The Oppression of Women and Their Movement Toward Individuality
The theme of individual and society can be looked upon in many different manners. There is the concept of people separating themselves from society in order to become individuals and express their individuality. There is the concept of individuality and the consequences its expression may have. The situation exists in which individuality is limited by society. Each of these ways of looking at the theme of individuals and society is something that has affected women since the beginning of recorded time. Throughout history, women have been suppressed and undermined by those who claim superiority over them based solely on a difference in chromosomes, not a difference in intelligence, talent, or ability. These claims have been made based on ideas from Biblical representations of men and women to protecting women and ensuring their mental and physical well-being. Still, women formed a unity that had clear goals, valid supporters, and strong leaders that enabled them to overcome their oppressions.
Many ideas of male superiority come from and began with the Bible. It can be noted that woman, in the second creation story in Genesis, is made from that which is man. It can also be noted that it is a woman who, in the Garden of Eden story in Genesis, initially commits the first act against God's wishes and therefore causes herself and her companion to be judged and punished. Throughout the Bible, women are rarely referred to by an actual proper name. Women are referred to as property, a mere woman in a world of men. Also in the Bible, women are presented to be focused entirely around the home and are property of men with the sole purpose of bearing children, as in the Abraham, Sarah, and Haggar cycle in Genesis in which the two women are property of Abraham, there only to provide him with an heir. However unfortunate, in the context and time it was written, this was the case. Still, today we cannot believe the Bible to be a guideline for the roles of women. Many ideas may be false concerning what has been inferred and what was actually written and its purpose. A closer reading of the text will prove that women played a vital role in many of the treasured beliefs of believers. Even without names, women had a voice and were a force to be reckoned with.
In the Hebrew Bible, women are viewed as minor and inferior figures. Women are given a secondary place in society, nonetheless they play a crucial role and have a number of vital figures in the Biblical history.
The stories about women in the bible illustrate the importance of their role and contribution to society. Women were slaves, concubines, and child bearers; they were also wives, matriarchs, and prophets. Although, some women had less important titles than others each served a purpose. Even if the Bible does not explain God’s relationship with women as with Moses and other prophets, it illustrates the love and dedication women had for Him. The scriptures describe brave, nurturing, and God fearing women whose decisions impacted the existence of the Israelites.
Since the biblical days, society was very structural with the role of the “Man” and the “Woman.” This concept came to be known as the term gender roles, referring to the significant differences between men and women due to an established role and expectation created by society itself. Society’s expectations of the man’s character were assertiveness, analytical, and unemotional. These characteristics, collectively, coin the term masculine for men. And society’s expectations of the woman’s character were sensitivity, nurturing, and emotional, which together coined the term feminine. Along with the standards of feminine and masculine came responsibilities both the man and the woman. The male had economic responsibilities and the female had domestic
It is evident that men are often viewed as being superior or more important than females through a variety of different aspects. In the text, Eve and Adam:Genesis 2-3 Reread by Phyllis Trible, Trible discusses the story of Adam and Eve and how this biblical piece is what essentially created the gender roles that are presented in todays society. The first illustration of male dominance is seen when God creates the first human being which happens to be a man (Trible, 141). The males role is to to maintain the garden, take care of the animals and essentially be the one who is in charge (Trible, 141). A woman is only created in order to keep the male company and help him therefore, the woman takes on a secondary role while the man has the primary role clearly showing that men hold more power in society. Another clear example of male domination comes from the text, The Creation and Fall of Man and Woman by Rosemary Agonito states that the reasoning for gender differences is due to Adam and Eve disobeying God by eating from the tree of knowledge. When Adam and Eve make the chose to eat from the tree God gives them both
In her article, “Feminist Hermeneutics and Biblical Studies”, Phyllis Trible discusses the issues centered toward women in the bible (Trible). She addresses issues not just concerning equality, but also how men viewed women in biblical times. Trible examines the role of women in the bible, and the misconception they carry, that leads many into harms way.
During the 19th century, in eastern America, men were the heads of families and controllers of the work place, while women had little power, especially over their roles; particularly upper class women due to the lack of necessity for them to work outside the home. “Men perpetrated an ideological prison that subjected and silenced women”(Welter, Barbara). Their only responsibilities were to be modest, proper women who took care of themselves and did not stray from the purpose of motherhood. They were to remain in the home scene and leave the public work to the men; trapped in their own households, they were expected to smile, accept, and relish such a life. Barbra Walter also agrees that women were imprisoned in their homes, and were merely good for maintaining the family, “a servant tending to the needs of the family”(Welter). Many women's emotions, as well as minds, ran amiss from this life assignment and caused them to stray from the social norms set up by tradition. The narrator in Charlotte Gilman's story, The Yellow Wallpaper, is a victim of such emotional disobedience and rebelliousness. As well as the rebellious women in the poem The Woman in the Ordinary, by Marge Piercy.
