The Glass Ceiling

1136 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Should abortion be legal if rape has occurred

Of all the calendar days, not much has occurred on February 4th; however, in 1921 this day gave birth to a movement which ignited a fire that still hasn’t stopped its burning. More specifically, it gave birth to Bettye Naomi Goldstein, who would go on in life to attend Smith College, marry Carl Friedan, and author The Feminine Mystique (Biography.com). By writing this novel, she was able to bring the idea of power back through the minds of women in the second wave of feminism. Many argue against feminism, describing the cultural phenomenon as hypocritical and misandrous Merriam-Webster defines ‘feminism’ as, “The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.”
Throughout time, there have been certain influential individuals that have dominated their age and have forever marked that era with their name. Among them are Cleopatra, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, and Nefertiti, with many others. One thing these leaders have in common is their gender: they are all females. In this day and age, it’s a rarity to come across strong, powerful women who have been allowed the opportunity to be powerful. It begs the question, if these women were alive today, would they have the same chance to change the world as they did? However, it’s not only the powerful who feel the sting of sexism, because the misogyny in today’s society affects each and every woman, of every color, age, and shape. The most important lesson to learn for the cultural and societal growth of people is to understand the causes and affects behind anti-feminism. Sexism takes many forms, yet it can be broken down into three main parts: the portrayal of women in media, the oppression of women in society, and the boundaries of women through laws.
To b...

... middle of paper ...

...legalized oppression of women can be found in the Shiite countries. Matthias Gebauer writes that these women must ask permission before leaving the household and they must please their husbands.
Moreover, several court cases and laws are made to oppress women. In Afghanistan, women must please their husbands (Graham-Harrison). Forced marriages have been used to secure political relations and use women as pawns. Court cases passed to favor the rapist in rape crimes spreads rape culture. Laws are being made to prevent abortions even in the cases of rape and incest. “It is a travesty that this is happening” (Graham-Harrison). Women haven’t been president yet. One third of pregnant women are killed by their husband (Valenti). Shiite laws oppress women. They must have sex with their husbands (Gebauer). But no one talks about this because its not men they are affecting.

Show More
Related

  • Women's Rights In The Middle East Dbq Analysis

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the limitations of women's rights in the middle east there are people who a for women and think they deserve the same rights. For example, a document that was pro women was document 1 because it was about how an Afghan woman was abused by her husbands and other men, but she never let that bring her down because in the end she said “But i am woman, woman, a woman a

    Read More

  • Inequality of Women During 1840 to 1968

    1910 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Islamic Women: Oppression or Equality?

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    Do you believe that the women of Islam are oppressed or do you believe that these women are treated equally? The question has arisen whether there is true equality between men and women in the Islamic community. There are many different positions and views regarding this topic. It is especially apparent more recently that women are striving and doing all that they can to have equality. “The past twenty years have been some of the darkest in women’s lives. With the anti-secularist backlash, the rise of political Islam, and efforts over the past two decades to impose religion on the people thousands have been executed - decapitated or stoned to death- and medieval laws to suppress women have been revived.” A source from http://www.famafrique.org says. This articles goes on to say that the media portrays a different image than how things really are.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Gender Inequity In Society

    1494 Words  | 3 Pages

    Judith Lorder writes in Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender, "talking about gender for most people is equivalent of fish talking about water" because gender is so routine that its "assumptions and presuppositions" are taken for granted and left unquestioned and unchallenged. Institutions such as religion has remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years and has teachings that are outright sexist, which limits lives of women because it creates the idea that there are just two extremes and no in-between : the virgin or the whore. Men do not have to face persecution or tyranny in instutions and social systems have a patriarchal foundation. Gender inequity operates within instutions because the institutions are in the control of men who are privileged from the gender inequity. Institutions limit women 's lives by excluding women who do not conform to their expectations or follow their "rules." The rules or norms within these instutitions were determined by men which explains why women 's problems or limitations are not a concern for

    Read More

  • Glass Ceiling Essay

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ever since it was coined as a term in the 1980s by Gay Bryant, the glass ceiling has had an immense impact on the average working woman as well as diversity in the workplace. To understand its effect and contributions it is necessary to start from the basics by defining the term.

