Treading Patriarchal Waters

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Recommended: Gender roles in modern society

Historically, women have had limited or no political influence, limited legal rights and their societal roles restricted to the home and upbringing of offspring or working in caretaking positions (The Robbins Collection). As Aristotle stated, "the male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules, and the other is ruled" (qtd. in Politics book I). Thus, women have complied with the authority of the male dominion and kept within their societal roles or risked confrontation throughout centuries. In director Niki Caro's American film, North Country, released in 2005, women's futile attempt to belong to the male-dominate workplace is presented. However, their struggle to enhance their quality of life and willingness to belong subjected them to demeaning verbal abuse, sexual harassment and oppression within their society. The film is based on the book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jensen and the Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law that illitrates the first sexual harassment class action lawsuit in the United Statesand and mirrors the patriachal social system of female suppression in a male-dominant workplace. This essay presents a socio-political feminist approach of the implication of domination to a marginalized workforce and the societal roles within it. Although the glass ceiling of gender ideology bars the passage to equality, women's diligence and endurance can overcome obstacles. To begin with, the patriachal system has determined the social dominance, encouraging the gender ideology of our civilization. That is to say, biological sexes are born male and female, while gender roles are socially constructed causing the dilemma of communities generalizing individuals and their circumstances by categorizing stereotypes. The women of the North Country community are marginalized as homemakers and caretakers who dutifully submit to the

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