In scripture it is seen that God’s intention was for equality “…And the man said: This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! She is to be called Woman.” (Gen.2:23) Woman and Man was given a body, mind and soul. Each had a personality and capable of exercising dominion. (Gen 1: 28-29) (Genderstanding Jesus)
The women’s movement had been characterized by women's wish to acquire equal legal status to men by obtaining civil and political rights recorded in the Constitution and legislation. In Romania, the first wave of the feminist movement had been held simultaneously with the women’s movement in West, and it had been a movement of the elite, educated women with access to international information. An important period of this movement was before the establishment of the Romanian Constitution in 1923. It was the most democratic Constitution and women started an intense activity of lobbying for their rights until 1947. Between 1947 and 1989 Romania was pushed under Soviet influence by the Red Curtain, and the feminist activity was eradicated. Although Communism proclaimed gender equality between men and women, this had been acted contradictorily in public sphere and private life. Freedom has been detracted by the Communist Party, and women’s private lives had been controlled by the Party by limiting their legal rights. After the Romanian Revolution in 1989, it was taken a modest initiative on the situation of gender equality and women’s rights in Romanian society. Since 1989 until the present, Romanian women’s roles and rights in society is becoming a priority in Romania. In addition, the promotion of equal opportunities for women and men is also a priority in the democracy, and under Western influence and European legislation. This essay will attempt to outline the difficulties representing the causes of the women’s movement and some of the effects of social, economic and political rights.
Women of these times were obviously not equal to their male counterparts. In modern days however, women are thought of as equals in society. The problem is that they are still not being treated as equals in a religious aspect as well as many other aspects. Elizabeth A. Johnson draws attention to how, despite being considered equal in Genesis, women had their worth ignored “Consistently subordinated and demeaned in the theories, symbols, rituals, A large wave of pro women thinking has arisen in the form of feminist theology. This line of thought draws from Genesis and the idea that men and women were created equally.
Imagine if you were a woman in nineteenth century America, what do you think life would be like? The obvious answer is that one would be subjected to being a housewife and only a housewife, but there was something else that went far beneath this surface oppression. For women, the nineteenth century was a dark period. Not only were they thought of as glorified maids, but they were also greatly oppressed and subjected to the rule of man. At this time, women weren’t allowed to vote and it was socially unacceptable for a woman to do much without the proper consent of her husband or father. In the story, The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the reader explores the idea of how deeply this oppression affected the average woman. In the story, the main character is denied the simple right of her own sanity and peace of mind wherever she expressed desires to be free. The nineteenth century was not a pleasant time for women, especially for those who were brave enough to ask to be treated like a man.
Women in history were subjected to an oppressed role, which men were in control. Many of these women created groups to talk about these problems such as the Seneca Falls. Women fought for equality, but some were happy with the status quo, and some simply became the change.
In the creation, Eve was creating from “the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man” (Genesis 2). From this context one can see that this society believes that males were created first and women are created from men. The writer of the creation also makes the women seem like the ignorant one since she is the one that is tricked by the snake to consume the forbidden fruit. Thus, we start to see a society that belittle women. This is confirm when God punish Even by stating, “yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3). Furthermore, this line directly tells all readers that the wife is submissive to the husband and the husband has control over his wife. The key component of Genesis is that it gives a religious reasoning to why women are less superior to men. Genesis tells the Hebrew society that women are not equal to men because they are made from men, therefore, they have to be controlled by their husband or else they will get tricked like Eve. This time period uses religion to give reasoning to certain societal
The number of feminist scholars critically assessing Biblical narrative has risen since the second feminist movement of the 1970s (Scholz 2014). A common theme of their scholarship has been to what extent the Bible may be seen to favour men. Some feminist scholars may not be able to legitimately assess the Bible and remain faithful to it because of such outdated views on women in a time when women’s equality is encouraged. I will firstly discuss the difficulties of being a feminist scholar and a Christian or Jew with particular reference to belonging to men, being of less value in society, and finally with a focus on key issues arising from Genesis 2 and 3 whereby gender roles and woman’s blame for the Fall of Man have been central to feminist interpretations. I will then assess ways in which such difficulties may be overcome with a different interpretation, beginning with refuting claims concerning the Creation story. This will be followed by analysing how the Bible is read and the value of historical context when doing so. By discussing these aspects, I will reach a conclusion as to how far you can be both a feminist scholar and a faithful Christian or Jew.
Corinthians 14:34 states, “Let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law” (Holy Bible, King James Edition). Edith Hamilton, "recognized as the greatest woman Classicist", says that the Bible is the only book before our century that looked to women as human beings, no better nor worse than men (Tanner). However, it cannot be said that this book was consistently favorable to women. Maybe not absolutely, but conditionally in personal opinion, the Bible shows numerous examples of a woman’s inferiority to men, an assessment that has been translated into the cultures of generations. In this essay I will address briefly instances in the bible pertaining to women, and continue on with thoughts on how I believe these notions have been interpreted into society.
Women have always been essential to society. Fifty to seventy years ago, a woman was no more than a house wife, caregiver, and at their husbands beck and call. Women had no personal opinion, no voice, and no freedom. They were suppressed by the sociable beliefs of man. A woman’s respectable place was always behind the masculine frame of a man. In the past a woman’s inferiority was not voluntary but instilled by elder women, and/or force. Many, would like to know why? Why was a woman such a threat to a man? Was it just about man’s ability to control, and overpower a woman, or was there a serious threat? Well, everyone has there own opinion about the cause of the past oppression of woman, it is currently still a popular argument today.