Adikarya|1

Lonardo Sebastian Adikarya

Ms. Vera Syamsi

GENC1302

29 March 2019

Remember, Woman: Empowering Women to Fight Sexism

Are you comfortable with the way society works? With how now everything should be

“equal” and “fair” for everyone? If you do, then you do not realize that a lot of women are still

oppressed by sexism. Sexism is the belief that the members of one sex are less intelligent, able,

skillful, etc. than the members of the other sex, especially that women are less able than men.1

For example, just recently, nearly 100 workers filed gender discrimination lawsuits against

Walmart on 1 February, alleging denial of equal pay for retail store and certain salaried

management positions.2 There are multiple ways to raise awareness about sexism, for example,

the poem “Remember, Woman” is one of the ways ordinary people can bring attention to the

said problem. The speaker expresses her/his thought on empowering women to fight sexism that

is sadly still often found throughout society through the use of multiple literary device and

figurative language.

One of the ways is through the use of repetition. Repetition is a literary device that

repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer and more memorable.3 For

example, the speaker mentions the phrase “Remember, Woman” multiple times:

Remember, Woman, you were born

life giver, miracle creator, magic maker.

1
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sexism
2
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/18/walmart-gender-discrimination-supreme-court
3
https://literarydevices.net/repetition/
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............................... ..

Remember, Woman, remember

you are more than you can see.

Remember, Woman, remember

you are loved endlessly.

Remember, Woman, your power and grace,

the depth of your deep sea heart.

Never forget you are Woman, divine,

as you have been from the start. (Leyva, 1-2, 15-22)

Another important phrase that got repeated is “You were born”, this phrase got repeated multiple

times in the text:

You were born with the heart of a thousand mothers,

open and fearless and sweet.

You were born with the fire of Queens & conquerors,

warrioress blood you bleed.

You were born with the wisdom of sages & shamans,

no wound can you not heal.

You were born the teller of your own tale,

before none should you kneel.

You were born with an immeasurable soul

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reaching out past infinity.

You were born to desire with passion, abandon,

and to name your own destiny. (Leyva, 3-14)

The repetition of both the phrase “Remember, Woman” and “You were born” is meant to

emphasize to all women on what they have, what they are born with, to make them remember

that they are given a heart as deep as the sea,4 that ”you [women] are loved endlessly” (Leyva

18) “born to desire with passion, abandon, and to name your [their] own destiny” (Leyva 13-14).

Sexism can hurt and lower the self-esteem of the victim, they might think they are not good

enough, or their hard-work is not appreciated. They maybe have worked hard for their

company/institute, but they still did not get a raise or a promotion, people might treat them in a

condescending manner throughout their life, through the repetition of this phrases, the speaker is

reminding women something that they might forget because they are oppressed by another

gender.

The use of metaphor is also prominent in this poem, a metaphor is an expression, often

found in literature that describes a person or object by referring to something that is considered

to have similar characteristics to that person or object.5 The speaker said, “You were born with

the wisdom of sages & shamans, no wound can you not heal.” (Leyva 7-8), sage is someone that

is wise, especially as a result of great experience6 and shaman is a person who is thought to have

special powers to control or influence good and evil spirits, making it possible for them to

discover the cause of illness, bad luck, etc.7, both are considered wise and respected people for

their respective tribes, both of which usually in task to heal someone, or even to create miracle,

4
Remember, woman, 20
5
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/metaphor
6
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sage
7
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/shaman
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thus meaning that women are given both the wisdom of sages and shaman from birth, therefore

allowing them heal all wound, which might emphasize more on how a woman can heal the

wound in someone heart, through love and compassion, equivalent to the “heart of a thousand

mothers” (Leyva 3), where to the general populace, mother is viewed as the greatest source of

love. It is to boost the morale of women that [might] have been victimized by sexism. To show

that “you [women] are more than you [women] can see” (Leyva 16). The speaker tries to explain

what women are, someone “born with the wisdom of sages & shamans” (Leyva 7), and what

women can do, to heal all wound,8 through the use of metaphor.

The tone of the speaker also greatly affect the overall feeling and atmosphere. A tone is

the poet’s attitude toward the poem’s speaker, reader, and subject matter, as interpreted by the

reader. Often described as a “mood” that pervades the experience of reading the poem, it is

created by the poem’s vocabulary, metrical regularity or irregularity, syntax, use of figurative

language, and rhyme.9 The speaker explains and speaks about women through the use of diction

that is regularly used throughout daily life, from the start of the poem until the end, every word is

generally words used regularly. So that most likely people can understand without difficulty, it

makes the poem relatively easier to digest without thinking too hard. This choice of diction gives

a sense of “home”, accentuating the idea of women as someone who gave comfort.

Those are only some of the literary devices and figurative languages included in the text,

and it all serves the same purpose, to convey the message more in deeply. Writing everything

literally just like a news article might be easier, but it will most likely give the readers an impact

so small that the message will probably be forgotten in the next day. By using repetition, might

serve the purpose to remind about what women are and what women can do, metaphor to

8
Remember, Woman, 8
9
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/tone
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provoke deeper thinking than what is literary being said. The tone might give a sense of “home”

to help some people to feel at ease. Every literary device and figurative languages have a

purpose, in this case, to convey a message that will hopefully stay and remembered by anyone

who read it, which is to empower women that have fallen victim to sexism.

To conclude, the speaker expresses her/his thought on empowering women to fight

sexism that is sadly still often found throughout society through the use of multiple literary

device and figurative language. Even though nowadays society is in a state where everyone

supposedly has the right to be treated equally, women, who made up half of the world

population,10 are still treated with prejudice. A lot of women have suffered because of this,

maybe a single working mom needs a raise to be able to pay for her child’s tuition, but her

manager could say no just because she is a woman and now her child has to drop out, maybe a

woman doctor has the potential to cure cancer, but because the senior doctor belittle her talent

and won’t accept the idea, but when a man announced the idea, it might be accepted. It is time to

change, to finally bring true equality to everyone, and it starts now.

10
https://countrymeters.info/en/World
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Bibliography

Countrymeters.info. “World Population.” Countrymeters, countrymeters.info/en/World.

Leyva, Reese. “Remember, Woman.” Reese Leyva, 4 Apr. 2015,

reeseleyva.com/2015/04/04/remember-woman/.

“METAPHOR | Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge Dictionary,

dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/metaphor.

“Repetition - Examples and Definition of Repetition.” Literary Devices, 1 Nov. 2018,

literarydevices.net/repetition/.

“SAGE | Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge Dictionary,

dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sage.

Sainato, Michael. “Walmart Facing Gender Discrimination Lawsuits from Female

Employees.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 18 Feb. 2019,

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/18/walmart-gender-discrimination-supreme-

court.

“SEXISM | Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge Dictionary,

dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sexism.

“SHAMAN | Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge Dictionary,

dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/shaman.

“Tone.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-

terms/tone.