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ESSAY ON WOMEN OPPRESSION
ESSAY ON WOMEN OPPRESSION
women's oppression
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Recommended: ESSAY ON WOMEN OPPRESSION
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.
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
Gender has played specific roles in societies all over the place. Men are usually seen as the dominant gender and therefore appear to be more important to society but women still have an important role. It was not that long ago that women did not have many rights or play an important role at all. In America, laws were put in place to make men and women equal and today many women have filled jobs thought of as a man’s job but there is still a common thought of women being less important in society than men. Before deciding if a woman’s role in society is complimentary or not, the role of all humans must be examined. A woman could appear to have a terrible role but maybe that’s because everybody has a terrible role in that type of society. Same
Women, the daughter of a family, mother of children, wife of a husband, are beautiful beings created by a god. In Creation and the Cosmos, a collection of stories about how the world was created, many of the stories tell us that God created both man and woman. Although both men and women was created by a god, a woman’s obligations were different from a man’s. Since the beginning of mankind, women were viewed as secondary citizens. Even the word “mankind” uses the word man rather than woman. Women are the objects of men, owned by their fathers and husbands. They follow the tasks given to them. They stay home, clean, cook, and take care of children, in essence, they are housewives. While the men worked, fought in wars, and were the backbone of
scripture could mean that Adam is solely the head of the household and expected to protect and care Eve, or it could mean that God granted Adam physical power and control over Eve through fear. The amount of interpretation Genesis gives people has a large impact on how women are perceived in different religions since one is able to twist the meaning of the scripture in so many different ways.
The oppression of women in society plays a huge role in how mothers raise their young daughters for the cruel world that waits. In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl”, Kincaid lists multiple stereotypical roles of the “typical” women in her short text. Without question, Kincaid defines roles of women in a way that may seem sexist and put a strong limit on what women can and cannot do. Moreover, Kincaid’s piece does come to empower women and evokes various degrees of power, freedom and the control of women.
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.
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.
The depreciation of women and their overall inferior position in society can be attributed to the androcentric interpretations of the Hebrew Bible, especially the story of Adam and Eve. Throughout history, the story of Adam and Eve has been used by men to point out the inherent evil in women by pinning the eventual expulsion of Adam and Eve from Heaven on the neck of Eve. Eve has long been blamed for the expulsion from Heaven and in effect, women, even up until today, are portrayed as the “gateway to sin.”
The roles shown in the Book of Genesis and Theogony portray a female as an inferior being, while a male represents a superior being. This can be mostly observed in the cultures of developing countries and some religious societies.
Despite the patriarchal society from the biblical days, God is taught as being just as much a Mother as God is a Father (102). The willful ignorance of religious scholars of the time just show that they were making a conscious effort of trying to keep women from retaining any power that they had. This relegation of religious roles in an effort to keep Men in power is a poor example of how Christianity is a religion which promotes for the love and care of all people, no matter their status. The interpretation of God from these times clash severely with my notions of what is now considered to be an all-loving entity. 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.
The role of women in religious scripture dictates an inferior position in society. Beginning with the creation of Adam and then Eve, as his helpmate. Her purpose was that Adam would not be lonely. This origin provides the ground work for inequality of genders on the basis of religious scripture. The roles prescribed determined that women should be in a subordinate position to man. The female role and relationship with God is defined by the various books of the Old and New Testaments, the reported actions of Jesus Christ, and finally the Qur'an.
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
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.
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.
Throughout history, women’s roles have changed drastically. As times changed so did the opportunities and demands. Women adapted significantly well to these new changes, and so they were able to influence and help shape these periods, as well as benefit from them. Women suffered from much discrimination, and were not allowed to attend universities, vote, speak in public or own any property. Also, they did not have a choice but to fight for their place in society. Regardless of all these difficulties, women gathered strength and succeeded in establishing permanent social changes.