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Gender roles in western culture
Gender roles in western culture
Gender discrimination in literature
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For thousands of years in many, if not all cultures, men have been dominant over women. For example, women need to cover their bodies and if they are even allowed to get a job, they are limited to certain fields of work. This is especially true in the book, Lost Names. Throughout the book, Lost Names, there are people and events included to show the reader what the book has to say about the relationship between men and women. That is men are more important than women in society, a man has the right to dictate a women’s future, and men are more suitable for war and violence than women. Throughout Lost Names, the idea that men are more important than women is expressed over and over again. The narrator and his sister are having a one on one talk and they share how they feel about the new baby. The following quote exhibits their feelings about their new sister, “and to my surprise, she has been friendlier to me since the arrival of the baby, who turned out to be a girl, to my disappointment” (Kim 89-90). The narrator is saying that he did not want a girl sibling; he wanted his mother to have a baby boy. This is because he wants his family to keep the importance his father has …show more content…
That is, men are more important than women in society, a man has the right to dictate a women’s future, and men are more suitable for war and violence than women. As mentioned in the beginning of the essay, womens’ rights have been suppressed for thousands of years all over the globe. Today, in some countries women are not allowed to vote or even walk the streets alone. But that is changing; women are tired of being second class citizens and are taking a stand for what is rightfully theirs and if men do not change, men like the ones in Lost Names, women are going to leave them
...(Bloom, 486). As a class, men exploit them for personal use, both economically and sexually. They do everything they can to keep women in an inferior position. This repression is so pervasive that it is even found in the language of the women themselves. Correcting this problem is not a matter of changing individual relationships within the society. As the manifesto says, "the conflicts between individual men and women are political conflicts that can only be solved collectively"(486). In order for things to improve, there must be some change in society at a base level.
This discrimination towards this sex was reinforced by the idea that women was made for man. Not only was this idea prevalent within society but it furthermore is resonated through the laws and documents the government put in place. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony fought to establish equality between both sexes within the nation. This is illustrated within the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions at Seneca Falls when these women stated, “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object he establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.” This quote expresses the past of women rights and how from the beginning of time women have been seen as inferior to man. This furthermore resonated to express the idea that women were not only inferior but also a material object in a man’s life. Stanton and Anthony put a large emphasis into this ideal, making it their driving force into establishing women’s rights in America.
Both texts demonstrate the consequences associated with patriarchy, and extend to show that equality, and proper treatment of women can only be achieved in a non-patriarchal society.
All women should hold rights equal to men because a society governed by men and women as a unit would promote stability and peace. In “The Destructive Male” written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Stanton argues through diction and the employment of ethos, pathos, and logos that giving rights to women, and allowing women to hold positions in politics and government, would be beneficial to the whole of society.
In Hanna Rosin’s article, ‘‘the end of men”, the author begins by stating that women are taking over today’s society, while the position of men have become a thought of the past. The author recognizes the negativity of having girls as firstborns. In the article, the author states, “Many wives who failed to produce male heirs were abused and treated as domestic servants; while some families prayed to spirits to kill off girl children” (Rosin). In this article, the author gives light to how the preference of having males has decimated from the minds of people and how it has been erased from society. And, goes as far as insinuating that women have overtaken the place of men in today’s society and are seen as equal. However, I disagree because I believe that men just want to keep women down and it is demonstrated through discrimination at the workplace, depriving education, and violence towards women.
...e, women are the weaker of the two sexes. Women are slaves and spoils of war, if they are valued for sex they are used for sex. The universal portrayal of women causes a reevaluation of modern day gender balances by the reader.
Since the beginning of time, women have strived to achieve an equal status in society. The vast majority of women have rebelled against the norm for equal status. As if washing the dirt off one’s hands, women are forgotten for all of their achievements. The identity of women in the Western world has evolved from domesticity and servility, and moved toward their valuation as individuals of intellect, talent, and independence. The culture about women’s empowerment has been reflected in literature and history throughout many ages.
Through the years, the roles within gender have been imposed by us in all kind of societies. In a lot of culture woman are seen very poorly. Woman and man in different cultures are always fighting for equality, for the rights, for freedom, and for peace. Chapter ten “Feminism And Peace” of Discovering the twentieth-century world and "Persepolis," we can see three women from different cultures outside Europe and America fighting against war, military, and nuclear weapons. In both cases, “Feminism And Peace” and “Persepolis” the message is that woman are in favor of piece, no because they are woman but because they are humans.
Patriarchal societies have been accepted as the norm in many cultures since the beginning of time. Escaping the restrictions of such a society has been a pursuit of women for just as long. Men have tried to control the women in their lives because of some divine right they feel has been given them by God. This theme is seen throughout Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Both Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Bennett overcome the efforts of men in their lives to control them.
...action with others… especially men. This supplies final substantiation of the authors' argument, that women continue to be oppressed by their male-dominated societies. It is a bold undertaking for women to ally and promote a world movement to abandon sexist traditions. Although I have never lived in a third world or non-Westernized country, I have studied the conditions women suffer as "inferior" to men. In National Geographic and various courses I have taken, these terrible conditions are depicted in full color. Gender inequality is a terrible trait of our global society, and unfortunately, a trait that might not be ready to change. In America we see gender bias towards women in voters' unwillingness to elect more females into high office, and while this is not nearly as severe as the rest of the world, it indicates the lingering practice of gender inequality.
In the book, women have been given the ability to amass power and threaten the authoritarianism of men. On the other hand, the story revolves around the era of civil right. People are oppressed and threatened because of what they believe during this period. It is in the same process that the woman transforms into the victim and oppressed. It is through violence that the women undergo repression from men. In the same moment, it can be identified that the black community starts fighting for equality in the black community that became patriarchal (Shreerekha et al. 34). Throughout the
Man and his machismo have attained a sense of permanence in the order of the world- as symbolized by patriarchy. Woman, on the other hand, has attained mere objectification within this all-pervading patriarchal force. The patriarchal logic is simple and effective- the public sustains the personal and the sustainer is more powerful than the sustained. Man belongs to the former category and woman to the latter. What is required, therefore, to return to the harmony with which it all started is an unsettling of the created demarcations of the public and the private. The onus of this task falls, by default, on woman. Why on woman? Well, because power is the ultimate human instinct and why would man want to give it up when he is at its zenith?
Willpower and faith give an individual the ability to make the impossible, possible. Women, themselves have been the biggest examples of this; as they have challenged patriarchy over the course of time. Moreover, it is indeed unfortunate for women to live under the influence of male authorities who treat them dreadfully and demolish any ideas they wish to put out to the society. However, the tables surely seem to be turning; as women are not only standing up for their rights but also competing in tasks along with men and challenging patriarchy. In her article
Violence against women appeared from a long time ago and happened in every country. It caused pain in both mental and physical for women. There were so many people trying to stop this problem but it was still not completely fixed. There are many reasons that lead to this issue all over the world. After many surveys and investigations, we realized that the main reason is Discrimination and Unequal power. Some legends and stories in the past made people think men’s role is more important than women’s role in society. And because men are stronger, more active than women so they can do more work. This also makes people think men deserve more rights than women. They soon forced on human’s mind that men are also...
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