Are women full citizens If not, what might they require in order to become so - Essay Example

?Are women full citizens? If not, what might they require in order to become so? Women’s full citizenship is a that has been widely debated around the globe for past many years and is still an ongoing process. Advocates of women’s citizenship can be debating while referring to the relationship between women and state, to the exclusivity of women’s status, or to the rights and privileges granted to women by the state and society. So, the general consensus is that the idea of citizenship is in itself quite complex due to myriad connotations it suggests. Citizenship in relation to gender is being frantically explored now in many settings due to the ongoing denial to women. Though myriad historical accounts of such denial of citizenship to women can be found, truth is that this grave misfortune encountered by women is still globally pervasive and attempts are being made at different levels to explore the issue from multiple dimensions. In order to answer the fiercely profound question of if women are full citizens and if not- what provisions or changes they might require in order to acquire full citizenship, this essay attempts at scrutinizing the essence of what contemporary literature has to say on the subject in addition to evaluating how socially excluded and voiceless are the women of present times. It is worth mentioning that while women seeking recognition are openly denied even the most basic rights and citizenship in some parts of the world, men in higher influential positions still attempt to bring down the women in more subtle and discreet manner even in the modernized societies. Feminist women scholars have been time and again pointed out by fuming mass of religious men as heretic and rebels who need to be stopped before they overtake the society with their cunning charms. An example of this is the unusual act of Dr. Amina Wadud who in an attempt to garner the Muslim women’s rights to full citizenship and to be an active participant in the ritual of public player, made the decision to lead men and women during prayer in New York City causing huge uproar from the Muslim scholars (Lahav 2009). She was labeled as a highly hostile and controversial scholar by Muslim men around the world which suggests that access to rights equivalent to men is an ongoing battle for women. However, this is not an issue confined to the Muslim society because many Jewish women holding Tefillah groups and eager to play the role of active participants in the formal ritual of Jewish prayers have also been vigorously criticized and unappreciated in the Jewish world. This shows that constitutional culture in the US has encouraged the Muslim and Jewish women to explore their religious law and “open it to principles of gender equality” (Lahav 2009). It is absolutely horrid that many acts of these women who anxiously struggle for full citizenship are met with giant waves of mercilessness and evil plots both in the religious communities and contemporary settings. Women’s liberation and citizenship is not just an issue of the conservative states because research also cites that “contemporary American cities actually contain many injustices” (Young 2011: 13). Research literature suggests that throughout most of human history, women from different classes, ethnicities, races, and religions were and continue to be denied state citizenship due to multiple reasons. Within UK, “the dominance of a Catholic ideology firmly placing women in the home” (Thane & Breitenbach 2010: 3) led to male dominance and exclusion of women as full citizens until the 1960s. However, movements like the right-to-work movement beginning in the twentieth century coupled with changes in the Western capitalism and the trends of multinational corporations have effectively worked to bring down many formal barriers and have ended this exclusion in many societies. Still, citizenship is one of many social practices in which gender segregation is “ancient and stubbornly persistent” (Friedman 2005: 4). Not only the political rights but the privileges of citizenship which affect men and women differ between them with women in many settings not allowed citizenship of even the lowest rank. The gendered nature of all social practices is quite apparent in every society which works to foster the difference between men and women in context of citizenship. The way political citizenship is acknowledged and practiced in a given society depends a lot on living styles of the people of that society and gender stereotypes. It is claimed that “how we understand women as citizens is dependent on these differentiated political elaborations” (Landes cited in Friedman 2005: 4). This is why even when the privileges and rights to citizenship are made available to women by the state authorities, practical and potential barriers created by men who have long been in the habit of enjoying exclusivity make it hard for struggling women to avail those opportunities. As long as certain traits that are stereotypically male continue to exist in any society, women will continue to struggle for the level of citizenship equivalent to men even if options are created by the state. It is claimed that the fight for women’s social and political citizenship began in the 1960s, but “the struggle for realization of social citizenship continues” (McClain & Grossman 2009: 9-10). Women throughout the history and still in many conservative societies are marginalized and thought of as being incapable of sharing citizenship with men because they are not breadwinners or wage-earners and paid employment is one of the potential factors which confers full citizenship to women (Briar 2004: 142). Independent living from paid employment can definitely work for women. The role of sole breadwinner of the family and other such attributes which are stereotypically male basically form the public and political media through which citizenship is practiced. Such media differ from society to society and the extent to which women have access to full membership or political citizenship also varies in accordance. It is true when said that “women are underrepresented in most levels of government worldwide” (Kerr, Sprenger & Symington 2004: 41). Moreover, culture is also a potentially powerful factor which influences the citizenship practices thriving in a society. Vogel has made a very interesting remark on women’s citizenship by claiming that women’s marginalization or subordination is not simply a matter of male bigotry but “an integral part of men’s citizenship status” (Vogel cited in Dwyer 2010: 113). Basically, the idea of liberating women in context of citizenship is about granting them full membership in their community the way men are granted. But if the societal culture is of the autocratic, repressive, and stereotypical type where women pushing against the limits set by men are openly subjected to punishments, then the chances of women being recognized as full citizens are extremely minimal in contrast to the more liberated culture of the Western society, where gender stereotypes do exist but are practiced in a discrete way. Therefore, it is stressed that recognition of the rights of unrecognized groups like women is the only way to promote their full participation or citizenship (Young 2011: 11). It is clearly evident by now that women are not full citizens but the question of what might be done in order