In several parts of the world, women are still treated as subordinates to men. This been accompanied by several issues of oppressions, humiliation, discrimination, control, exploitation, and violence. Women are being treated unequally when it comes to their basic rights to food, education, healthcare, and employment opportunities. The men make all the decisions when it comes to the control of productive resources in the society, they hold the most powerful positions, and they look down to women because of their gender differences. Gender based discrimination has been on the spread as they have become more accepted in modern societies. The norms in the society have been expected to determine the role women will play in a particular society. For instance, the difference in societal norms between the Middle East and the West has …show more content…
Several factors such as class, religion, background, ethnicity, geographical regions, socio-cultural practices, and ethnicity determine the nature of subjugation and control inflicted on women. For example, there is a difference in the nature of subordination by women in the already developed countries and the subordination in the developing countries. These factors constitute to the difference in gender inequality among countries in the Middle East and the West. Inequality however exists in all these regions. Although there is a difference in the nature of subordination by women, the characteristics of gender inequality still remain the same. For example, all cases are characterized by men controlling the sexuality and reproductive power of the women. This kind of control has been evolving over the years leading to its legitimization by several social practices, ideologies across different societies, the media, the law, religions, several institutions such as the family, and the society in
Secondly In most cultures, men have historically held most of the worlds resources, until relatively recently women in western cultures could not vote or hold property, making them entirely dependent on the male Gender , A group with a power of wealth advantage maintain their control over resources such as political, economical and industrial power by usually representing the majority. Conflict between the two genders caused such events such as the woman’s suffrage movement and was responsible for a degree of social change. If we look more to the modern Era,
Gender inequality is a very important issue in today’s world that needs to be solved. While it may seem that gender inequality has only been an issue in recent years, it has been going on since humans were living in caves. The stereotype that “men are strong, women are weak” began all the way back when humans were primitive. The primitive men were always the hunters and laborers, and the women were the ones who stayed at home, took care of kids, worked with agriculture, and made food and clothes. The labor women did was, in many ways, more difficult and stressful.
Women are expected to dress modestly meaning covering their faces with veils, little socializing with the gender of opposite sex, not dating until one is married and showing respect to elders. This gender role has helped some to be respected by the society and even their loved ones as they have earned it through their own ways and frequent doing that one feels to give the favor back. Women in Arab culture and society, have learned the socially- constructed norms, ideas and values which tend to act as a guideline to the gender role they play. The process is achieved through socialization in early childhood that nudges boys and girls in different behaviors’ which in the end carries over to adulthood. Women have been on the verge of bringing up the girl child to be a polite, gentle and God- fearing child with the help of other family members in United States.
In India, there is also another conflict where women are treated less than men and people are starting to speak up about this issue, as seen in Document 2. The #IWillGoOut movement is a protest where women demand equal rights to public places that men have all rights to. This is a form of how societies group their members. You can see that because these women are a different gender, they do not get all the rights that everyone else has.
Over a period of time, the mind of humans has evolved, more so in situations of morals and how everyone should play a certain role in society. Each novel or piece of writing, we read in the course truly expresses the transition of how many view the world, specially towards the role of gender. From conformity to stereotypical opinions, women were viewed to have a specific role or behavior in society. Many years ago, women’s contributions to society were unequal and controlled by men. Does not sound normal, because today women is projecting a major role in many important areas.
The way society functions today can be seen as normal to many individuals. As us individuals wake up each morning each person has a regular task that he or she performs each day. It is either going to work or stay at home. Usually the man goes out and works to provide for the family while the woman stays at home to take care of the house chores and the kids. It was because of this that society today has structured itself that women and men would have set roles.
For centuries, women have been exploited by the society. Events of women being prohibited from doing things like voting or working and being forced to behave the way it is considered to be socially acceptable have been jotted down in history. Until today women are still viewed as the weaker sex. In some countries, women are regarded less than human and are treated like slaves. Khaled Hosseini goes into the oppression of women in his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Equality among people justifies the development of human civilization. The history witnesses how people mistreated the others and how other people fought for freedom. It proves a permanent truth that the more civilized the people are, the less inequality would be promoted. However, there was no one period in the past, even now, without inequality completely. The slavery issue in the West and the gender inequality in the East both brought unimaginable damage for not only the groups of people who were mistreated, but also the society which is supposed to be peaceful, fair and justice.
Gender Inequality is prevalent over much of the world. It is not limited to a few cultures and countries, but has global implications that affect everyone, men and women. The tide does seem to be changing, but slowly and there is hope that one day men and women can be seen as equals. I was lucky enough to interview the mother of two coworkers, one from Laos, and one from Nicaragua. I pretty much expected what they both told me and their experiences were similar.
The part and role in which women played in their society significantly varies throughout the world, depending on the place and region. However, they all share a common similarity in which men are the most dominant in every aspect of society, therefore, men are perceived to have more authority and power than women. In the comparison of ancient civilizations and modern times, it is significant how the rights and roles of women have positively changed, giving women more chances and opportunities in society, therefore, influencing and impacting society in many beneficial ways as well as, nowadays, women and men are finally seen as
In contrast to developed countries, the women of developing countries who head households have more obstructions in obtaining resources and services in housing and agriculture. They have less access to land, credits, capital and jobs with good incomes. Such in Afghanistan, it is often undesirable and not possible for women to admit to maintaining a household alone. Afghan women are socially ostracised and has to go through many deprivation to fulfil their daily needs. In India, the status of women are precarious and low-ranked.
The fact also arises that women not only suffer from lack of recognition for the work they do in households but also for their work in their jobs. Women work as much as men, if not more. When both paid and unpaid work such as household chores and caring for children are taken into consideration, women work longer hours than men—an average of 30 minutes a day longer in developed countries and 50 minutes in developing countries. This is known as second shift, where women not only work at their jobs but also come back home and complete their household chores. However their contribution remains minimum due to unequal wage pay and lack of consideration given to household chores.
In our advanced 21st century, it is hard to imagine our society as anything short of perfect. After all, we have come a long way from our seafaring ancestors. However, the reality is that despite how we may sometimes avoid seeing it, our society is anything but perfect. A very prevalent issue today is that despite laws being set in place to enforce the equal treatment of men and women, women all over the world today still face poor treatment and discrimination. Because of how deep and long this problem has run, revising discriminatory laws may not abolish discrimination and legislating laws that endorse gender equality may not necessarily create equality.
the disparity and inequality are worsening in middle east countries where women don’t have any freedom. These countries still have the polygamy system in their country. Women don’t have the right to vote, the right to speak up. Most of men in middle east countries think that the place for women is in the house. Most of them suffer from domestic violence.
According to the famous sociologists Sylvia Walby, patriarchy is “a system of social structure and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women”. Women’s exploitation is an age old cultural phenomenon of Indian society. The system of patriarchy finds its validity and sanction in our religious beliefs, whether it is Hindu, Muslim or any other religion. For instance, as per ancient Hindu law giver Manu, “Women are supposed to be in the custody of their father when they are children, they must be under the custody of their husband when married and under the custody of her son in old age or as widows.