Gender Conflict Theory - Essay Example

?Client’s 6 March Gender Conflict Theory Inequality in our society is as old as the human race itself, there is a constant struggle of parity which is going on in our society. Gender conflict theory is mainly about giving women the equal rights as men. Women are considered the weaker sex in our society and they have been subjected to a lot of pain in the past, things are gradually improving but there is still parity to be fought for. The imbalance of respect and power is quite conspicuous in our society; women were not even able to cast their votes in certain sections of the world. This has however become much better than ever, women have started enjoying equal rights and have equal power as their counterparts. Feminism is a very important concept that must be thrown light upon when gender conflict is being talked about. Feminist aims at providing women more power and more rights than ever seen before. There are several feminists fighting for the rights of women all across the globe. Respect is also another important factor for which the feminists are consistently fighting. Gender conflict has made us understand how people enjoy preferential treatment and how the inferior strive for parity in the society. Race conflict is also quite similar to gender conflict, some people consider that their race is superior and others are inferior to them, this is certainly beyond the pale. Having a level playing field in the society is essential to facilitate growth; an ideal society always provides a level playing field. “Rae Lesser Blumberg developed a theory emphasizing women’s degree of control of the means of production and the distribution of economic surplus.” (Blumberg) Blumberg’s aimed at explaining the position of women relative to men in almost all types of societies. These societies included the earliest societies to the late twentieth century. This theory discussed some really important aspects like economic power of women, importance of women in the society, economic power of women in the society, sexual stratification so on and so forth. “Sexual stratification, Blumberg argues, is ultimately driven by the degree to which, relative to men, women control the means of production and the allocation of productive surplus or, in Marxian terms, “surplus value.” Such control gives women economic power that, in turn, influences their level of political power, prestige, and other stratifying resources. In Blumberg’s view, sexual inequalities are “nested” at diverse levels: Male-female relations are nested in households; households are nested in local communities; and if a society is sufficiently large to reveal a coercive state and a system of class stratification, household and community are nested inside of the class structure that, in turn, is lodged within a larger state-managed society. This nesting is important because women’s control of economic resources can be located at different levels, and the level at which their economic power is strongest influences the power that women can command at the other levels of social organization.” (Feminist Conflict Theory) Macro level control and micro level control are some important aspects which must be paid attention to. A woman is ought to enjoy power in a household if she contributes immensely to the income of a household, she will have a say in micro aspects of the household as well if she can contribute towards work and family income. Similarly a woman who is not able to earn and contribute towards the household income will not enjoy as much freedom and control as a woman who can earn and support her family. Financial freedom is extremely important for a woman to be considered powerful enough; only a powerful woman can make decisions and can stand against oppression. Economic power at a macro level facilitates women in getting political as well as coercive power in the society. The economic power of women is consistently on the rise; this is the time of transition. This period of transition is perceived as a major threat by men. Repression is inevitable; it may include political and physical repression. Women can change a lot of policies should they be able to consolidate their economic and political power. Once this happens women will surely abolish political laws working against them. Male violence against women will no longer go unnoticed and men will have to face serious ramifications for their inappropriate actions. Fertility Pattern and Economic Struggle Women who are not economically strong have little say in their fertility pattern, how many children would a woman want to have? This question can only be answered by a man if a woman is not economically strong. This is a real pity; economic strength also provides a lot of other powers. A woman is denied honor and prestige is she is economically weak; a woman has very little say even when it comes to her marriage. On the contrary, a woman who is economically strong can make her own decisions. She can remain unmarried for the rest of her life, she can marry and if the marriage does not work out, she can remarry to give herself another chance. Rights to seek divorce also comes with economical power, a woman who is not economically strong can never afford to hire a lawyer who will fight for her divorce, in which case she will just keep getting tortured day in, day out. Marxist feminism states that all women who do domestic labor should be paid for their efforts; the importance of domestic labor has been underestimated. Domestic labor requires time and time is money. Women who work all day long in a house are considered worthless and ineffective, on the contrary, a man working in an office might be doing absolutely nothing and yet is considered productive and hence powerful. This is unjust and it is about time to make the field a level playing field. Conclusion The paper threw light upon the importance of economic power and the benefits that come along with it. This period of transition is very difficult for men and very useful for women, women have changed a lot of things in the past decade and many more things will be changed during this decade. Women are slowly but steadily reaching places where only men would reach in our society. Evils like female infanticide are consistently declining, the sex ratio is improving. These are indicators of how parity is being restored in our society; things can only get better from here on in. References Rae Lesser Blumberg, “A General Theory of Gender Stratification,” Sociological Theory 2 (1984), pp. 23-101. Feminist Conflict Theory (2006). http://www.bolender.com/Sociology/Articles/Feminist%20Conflict%20Theory.htm (Accessed on 6 March 2013) Bibliography Tong, Rosemarie. Feminist Thought. 3rd Ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2009, WS theories. Read More