Relationship between England and the Middle East - Essay Example

Patriarchal Society in England and the Middle East Societies in the prehistoric period tended to be highly egalitarian interms of gender and this was mainly because of the mutual respect that men and women in these societies had for each other. However, as more established forms of society became dominant, there developed patriarchal systems, which emphasised the dominance of men over women. Patriarchal systems have been dominant in numerous societies in the world for centuries and this has given rise to a system where women have ended up being considered subordinate to men. The result has been that there has developed a system of inequality whose main victims have been women. Not only have there been both overt and covert means to ensure that the status quo is maintained, but even in the modern era, it has become common for openly discriminatory actions against women to be promoted at almost every level of society. The world today has seen numerous changes and women have come to experience opportunities that were not open to them for many centuries. It is therefore important that a comprehensive discussion of how gender links to inequality in society be conducted. In Elizabethan England, it was a common belief among individuals in society that women were inferior in all aspects to men. This belief ensured that women were put in a subordinate status where they did not have the same opportunities as those that were given to men (Ellis, 1839). Even Queen Elizabeth I herself seemed to promote this bias and she did this through accepting that she was indeed as physically weak as any woman, but despite this, she was also a woman who had the heart and stomach of a king. It seems that she compared herself thus because she wanted to attribute some of the male features that were believed to be superior to herself. Moreover, even the most prominent writers of the time such as Shakespeare and John Knox, the protestant leader, all believed that women were inferior. The latter especially promoted this belief by stating that women were created in perfection in order to serve and obey man, a statement that shows the predominance of patriarchy in society (Fletcher, 1994). This attitude towards women continued to be propagated in later centuries and some of its aspects have remained prevalent to this day. The patriarchal nature of English society has led to a situation where women have continued to be discriminated against despite the development of ideals such as gender equality. The sometimes-unconscious discrimination against women in society has led to the continuation of inequality in society as women have ended up becoming victims of a patriarchal society that has remained dominant. One of the most significant aspects of gender links to inequality in society today is within the work place where men tend to be given higher pay than women (Levine-Clark, 2000). This is a situation that is prevalent all over the world and it has been as a result of a predominantly patriarchal nature of society. Women have become victims of pay discrimination especially in countries all over the world where as a result of a belief that women are inferior and do not enough capacity to put in as much work as men, they have been denied equal pay even though they do equal or more work than their male counterparts. It is essential to note that the pay discrimination against women is among the means through which individuals in society have come to propagate its patriarchal nature. The pay discrimination has come about because in most cases, there has been a propagation of the idea that some jobs belong to men while others belong to women and this has ensured that a significant number of women have faced open discrimination in their places of work. It is through pay discrimination that women are forced to take on subordinate roles in the workplace compared to their male counterparts and this has ensured that women continue to feel inferior despite it seeming that they have the same opportunities as men (Hall, 2001). An example of pay discrimination in present day England is in situations where the efforts of women in the workplace are hardly ever recognised, and when their male colleagues end up receiving pay increases and bonuses, women do not get the same treatment or even if they get increases, it is not often the same as their colleagues. While patriarchy has remained dominant in England, its influence has increasingly been eroded as a result of the development and acceptance of other forms of families such as single-parent and homosexual families (Hilton et al. 2001). This acceptance has created a situation where the predominance of traditional male-dominated families has effectively been challenged by the rest of society as individuals within it have sought to take a stand against the traditional forms that propagate patriarchy. While this may be the case, there have been instances where patriarchy has continued to be propagated in society as seen through the continuation of occupational segregation against women where women are overlooked whenever opportunities for promotion arise while their male counterparts are promoted several times over after only a few years. The unequal treatment of women in the workplace can be considered to be an unconscious continuation of the long held attitudes concerning the inferiority of women as well as the belief that women have no place in leadership positions (Vidyasagar and Rea, 2004). This has also been the case in the Middle East even after the Arab Spring where women have continued to be discriminated against in the workplace through the promotion of a bureaucratic system that propagates aloofness and an unemotional attitude when most women need a workplace that provides emotional support as well as an opportunity to work through cooperation. Gender inequality has been for the most part propagated by a system of patriarchy that has been dominant for centuries and it has led to unequal development for women, especially in educational opportunities, when compared to men. Societies in the past believed that women were not only inferior to men, but that their only duty was to serve the latter and bear children for them (Douki et al. 2003; Mendelson and Crawford, 1998). This circumstance dominated societies in Eurasia for centuries as they shifted from being essentially egalitarian to increasingly being dominated by men, who came to be considered as the principle breadwinners, with women being denied the same educational opportunities as their male counterparts. In the Middle East, despite the teachings of Islam, which call for the inclusion of women into the active part of society, over the centuries, there developed a system where bureaucracy came to provide active support for patriarchy. Through this, women were excluded from both education and taking an active part in society and were instead relegated to their households (Douki et al. 2003). It became tradition for women to be considered ill-equipped to deal with political and educational matters and these individuals were instead forced to become subservient to men and were encouraged to leave steering the destiny of society in the hands of men. Thus, women were forced into an equal relationship to men and as a result, they were no longer active participants in the workings of society; a status that remained constant into the twenty-first century with the coming of the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring for the first time ensured that the voice of women in the countries where it took place was heard because they were active participants in the revolutions that took place (Ibnouf, 2012). As the Arab Spring countries are slowly making the transition from revolutions to democracies, women have been given a more prominent role. However, this role has not done enough to combat the negative stereotypes that have made the inequality of women a reality in the Middle East because the number of women who are active participants in the change process is still quite low. Without some form of gender balance in the political and economic scene of the Arab Spring countries, it is unlikely that women will have an opportunity to overcome the inequalities that they have experienced for centuries. Furthermore, there is a possibility that without the full participation of women, democracy will not be able to take root in these Middle Eastern countries because more than half of the population will not have the necessary representation to ensure that the equality of women is realised. In conclusion, this paper seeks to show how gender links to inequality and it refers to Elizabethan England, where it was a common belief among individuals in society that women were inferior in all aspects to men. The discussion shows that one of the most significant aspects of gender links to inequality in society today is within the work place where men tend to be given higher pay than women. Moreover, it is stated that while patriarchy has remained dominant in England, its influence has increasingly been eroded due to the development and acceptance of other forms of families such as single parent and homosexual families. Finally, gender inequality has been for the most part propagated by a system of patriarchy that has been dominant for centuries. This system has led to unequal development for women, especially in educational opportunities, when compared to men. References Douki, S., Nasef, F., Belhadj, A., Boausker, A., & Ghachemn, R., 2003. “Violence against women in Arab and Islamic countries”, Archives of Women Mental Health, 6, pp. 165−171. Ellis, S.S., 1839. The Women of England, their Social Duties and Domestic Habits. London: Fisher, Son, & Company. Fletcher, A., 1994. “Mens Dilemma: The Future of Patriarchy in England 1560-1660,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4, pp. 61-81. Hall, V.G., 2001, "Contrasting female identities: Women in coal mining communities in Northumberland, England, 1900-1939", Journal of Womens History, 13(2), pp. 107-131. Hilton, J., Desrochers, S. and Devall, E., 2001. "Comparison of Role Demands, Relationships, and Child Functioning is Single-Mother, Single-Father, and Intact Families". Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 35, pp. 29–56. Ibnouf, F.O. 2012, “To Arab women: Golden opportunity to stand-up for your rights”, Global Advanced Research Journal of History, Political Science and International Relations, 1(5), pp. 113-117. Levine-Clark, M. 2000, "Engendering relief: Women, ablebodiedness, and the New Poor Law in early Victorian England", Journal of Womens History, 11(4), pp. 107-130. Mendelson, S. & Crawford, P., 1998. Women in Early Modern England. London: Oxford University Press. Vidyasagar, G. & Rea, D.M., 2004. “Saudi women doctors: gender and careers within Wahhabic Islam and a ‘Westernized’ work culture”, Women’s Studies International Forum, 27, pp. 261– 280. Read More