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The representation of women in society
Female representation in society
The representation of women in society
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Deniz Kandiyoti analyses how women cope and strategize within constraints, calls it ‘patriarchal bargains’, in two different forms of patriarchy, one is the sub-Saharan Africa other is the classic belt of patriarchy consisting of the middle east, south Asia and east Asia. Moreover, Kandiyoti also discusses how women respond to oppression in two different parts of the world which have an impact on their gendered subjectivities as well as create opportunities for transformation.
We need to unpack the idea of patriarchy and in order to develop a better understanding of patriarchal societies in different parts of the world; we need to look into the material organization of those societies such as rights over land as per customary norm, autonomy within patriarchy, etc. The Sub-Saharan Africa shows the existence of material relationship that men and women have with their land which is different from the one that existed in the classic belt of patriarchy. Women
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Participation of women themselves in gendered structures that continue to define their roles and identities, submissive nature and reluctance to challenge the male dominance marks their belief in the patriarchal order. They believe that the advantages that they receive by being part of the patriarchal order are much more than what they would get if they challenged the prevailing system and hence disengages them from empowering activities. We can also see how the society constructs the ‘ideal women’ and notice the conscious effort by women to fit in to this loyal and respectable role. In one of the documentaries, named When four friends meet (2000) by Rahul Roy, he interacts with four best friends from Jehangirpuri district in Delhi, shows the ground reality of the backward areas. A man says that he wants to marry a woman who stays at home and he would not allow his wife to go out and work especially in
Both el Saadawi and Al-Shaykh both show how perception and expression are both affected within the confines of politics, social opportunities, and male privilege depicted in their stories. Whether the reader is a follower of the feminist movement or not, it is very clear and easy to see that these women are not being treated with the respect that any human being deserves. The misogynistic stranglehold on society, especially in this part of the world, is excessive and avoidable in today’s world but it is very likely that the traditional, conservative ways of the past will continue to control and inhibit women from being able to be fully treated as equals for many years to come, perhaps even after this generation has
It is difficult to realize the harsh standards and obligations imposed upon women of different cultures. It is especially disappointing to note that women whom may seek to relieve themselves of such discriminatory practices, face little to no government support in terms of fighting inequality. Such as distinguished in text The War Against Feminism, women of Algeria must fight against patriarchal and incredibly sexist political movements, such as the “Islamic Salvation Front,” which although was banned, had won an election and the promotion of their platform’s ideas despite their notions consisting of extreme patriarchal views and their actual assassinations of individuals not compliant with their beliefs. I also strongly agreed with the United Nations decision to aid individuals from fear of the Taliban, in their stating of refusing to continue aid to Afghanistan if intense cruel practices were to continue. The interference of other government agencies in helping to promote the end of cruelty, such as was occurring by the Taliban, act as great movement of defiance against
We cannot deny the imperfection of the world today; poverty, violence, lack of education, and the general overwhelming deficiency of basic daily necessities are among some of the most troubling issues on the agenda. By carefully selecting our critical lens, we can gather that there are many aspects of today’s issues where we can focus our attention and begin the quest for solutions to these pervasive problems. Authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (2009) utilize their book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide to emphasize the particular struggle of women in the world today and how by addressing three particular abuses of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence (including honor killings and mass rape), and maternal mortality, we may begin “unlocking an incipient women’s movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty” (p. xxii). However, we must first understand the difficulty of addressing such complex issues by a proposing a “one-size fits all” solution and take into consideration the varying feminist perspectives that currently contemplate the oppression of women in societies around the world. To be able to critically digest Kristof and WuDunn’s book we must explore the types of stories and evidence included and how they’re presented, and the generalized theories behind the insight and solutions regarding the women in need around the world. The authors alienate their audience by ignoring the complexity of building a singular feminist movement. Kristof and WuDunn’s book Half the Sky further contributes to the oppression of women because they objectify Third World women by portraying them as victims in need of outside rescue and suggest that an overarching solution...
What would you say if I asked you to tell me what you think is causing the death of so many people in the horn of Africa? AIDS? Starvation? War? Would it surprise you if I told you that it all boils down to the women of Africa? Kofi Annan attempts to do just this in his essay “In Africa, Aids Has a Woman's Face.” Annan uses his work to tell us that women make up the “economic foundation of rural Africa” and the greatest way for Africa to thrive is through the women of Africa's freedom, power, and knowledge.
higher education, choice of a husband and access to a prosperous/independent future-that a woman would be positioned to escape gender oppression. However, this is not the case for the Arab women of Fatima Mernissi’s Dreams of Trespass and Ahdaf Soueif’s In the Eye of the Sun. The two main characters of these novels-Asya and Mernissi herself-enable the reader to understand how gender inequality is rooted in the frontiers and accepted social norms that are defined by the community and adhered to by the individual. Although these woman have access to an equal education with the hopes of becoming an enlightened, liberated women, education does not guarantee that they will ever become truly liberated. This paper will discuss the differences between the educated and seemingly liberated women of Dreams of Trespass, and In the Eye of the Sun, in hopes to understand whether cultural and educational frontiers are the only characteristics which govern a woman's right to escape the gendered Arab hierarchy. Why do some women, with access to westernization and an equal education still fall victim to the subservient expectations of an unliberated and uneducated female in the Arab world? Why are these women maintaining such domination when they are surrounded by tools of
Recently the concerns of women around their equality in society has become a hotly debated topic in the public spot light. Much of the debate concerns women and the ingrained sexism that permeates most cultures. Many women's activists feel that this ingrained sexism has widened the gap between men and women in a political, social, and economic sense. And for the most part they do have strong evidence to support these claims. Women have suffered through millennia of male dominated societies where treatment of women has been, and in some cases still is, inhuman. Women are treated like subhuman creatures that have only exist to be used for procreate and to be subjugated by men for household use. It has only been very recently that women have become recognized as equals in the eyes of men. Equals in the sense that they have the same political and social rights as males. While the situation has improved, women still have to deal with a male oriented world. Often women in the workplace are thought of as inferior and as a liability. This can be due to concerns about maternity leave, or women with poor leadership skills. But also in part it is due because of the patriarchy that controls all aspects and dynamics of the culture, family, politics, and economy. Even developed countries like The United Kingdom, United States, Germany, and France, could be classified as a patriarchies. These countries may not agree with this notion because of expansive, but not complete changes, that have gradually equalized women in society. However, there are developed countries that openly express a patriarchy and have enacted little societal changes to bring equality to women. Japan is one such country, and t...
