History of women in the workforce - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages This has precisely become a global phenomenon because they do not have access to equal opportunities. Following the lack of involvement of social entities, the feminine gender has found itself vulnerable to different detrimental factors such as diseases, physical abuse, emotional abuse and even sexual abuse. This paper, therefore, seeks to find and explore the role of women in the society and their vulnerability in an environment that is almost dominated by their opposite gender. Historically women have all through been highly faced with some obstacles that have been brought about by religious, cultural practices, ethnic background and sometimes abuse from their own spouses. Some conflicts have developed in the family relations with regard to gender. Arguably it is believed that behavioural norms have made gender roles vary from one culture to another In China, for example, women are treated as subordinates as opposed to their male counterparts. Therefore, they do not have any right that is supposedly supreme to that of their husbands or fathers. Different roles are set for them. For instance, collecting firewood and fetching water. Significantly the way gender roles are shared is partly attributed to the role that is being played by religion whereby, for example, in the Asian culture the women are highly forbidden in the holy places of worship especially when they are considered unclean due to some reason such as menstruation, ovulation and miscarriages (Hughes and Hughes 212). ...
are considered unclean, and can, therefore, not stand in the pulpits or holy temples before they are secluded or sent to undergo thorough cleansing that is presided over by high priests. Significantly, this automatically depicts the men as clean. It also associates them with high divinity and high morals than their female counterparts hence bringing out the relations and differences between the two genders. Widespread discrimination is also another stumbling block before them. The way roles are distributed to women is partially attributed to religion and other social and cultural factors. Religion has been used to curtail the empowerment of women in society who are perceived as a weaker sex. Social-cultural factors such as societal taboos and traditions have also played a role in making women’s struggle for freedom a pipedream. Over the years, however, women have come out to claim their position in society. In the modern society, women have been able to crush the traditional nutshell and have been able to unleash their potential to the society. Women have managed to work in different disciplines like medicine, sports activities, art and even education. This is not only a comfort, but also a stepping stone to them since men continue to dominate the lucrative upper and better paying jobs in the government and other areas whereas, on the other hand, the women are not given full equal opportunities and rights like their opposite gender. They have little or no say at all in even the ownership of property because they are considered to be their husband’s property. Gender and sexuality are also taking a rather intriguing direction. Almost all religions have come up with a development that covers issues on sexuality and ethics. The society tends to look down upon the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More