Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Western influence in Japanese culture
Women's role in patriarchal society
Western influence in Japanese culture
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Western influence in Japanese culture
Intellectual developments pertaining to gender in Japan and Europe
Gender roles and the rights of women in society are fundamentally the same in 18th century Europe as in Japan at the turn of the century. In both societies women are looked down upon as the weaker counterparts of men; useful only for improving the lives of men. Because society believes women only live to improve the lives of men they feel that women don’t need to be educated, they don’t need to own property, and that women should suit the taste and needs of men. The idea that women are lesser than men in society and don’t deserve the same privileges and rights shaped the role of women in Europe and Japan. Women in Japan and Europe are forced to rely on men because they are not given the rights and education they need to be independent.
The women in Japan are thought of and treated like the women in Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the rights of women; they are obliged to follow the orders of society, their father, and when they get married their husband. In Japan women are expected to be obedient, proper, and quiet. They are not expected to share their opinions unless asked, they are expected to marry for the benefit of their families, and they are not expected to be educated. Likewise women in Europe were expected to be good wives and mothers and nothing more. Women are simply seen in society as tools to make the lives of men better. In the words of Rousseau “the education of women should always be relative to men. To please us, be useful to us… make our lives easy and agreeable—those are the duties of women at all times” (Wollstonecraft 54). Men want obedient wives that make their lives easier so women are taught to be obedient, useful wives and to treasure beaut...
... middle of paper ...
...women in the time period and society women marry for security and in return women were expected to be good, obedient wives. Even though women in Europe are have more freedom to express their thoughts they are just as dominated by the gender roles placed on them as the women in Japan.
Works Cited
Natsume, Sōseki. Sanshiro: A Novel. London: Penguin Classics, 2009. Print.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract. New York: Carlton House, 1939. Print.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract. N.p.: Johnathan Bennett, 2010. Early Modern Texts. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
Wollestonecraft, Mary. "The Vindication of the Rights of Woman." N.p.: n.p., 1792. N. pag. Rpt. in Oregon: Renascene Editions, 2000. Print.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. "The Vindication of the Rights of Woman." N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Rpt. in Early Modern Texts. By Johnathan Bennett. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. “A Vindication of the Rights of Women with Structures on Political and Moral
The objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to examine why Wollstonecraft felt this quest into the genre of novel for the politics which she already had discussed at length in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)? The second strand of inquiry will be into the domestic ideas of despotism which arise from gender discrimination perpetuated by the state machinery, with the legal system, in particular. This second strand will envelope the prevalent issues like the legally disadvantageous position of married as well as maternal women and how the revolutionary bodies of these mothers are confined along with infliction of mental harassment by both private and state systems. The issue of the imprisonm...
In the essay, Wollstonecraft is a woman in the 1700s, who currently experiencing inequality due gender that she was born into. During this era, women do not have many rights as a citizen, nor as a human being. Women are expected to perform household duties, such as cooking, cleaning, raising children, and being completely submissive to their husband. However, one woman had a different opinion of what a woman is capable of doing, and her name is Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary believed that woman should be treated equally as men, in the manner of education, respect, and status.
Japanese society has many beliefs and rituals and women are always secluded from many aspects of ritual life. Women are also forbidden to enter in sacred places although these prohibitions are vanishing. The modern society has defined all social roles in terms of hierarchy such as domination of men over women it is common virtually in all setting that women be subordinated to male as household heads (Countries and their Culture 2014:14). Despite the legal changes on the principle of family structure regarding education and labor equity, there ...
