Invisible Gender Rules

1506 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effect of women in society

Invisible Gender Rules

Changing oneself is very difficult to achieve, but a complete change of a group of people is next to impossible. For women, the past many years have changed lives, careers and family life. Yet the women's

revolution did not remove discrimination from society, it only changed certain discriminatory actions into others. Fatima Mernissi wrote the short story "The Harem Within" about a young girl living in a Harem where her primary role is to become a slave to her husband, being both uneducated and unlike herself. Proceeding a few years ahead, Clarice Lispectors short story "Preciousness", introduces another young women with similar problems in the completely opposite place, for this young girls Harem is the society and expectations of her peers. Gender roles are very specific to different cultures and religions, yet what continues to be a problem is that discriminatory rules and regulations that are present. No matter how advanced a place can become, there will always be the discriminatory idea that one gender should be a certain way despite who they really are and who they would like to become Both women and men are subjected to this harsh reality.

Women and men have evolved for many years now, whether it is style, personality or religious beliefs there is always room for change. Although the women's' movement was arguably very successful, there are very many young women who still have personal and emotional problems brought up because of society. Lispector depicts these problems through her character in her short story "Preciousness" by describing the adolescent emotional growing pains ...

... middle of paper ...

...ate ways, they both relate to each other in very similar aspects. Lispector and Mernissi tell stories of young women struggling to become someone important, they are not sure if they should become what the rest of the world would like them to be compared to the way they feel they should be. This is truly a fact of life and it can relate to most people in this world who have struggled with this concept of belonging. Even though our hearts can tell us what is right and wrong, there are always temptations to become something your not in order to make things easier for yourself.

Bibliography

Lispector, Clarice. "Preciousness". The Longman Anthology of World Literature Vol,

F.Ed. David Daursh New York: Longman, 2004.771-777.

Mernissi, Fatima. "The Harem Within". The Longman Anthology of World Literature

Vol, F.Ed. David Daursh New York: Longman, 2004. 777-781.

Show More
Related

  • Sharon Olds' The Possessive

    1266 Words  | 3 Pages

    Teenage rebellion is typically portrayed in stories, films, and other genres as a testosterone-based phenomenon. There is an overplayed need for one to acknowledge a boy’s rebellion against his father, his life direction, the “system,” in an effort to become a man, or rather an adult. However, rarely is the female addressed in such a scenario. What happens when little girls grow up? Do they rebel? Do they, in a sudden overpowering rush of estrogen, deny what has been taught to them from birth and shed their former youthful façades? Do they turn on their mothers? In Sharon Olds’ poem, “The Possessive,” the reader is finally introduced to the female version of the popular coming-of-age theme as a simple haircut becomes a symbol for the growing breach between mother and daughter through the use of striking images and specific word choice.

    Read More

  • Mary Piphers Analysis

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mary Pipher goes on to say that the problem faced by girls is a ‘problem without a name’ and that the girls of today deserve a different kind of society in which all their gifts can be developed and appreciated. (Pipher,M). It’s clear that cultures and individual personalities intersect through the period of adolescence. Adolescence is a time in a young girl’s life that shapes them into the woman they become. I think it begins earlier than teen years because even the clothing that is being sold for younger girls says sexuality. Bras for girls just beginning in every store are now padded with matching bikini underwear, Barbie dolls are glamour up in such away that these girls believ...

    Read More

  • Substance Abuse Case Study

    1810 Words  | 4 Pages

    Miller, J. B. (2008). How change happens: Controlling images, mutuality, and power. Women & Therapy, 31(2-4), 109-127. DOI: 10.1080/02703140802146233

    Read More

  • Rhetoric In Saving Ophelia

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dr. Mary Pipher’s novel, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls uncovers the reason why girls coming of age change throughout puberty and how outside forces affect them. Throughout the book the readers see Pipher successfully uses the five canons of rhetoric to explain her thesis and purpose. Dr. Mary Pipher’s use of rhetoric helps to paint a clear picture of her purpose- what is affecting young girls and how society can help to better their lives by embracing these young girls and their flaws.

