korea. Not just as an artist, but also in
socially common jobs have the underlining avoidance of female employees that
are going on/ planning on have a baby. While a lot of countries in Europe have
pro-maternal welfare system, Korean female employees are secretly laid off
mysteriously around the time of the supposed maternity leave. Even while in job
interviews, they are asked the rude question of if they have any significant
other one, if they are planning to get married or even to the point of if they
are planning to have a child. This rude question is so commonly asked that it
comes to a point that socially, females are to either get married then stay at
home or to not get married at all. The over population of young females
applying for government issued jobs are also because of the maternity leave;
the government issued jobs are one of the only jobs that ensures them to have a
maternity leave. This is not a problem of if one is not skilled or fit for the
job; it’s about female employees not being treated with respect and avoided
because it’s a burden for a company to endure the “Paid vacation”. Maternity is
a scared and a should-be-celebrated phenomenon that we should have accepted to
the society long time ago.
Schutzman starts off this reflection with an excerpt from the play she created. The opening lines serve to give recognition and context to the subject matter by immediately dedicating the show to Rosa Parks. This is an extremely effective strategy to introduce the tone and subject matter of the piece. The addition of Claudette at the end was the “icing on the cake” to the introductory excerpt. Raising questions and therefore instantly opening up a dialogue. Schutzman approached the students by asking questions while also letting them choose the person/people they wanted to learn about and also depict in the play. I think entering a school with something to teach is the idealistic approach to interacting with students; when students are in class they are expecting to be taught and ask questions. This is the exact approach Shutzman used. This allowed her to familiarize herself with the student community and find their interests, question...
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