Throughout most of documented history women of all cultures and civilizations have lived under patriarchal circumstances. In almost every religion and civilization women's status was not equal to that of a man's. Women in most cultures are looked at as subservient, obedient creatures that were put on this world for very few reasons, mainly to bear children and do what their husbands require of them. In fact, religions are a big part of the reason of this oppression due to the religion's reinforcement and justification of patriarchal conditions. In this week's selected readings from different aspects of Islamic, Byzantine Christian, and Western Christian cultures, it is very apparent as to how these three religions did reinforce and justify the patriarchal conditions in which women were struggling to live in. Also, by reading the selections one can see how different religions could make a difference for women and how they lived their lives.
In addition, these women were often subjected to control, domination, and violence by men” (Global). This validates Azuela’s stance on how women should stay within their traditional roles because fighting for equality has been ineffective even today.
All over the world, patriarchy controls and dictates the way society works. Every day stories are told of women in third-world countries who have fallen victim to said patriarchy. These women seem distant from people who live in the first-world, causing many to think that patriarchy is not present in more advanced cultures. However, they could not be more wrong. It encompasses almost every aspect of western life. Even in a country as developed as the United Kingdom, misogyny and gender inequality still exist in the workplace.
The Arab woman, is there really a clear cut, precisely defined profile of what characterizes a woman of Arabia? Barren sand dunes, nomadic tribes of cloaked men, wearing turbans, mounted on camels, wielding swords, and their weak woman folk to whom they dictate. This is a classic Hollywood image of the Arab’s of the Middle East. The helpless female who is subjected to the will of her militant husband or aggressive father is nothing new to the average person of the present time, where being dutiful and being tyrannized can easily have the same definition in Hollywood and American media. However inaccurate this may be for the entire of the Arab world, it is the societal norm to classify woman as the victim of their male macho society. On the contrary, there is no ‘one size fits all’ description for women coming from the many countries that make up the diverse region of the Middle East. In each country, in each region, in every city, town or village, each woman has her own story, personality, heart and mind; quite opposite from what American media would have one believe. In such as the women of the novels, A Balcony Over Fakihani, Pillars of Salt, and A Woman of Five Seasons, their roles as women, wives, mothers, and daughters portray something other than the Hollywood’s forever destined victim of the males figures in their lives.
In a patriarchal society men normally have the power. This power is generally handed down generation to generation as seen in Sundiata where the lineage of the first kings of Mali is explained generation by generation (Niane 3). It can also be seen in The Romance of Tristan and Iseult when “[T']he barons, Andret, Guenelon, Gondoine, and Denoalen pressed King Mark to take to wife some king's daughter who should give him an heir...”(Bedier 26). In these examples men generally have the primary power. However, there is an argument to be made that women, in both Sundiata, and The Romance of Tristan and Iseult have some significant power in their society.
The roles of men and women are not the same in all cultures, especially for the Ibo and First
Women have many responsibilities in the Igbo society such as having children, cooking, cleaning, and farming. These are important functions for women, yet they are not given much credit or meaning for their existence in the roles they fill. As Rose Ure Mezu points out “The world in Things Fall Apart is one in which patriarchy intrudes oppressively into every sphere of existence. It is an andocentric world where the man is everything and the woman nothing.” In some way, Mezu is correct in saying that the man is everything and the woman nothing.
The history of women’s rights in Africa has affected its present state. Established in 2003, by the African Union (AU), (Meyersfeld 13) the Maputo Protocol promises women equal rights and the right to an abortion if the woman conceived he baby through incest, rape, or if having the baby would be injurious to the mother’s health. (Meyersfeld 12) However, as of 2013 the Maputo Protocol has yet to be ratified by eighteen countries. (African Business News 51) Africa is a continent in which there are countries where a woman needs permission from her husband to travel, to work, or to open a bank account. (Moleketi 10) To this day, women are still seen as subordinate to men. These primit...
Throughout history, there have been constant power struggles between men and women, placing the male population at a higher position than the female. Therefore, in this patriarchal system women have always been discriminated against simply due to the fact that they are women. Their rights to vote, to be educated and essentially being treated equally with men was taken away from them and they were viewed as weak members of society whose successes depend on men. However, this has not prevented them from fighting for what they believe in and the rights they are entitled to. On the contrary, it has motivated them to try even harder and gain these basic societal rights through determination and unity. In Mariama Bâ’s book, “So Long a Letter”, the