Research
CHAPTER 15
GENDER INEQUALITY
Final Draft, August 2009
The transformation of gender relations since the beginning of the 20th century is one of
the most rapid, profound social changes in human history. For the more than 7,000 years
of human history since settled agriculture and early states emerged, male domination has
characterized the gender relations of these societies and their successors. Even at the
beginning of the 20th century, men and women were generally viewed as occupying
sharply different roles in society: a woman’s place was in the home as wife and mother;
the man’s place was in the public sphere. Men had legal powers over the lives of their
wives and children, and while wife beating was never strictly legal in the United States,
its practical legal status was ambiguous and perpetrators of domestic violence rarely
punished. To be sure, articulate critics of patriarchy – rule by men over women and
children – had emerged by the end of the 18th century, and the movement for the right of
women to vote was well under way by the end of the 19th century, but nevertheless, at the
beginning of the 20th century the legitimacy of patriarchy was taken for granted by most
people and backed by religious doctrines that saw these relations as ordained by God.
(Thoughts: Male domination have been in place for more than 7000 years, it is planted in man's mind that they have the power over women and children. critics of potriarchy had emerged in the end of 18th century and movement for the rights of women to vote started off in the end of 19th century. This means that women, after being mistreated for all the years, finally dare to voice up their opinions and thoughts. They have became bolder due to the unfair treatment received.)
By the 21st century only a small minority of people still holds to the view that women
should be subordinated to men. While all sorts of gender inequalities continue to exist,
and some of these seem resistant to change, they exist in a completely different context of
cultural norms, political and social rights, and institutionalized rules. Male domination
has not disappeared, but it is on the defensive and its foundations are crumbling.
In this chapter we will explore the realities of gender relations in the United States at
the beginning of the 21st century. We will begin by defining the concept of “gender” in
sociological terms and explain what it means to talk about gender inequality and the
transformation of gender relations. This will be followed by a broad empirical description
of the transformations of gender in America since the middle of the 20th century, and an
explanation of those transformations. This will provide us with an opportunity to explore
a central general sociological idea in discussions of social change: how social change is
the result of the interplay of unintended changes in the social conditions which people
face and conscious, collective struggles to change those conditions. The chapter will
conclude with a discussion of the dilemmas rooted in gender relations in the world today
and what sorts of additional changes are needed to move us closer to full gender equality.
Source:
Wright, Erik Olin. "Gender Inequality." Contemporary American Society. University of Wisconsin, Aug. 2009. Web. 21 May 2012. <http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/ContemporaryAmericanSociety/>.
Feminism is both the belief that women should be treated equally to men as well as a political movement that works to gain rights and privileges for women. Feminism attempts to explain and eradicate the domination, oppression, and subordination of women. It is a perspective that helps women and men better understand those forces at work in society that create and perpetuate inequality. Feminists want women to have equal access to and representation in jobs, education, politics, and health care. The objective of the feminist movement is equality of rights, social status, and individual and group power. It is not the goal of feminists to take power away from men, instead, feminists seek to create a system in which women have the same amount of power as men. Although many people think feminists are women, many men also consider themselves feminists.
Feminist beliefs have existed throughout history. One of the first feminist publications was A Vindication of the Rights of Women(1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft. She called for better and increased education for girls and women, claiming that the oppression of women and their subordinate position in society would not change until women were educated at the same level as men.
Feminists such as Gloria Steinem attempted to explain and eradicate the domination, oppression, and subordination of women(AP/Wide World Photos, Inc.).
The three major types of feminism are liberal, radical, and socialist. Liberal feminists believe that women’s inequality is due to lack of equal opportunity. They do not challenge the conventional role of women as primary caretakers in the private sphere, but focus on gaining equality in the public sphere, such as under the law, in politics, and in the economy. They believe that equality will come from equal opportunity. Liberal feminists advocate for change from within the system by focusing on changing individual women as well as the systems of inequality.
