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Patriarchy and its impact on society
Feminism through history
Feminism through history
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“Patriarchy is unnatural”
Throughout history we see many factors that lead to the inequality of woman and to hierarchal governments dominated by men. Because there were many patriarchal society’s in history; legal inequalities, customs and religions were passed down through historical periods that imposed upon women based on the fact that women are biologically weaker than men physically and mentally. During the 1800s the theory that the weaker sex should be subordinate politically and socially to the stronger sex was quite common. This lead many to question whether patriarchy is inevitable biologically due to the fact that it favors men physically, or whether it is unnatural because it forms discriminations
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in mills opposes the belief that patriarchy is natural. He argues that it is unnatural because women did not want to be subordinate objects to men. They wanted to hold jobs , be educated and own property and have the same opportunities as their male counterparts , but they couldn’t ;they were forced to be complaint to the universal system of inequality that patriarchy laws enforce . This system regulated political and social relations between male and females. Men took the notion of physically inequality and used it as a physical fact to justify the legal right to hold power in monarchies. Because men held more power throughout history it was easier for men to make laws since they were already in power. this lead to women men being subjected and being thought to be dependent , obedient and socially and politically limited by legal social constructs created by men .Mill argues that because we that we have historically accepted the oppression of women we have deemed the subjection of women to be natural since it has become an accepted universal custom/ however in reality it is a glass ceiling of gender oppression in which women cannot elevate
The 19th Century is an age that is known for the Industrial Revolution. What some people don’t realize is the effect that this revolution had on gender roles in not only the middle and upper classes (Radek.) It started off at its worst, men were considered powerful, active, and brave; where as women were in no comparison said to be weak, passive, and timid (Radek.) Now we know this not to be true, however, back in the day people only went by what would allow ...
Women, like black slaves, were treated unequally from the male before the nineteenth century. The role of the women played the part of their description, physically and emotionally weak, which during this time period all women did was took care of their household and husband, and followed their orders. Women were classified as the “weaker sex” or below the standards of men in the early part of the century. Soon after the decades unfolded, women gradually surfaced to breathe the air of freedom and self determination, when they were given specific freedoms such as the opportunity for an education, their voting rights, ownership of property, and being employed.
The idea and characteristics of gender, relate to the specific differences men and women deliver to society and the unique qualities and roles each demonstrate. The term ‘Femininity’ refers to the range of aspects and womanly characteristics the female represents. The foundation of femininity creates and brings forth many historical and contemporary issues. According to Mary Wollstonecraft in ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’, women’s femininity is considered a flaw of nature. Throughout the paper, history indicates how women are viewed and looked upon in a male dominated world which hinders a woman’s potential, her character, her mind, her dreams, her femininity. The paper particularly stresses the idea of power, the power of man. The historical argument leans towards man’s desire to treat women as inferior to them.
In Mill’s essay, he places the blame for the suffrage of woman on custom. He says, “custom...affords i...
During the times of Antebellum America, women became a cornerstone of history and helped construct the way sex and gender was viewed in the United States. Women began to acknowledge the way they were being treated and started to educate themselves about the rights they deserved and the effects it would have on the future generations. Religion became a forum where women could feel a sense of empowerment and the Second Great Awakening spoke of everyone being in charge of their own salvation, be that as a male or female. However, before the empowerment of women began, the male hierarchy of America distinguished females as a lower class and the several articles that are to be mentioned will give evidence to the struggle of women.
Was it the Market Revolution that changed women’s quality of life, the strong will of many women, or both? At the beginning of the market revolution women were just being sought after to join the work place. Beginning a time when women started to question their rights and statues in the United States. Several women decided to stepped forward and raise up for women’s rights by fighting to remove women from the “Cult of True Womanhood”, equal wage rights, higher education and showing the importance of the American women in the workforce. Emma Willard, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Grimke Sisters and many nameless women joined the fight to improve the quality of life for women in the first half of the nineteenth century.
The existence of a patriarchal system has been one of the corner stones of gender studies since the first application of feminist methodology to historical thought. However, the definition and meaning of patriarchy have significantly altered since Max Weber sought to clarify term. Weber stated that “Patriarchalism means the authority of the father, the husband, the senior of the house, the sib elder over the members of the household and sib; the rule of the master and patron over bondsman, serfs, freed men…of the patrimonial lord and sovereign prince over the subjects.” While statement and others like it served for many years as a starting point, the definition has begun to disintegrate under a flurry of activity by historians of early America.