    Read More

  • Essay On Glass Ceiling

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is constant talk of the “glass ceiling” and the inequality of women in the work place. When these topics come up, they are often associated with negative connotations and with a radical feminist approach. Instead of pointing out the disparity of American women in the work place, this paper will focus on the advancements women have made, and show that although there still may be a wage gap and glass ceiling, it is not as drastic as it is more often made out to be.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Feminism

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the past decades and even century, the women’s movement towards equality made tremendous progress. In the year 2014 women have attained the right to vote, to a higher education, to divorce abusive spouses, to own land, and to keep bank accounts among many other things. But, feminists argue that this progress is commonly mistaken for the false belief that true equality exists between the sexes. Feminist, in fact, argue that injustices still exist and may need our attention more than ever in many areas including the regular exclusion of women from voting in Saudi Arabia, lack of education for women in Middle Eastern countries, and the international gap between the amount of work women do and the amount of the world’s income that women receive. But the main focus of this report, however, will be mainly on the political injustices in in laws and the workplace, and the social inequalities in the home and in the ...

    Read More

  • Invitation to Sociology by Peter Berger

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...action with others… especially men. This supplies final substantiation of the authors' argument, that women continue to be oppressed by their male-dominated societies. It is a bold undertaking for women to ally and promote a world movement to abandon sexist traditions. Although I have never lived in a third world or non-Westernized country, I have studied the conditions women suffer as "inferior" to men. In National Geographic and various courses I have taken, these terrible conditions are depicted in full color. Gender inequality is a terrible trait of our global society, and unfortunately, a trait that might not be ready to change. In America we see gender bias towards women in voters' unwillingness to elect more females into high office, and while this is not nearly as severe as the rest of the world, it indicates the lingering practice of gender inequality.

    Read More

  • Women of the Middle East

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ese deeds may be, the women of these two great nations will always be treated like second class citizens. Progress has been made to change this mindset, but change is slow in the Middle East, and when it comes to changing women’s rights, this will always be the slowest of changes to occur.

    Read More

  • Sexism in the Media

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    One thousand years go by and an abundant amount of people still view women in a stereotypical type of way. On the opposing view, if women did not overstretch the slightest of things, this wouldn’t be such an enormous issue. Women may be overreacting to what the media has to say about them. It is not affecting everybody but a vast majority of successful women from continuing to moving forward said Marianne Schnall. Important to realize, women are capable of doing jobs men can do. Such jobs as being an engineer, physician, mechanic, lawyer and even top notch business women! Up to the present time there is an ongoing public debate on women suffering from double standards. If it makes a female feel threatened or belittled than it may be sexist. A very interesting article this came to be because the writer had numerous accountants to keep her argument steady. A worthy writer brings up present time activities, statistics, and people being affected by the scenario and provides the reader some closure. With a devastatingly crucial issue such as women being shunned by the media, it’s not okay to have the ideas of other people in your work. In the article, “Controversial Hillary Cover of Time Illuminates Sexism in the Media” by Marianne Schnall, implies that the media is negatively affecting the chances of women becoming successful with all the sexism it is portraying. Marianne Schnall is a published writer and professional interviewer with many influential credentials that she in not afraid to use.

    Read More

  • The Women's Liberation Movement

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    As women, those of us who identify as feminists have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at what cost do these advances come with?... ... middle of paper ... ... Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/whatisfem.htm Bidgood, J. 2014, April 8 -.

    Read More

  • The Glass Ceiling Effect

    380 Words  | 1 Pages

    Although, many women can work in today’s society, they still face what is called “the glass ceiling effect, however, other people believe that there is no such thing as the glass ceiling effect.

    Read More

  • The Portrayal of Women in Advertising

    2734 Words  | 6 Pages

    Women – beautiful, strong matriarchal forces that drive and define a portion of the society in which we live – are poised and confident individuals who embody the essence of determination, ambition, beauty, and character. Incomprehensible and extraordinary, women are persons who possess an immense amount of depth, culture, and sophistication. Society’s incapability of understanding the frame of mind and diversity that exists within the female population has created a need to condemn the method in which women think and feel, therefore causing the rise of “male-over-female” domination – sexism. Sexism is society’s most common form of discrimination; the need to have gender based separation reveals our culture’s reluctance to embrace new ideas, people, and concepts. This is common in various aspects of human life – jobs, households, sports, and the most widespread – the media. In the media, sexism is revealed through the various submissive, sometimes foolish, and powerless roles played by female models; because of these roles women have become overlooked, ignored, disregarded – easy to look at, but so hard to see.

    Read More

  • Afghanistani Women's Rights Violations

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many women from around the world experience discrimination, inequality, and injustice because they are a female, a gender considered to be inferior by many, like the Taliban (Hess, 2014). Although, some women just witness and experience inequality, many women in third world countries are treated inhumanely, as well as, being denied the most basic rights. Afghani women under the regime of the Taliban experienced the most atrocious conditions set for women in the history of Afghanistan. Afghani women suffer dire laws that deprive them of their freedom and are subjected to punishment if not followed. As history progressed, women's rights in Afghanistan dwindled; the Taliban instituted many restrictions for the rights constituted for women and

    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 The Glass Ceiling

Open Document