In contrast, radical feminists believe that women’s inequality results from patriarchy (the structural dominance of men over women). They focus on the need to change the conventional roles of women in society and on the nature of culture as dominated by a male point of view. This perspective dates back to Simone de Beauvoir’s 1952 book The Second Sex. Radical feminists advocate change from outside the system. They view the “personal as political,” and have introduced the idea of gender identity politics.
(Thoughts: The feminism discussed in both the novels, A thousand Splendid Suns and The Color Purple are mostly radical feminism. Inequality of women in A thousand Splendid Suns is due to the traditional believed that women are weaker and men should be in power. Under the Tliban governance for example,women are not allowed to leave the house without a male relative accompanying. Forced and early marriages happen in society where Mariam lives. The Color Purple has also depicted similar feminism through the eyes of Celie in her letters. She reveals how girls and women are treated unfairly, being beaten and verbally discriminated.)
Socialist/Marxist feminists, the third type of feminists, claim that women experience a dual oppression. Women experience patriarchal oppression in the home and capitalist oppression at work. Socialist/Marxist feminists believe that gender inequality will exist until both patriarchy and capitalism are abolished.
There have been two major waves of feminism in Western society. The first wave, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, focused on achieving the right to vote for women, or suffrage, and access to birth control. This wave was dominated by liberal feminist thinking. In 1920, the United States adopted the Nineteenth Amendment, granting women the right to vote. Some of the more famous women during the movement to this point were Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Susan B. Anthony, and Margaret Sanger.
After 1920, there was a decline in activism in the women’s movement because the two major objectives had been achieved. But in the mid-1900s, many women began moving into the work force, changing the economy. In the 1960s a second wave of feminism emerged to become what most people today think of as “feminism.” Radical feminists who focused on the political and identity aspects of women’s oppression dominated this new wave of feminism. During the 1960s and 1970s, feminists forced issues relating specifically to women onto the national political agenda. Many laws were changed, giving more protections and rights to women, including the legal right to abortion and stronger rape laws.
In 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW), a national symbol of the movement, was created.
NOW’s central effort was proposing the Equal Right Amendment, to guarantee equal protection for women under the U.S. Constitution. It was brought to Congress in 1984 but was defeated. It has been proposed again, but has never been adopted. Many feminists consider this one of the largest remaining barriers to women’s equality in the United States.
Over time, feminism has been criticized for contributing to increased social problems such as more divorce, rising crime rates, and the demise of the conventional American family. Research has negated this claim. The national movement has also been blamed for focusing mainly on issues pertinent to white, educated, middle-class women, ignoring the issues affecting minority and poor women. This claim was accurate, and led to a splintering of the movement, with separate groups addressing particular constituencies. Out of this emerged the concept of black feminism. Black theorists claim that black and other minority women suffer from interlocking systems of oppression—gender, class, and race or ethnicity. Their goal is to have the voices of these women heard within the context of historical and social conditions.
After the mid-1970s, the visibly active and political contingent of the feminist movement became smaller. Many assumed that these newer laws now ensured women’s rights. In the 1980s, there was also a media-fueled “backlash” against feminism. The word took on a negative connotation and many people distanced themselves from the label or identity of feminist.
On the tail of this backlash, a new brand of feminism emerged in the mid-1990s—third wave feminism. This feminism is “non-feminism” and is defined by the phrase “I’m not a feminist, but...” People in this wave tend to take women’s equality for granted, yet live the principles of sexual equality in their everyday lives. Unlike the second wave, this wave is characterized by a lack of cohesive and identifiable political action. There are many feminist organizations and groups in the United States today, but they often work in isolation, not always acting as part of a larger movement as was seen in the 1960s and 1970s.
Source:
"Feminism." World of Sociology, Gale. Farmington: Gale, 2001. Credo Reference. Web. 21 May 2012. <http://www.credoreference.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/entry/worldsocs/feminism>.