to make them full citizens remains. Hobbes claims that not only women are men’s equals but enjoy the same freedom in the natural state. The question poised by feminists is that if freedom and equality are the natural attributes of all human beings as claimed by Hobbes, then how gender segregation in context of citizenship can be justified? (Pateman 1989: 5). Feminists around the globe are mainly interested in democracy, citizenship, and power and are hugely concerned with how government distributes that power between men and women (Pateman 1989: 2). Feminism not only generates new areas for discussion but also attempts to make sure that mainstream women’s issues like citizenship could be embraced and recognized by the state. Feminist scholars insist that women’s citizenship issues exist and are pervasive because the problem lies in modern political theory- “the problem of patriarchal power or the government of women by men” (Pateman 1989: 2). Women belonging from the patriarchal cultures really stand little hope because from a little girl to a mature woman, all are harassed by their male counterparts. It is claimed that contemporary political theory which provides oxygen to patriarchal societies pays no attention to feminist scholars who argue against the power of men over women and “attack the legitimacy of patriarchal government” (Pateman 1989: 3). In the patriarchal construction of a society or a culture, women do not possess the capacities fundamental to political life and cannot achieve full citizenship. They are included in the private and public sectors differently from men. Therefore, recognition of women’s rights by the state in addition to implementing strategies at grass-root level to ensure social and political representation of women is highly important. Also, male sense of right to jobs and ideas of sacrifice for children or family are two factors which made women struggling for full citizenship seem selfish and men think that only they possess “the attributes of free and equal individuals” (Pateman cited in Kessler-Harris & Hoxie 2001: 7). So, it is important that the governments everywhere challenge the orthodox male wage-earner model and provide state support for care work in order to promote women’s citizenship. It is widely believed that “citizenship is a contested concept” (Lister cited in Yuval-Davis & Werbner 2005: 1). It does much more than simply defining a relationship between an individual and the state. Women struggling for full citizenship or full membership in the community basically battle not only for political representation, but for personal identity, recognition, a sense of belonging as an appreciated member, and social positioning. Such an expansion in the idea of citizenship is important “in order to analyse and understand transformations in formal citizenship as well” (Yuval-Davis & Werbner 2005: 5). The history of women’s struggle for citizenship and the right to cast votes in political elections suggests that it has always been a struggle for equality, to be treated in a way identical to men, and to extend the rights exclusively enjoyed by men to women also (Pateman cited in Bock & James 1992: 14). It is suggested that failure to grant women rights equivalent to men renders them second-glass citizens who are unable to represent themselves socioeconomically and politically. This explains why “women’s participation level in parliaments and political parties is still poor” (Acker 1999: 36). So, shifting the sexual division of labour is cited as one valuable way to grant full citizenship to women by Lister (cited in Walby 1999: 17). Shift in the sexual division of labor can help both men and women to act as equal citizens, share responsibilities, and acquire access to the social privileges of citizenship. It is commendable that in egalitarian societies, “there is a gradual movement to a more equitable division of domestic work” (Gershuny cited in Walby 1999: 18). But this strategy is daunting especially in conservative or patriarchal societies and requires modifications in both public behavior and state policies. It is also important to establish social justice in order to undermine oppression and grant women full citizenship but it is claimed that social justice can only be implemented if it acknowledges and addresses all kinds of group differences existing in a certain society (Young 2011: 3). Concluding, this much remains clear from the above discussion that advocates of advancement in women’s citizenship stress on the importance of freedom which is about lending voice and political and socioeconomic power to women who are socially excluded and strive to gain recognition for themselves. Though quite a number of women have brought significant political revolutions during the last century, but women in many states are still not generously granted a citizenship status equal to that of men. Issues of women and citizenship are undeniable and anyone suggesting that they do not exist or are near extinction is in a state of utter oblivion because these issues are not merely pronounced by the way women are deprived of political rights but also by pervasiveness of gender segregation at nearly every level in the society. Establishing social justice and recognition of group differences in any society as already mentioned are the basic steps which should serve as the bedrock of all decisions and welfare strategies aimed at guaranteeing full citizenship to women. References Acker, EV 1999, Different voices: gender and politics in Australia, Macmillan Education AU, Hong Kong. Briar, C 2004, Working For Women?: Gendered Work And Welfare Policies In Twentieth Century Britain, Taylor & Francis, UK. Dwyer, P 2010, Understanding Social Citizenship: Themes and Perspectives for Policy and Practice, The Policy Press, Great Britain. Friedman, LM 2005, Women and Citizenship, Oxford University Press, USA. Kerr, J, Sprenger, E & Symington, A 2004, The Future of Women's Rights: Global Visions and Strategies, Zed Books, USA. Kessler-Harris, A & Hoxie, GR 2001, In Pursuit of Equity : Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in 20th-Century America: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in 20th-Century America, Oxford University Press, USA. Lahav, P 2009, Seeking Recognition: Women's Struggle for Full Citizenship in the Community of Religious Worship, [Online] Available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1441244 [accessed: 8 April 2013]. Lister, R 1999, ‘What welfare provisions do women need to become full citizens’, in S. Walby (ed.) New agendas for women, Basingstoke, MacMillan, pp. 17-31. McClain, LC & Grossman, JL 2009, Gender Equality: Dimensions of Women's Equal Citizenship, Cambridge University Press, NYC. Pateman, C 1989, The Disorder of Women: Democracy, Feminism and Political Theory, Stanford University Press, Great Britain. Pateman, C 1992, ‘Equality, difference, subordination: the politics of motherhood’, in G. Bock and S. James (eds.) Beyond Equality and Difference: citizenship, feminist politics And female subjectivity, Routledge, London, pp. 14-27. Thane, P & Breitenbach, E 2010, Women and Citizenship in Britain and Ireland in the 20th Century: What Difference Did the Vote Make?, Continuum International Publishing Group, London. Young, IM 2011, Justice and the Politics of Difference, Princeton University Press, USA. Yuval-Davis, N & Werbner, P 2005, Women Citizenship and Difference, Zubaan, South Asia. Read More