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What is role of women
Importance of gender equality on males and females
What is role of women
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Many philosophers have argued that freedom should be applied to men in society. They argue that men should have both physical freedom and the liberty to express themselves. However, not many philosophers take into account the freedom and equality that women should have by nature. In the women’s case, equality is a necessary condition of freedom. In the works by women philosophers Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Simone De Beauvoir, and Virginia Woolf, an analysis on their works shows that these authors believe equality is absolutely a necessary condition of freedom for women. Due to the presence of and dependence on men, women are deprived from using their freedom to expand their knowledge, reason and their social standing. Thus, women don’t need men to be free. There are no circumstances in which inequality to women should be tolerable in society or within a marriage because both men and women should compromise to be happy.
There are many levels of freedom that can be applied such as physical and mental freedom. However to these authors mental freedom is the most important. Mental freedom is the liberty to use reason and thought to make decisions. To these authors, freedom means to be able to express themselves without being judged and be able to be independent from men. All three authors express their extreme desire for women to become independent and be taken into account by society as individuals and be treated equally as men. These women advocate independence and social equality, which explicitly leads to freedom of thought. These authors define freedom for women as having the liberty of using one’s reason and logic to make decisions and not depend on men to make the decisions for them. Women also want equality and the freedom to b...
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...olf all argue against philosophers who don not take into consideration the gender inequality that affects women’s freedom. Therefore, equality for women in society is a necessary condition to their freedom. Male presence in society overshadows and does not allow women to exercise their freedom and expand their knowledge and reason. Their lack of independence from men also affects their inequality status and their freedom.
Works Cited:
Beauvoir, Simone De., and H. M. Parshley. Introduction. The Second Sex: By Simone De Beauvoir. London: n.p., 1972. 13-29. Print
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Women and Economics: A Study of the Economic Relation between Men and Woman as a Factor in Social Evolution. Berkeley: University of California, 1998. Lxxi-lxxv-1-75. Print.
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Comp. Mark Hussey. New York: Harcourt, Brace &, 1927. 7-65. Print.
Throughout history, women have been portrayed as the passive, subdued creatures whose opinions, thoughts, and goals were never as equal as those of her male counterparts. Although women have ascended the ladder of equality to some degree, today it is evident that total equalization has not been achieved. Simone De Beauvoir, feminist and existential theorist, recognized and discussed the role of women in society today. To Beauvoir, women react and behave through the scrutiny of male opinion, not able to differentiate between their true character and that which is imposed upon them. In this dangerous cycle women continue to live up to the hackneyed images society has created, and in doing so women feel it is necessary to reshape their ideas to meet the expectations of men. Women are still compelled to please men in order to acquire a higher place in society - however, in doing this they fall further behind in the pursuit of equality.
Gender inequality has been a major issue for many centuries now. Societies insist in assigning males and females to different roles in life. The traditional stereotypes and norms for how a male and female should present themselves to the world have not changed much over time. But individuals are more than just their gender and should have the right to act and be treated the way they want. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Indisputably, Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the most influential figures of Enlightenment, also considered the ‘first feminist’. It is certain that her works and writing has influenced the lives of many women and altered the outlook of some societies on women, evolving rights of women a great deal from what they used to be in her time. It is clear that Wollstonecraft’s arguments and writing will remain applicable and relevant to societies for many years to come, as although there has been progression, there has not been a complete resolution. Once women receive so easily the freedom, rights and opportunities that men inherently possess, may we be able to say that Wollstonecraft has succeeded in vindicating the rights of women entirely.
De Beauvoir Simone. “The second sex” Ch.1. 2009. Science Fiction Stories and Contexts. Ed. Stephen A. Scipione and Marisa Feinstein. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, n.d. 119-34. Print.
3 Woolf, Virginia: A sketch of the past , Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol.2 , sixth edition
Many ancient laws and beliefs show that women from all around the world have always been considered inferior to men. However, as time went on, ideas of equality circulated around and women started to demand equality. Many women fought for equality and succeeded in bringing some rights. However, full equality for women has yet to be fulfilled. This issue is important because many women believe that the rights of a person should not be infringed no matter what their gender is, and by not giving them equality, their rights are being limited. During the periods 1840 to 1968, total equality for women did not become a reality due to inadequate political representation, economic discrepancy, and commercial objectification.
Within the modern feminist movement much effort has been made to find the likeness between men and women. Liberal feminism has taken the stand that little or no significant differences separate genders (Maltin 6). The goal of this reasoning in feminism is equal rights the and thus the destination, gender equality. (Maltin 5) Impassioned women have take up resourceful actions to further their cause and secure these rights. However, by concentrating on the similitude women have constrained their own identity. Through recognizing differences between genders women have the opportunity to achieve not only greater equality but also create the environment to embrace their unique and exceptional undertaking with humanity.
Throughout history and even today women are regarded as inconsequential. They are chattels or servants, a person without rights. In some present instances, women are struggling to show that they do have rights and can make a contribution to society if given the chance.
(6) Simone deBeauvoir, The Second Sex, translated by H.M. Parshley (New York: Random House, 1972) p. xxx
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. 1927. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1951. pp 131-133.
Beauvoir illustrates that the problematic element involved in social training is the assumed roles of gender. Women are always other. They never occupy the subject position. This dichotomy between men and women is so deeply ingrained in our ways of thinking that nobody even questions the model to begin with. However, Beauvoir does question this model and is truly a pioneer for her time in doing so. Existentialism focuses on the notion that each individual is responsible for the meaning, which they attach to their lives. Even though we occupy a world, where our choices are informed by “established norms and values” (Oliver, 1997:160). These values have been entrenched into cultural institutions of patriarchal control and ultimately facilitated the concept of woman as “other”. The institution of marriage is one in particular that calls for the subjection of women, and provides men with unbound power over their wives. Beauvoir illustrates that the emancipation of women would call for a complete removal of systems and institutions that restrict women’s freedom. Women are restricted on so many levels that we would need to completely disregard all of these forms of ‘interlocking’ oppressive systems which make up our
Throughout history, women have been oppressed and seen as subservient to men. Gender differences denied women the right to education, among many factors that men had. Women lived their lives to be wives and mothers while men went to school, held careers, interests passions and individual lives outside of the homes women so rarely left. Mary Wollstonecraft expressed her abhorrence for this injustice in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Later in the same year of 1792, Anna Barbauld responded by attacking Wollstonecraft with her “The Rights of Woman.” Both women present a clear, though opposing argument allowing the reader further insight of the oppression plaguing women in the late eighteenth century.
For centuries, women struggle to obtain equality with men. They are invisible and not given opportunities because of their gender. Feminism is the matter of consideration in social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. The feminist movement has been the key to give the rights to women who have been stricken of their equality and privileges that men had fail to give them. It is believed that women have every right to be equal with men and feminism is achieving this gradually. Feminism is favorable to the men, women, and their families because it gives an equal opportunity in life
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 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. Feminist political ideology focuses on understanding and changing political philosophies for the betterment of women.
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.