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Gender issue in literature
Gender issue in literature
Gender bias in children's literature
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The Comparison between Hosanna and Top Girls In our society most men are likely to obtain higher paying jobs and are able to continue working even after becoming parents, whereas, majority of women obtain lower paying jobs and having to choose between being a parent and having a career. After reading the plays of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill and Hosanna by Michael Tremblay, I discovered that gender played a major role in how men and women are treated in society. The characters in these two plays challenges the gender norms, and therefore, I will argue that women are not treated equally in the workplace; that people who are of the queer community are considered to be inferior and less worthy of being accepted within the public sphere. In Top …show more content…
They had to sacrifice their motherhood in some form or another in order to gain success in other aspects of their lives. Joan, a young girl wanted to have an education and so she ran away from home under the disguise of a boy to gain higher knowledge which was not an option for a girl in her time. Joan stated, “I dressed as a boy when I left home”… “I was only twelve. Also women weren’t/allowed in the library. We wanted to study in Athens” (8). Joan having to disguise herself as a boy, showed that women were not allowed to have an education; they had limited opportunities. However, under the disguise as a male, Joan was given the opportunity to be a pope, a role generally reserve for a man. Nevertheless, it was discovered that she was a female when she gave birth in public and hence, she was stoned to death. Even other women who did not have to choose between motherhood and career, were unable to get promoted even if they were more qualified than men. This is due to the gender gap and the historical male domination. Louise, who came for a job interview at Marlene’s employment agency stated, “Nobody notices me, I don’t expect it, I don’t attract attention by making mistakes, everybody takes it for granted that my work is perfect” (52). This illustrates that even though the feminist movement had made significant advances in gender equality, there are still limitations in inequality concerning …show more content…
Hosanna had being forced to confront her sense of identity. She had been filling two roles and at times she felt trapped. Sometimes she called herself Hosanna and other times Claude. Hosanna partner Raymond, also has a second identity, he is a biker and calls himself Cuirette. Raymond is not attracted to women, but is interested in men who dresses like women. Hosanna sometimes insults Raymond like a stereotypical man, and sometimes she speaks to Raymond like a wife would to her husband. Hosanna stated, “Watch your language, dear, you’re getting vulgar. Since you have been putting on weight you have a tendency to get gross” (46). This statement indicates that Hosanna had responded to Raymond insults in a way a stereotypical woman would, by telling Raymond to watch his language. Claude and Raymond are in a long term relationship, however, due to the uncertainty of their identity they constantly fight and insult each
...that so much of the discourse is centered on women within fictional workplace sitcoms like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Murphy Brown, 30 Rock, and Parks and Recreation, I will examine how gender stratification in the fictional realm is a reflection of the real life gender stratification that continues today. I will examine case studies by reputable scholars that reflect gender preference of the people in positions of power at work as well as the reasons why. I will also review scholarly journals that discuss the expectations of gender roles, and how women are shamed or stigmatized for succeeding at tasks that are generally assumed to me masculine. This section will offer an explanation as to why successful, career oriented; females in positions of power are still preferred to stay within traditional gender roles, whether it is in real life or reflected on television.
Women and men are not equal. Never have been, and it is hard to believe that they ever will be. Sexism permeates the lives of women from the day they are born. Women are either trying to fit into the “Act Like a Lady” box, they are actively resisting the same box, or sometimes both. The experience of fitting in the box and resisting the box can be observed in two plays: Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” and Henrick Ibsen’s “A Doll House”. In Hansberry’s play, initially, Beneatha seems uncontrolled and independent, but by the end she is controlled and dependent; whereas, in Ibsen’s play Nora seems controlled and dependent at the beginning of the play, but by the end she is independent and free.
In this book, leading theorist on sex and gender Sandra L. Bem discusses how hidden molds in our cultural discourse, social institution, and individual minds support male dominance while oppressing women and sexual minorities. She explains her lenses of gender, which shape perceptions of social reality and also more physical things – like unequal salary and insufficient daycase – that establish social reality itself before she presents her theory of how cultural gender lenses are shaped and influence either the adaptation of conventional gender identity or the resistance of conventional gender identity. She then presents evidence for reframing the discussion on sexual inequality so that it focuses not only on the variances between men and women, but on how androcentric dialogue and societies transform gender differences into female disadvantage.