It is a declaration for the equal rights of man and women. The political significance of Mary Wollstonecraft cannot be overstated—her work is regarded as one of the first greatest feminist treatises in history and is also seen as the first step towards liberal feminism. She fought equality for women in the political sphere, but she also addressed the need for equality in the social, private realm. She emphasized the need for reform in women’s status, education, and maternal duties. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft argues that men and women are born with the same ability to reason. Therefore, men and woman should equally be able to exercise reason and attain knowledge. And conclusively, educated women would ultimately improve society; they would become better wives and mothers (72, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman). She argues that the current education system (i.e. Rousseau’s ideas of women education) restricts women and subjects them into passivity. Women are not perceivably “smart” as men because they have not been given the opportunity to be; women receive a “disorderly kind of education” (46, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman). Women are kept in passivity, forced to superficiality and shallowness. She derides these traits that are seen as inherent to a woman’s nature and asks the powerful question: how are women supposed to contribute to society if they have been reduced to their appearance and bodily function? For a thriving, modern and true civilization to succeed, each and every individual must be encouraged to seek moral and intellectual development, including
Throughout the classical and postclassical eras, it is evident that women have always held a certain label whether it be positive or negative. This was evident throughout various regions such as the Middle East, Africa, Americas, and Europe. The time period from 1750-1914 was also an era of industrialization, in places especially like Europe. New machinery and a grand-scale labor force was required to allow the country to prosper as much as possible. From 1750 to 1914, the status of women in Western Euope changed through an increase in employment opportunities and through the earning of women’s rights, however, female labor in designated households was invariably evident.
Woolstoncraft, Mary. A Vindication of The Rights of Woman. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd Ed. Volume D. Ed. Martin Puchner. New York: Norton, 2013. 134-136. Print.
SparkNotes: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778): The Social Contract. (n.d.). SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Retrieved February 9, 2011, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/rousseau/section2.rhtml
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. “The Social Contract”. Modern Political Thought, Second Edition. Ed. David Wootton. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2008. 427-487.
In the analysis of the issue in question, I have considered Mary Wollstonecraft’s Text, Vindication of the Rights of Woman. As an equivocal for liberties for humanity, Wollstonecraft was a feminist who championed for women rights of her time. Having witnessed devastating results or men’s improvidence, Wollstonecraft embraced an independent life, educated herself, and ultimately earned a living as a writer, teacher, and governess. In her book, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” she created a scandal perhaps to her unconventional lifestyle. The book is a manifesto of women rights arguing passionately for educating women. Sensualist and tyrants appear right in their endeavor to hold women in darkness to serve as slaves and their plaything. Anyone with a keen interest in women rights movement will surely welcome her inexpensive edition, a landmark documen...
Women’s oppression is not just unique to our history alone. Different civilizations around the world have portrayed women despicably. In Japan during world war two, teenage girls were rounded up into sex camps. “An estimated one hundred thousand to four hundred thousand girls were forced to do sexual favors for Japanese soldiers, some of the girls were as young as 11 years old. They serviced up to 50 Japanese soldiers a day, while enduring beatings, starvation, sterilization and abortions. Even today, over half the 27 million people enslaved are woman in underground sex brothels.” [Robinson]
In Japanese culture, it was a common ideal to view women as incompetent of being the head of a household (Yoshimi 200). Asian Women were subjected to discriminatory attitudes towards them by men, which left them with almost no opportunity to avoid a life in low social classes. In 19th century Japanese society, an unmarried woman was no doubly associated with low-end occupations that had significantly low wages (Yoshimi 70). The disadvantages associated with being a woman of a low social stature created an unfortunate history of prostitution among Japa...
Bernstein, Gail Lee. “Women in Rural Japan” In Women In Changing Japan, edited by Lebra Joyce, Paulson Joy and Power Elizabeth. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1976.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the eighteenth century feminist philosopher, Mary Wollstonecraft. Specifically, it explores her vision and critique of the relationship between the genders by explaining her position and her prescription to remedy the deficiencies she identifies with regards to gender inequality. Additionally, this evaluation asserts that at present, we have partially achieved the realization of Wollstonecraft’s vision of women in society, which dates back two centuries. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of the continued of study of Wollstonecraft’s philosophical ideas in society today.
It is implied that since the dawn of time, women have been inferior to thy fellow man. It was not until the Age of Enlightenment, which began around 1650 in Europe, that the first ideas of women being as competent as men, lacking only education and not intelligence, began to circulate (Online MBA). As the end of the 18th Century neared, women were regulars in salons and academic debates, though schooling for women would come late down the road (Online MBA). Prior to the birth of the Industrial Revolution, women did not work. Those who did work were from lower class families and many of those were minorities. It was the primary idea that a women’s role was of that at the home; cooking sewing, cleaning, and caring for the children. There were many duties required of them around the house and their focus was to be the supportive wife who dutifully waited for the husband to come home after a long day at work.