Recently the concerns of women around their equality in society has become a hotly debated topic in the public spot light. Much of the debate concerns women and the ingrained sexism that permeates most cultures. Many women's activists feel that this ingrained sexism has widened the gap between men and women in a political, social, and economic sense. And for the most part they do have strong evidence to support these claims. Women have suffered through millennia of male dominated societies where treatment of women has been, and in some cases still is, inhuman. Women are treated like subhuman creatures that have only exist to be used for procreate and to be subjugated by men for household use. It has only been very recently that women have become recognized as equals in the eyes of men. Equals in the sense that they have the same political and social rights as males. While the situation has improved, women still have to deal with a male oriented world. Often women in the workplace are thought of as inferior and as a liability. This can be due to concerns about maternity leave, or women with poor leadership skills. But also in part it is due because of the patriarchy that controls all aspects and dynamics of the culture, family, politics, and economy. Even developed countries like The United Kingdom, United States, Germany, and France, could be classified as a patriarchies. These countries may not agree with this notion because of expansive, but not complete changes, that have gradually equalized women in society. However, there are developed countries that openly express a patriarchy and have enacted little societal changes to bring equality to women. Japan is one such country, and t...
Society has long since considered women the lessor gender and one of the most highly debated topics in society through the years has been that of women’s equality. The debates began over the meaning between a man and woman’s morality and a woman’s rights and obligations in society. After the 19th Amendment was sanctioned around 1920, the ball started rolling on women’s suffrage. Modern times have brought about the union of these causes, but due to the differences between the genetic makeup and socio demographics, the battle over women’s equality issue still continues to exist. While men have always held the covenant role of the dominant sex, it was only since the end of the 19th century that the movement for women’s equality and the entitlement of women have become more prevalent. “The general consensus at the time was that men were more capable of dealing with the competitive work world they now found themselves thrust into. Women, it was assumed, were unable to handle the pressures outside of the home. They couldn’t vote, were discourages from working, and were excluded from politics. Their duty to society was raising moral children, passing on the values that were unjustly thrust upon them as society began to modernize” (America’s Job Exchange, 2013). Although there have been many improvements in the changes of women’s equality towards the lives of women’s freedom and rights in society, some liberals believe that women have a journey to go before they receive total equality. After WWII, women continued to progress in there crusade towards receiving equality in many areas such as pay and education, discrimination in employment, reproductive rights and later was followed by not only white women but women from other nationalities ...
Although many stereotypes exist today about women, they were even worse back in the nineteenth century. Women were seen as delicate and unable to work for their own incomes; therefore, they were seen as the “weaker” sex. Because women did not have the brazenness to stand up for themselves, they continues to do what their husbands said. Society’s cultured view on women was t...
John Stuart Mill describes a principle and system that regulates the social relations between women and men. The principle Mill proposes is the legal subordination of one sex to the other. He is referring to the dominance that men have over women. In 1869, the Parliament in Europe gave little rights to women that created a tremendous gap between men and women. Men would be given the final say on what women could and could not do. The system that regulates the social relations between men and women was the system of inequality. Mill wrote that inequality was not forced on women, but was the way of life since the start of society. Mill argued that even though women voluntarily accepted male domination the majority of women were against it. The only way Mill said that women living in the mid-nineteenth century in Europe could get their opinions known was through written works. The main argument women were trying to make was to be as educated and given the same opportunities that men received. Women wanted to obtain jobs in high positions; jobs that required men to listen to women and follow the orders that women gave to men.
This paper will focus on three of these concepts- economic inequality or the separation of the rich and the poor which is defined as the different life chances that a wealthy person may have than an impoverished person (Dykstra, 2014). The next concept that will be discussed is feminism, which is defined as the advocacy of the rights of women to be equal to men in all spheres of life (Applebaum, Carr, Duneier, Giddens, 2011). The last concept that will be discussed in this paper is gender roles, which are the ‘social definition’ of women and men. They vary among different societies and cultures, classes, ages and during different periods in history. Gender-specific roles and responsibilities are often conditioned by household structure, access to resources, specific impacts of the global economy, and other locally relevant factors such as ecological conditions (FAO, 1997).
Society has set limits on gender roles with ideals such as male privilege and patriarchy. Patriarchy is the political structure to control womenbs thoughts on their sexuality, laboring, and place in society so...
Outline and assess the view that patriarchy is the main cause of gender inequality (40 marks)
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.