Beautiful as we are (II) : too beautiful to be smart?

This post has been in my blog as a draft for nearly five months by now, and there are so many things unsaid that I don't really know how to say. A few days ago I came across an article that did what I seemingly cannot. It viewed gender inequality in the job market objectively.
I don't have many front-row experiences of when a woman was denied a high position because of her appearance. However, I have minor stories, and I believe that they plant the very same seed in young and perspective women that grows to prevent them from high positions in their fields of expertise.
Compliments, when spoken out, have to be differentiated. Not all of them seek to flatter.
"What do you know about struggles for recognition, you are pretty and it's way easier for you" - I have been addressed one of these as well.
"I will shed all of this skin down to the very bone beneath it if that's what it will take for you to come to the realization that appearance is not what makes a human beautiful" - this quote basically says all I think of it better than I ever could put it in my own words (I've posted it in one of my older blog posts).
Beauty is a 'given' and intelligence is an 'achieved'. Why is it so hard for some people to see the distinction?
Self-confidence is not a 'given' as well, and not only the 'ugly' ones lack it. Many girls stay in lower positions, never daring to think of having more power and, instead, leaving it either to the 'hungry for power' women (in their opinion) or men. They keep all their ideas in and stay in low positions with their mouths shut.
A lot of damage has been done for the physically beautiful, but I won't blame men. Some things are done just because things 'have always been like this'. We all do it - through advertising, media, movies. Music videos are not even worth mentioning in this case, I guess - some of them are the perfect demonstration of beautiful women doing silly things and exposing themselves to be recognised. We need to make them realize - everybody has the equal and basic right to...be intelligent. There's just no other way to say it, really.

Here's a video from #LikeAGirl campaign that majorly inspired me to get back to this post:

The situation is starting to get better with Emma Watson and other famous women speaking out about gender inequality, but the change is slow and will take a lot of time to spread worldwide.

From freedom to slavery

Recently, my all inner world was constantly pondering women's situation in their family context, considering only women from post-soviet countries, such as Baltic States, Balkan region and the rest of Eastern Europe. This blog post has spent over three weeks in 'draft' section, because I kept hoping I will arrive in some kind of a conclusion. Nevertheless, this question stays open and doesn't leave my mind. Maybe because I can't find the nerve to keep searching for an answer even though I'm interested in the idea of finding it. What puts me down the most is the absolute downfall of the idea of two young people being desperately in love with each other and willing to do anything for each other. It seems like something that can only happen if the society ceases to remain humane.

So what I've been pondering is women taking up the role of a husband-slave, or, worse, a family-slave. As this post-soviet period was not too long ago, this is still to to be seen in the environment of where I am from. I find it impossible for myself to understand why women choose to not change it and not do anything to make it stop. The majority of middle-aged and old men of this generation seem to be very fond of consuming enormous amounts of alcohol, especially vodka. This leads to alcohol addiction. These men not only disrespect their children, but usually as well humiliate their wives,and spend most of their family's money on alcohol. There are also cases when women take up this role, I'm not a sexist, but most often it IS men. What adds to never ending family quarrels, women having to earn money for the whole family and look after the children and the household, and men showing their children the worst family life example possible, is quite often physical violence, humiliation of women in front of their children, or even sexual violence within the family.

It is, of course, terrible and hard to perceive as something that is still happening in our modern society, but what worries me the most is how women accept it as something 'natural' (it's hard to even use this word in a context like this) and do nothing to change it. It might, of course, be so because of never ending hope that one day it will change without doing anything, or fear of big changes, or maybe even taking children away from their father, but if you think about it.. This is a change for good, and it is also a good thing to do regarding children's wealth. When you think about it, women's fear to escape is the only power supply for this kind of men. They have power over someone, they are given money, they have someone to clean for them, and cook for them. They have a servant. But only if women in this situation treat themselves as servants. But the truth is, everyone's free, regardless of their gender, marital status or number of children. It isn't a choice to make, it isn't even a choice of whether to make this change or not. However, the problem is - wait, there is no problem. And then, after choosing to be repressed instead of being free, women think they have the right to get offended by the usage of term 'women logic'.

The only thing I am sure of after thinking over it and writing it down is that I will be relieved if this won't become a tradition. The idea of free and open-minded society is taking over my generation, and it looks like we will have to be the ones to give it a form and make it a tradition, something to pass on to other generations as a model of general wealth. We will have to be the ones to resist the bad example we have been shown, take up the good bits from the exceptions in it and create something new for ourselves to make our lives better. To cheer you up, I think we will do just fine :)