Even in today's growing world of feminism, young girls, as well as grown women, are being taught by the media to organize their lives around men. Their needs, expectations, work schedules, ideas, and interests become second to the men in their lives. All too often the media associates power and status to men, only to strengthen the barriers between the male and female genders. Take for example Hollywood, where "women get only about a third of all movie and TV roles, and last year earned less than male actors in all age categories..."(Eby, 1). And even though gender should not be used as the determining factor of what one can and cannot do, Hollywood, as well as everywhere else, has proven that the old habits of gender discrimination die hard, if at all.
Suggested roles of all types set the stage for how human beings perceive their life should be. Gender roles are one of the most dangerous roles that society faces today. With all of the controversy applied to male vs. female dominance in households, and in the workplace, there seems to be an argument either way. In the essay, “Men as Success Objects”, the author Warren Farrell explains this threat of society as a whole. Farrell explains the difference of men and women growing up and how they believe their role in society to be. He justifies that it doesn’t just appear in marriage, but in the earliest stages of life. Similarly, in the essay “Roles of Sexes”, real life applications are explored in two different novels. The synthesis between these two essays proves how prevalent roles are in even the smallest part of a concept and how it is relatively an inevitable subject.
Throughout nineteenth century Europe and leading into the twentieth century, the division and integration of equal rights and liberties towards both genders was a predominant issue. From the 1860’s and beyond, male suffrage was expanding due to working-class activism and liberal constitutionalism, however women were not included in any political participation and were rejected from many opportunities in the workforce. They were considered second-class citizens, expected to restrict their sphere of influence to the home and family, and therefore not encouraged to pursue a beneficial education or career. Because they were seen as such weak entities, the only way they were able to advocate their interests and dissatisfaction was through their own independent organizations and forms of direct action. With hard work towards improving women’s involvement in the workforce and towards political emancipation, womanhood gradually became redefined. When looking back on these crucial times in history, it is necessary to view how various images and ideas of females represented such integral symbols in modern Europe that influenced the pivotal changes they succeeded in putting forward. Earlier photos show women in society as solely conforming to what society wants them to be, however later this changes and images of women go against what is seen as appropriate and advertise the efforts made towards gender equality.
Gender roles are a staple construct of human civilization, designating the behaviors and lifestyles that society expects out of its participants, with gender as the defining characteristic. Historically, females have been at the forefront of the conversation, with feminism regarded as the principal solution to the well-established issue of gender inequality. However, this is foolish. To truly mend the gender inequalities forged by thousands of years of human interaction, both genders have to be acknowledged. Both males and females are equally constrained by gender roles, however the effects of this constraint are in differing fields. There are studies showing that females are at a disadvantage economically, in the workplace, while other studies
Critics of feminist studies of men often argue that the politics to change values and behaviour need to come from men themselves, because feminist women’s long efforts against gender discrimination, misogyny, sexual harassment, rape, battering, and male violence have often created backlash and stubborn resistance from men (Lorber, 2012, 274). If men do not fight for what they want they will not see change, it will not be handed to them as many things have already been. Although, the question presumes, why would men want to change something that they feel is just fine? This is where controversy takes place. A change must occur in order for things to be equal. Men do not always have to be the breadwinners; On the other hand, areas that seemed to indicate potential gender equality – fatherhood and men doing “women’s work” – have ironically restored gender inequality. This refers to the racialized glass escalator. Where men who do women’s work have reliable preferences in the working environment, such that even in occupations where men are numerical in minorities they are likely to enjoy higher wages and faster promotions (Lorber, 2012, p.264) In addition, men get daddy bonuses when they become fathers while women workers suffer a motherhood penalty in reduced wages (Lorber, 2012, 274). Limitations such as these reinforce gender
Gender discrimination is defined as prejudice against an individual due to his or her gender or sex. Discrimination against women has been occurring for years and continues to pose an issue today, especially in institutions such as the workforce. In the past, women were limited to very few rights; they were not permitted to vote and were considered as “property”. The only real jobs they had were housewives.and only a handful of women were in the labor force. In today’s society, women compose more than half of the workforce, yet they earn a significantly less amount compared to their male counterparts for completing the same tasks. Due to the subtleness of the issue, many still continue to be unaware of the discrimination which occurs. Though the issues regarding gender discrimination have gone through improvements recently, the issue at hand
The institutionalized discrimination of women in the work place is nothing new or unheard of. The brunt of it has happened fairly recently as women began to enter the labor market in force less than a century ago. The affect of this discrimination has had long lasting, generation spanning affects, but as time has passed and feminism spread, the gender-gap has slowly begun to shrink.
