La Presentazione di Pubblicita, il femminismo, e i cambiamenti nell'appartamento

Today I begin writing my 15 minute presentation on advertising that I will give, all in Italian, next Wednesday to a small audience of a few instructors and peers.

I was given free reign over my topic and chose advertising because-
a) I thought, hey, here is an opportunity to review old concepts ive long forgotten/replaced with irregular trapassato verb conjugations
b) I would get to show advertising clips (Helloo Old Spice "The man your man could smell like" ad!)
c) I am still looking for a summer internship. Ok this is not a reason.

...

In class this morning, my conversation teacher brought up the idea of femminism. (il femminismo in Italian. Is anyone else curious why its masculine?)

Due to the widely diverse cultures represented by our class (Helloo Libya, Israel, Uganda and Pakistan!), the conversation was pretty interesting. Mariam from Uganda talked about gender roles in Uganda. Once a man marries he is not supposed to do anything in the kitchen or the house. That is the wife's terrain and its not to be touched. His job is to work outside, not inside.

According to Mariam, the women of Uganda are generally content with this role, and it is culturally understood that by serving the man in the home, she shows him respect. She said there are also married couples where both the wife and husband work outside of the home, but the household work still falls on the woman most of the time. I don't think there is anything wrong with the traditional roles, in fact I think the idea of respect (mutual respect) in a marraige is very important. However, I am still very happy to live in the US where more contemporary couples share housework and the work that goes along with raising kids.

Lastly, one of my roomates changed apartments (apparently she minds all of the noise at night that comes from the bar below us..shocking), and the agency was able to find her a quieter place. Her room will soon be filled by another student. We wonder, what nationality will she be? Will she speak Italian? English?

We shall see, (Vediamo!)
~Kaitlyn