Feminists Want Women to Be the Same as Men - Essay Example

 Feminists Want Women to be the same as Men Feminism in the past and the present times, it has influenced the thinking of different people because of the things it has advocated. Feminist have advocated for various things that aim at promoting the plight of women in the society by advancing their perspectives about what should be the fair and right treatment for all genders. In this respect, feminists have given insight into the ways that men should treat women and in the different stages of evolution of feminism, there have been various emphases that people have put in terms of how people should treat women. Feminists advocate for the rights of women as equal individuals in the society with men in the society and they support the equal treatment of all people within the society and in which case they are able to propagate the issues that promote the livelihood of all. In many instances, people have said that feminists have advocated for the gender equality in which men and women have to be treated in the same way regardless of the differences that exist between them. However, this caused a debate between in the people considering the fact that some people argue from the perspective of the modern feminists who advocate for gender equity rather than gender equality advanced by others (Kunin, 2012, p. 3-7). In this respect, the debate of whether feminists want women to be the same as men remain important and relevant among people who have knowledge about the perspectives of the feminists and the things they support. In the introduction of feminism in the society, the proponents had advanced the notion that there was unequal treatment between men and women who were expected to raise people to a level of worship. The inequalities that people pointed out were did not favour women and therefore, they felt that there was a need to establish a system in which people who do similar jobs in an organisation were to receive equal treatment in all aspects (Kunin, 2012, p. 12). This was aimed to improve the status of working in the society so that both women and men are able to benefit from what they do in the society and ensure that all effort is rewarded equally in the society. Feminists of the early times advanced the perspective that payments and other benefits that are guaranteed to one gender can be extended to other people regardless of the fact that they have differences. Feminism in its original form, worked to establish gender neutrality between men and women so as to eliminate biases that existed in extending benefits to men and women who did similar jobs. In this respect, the original form of feminism advocated for introduction of equality between men and women (Buchanan, 2012, p. 123). The early forms of feminisms in communist countries and liberal feminists in capitalist countries advocated for women to get full-time jobs as men, which would mean that they were to be the same. This is an instance in which people wanted to be treated equally with men and women to access the benefits that they ought to receive as equal role players in any organisation in the world. Women in these countries, for example, advocated for government-supported maternity leaves that are paid in cases they are caught up in that period bearing children. This implies is a form of privilege that feminists demands so that women can feel that they have received special treatment as men who do not necessarily face child bearing (Tandon, 2008, p. 19-23). Some feminists have also advocated for extension of equal privileges to men in a situation where they need to be involved in what their wives are doing during the maternity leave so that the roles may not be left to women. For example, in Norway, mean are entitled to a leave that occur concurrently with that of their wives’ maternity leave so that they can be able to share roles in raising the born child. This was advocated by feminists so that the roles of raising children should not be vested totally on women who have to take care of the child in the early stages of growth. This implies that feminist had an intention to make women to be the same as women in that both have a role to play in ensuring that they raise the child instead of leaving all the responsibilities to women (Tandon, 2008, p. 29). Marxist feminists have critical arguments against the distribution of roles in the family setups where men have advantage over their fellow counterparts in which they are expected to perform duties as the woman in the family and as employees in some organisations. In this respect, this group of feminists wanted to have women and men to be in parity in terms of the responsibilities they take in raising children within the family. This is to remove the perspective that the role of caring for children is women’s with men having little to contribute to it, which would influence the perspective of the equality between them. For this reason, the attempt of the Marxist feminists was to make the women and men the same in terms of the contribution they have on various responsibilities and what they need to do in relation to their contribution to raising children (Weeks, 2011, p. 17). Marxist feminists argue that all the people ought to be given equal opportunities in relation to their contribution to the economy in the society. In this respect, many of them pointed out that there is a need to ensure that all people are given opportunity to take responsibilities in different areas in the economy. These feminists argued that there could not be the end of women dependence on men if jobs and other economic opportunities are segregated on the bases of gender of the people who can take them. This means that in gendered job opportunities, women or men may be denied opportunities to exploit their potentials so that they raise their economic power and independence (Weeks, 2011, p. 73). In this argument, feminists have an argument that is targeted to ensure that men and women are equal and especially in relation to opportunities, they get in the society. This is because these feminists argue that if men and women were subjected to equal opportunities, they can possibly be able to able to have good opportunity for improvement of their economic status. They therefore, criticise the distribution of job opportunities between men and women so that they can to come up with a system that will allow equality as long as an individual qualifies for opportunities available (Ferree, 2012, p. 31-37). In some cases, feminist do not necessarily advocate equality between men and women but rather, they advocate for equity between the two genders. Some of the feminist groups have therefore, advocated for a moment in which specific issues that pre-expose some people to some disadvantages are overlooked to ensure that they are involved in the organisation of the people. Through such plans, people are able to get opportunities, which allow them to participate even in opportunities that they could not have so that they can attempt to create some balance in representation. According to development feminists, there are need to divide labour in accordance the ways that that will ensure that all the people are well represented in the economy without oppressing any gender. According to these feminists, it is necessarily to consider the fact that women and men have different abilities that enable them to perform well in the organisation in which they offer services. This has led to division of labour in organisation that represent equity and not equality between women and men in the society. In most cases, people pick roles according to their abilities and in consideration of the investment they need to put in realising the goal of the organisation. This implies that although women and men could have equal knowledge and skills, some activities can be conveniently done by men and others by women according to their socialisation and the energy demands (Pratt, 2004, p. 21). Radical feminists have tried to come up with strategies that trigger the thinking that every person has a role to play in whatever they do, to increase fairness in dealing with all the people. For example, radical feminist are opposed to unfair treatment of women, which expose them to sexual violence, but they advocate for a fair role-playing in which all the people will be treated with respect (Buchanan, 2011, p. 87-93). Although there are issues that show that feminists support the participation of women at the same level with men, it is clear that most of them do not imply that women and men should be the same. Most of these feminists advocate for fairness and they seek the involvement of women in different circumstances in the society so that it will allow them to establish their lives in ways that will advocate equity rather than equality. The feminist advocate for situations where there are no rigid obstructions that prevent the participation of any one gender and which will allow people to come up with plans that will incorporate all people in doing of activity. This implies that feminists do not want women to be the same as men regardless of their propositions on the ways women should have opportunities as men in a particular venture. Bibliographies Buchanan, M., (2012). Feminism: The Ugly Truth. London, ebookit.com. Buchanan, P. D. (2011). Radical feminists: A guide to an American subculture. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood. Ferree, M. M. (2012). Varieties of feminism: German gender politics in global perspective. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. Kunin, M. M. (2012). The new feminist agenda: Defining the next revolution for women, work, and family. White River Junction, Vt: Chelsea Green Pub. Pratt, G. (2004). Working feminism. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Tandon, N. (2008). Feminism: A paradigm shift. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. Weeks, K. (2011). The problem with work: Feminism, Marxism, antiwork politics, and postwork imaginaries. Durham: Duke University Press. Read More