Zhang Yingwen, Class 10, Senior 2, Shenzhen Foreign Languages School

Instructed by Tang Hong

Speaking of gender equality, I suppose this is an issue that we’ve long been discussing. To some extent, it’s also a sensitive topic that some of us would avoid talking about online. Today I’ll share some experience and my opinion about gender equality.

Growing up, I rarely experienced discrimination on the grounds of gender. I consider myself very lucky to be able to live and grow up in such a community with hardly any discrimination. The thing is, however, I did have an experience of feeling being discriminated.

I once took part in a small competition when I was very young. The first round of that competition was rather informal, for when I walked in, one of the judges, a strict-looking man, said sarcastically, “Wow, a girl.” I was too young to know anything about gender discrimination then, so with innocence, I directly asked him, “What’s wrong with a girl?” Then he answered “Girls are weak. Boys tend to perform better.” Young as I was, I felt confused and furious, for I could feel the scorn in his words. That was the moment when I started to be aware of discrimination in our society.

As I grew older, I gradually learned that it’s sometimes difficult to fully eliminate the conventional thoughts in some people’s mind, which are rather inveterate through years of passing. The only way not to let myself be looked down upon is to make myself stronger on the stage of life. Fortunately though, with the development of education, most people nowadays don’t hold discrimination towards girls or women. Similar incidents have never happened to me since then as our society moves forward with harmony and prosperity. I hope we can all treat everyone equally, and arm ourselves with power and strength.