Gender Inequality In Different Cultures

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Barbara Kingsolver criticizes gender inequality by comparing the similarities of the Congolese culture and that of the Americans. In Nearly all eras of society, man has dominated over woman. The female kind have never (until our modern time) had a say in politics, have been able to neither obtain education, nor have been able to acquire their own finances. Throughout the Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver accentuates the oppression of men over women.

To many cultures the purpose of women is to be the wives and baby makers, while the purpose of men are too bring in the food and money. This principle of being the means of well bringing for a family is what determines the value of a person to society. The man has a large responsibility, by caring materially for the family, including food, shelter, and other belongings. The woman continues to produce offspring, and is mostly vulnerable through out the year, especially during pregnancy. This power difference brings about an abused amount of force enough to break the spirit of another. “What is the conqueror’s wife, if not a conquest herself?” A woman is not worthless. Truly both sexes are equal. What is different, what actually affects the actions of others is how a person is treated. If a person is treated inferior, then the person becomes inferior. Often what we are is not determined by us as many hope and believe. What we are is predetermined by society. It does not matter if it is right or wrong. The popular belief is the only belief.

As an inferior, why would women at all worry about finances? A man is typically the hunter, the bringer of food. He is the one responsible of material needs. This progression in historic life no longer applies to modern world; a world of jo...

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...solution of many civil rights issues. A child cannot fight against labor laws because he is underage. An African American can not stand up for his right to vote if his voice is not recognized. A woman can not fight for her own equality if her inequality has already been set as precedent. In the lives of both the Congolese and the Americans, it is common belief that it is necessary for a woman to be under the force of a man. “It troubled Leah that people thought our household deficient because we lacked a bakala mpandi- a strong man- to oversee us.” Women lack independence. Such independence can only be fought for by a dependent person. Therefore, a woman will not become dependent. “There is not justice in this world, this world has brought one vile abomination after another down on the heads o fthe gentle, and I’ll not live to see the meek inherit anything.”

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