AFGHANISTAN: Women’s hopes for equality fade
Photo: Masoud Popalzai/IRIN
Women in Afghanistan continue to face an uphill struggle to gain equal footing with their male counterparts
“I was put into chains for a whole month by my father. I ran away twice but was returned home by the police. Everybody says I am the guilty one, that my father has the right to beat me,” she said.
Fahima is far from alone in her experience. Hopes among Afghan women for a better future are waning as the violence against them continues.
Women’s rights have fallen down the agenda behind countering a growing insurgency, tackling opium production and confronting endemic corruption.
“Day by day the government’s support for women’s development fades,” said Hangama Anwari, a member of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).
In 2006, more than 1,650 cases of violence against women were registered with AIHRC.
And more than 550 women reported severe beatings and about 120 are documented as having committed suicide either by burning themselves to death or overdosing on painkillers.
While the Taliban are condemned for their treatment of women, the AIHRC recorded more cases of violence against women in the capital, Kabul, and in the western province of Herat than in Kandahar – once a Taliban stronghold.
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In highly conservative Afghanistan, only a fraction of women dare to breach social taboos and publicly speak out against violence. They face social stigma if they appear at police stations and courts to claim their rights, Subhrang added.
“Women’s development should not be compromised by security imperatives,” said Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
The situation for women is better in Kabul than elsewhere in the country.
“Changes in women’s lives have occurred only in Kabul,” said MP Soona Niloofar from Urozgan province.
Over the past five years, some 3,900 women have died during childbirth because of a pervasive lack of obstetric facilities.
In Urozgan and Zabul provinces in the south, more than 90 percent of girls are deprived of formal education. According to the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), about 90 percent of Afghan women are illiterate.
Women lack access to essential services
In the northern province of Faryab, 80 per cent of women experience violence in their daily lives and lack access to basic health, education and justice services, according to Fawzia Raufi, an Afghan MP.
However, the Afghan government insists it is making progress towards gender equality despite there being three women serving in Afghanistan’s interim and transitional administrations from 2002-2004 and now there being just one female minister in the cabinet.
And although 25 percent of Afghanistan’s National Assembly is comprised of women, many female parliamentarians say the powerful lawmaking institution has been systematically dominated by men who oppose gender equity.
Women in Afghanistan
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Fawzia Aminiy, head of department for legal affairs at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs, is working towards an ambitious Millennium Development Goal on gender equality by 2020.
“We have already accomplished 20 percent of the targets set,” she said.
But she believes a 50-year plan for achieving equality may be more realistic.
And the spread of media means that abuse of women is finally becoming a topic of discussion in Afghanistan.
“In the past, violence against women was immured within households. Now we all can hear and read about it,” said Subhrang.
 Day by day the government’s support for women’s development fades. |
“With or without the Taliban, Afghanistan was and still is a poor country,” she said.
( Thoughts: A staggering percentage of illiterate women in Afghan is seen. 87% of women are illiterate and ONLY 30% of girls have access to education. Despite the years through many transformation and revolution, there are still prominent gender inequalities in some parts of the world.)
Source:
Following the American Revolution, New Jersey was the only state in the new Republic that permitted women to vote. By 1807, however, the legislature had limited the franchise to free white males. For the rest of the nineteenth century, feminism would be coupled with the struggle to regain suffrage.
By the mid -1800s, an extraordinary number of women active in the cause lived in the state. In 1838 the sisters Angelina Grimké Weld and Sarah Moore Grimké moved to New Jersey, where they wrote and organized against slavery and helped to establish schools that promoted equality of education for all children. Sarah was especially devoted to the cause of higher education for women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote three volumes of her History of Woman Suffrage in Tenafly, where she attempted, unsuccessfully, to vote in 1880. Antoinette Louisa Brown Blackwell was living in Somerville in 1869 when she helped to organize the American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1858, Lucy Stone Blackwell refused to pay taxes on her house in Orange as a protest against taxation without representation. She later helped to found the American Equal Rights Association and served as president of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association.