    Read More

  • Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

    2406 Words  | 5 Pages

    In summary, oppression of women is a serious issue because many women are not treated as men and withheld from every opportunity. However, because of these outcomes, women are prevented from achieving higher goals, such as getting an education, pursuing a career, and having word of their own. Therefore, women have to stand up for their rights and fight back to show men that women are not only housekeepers, but they are equal and smart as men are. Women will continue to waste their talents if they get used to the idea that they have to achieve their feminine roles because of oppression of man.

    Read More

  • Criticism of Preconceived Female Roles in "Pink Think," by Lynn Peril

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the beginning, Lynn Peril illustrates situations in which women have to deal with a bunch of admonitions to become more feminine and good-natured. And these tips are not just some other normal tips; they become famous and being rulers to evaluate the dignity of women. Then, the author goes on to relate her real “Pink Think” experience throughout her life and express her strong feelings, “I formed an early aversion to all things pink and girly” (Peril, 280). She also fleer some girls who feign innocence and pretend to look as if butter would not melt in their mouth.

    Read More

  • The Gender Blur

    1540 Words  | 4 Pages

    In “The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over?” Deborah Blum states that “gender roles of our culture reflect an underlying biology” (Blum 679). Maasik and Solomon argue that gender codes and behavior “are not the result of some sort of natural or biological destiny, but are instead politically motivated cultural constructions,” (620) raising the question whether gender behavior begins in culture or genetics. Although one may argue that gender roles begin in either nature or nurture, many believe that both culture and biology have an influence on the behavior.

    Read More

  • Volar Judith Ortiz Cofer Analysis

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over time, a women’s identity has been seen as powerless and incompetent to achieve anything. This image of women is being created at a young age at young age. For instance, little

    Read More

  • Gender in the Work Force

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... history, it is proven that gender changes along with social, political, and cultural change. Despite all, many women continue to face other kinds of discrimination. Women continue to experience sexism, the idea of traditional gender roles. Women are still thought to be more involved in taking care of their children and the household. Women often face unconscious stereotypes in the workplace as well. In some cases, women have a less change of obtaining better, and higher paying jobs. Women often don’t get promoted to higher positions in office, despite their qualifications and experiences. Female candidates running for public office experience forms of sexism as well. The variations and adaptions of society are evidence that reinforce the idea that gender is formed under social construction rather than the essence from biology alone.

    Read More

  • The Discrimination of Woman in the Workplace

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    One important question that needs to be asked is, “what is equal?” Equality between sexes and race has been stressed and made law in the late nineteenth century, but even though laws have been made to protect woman from this discrimination, it still occurs frequently. Equal is being treated the same way and having the same opportunities no matter who one is. Big business has not given women the chance to be equal with men. One does not normally see a woman as the owner, or even the manager of a major corporation, these jobs consistently go to men. Traditi...

    Read More

  • Jean Rhys' Use of Conflicting Narratives of Antoinette and Rochester in Wide Sargasso Sea

    2150 Words  | 5 Pages

    as a woman and so has to live with these changes made by others. This

    Read More

  • Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Critics

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).

    Read More

  • Inequality In Betty Friedan

    2006 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout history when a girl is born, it wasn’t received as a blessing. Many cultures see this as a curse. A girl’s anatomy seemed to be her destiny as Freud once said. A girl is born with the burden of being simply a woman. Betty Friedan experienced being a woman in the middle class suburbs of America. And although it did not discuss the struggles of all women, it did give us a glimpse of a particular group of women and their struggles as housewives and mothers. In the book, Friedan describes the injustices women faced when they were forced to go back home after the war. The short lived freedom of being able to achieve a college education and put it to good use was swept away from them. Forcing them back to their homes and hypnotizing them

    Read More

  • The Women's Liberation Movement

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Society

    374 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Invisible Gender Rules

Open Document