Women in Business @ UTSC

When a male and female come across each other for the first time, they start conceptualizing different thoughts about their unforeseeable relationship. I can’t speak for men, but the woman starts to experience glimpses of their wedding day and their long prosperous future together.

Disney has been a very influential corporation in conveying the message that our dreams can come true through their massively successful Princess franchise. Just take a walk down the toy section of Wal-Mart and you will see the Princess brand on everything from little blenders to clothing to buckets. However, I recently thought about what message of dreaming and achieving a “Happily Ever After” Disney has really taught us growing up as children. From Snow White to Cinderella, to obtain our happily ever after, we must find ourselves a prince charming who will be able to make our dreams come true. Little girls everywhere dream of being the damsel in distress awaiting her prince charming that will rescue her from her misery and give her a nice house and car.

Growing up, I myself longed for the day when my dashingly handsome prince would sweep me off my feet and we would ride together on a horse towards “Happily Ever After”. However, “Happily Ever After” sometimes has a few barriers along the way, and just does not happen effortlessly. So things are not so magical and full of sunshine as Disney paints them to be! Real love actually takes a lot more work.

Although, Disney has updated its perception on Princesses to fit the changes in time and young girls’ attitudes, the overall classic depiction of femininity is still there. We must all strive to achieve, with little success, until we meet Prince Charming — it is only when he comes along that our journey begins. It is only through his persistence and masculinity— that we are able to discover ourselves and our femininity.

In looking at some contemporary Princess movies:

Beauty and the Beast: Belle is a bookworm, longing for some kind of adventure. Her adventure seems to start when she meets the Beast. She is kept prisoner most of the movie, and only as the beast turns into a gorgeous Prince that all ends happily for her.

The Little Mermaid: Ariel is an adventure seeking mermaid with an overprotective father. Her true adventure starts when she sees Eric. It is only when she seems him that she wants to truly be human. In the end, this adventurous mermaid is saved from the sea witch by her Prince and settles down to live a domestic life with her Prince.

The Princess and The Frog: Tiana was the very first black female Disney character. She works hard to save money to buy and run her own restaurant. She is not looking for love or anyone to save her. However, her adventure only beings when the frog comes along for a kiss that will make them both rich and royal. Tiana works too hard, the prince is too lazy and has too much fun, and in the end they balance each other out and are happy.

Tangled: In this modern version of Rapunzel, her adventures don’t begin until Flyn Rider comes into her tower and helps her escape. In the end he manages to fulfill her dreams and they live happily ever after.

Although these modern princesses are very strong, intelligent and confident, their adventures are dependent on the men that “save” them. I love Disney movies, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on the unrealistic expectations that Disney sends about love and life.

Being single, ambitious and independent in achieving our goals is really great. It allows us to understand ourselves better and what we want.  Our dreams may not unfold and end the way a Disney movie does, however we can achieve the best we can with all aspects of our lives if we truly work hard.  Perhaps not letting just love lead the way, but a combination of our hearts and mind will get the best for us in love and life. <3

-Sivahamy Kanagaratnam

Hi UTSC,

So this year aside from the awesome events we’ll be putting on, WIB is introducing
its first official blog!

So welcome everyone, to a place where you will be greeted every other week with
an interesting update on issues regarding women or business or even women IN
business.

To start, I think I will tackle the topic of feminism in general…

To some, the idea of a feminist is a radical, man-hater that irrationally devotes her
life to the art of bra burning. For those of you who may be afraid of my discussion
of feminism, please know that my ideals are quite the opposite and feminism is
nothing to be afraid of. Rather, feminism to me is the empowerment of equality and
I personally believe that it is impossible to fight the oppression of women without
the help of everyone including men! I believe that for men and women to be seen as equals, they should work together to combat the issues that women face today. Most of us may feel that women’s issues in the workforce are non-existent. Unfortunately this is far from the truth – women in every profession are facing more obstacles than ever, balancing work life alongside family life with limited resources. Given the fact that the majority of higher positions in corporations are dominated by male presence, I think the best way to progress past the prevailing issues for women in the workforce would be to work closely with men.

With that being said, the vision that I have for WIB this year is an organization that empowers women at UTSC and an open environment where women AND men can work together towards the empowerment of a collective society.

Cheers,

Bhavika Kotak
President

As the Fall semester swings into gear, get excited and energized for even bigger events planned for the 2010-2011 year!

In addition to more socials, workshops and seminars, we are increasing our social media presence — you, the visitor/member/reader will be able to connect with WIB@UTSC through a revamped website and the addition of a blog!

Stay tuned for interesting articles and opinions from writers (from our team, and submissions from our readers and members).

Thanks for visiting the WIB Blog and check back here soon!