Women did gain the right to vote in local school board elections in 1887, only to have the privilege denied by the courts in 1894 and by referendum in 1897. Lillian Ford Feichert became president of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association in 1912 and skillfully guided the organization through the final push leading to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.
Earlier, in 1913, New Jersey's Alice Paul, who had worked with militant British suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst, helped to organize a parade of seven thousand suffragists in Washington, D.C., on the day before former New Jersey governor Woodrow Wilson's inauguration as president. The following year Paul's organization evolved into the National Women's Party. Continued acts of civil disobedience resulted in the imprisonment of Paul and many of the hundreds who joined her. After ratification of the suffrage amendment, Paul refocused her energies to fight for equal rights. An equal rights amendment she drafted was submitted to Congress in 1923. Even as aggressive activity on behalf of feminist goals drastically declined between 1920 and 1950, Paul worked tirelessly for equal rights.
Mary Philbrook, the first woman to become a lawyer in New Jersey (1895), lectured on women's legal rights and worked for the establishment of a public college for women. Allied with Paul, Philbrook campaigned for the inclusion of an equal rights amendment in the state's 1947 constitution. Supported by such women's groups as the Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Philbrook was able to insert gender-neutral wording ("person" instead of "he") into the constitution, opening the door for later court decisions against sex discrimination.
(Thoughts: Mary Philbrook, being the first lawyer of New Jersey, fights for an establishment of a public college for women. The rights of women in education is not given and there is a need for women to stand up for themselves.
Furthermore, it is seen in the constitution that people are labeled 'he'. This shows that in the country's law itself, there is existence obvious gender inequality.)
The state legislature ratified the federal Equal Rights Amendment (ERA, written by Alice Paul) in 1972, but it was voted down in a 1975 statewide referendum. Pressured by women's organizations, the state Department of Education mandated in 1975 that sex (in addition to race, ethnicity, and religion) could not be used as a basis for inequality in educational curricula, athletics, or employment. The New Jersey Commission on Sex Discrimination in the Statutes was established in 1978 to recommend revisions in state laws affecting employment, housing, pensions, insurance, and family life.
The Women's Political Caucus held its first conference at Rutgers University in 1972. High on the agendas of this and other organizations were the election of women to political office and the passage of an equal rights amendment. In 1973 Ann Klein, challenging the nominating procedures of the state's Democratic party, ran for a gubernatorial nomination. In 1974, the first "Year of the Woman in Politics," Millicent Fenwick and Helen Meyner were elected to Congress. (New Jersey had elected only two women to Congress in the previous fifty years.)The 1963 report of the Federal Commission on the Status of Women, along with the inclusion of sex as a category in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, helped to generate new interest in the pursuit of feminist goals. New Jersey established a Commission on Women in 1964 (reorganized in 1969) and a state Office on Women in 1969. Chapters of national feminist groups, such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Women's Equity Action League (WEAL), and the Women's Political Caucus (WPC) were organized across the state. In May 1971 Paula Kassell and Marge Wyngaarden organized the state's first feminist conference. By 1972 they were publishingNew Directions for Women in New Jersey, the first statewide feminist newspaper in the country.
Suffragists getting out the message, Long Branch, 1915.
COURTESY NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, NEWYARK.
The defeat of the federal ERA led feminists to focus on a variety of more specific issues, such as reproductive rights, sexual harassment, and health. Women's studies programs were instituted at many of the state's colleges, and individual groups, such as the Women's Project of New Jersey, organized to work for particular goals.
Although New Jersey has been the home of many groups and individuals notable for their feminist activities, the political structure of the state has historically been resistant to their efforts. Tightly controlled party organizations were reluctant to move women into positions of genuine influence and responsibility. In 2000, even with a female governor, only nineteen women (15.8 percent of the total) served in the state legislature. Despite this lack of governmental representation, feminists continue to focus their efforts on various social, political, and economic issues.
Women's Project of New Jersey. Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1997.
Source:
"feminism." Encyclopedia of New Jersey. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2004. Credo
Reference. Web. 23 May 2012.