Male and female were treated differently in terms of gender still in the year 1955, when this story first publish. People were living with the mentality where male were given a high position in society. Perhaps this was the cause of same mentality, male characters in the story don’t treat women as their equal. Gender discrimination has deep roots in history and was still exist in 1955. In this regard, there was an article published in New York Times dated February 16, 2013 by Stephanie Coontz named “Why Gender Equality Stalled”; she writes, “In 1963, most Americans did not yet believe that gender equality was possible or even desirable”. For this reason, one can conclude that gender discrimination was present in 1955 when women were consider as the one who should always look after children, do household stuff and were powerless regarding their social position. Men, on the other hand, held a high social and economic statu...
Society’s gender infrastructure has changed since the 1920’s and the nineteen amendment that allowed women the right to vote. Or so we thought, many of the gender expectations that were engraved into our early society still remain intact today. Women for many people still mean an immaterial, negligible, and frivolous part of our society. However, whatever the meaning of the word women one has, the same picture is always painted; that of a housewife, mother, and daughter. Women are expected to fallow the structural identity of living under her husband 's submissions. Threatening the social norm of what is accepted to be a woman in society can put in jeopardy the personal reputation of a woman, such treating her as a whore. But, what happens
“Indeed it will be a long time still, I think, before a woman can sit down to write a book without finding a phantom to be slain, a rock to be dashed against.” These wise words originate from a speech titled “Professions for Women” by a famous female author, Virginia Woolf. For centuries, women and men alike have been involved in a detailed struggle for women’s equality. Over the years, women have become dramatically more equal to men, although many still feel suppressed from several opportunities. But what about men? Females are not the only ones who face inequality on a daily basis; males encounter ridicule if they do not behave a certain way and are constantly oppressed from academic opportunities. The largest issue facing young men in today’s society is the intense focus placed on girls and their proper treatment from an early age.
Throughout Western civilization, culturally hegemonic views on gender and sexuality have upheld a rigid and monolithic societal structure, resulting in the marginalization and dehumanization of millions of individuals who differ from the expected norm. Whether they are ridiculed as freaks, persecuted as blasphemers, or discriminated as sub-human, these individuals have been historically treated as invisible and pushed into vulnerable positions, resulting in cycles of poverty and oppression that remain prevalent even in modern times. Today, while many of these individuals are not publicly displayed as freaks or persecuted under Western law, women, queer, and intersexed persons within our society still nonetheless find themselves under constant
Since the 19th century, the women's movement has made fantastic strides toward obtaining civil rights for women in America. Woman suffrage has been abolished, and they are no longer viewed as second-class citizens. Unfortunately, the issue of gender inequality still echoes in today's society. The fight to change a society shaped predominately by men continues, and will likely pursue for decades to come. Whether it be social, political, or economic rights, the main idea is equality for all genders, man or woman. In modern society, it seems that such a simple concept should be accepted globally by everyone – so why do women still face the daily toils of demanding the privileges that should available to all? No matter the class of woman, it is likely they will suffer from inequality and stereotypes at some point in their life. We see this in the workplace, where women have been shown to earn less then men. Some women also face the dangers of sexual violence, and are left victimized for such crimes.