ASSIGNEMENT 3 In this answer, I will first define patriarchy then I will describe how patriarchy affect the distribution of power in society. Then I will shortly describe the story ‘Rites of Passage’ written by Bulbul Sharma And in the end I will discuss why all women are not equally disenfranchised under patriarchy and how is the‘wifehood and motherhood glorified in the patriarchal system. What is Patriarchy? Patriarchy is a social system in which eldest male member of the family rules over the family. According to some feminist writers Patriarchy literally means dominance of men over women .In a so called typical patriarchal society eldest male member of the family rule over all the women’s and younger
When men occupy a superior position, they have the power to control women and their lives. Men determine the likelihoods of women to access opportunities, such as form of education, public facility, career, etc. The power men have over women later gives rise to gender problems between them, which is known as gender discrimination. Hosseini’s‘A Thousands Splendid Suns’ is a novel that shows the plight of women who suffer from gender discrimination in a strong patriarchal society of Afghanistan. With the feminist theory and women’s problems as the background, we are able to see that gender discrimination depicted in the novel is complex.
In nearly all historical societies, sexism was prevalent. Power struggles between genders mostly ended in men being the dominant force in society, leaving women on a lower rung of the social ladder. However, this does not always mean that women have a harder existence in society. Scott Russell Sanders faces a moral dilemma in “The Men We Carry in Our Minds.” In the beginning, Sanders feels that women have a harder time in society today than men do. As the story progresses, he begins to understand why he thinks in the manner that he does.
The stereotypical world dictates men have dominant roles compared to women. They are indeed more powerful so as to conclude that women are weaker or of lesser power. Is that remain valid until now? Apparently the answer is yes and no. Yes, because there are still traditional races and countries who treat women unjustly and still sees them as people who should only stay at home.
Patriarchal system is a social system in which men hold primary power. In family life, patriarchy is a system of relation between men and women where men dominate women and women live under pressure. The male figure-brother, father, and husband- hold the primary power and they set rules and rigid strictures for their sister, daughter, wife and expect them to obey their each and every instruction. Ibsen in this play deciphers that women’s role is limited to the domestic area. Nora has only sacred duties as a wife and as a mother.In this connection, we can pertinently cite what Virginia Woolf in her work A Room of one’s Own asserts that,“Men have treated women as inferiors for many years.
This gender bias is not just limited to theoretical level, but it prevails in every aspect of society women are seen and treated as subordinate to men. Women's place in family, the basic institution of society, is always seen as secondary and marginalized. Traditional family institutions set men as head of the family whereas women are designed to play secondary roles of house-keeping and child rearing. As it happens in most of the Hindu culture where men are always entitled to authority and allowed to dominate over the women of the family and in the most cases it is hereditary in nature. This patriarchal subordination and oppression has often compelled women to be trapped within this system and which continues to stay with them and they cannot free themselves from it even when they are far away from their homeland.
The African countries have a patriarchy system which is male domination and it rooted in culture. Men have more power over women which gives birth to issues of oppression, violence ,abuse and inequalities .Social workers addresses these issues through different interventions such as group work ,advocacy, empowerment of women and the girl child and educating the girl child from the roots. For example in Tswana culture men are head of families, they make decisions without the consent of women. African feminist advocates for the rights of women and equality between men and women. According to Khumalo et al (2002) In Zimbabwe they are payment of lobala, arranged marriages and levirate marriages in the Shona culture so the male assumes dominancy.
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.
Men have always been given the central position in all walks of life be it family, society, religion, politics, economy, society, legal and art etc.and women have been marginalised . Men have been associated with all positive and power signifying qualities like active, dominating, adventurous, rational, and creative while women have been assigned the opposing traits like passive, acquiescent, timid, emotional, and conventional. The whole human civilization has been constructed, organised and conducted in such a manner so as to establish the male domination and subordination of women in all cultural spheres .Women have always seen anddefined in negative reference to the male as another who lacks the male organs or the male
Also, according to Reeves & Baden (2000), gender relations is a ‘hierarchical relations of power between women and men that tend to disadvantage women’. World Health Organization (2016), agreed with Reeves & Baden and went on to say that ‘gender relations often create hierarchies between and among groups of men and women that can lead to unequal power relations, disadvantaging one group over another’. The concept of gender relations is socially constructed and is determined by one’s society norms and values. In other words, a society determines what behavior is appropriate or acceptable for its members based on an individual’s sex. During the slavery period in the 19th century, gender relations were clearly defined when it came to the division of labor on the plantation.