How Does Culture Negatively Impacts Women's Rights - Essay Example

Name: University: Instructor: Date: How Culture Negatively Impacts Women’s Rights Introduction Most cultures as mentioned by Okin, Cohen and Howard (12) are inundated with ideologies and practices in relation to gender. Some culture facilitates and endorses the control of women while some have power disparities between the sexes, whereby men are authoritative and determine the group's interests, practices, and beliefs. For this reason, the women’s rights are in many cases disregard and ignored. Antifeminism in most cultures has considerably limited the ability of female members to have a dignity similar to that of male members. Basically, gender roles given to women and men are suggestively defined culturally and structurally in a manner that generates perpetuate and support relationships of female subordination and male dominance. Through socialization process in social spheres such as educational institutions and family, girls and boys are inured to conduct themselves in particular ways as well as to play social roles that are poles apart. Sometimes, the women positions in the society are essentialized through assertions of inherent predilections. From a historical perspective, Women have in the past struggled for equal treatment. The rights of women to be employed, to vote and to be educated were some of the contested issues. Hitherto, these rights have been established and recognized through customary practice and laws in the majority of societies. Still, women face a number of obstacles in exercising their rights. Women’s movements have in the past espoused human rights framework with the goal of mainstreaming issues that women face in different cultures, but little has been achieved. Therefore, the history of culture and women's rights can be described in a brutal interpretation as circular. That is to say, sex equality appears to be declining; therefore, women groups have initiated efforts so as to reclaim the lost equality. An evidence of how culture negatively affects women’s rights can be evidenced by a recent horrifying incident that took place in a washroom situated in Gangnam, South Koreas. Whereby a young female aged 23 years was stabbed to death by a stranger, a middle-aged man. The motive behind the stabbing according to the accused is the hatred he felt for women because they have humiliated and ignored him (Sung-Hee). Looking at cases in Korea, this paper seeks to illustrate how culture affects women’s right and provide suggestions on how the issue of women’s rights violation in Korea can be solved. Main Body In Korea, wife battering has turned out to be a major form of domestic violence, and this is no more associated with a personal problem, but instead, with a social problem. Still, the patriarchal family historical traditions in Korea make it hard for women experiencing violence to escape. Although the country passed two legislations in 1997that seek to curb domestic violence: the ‘Protection Act’ and the ‘Punishment Act’, domestic violence rate has been increasing (Byun 2). This can be evidenced by a case cited by Hughes, Chon and Ellerman (902), whereby a Korean woman was a victim of human trafficking: at the age of 14, she was abducted in South Korea and was repetitively exploited and raped by South Korean army soldiers. The soldiers are tasked with protection all Koreans irrespective of their gender, but this example proves that the Korean culture is antifeminist. A number of South Korean researchers as cited by Hong, Kim and Yoshihama (1624) have established a major connection between wife battering and childhood exposure to parental violence. According to the researchers, nearly 23 per cent of the South Korean wives experienced violence from their husbands before as well as after their marriage (Hong, Kim and Yoshihama 1624). Since the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910), the South Korean women had been given an inferior social status and deprived of the equal political and economic opportunities as men. Furthermore, religious institutions, state laws and customs have as well legitimized the dominance of men over women within the domestic setting, whereby wives hold inferior status than their children. Wife battering according to female theorists is a form of violence against women, anchored in the patriarchy and male domination (Hong, Kim and Yoshihama 1626). The collapse is attributed mainly to the fact that most customs in some cultures intend to have control over women and make them reproductively and sexually submissive to men's interests and desires. Occasionally, cultures are so linked closely with controlling women, whereby the servitude of women is virtually presented as one and the same with the traditions. Even though almost all the cultures have had patriarchal pasts, some cultures, especially the Western liberal cultures have moved towards equality as compared to others. Still, western cultures are practising different forms of sex discrimination. In female members, the focus more on thinness, beauty as well as youthfulness while for male members, the focus is on the skill, intellectual achievement and strength. Women are also discriminated in the workplace since they are expected to work harder but