Patriarchal cultures are the universal reality of modern society. People who believe in equal rights for women try to expose the pitfalls of patriarchy. A role of the feminists is to fight patriarchy. In Salt Lake City, Utah where there are a number of people who belong to the Church of Latter Day Saints, also known as Mormons, patriarchy also exists. Terry Tempest Williams discusses patriarchy and women’s connection to the land in Refuge. Over time women’s status in society has become better, however in Mormon culture women’s rights have decreased. In Refuge, Terry Tempest Williams as an ecofeminist defies the traditional Mormon woman’s role.
In Refuge the gender roles are not as clear as in society. Williams chooses to display the gender roles more subtly. We learn that women are very close to other women. We see men doing manual labor. You see the mother as the nurturer and the father as the provider. Terry Tempest Williams gives readers insight on the culture but not explicit ideas about how gender in constructed in Mormon culture. Outside of Refuge, women have really lost rights in the last few years. In recent years women have lost the right to have priesthood and give blessings though polygamy has ceased (Stack 2003). These struggles are specific to Mormons but there are many struggles that women face all over the country.
The struggles that women face internationally are extensive. The female Mormons in Utah are not exempt from this struggle, in fact their struggles compare to women in the third world. In some Islamic states, the women have to cover their bodies so men can not see their bodies at all. Though Mormonism is not exactly the same, the status of women in the church has become progressively worse, making wo...
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... a family, and if finances allow, be a stay at home mom. While women are supposed to be prepared for a career – in case they don’t get married, spouse dies, etc., the first priority is supposed to be raising a family, and often career plans are “just in case” (4/13/05).
With the things that women know and do not quite know they make their opinions as all do. Even with the descent of women in Mormonism, through a thoughtful process, Sheena James herself chooses to be a stay at home mom in the future. There is no problem with this choice nor is it a problem for all women to make this choice; as long as there is a choice. Williams’ choice was not to perpetuate gender roles in her life. She still loves and appreciates her cultural practices though sexism exists in the culture. Being an eco feminist defies the traditional role of the woman as Williams does in Refuge.
Read, Katy. "Regrets of a stay-at-home mom." Real Families. Salon, 05 Jan 2011. Web. 4 Apr. 2014.
To understand the significant changes within the role of women, it’s important to look at the position women held in society prior to World War II. In a famously quoted ruling by the United States Supreme Court in a case denying a woman’s right to practice law, the following excerpt penned by the Honorable Joseph P. Bradley in 1873 sums up how women were perceived during that period of time by their male counterparts. Bradley declared, "The paramount destiny and mission of women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother -- this is the law of the Creator" . While many women may agree that the role of wife and mother is a noble one, most would certainly not agree this position would define their destiny.
Feminism and Indigenous women activism is two separate topics although they sound very similar. In indigenous women’s eyes feminism is bashing men, although Indigenous women respect their men and do not want to be a part of a women’s culture who bring their men down. Feminism is defined as “The advocacy of women 's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.” In theory feminism sounds delightful despite the approaches most feminists use such as wrong-full speaking of the opposite gender. Supposedly, feminism is not needed as a result of Indigenous women being treated with respect prior to colonization. Thus, any Native woman who calls herself a feminist is often condemned as being “white”. This essay argues that Indigenous women may
mother in a two income family or if you're just living on your own. This career
Why not to enforce? This questions is legible because if, moral values are observed; in a society, It means that I’ll be living in an ideal society where everyone would like to live. This is a very good argument i...
Oftentimes, societal gender roles shape and form the culture within which they lie. Regardless of origin, such gender roles typically work to reinforce religious values and norms. Additionally, consideration for change and growth within these roles must be weighed in on. Whether or not the historical gender role remains completely relevant in the modern context must be assessed. In order to understand the gender roles and to determine if change or progress has occurred, the interrelationship of culture, society, and religion must not only be referenced, but critically analyzed for detailed explanations and evidence. In order to illustrate said concepts, I plan to survey two common and influential religious communities in the American Southwest; Roman Catholicism and Mormonism. There is a large pop...
Kenrick, John. Musical Theatre A History. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2008. Print.
Religion is powerful in that it controls followers’ behaviours and beliefs throughout their entire lives; it is a form of social control. Catholicism is one of the most widely known religions influencing more than 2 billion people around the world (Ross). Within Catholicism not everyone are seen as equals; men have greater privilege than women. The bible and church are from a male’s point of view (Christ 86) and passages within the bible are used to enforce a sexual hierarchy. In fact, the oppression of women begins with the first story in Genesis about creation, which portrays females as being inferior to men and even of an evil nature. This one passage is the main source of justification of oppression of woman in the church (Daly 13). The church and its teachings instil low self-esteem and low self-worth in women; it creates false identities that are supposed to be God’s plan (Daly 3). One has to wonder why women participate in the church and follow its teachings, and how women can overcome the oppression in the church.
Although many of the new gun control laws put into effect target the firearm itself, firearm sales have been increasing. Since 2003, murder has decreased by 17%. Advocates need to review their assumption that more guns equals more crime. Private guns are now in the hands of about 300 million Americans, yet crime has diminished in the U.S.’s past 20 years. To halt any more mass killing shooters such as Adam Lanza, the 20 yr-old shoo...
Kellermann et al. attempt to address whether owning a fire arm increases the risk factors for violent crimes in the home instead of conferring protection against delinquency as commonly thought. In essence, the article seeks to examine whether a policy that reduces residential gun ownership would have a positive effect in decreasing violent crimes in homes.
Abu-Lughod, Lila. "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections On Cultural Relativism And Its Others." American Anthropologist 104.3 (2002): 783-790. Print.
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...
Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had been so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives.
Ecofeminists hold the domination of women as their focus as they see the root cause of nature domination and the domination of others as due to a patriarchal conceptual framework. Warren states that a conceptual framework is defined as “a set of basic beliefs, values, attitudes, and assumptions which shape and reflect how one views oneself and one’s world. (64)” It is a “lens” through which one perceives reality and our “lens”, according to the Ecofeminist, is patriarchal. Patriarchy is a “male biased”, gendered institution that rejects convergence and embraces dichotomies and dualisms. Patriarchal views privilege masculine over feminine, reason over emotion, competition over cooperation and force over empathy.
Minas, A. (2000). Gender basics: Feminist perspective on women and men.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.