INTERNATIONAL: UN Women: a Step Forward for Gender Equality Worldwide
Source: Lipmag.comDate: January 3, 2011
Theme: UN Gender Balance and Leadership, UN Implementation
Region: INTERNATIONAL
A new UN agency dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women became operational on January 1st, 2011. This is a historical step forward that will consolidate and escalate UN efforts to achieve gender equality and promote women’s rights worldwide, guiding Member States towards an agreement on international standards for gender equality, and helping to ensure those standards are implemented.
Here is a rundown of what you need to know about UN Women…
WHY WAS UN WOMEN CREATED?
The creation of UN Women is the result of a UN General Assembly resolution in July 2010, which recognised that more must be done to enable women to claim equal rights and opportunities across the world.
Gender inequality exists everywhere. Although many countries have made great progress in advancing women’s rights, discrimination and inequality remains deeply entrenched in every society in many different ways- from violence, poverty and sex crimes, to limited participation in politics and corporate leadership roles.
UN Women is the consolidation of four previously distinct parts of the UN that have strived to combat these issues: Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), Office of Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
By combining these groups into a single entity, efforts towards women’s empowerment and gender equality can now be stronger and more focused, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It should also lead to increased funding for and awareness of gender issues, and an elevation of women’s rights as a priority in areas across the board.
(Thoughts: International groups work together towards a greater good for women. This shows that, internationally women are working together to fight for their rights in society. This can be used in my argument that gender inequalities have make women to be supportive of one another.)
WHAT WILL UN WOMEN DO?
The main roles of UN Women are:
To help inter-governmental groups such as the Commission on the Status of Women, to develop policies, global standards and norms on gender equality,
To help Member States to implement these standards, providing suitable technical and financial support, and
To enable Member States to hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.
At a global level, UN Women will be the lead voice advocating women’s empowerment and gender equality. It will foster the sharing of experiences between countries, and build partnerships with civil society to support international goals for women.
It will also work with UN partners at regional and country levels in response to defined needs and priorities, providing operational support to developing countries, as well as advice and assistance as needed to developed countries.
WHAT ISSUES WILL UN WOMEN FOCUS ON?
All areas of human rights and development work have implications on gender issues. UN Women will focus on areas that are most fundamental to women’s empowerment, striving to create change all across the spectrum.
The main priority areas for UN Women include:
Violence against Women- This one of the most widespread violations of women’s rights and affects women and girls in all countries, of all ages, races, cultures and economic standings. UN Women will advocate strong laws and implementation of services for prevention and protection.
Peace and Security- Women face specific threats during modern conflicts, most notably rape. Measures need to be taken to prevent these war crimes and support victims, and women should be at the centre of peace talks and post-conflict relief work.
Leadership and Participation- All across the world, women have limited involvement in political and corporate bodies, and therefore in the decisions that affect them. UN Women will advocate quotas and other measures to allow more opportunities for women’s participation and leadership potential.
Economic Empowerment- Women account for around 70% of the world’s poor. Women are far behind men in access to land and decent jobs, while research shows that increasing women’s economic opportunities boosts national economies. UN Women will work to lower the barriers that prevent women from seizing such opportunities.
National Planning and Budgeting- Public planning regularly overlooks women’s specific needs and priorities. UN Women will strive to ensure that gender equality is a stated objective in all plans, and will help advise on and provide appropriate actions for implementation.
Source:
"UN Women: A Step Forward for Gender Equality Worldwide." News Library. PeaceWomen, 03 Jan. 2011. Web. 22 May 2012. <http://www.peacewomen.org/news_article.php?id=2722&type=news>.
Below are statistics on women in National Parliaments around the world.
Source:
http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/arc/classif310509.htm
Below are statistics on women in National Parliaments around the world.
(Thoughts: It is seen that although Afghanistan in 2005 on the list is ranked quite high up with 27.7 % women in the lower house, but women's illiterate rate is still high in the country.)
Source:
http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/arc/classif310509.htm
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