remunerated poorly than men. Besides that, women experience a lot of violence, especially sexual violence (Okin, Cohen and Howard 16). Across the globe, at least three women in every ten have been sexually abused, beaten, or abused in other ways. Annually, domestic violence and discrimination leave a lot of women devastated. Sadly, abuse of women’s rights is deeply rooted in the global culture, and as a result, women are seen as sex objects. Moreover, violence against women is exacerbated by discrimination because of class, age, social status, ethnicity, race and sexual identity. These different forms of discrimination limit the women’s choices, intensify their exposure to violence and obtaining justice becomes more difficult. Culturalizing the issue of women’s rights diverts the focus from the gendered structures that are unequal and from the broader political and economic setting wherein such developments are happening. In this regard, pointing the fingers at culture for the shortcomings that women experience is an interesting ideology for supporters of modern-day neoliberal globalisation, which blames the mayhem caused by global conflicts and expansive capitalism on the culture. Therefore, the discourse of cultural authenticity offers a perfect explanation why the customary patriarchs avoid accommodating the claims of women’s rights. Cultural explanation of women’s subordination relieves of the responsibility from the wealthy countries for deficiencies brought about by armed conflicts, neoliberalism, capitalism, occupation and militarism. Women have been able to confront the domination culture by redefining and organizing religion and culture with the goal of promoting their rights. The framework of international human rights, on the other hand, that woman depends on to hold their governments responsible for their commitments in promoting women’s rights, have remained legalistic, abstract as well as distant to the lives of the women. Additionally, governments hardly incorporate socio-economic factors into their policy and legislative responses to the rights issues that face women. Women’s rights have been condensed into a narrow violence conceptualization against women as ‘harm done’; devoid of taking into account the social-economic issues such as unemployment, poverty and other issues that underlie violence. The issue of women’s rights violation in Korea can be solved by empowering women as well as upgrading their status in the culture, society, family and religion. Furthermore, the women movements should focus on encouraging women to develop acceptance and self-recognition of their worth as well as dignity. Although women forbearance is appreciable, women should ensure that they are not entrapped by false humility for virtue since it dehumanizes them. Imperatively, the Korean women must ensure that their right as free-thinking subjects is affirmed in order to make sure that men do not see them as objects to be abused and used. Moreover, their innermost courage has to be reinforced so that they can be able to oppose discrimination, injustice, mistreatment and persecution. They should also empower themselves to be able to overcome the patriarchal prejudice. In addition, social institutions such as churches and other local associations must work together as progressive force and agents of justice to combat violence against women. The government must ensure that violence victims get special support, while offenders have to be prosecuted publicly through the legal system so as to ensure that the culture of violence is transformed. Conclusion In conclusion, the paper has illustrated how culture affects women’s right and has provided suggestions on how the issue of women’s rights violation in Korea can be solved. As evidenced in the essay, cultural bias has played a crucial role in promoting domestic violence. Interconnecting dynamics of gender and class have made domestic violence more prevalent and most women dare not aware of their rights as well as the existing legal remedies. Control of the freedom and discrimination against females are still being practised in different cultures such as South Korea and the existing laws have failed to protect women’s rights. The event at Gangnam proves that male domination still exists in many cultures, and although laws have been enacted to protect women, violence against women has increased tremendously. Cultural justifications of gender violence have been a disputed terrain since they are either utilised to excuse actions of people or to participate in racial stereotyping. Works Cited Byun, Whasoon. Violence Against Women In Korea And Its Indicators. Working Paper. Seoul: Korean Women’s Development Institute, 2007. Hong, Jun Sung, et al. "Wife battering in South Korea: An ecological systems analysis." Children and Youth Services Review 32 (2010): 1623–1630. Hughes, Donna M., Katherine Y. Chon and Derek P. Ellerman. "Modern-Day Comfort Women The U.S. Military, Transnational Crime, and the Trafficking of Women." Violence Against Women 13.9 (2007): 901-922. Okin, Susan Moller, et al. Women rights’issue which collapse with culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999. Sung-Hee, Hwang. Fatal stabbing fuels concern over gender violence in S. Korea. 20 May 2016. 23 June 2016. . Read More