Discussing Gender Inequality - Essay Example

Foucalt's1 and Stoler's theory provides more than just a dis on the interactions of the male and female, within the public and private sphere. Both also agree that race within colonial nations also mirror the male and female power struggle in patriarchal societies. In fact feminist theory has considered the core problems in the legal and political systems, resulting in a discourse on the inherent inequalities of these systems that favor men over women2. In Patriarchal Societies feminists argue that the body and its traditional assignations of wife and body have become a form of control. Western feminists, such as Rich argues that rape and violence against women are central to the control of women and their bodies, especially when the advancement of women in the public sphere is de-stabilizing this power base: Patriarchy is' a familial-social, ideological, political system in which men - by force, direct pressure or through ritual, law and language, customs, etiquette, education, and division of labour, determine what part women shall or shall not play, and in which the female is everywhere subsumed under the male. It does not necessarily imply that no woman has power, or all women in a given culture may not have certain powers.3 Therefore history and structure is formulates to control women, Stoler and Foucault argue that violence and paternalism is also mirrored in the approach to colonialist rule: People ... whose lives cut unfamiliar paths across the distinctions of rule suggest still other structures of feeling in formation, other sites of power to identify, a wider range of sources to consider, and, not least, other kinds of memories to call on and stories to tell.4 When considering other theories of power, especially in relation to sexuality and race depends upon violence and control over the body, which is an indicator that there is inherent discrimination in the legal, social and political system. However, there is a lot of similarities in Western and Eastern cultures in respect to control and power over women's bodies. Carla Rice states that [w]henever we as women look at ourselves through the lens of culture, we' end up engaged in a war with our bodies, one that we cannot win. Society has inhibited our bodies and we have absorbed into our skin and bones (1999, 317) Stoler introduces an interesting connection between women's bodies and culture; however the modern restraints on women and the body are not new, i.e. history has restrained the body in differing ways. The modern era has heralded freedom in the sense of the mind; however culture has enslaved women using their body again, i.e. the reproductive functions were the prison of the past, superficial beauty is the prison of today. This imprisoning of the mind by using the body is a very old weapon used by the dominating male hierarchical system in fear that women can no longer be so easily controlled. If one considers cultures, such as Asia and the Middle East, being too fat or having a big nose is not a thing of consequence; because women are still imprisoned by their reproductive functions. The male dominated system of the West has been forced to alter cultural images and notions to further dominate women; therefore culture has had to alter by forcing women into a new box, i.e. an underfed, tall, big busted woman. The war waged on women's bodies is first a conflict over shape and size, over the terrain of our bodies, played in a deeply entrenched cultural taboos and a powerful dictate against women taking up space and claiming room of our own.5 This statement of Rice's sums up the conflict between the advancement of women and the restraints constructed by the male dominated culture, which has to adapt to the advancement of women in the late 20th and 21st Century. Rice is correct in her evaluation of the male dominated culture adapting to imprison women from declaring their own rights and space. Foucault6 has provided a discourse that has gone farther than just making women equal to men or races equal, by understanding that political and legal theory has to recognize the structural inequalities between men and women and between different races and society needs to try and eliminate these inequalities through various different approaches. In other words society has to compete with the entrenched inequalities that history and society has created. However feminism has provided a very important analysis of the legal system and theory by recognizing that power is inherent in the ruling group; where the only way to balance this power is to identify and eliminate the inequalities that afford the ruling group power. Inequality is a reality for women at all levels of life, in the home, in the labor market and as a citizen of the state Stoler argues. In a similar way, as Foucault argues, race within colonial nations. The laws of liberal democratic states have set up value neutral laws that are based in an androgynous view of the sexes; however this is not the reality of situation, because the state, family and labor market is based on systemic discrimination of women, i.e. men have created the system and have inherently based the position of women, at best as second class citizens and at worst as the property of men. This has made the theory of re-distribution key to creating equality economically, socially and politically for women. Therefore this discussion will consider the theories of re-distribution and then apply them to women's social and political situations, which then should cause changes in women's social image and therefore create a situation of equality in the family. The core thinking of Nozick7 is the entitlement theory whereby there are three principles which are; the transfer principle; the acquisition principle; and the rectification principle. It must be stressed that Nozick's liberalism is entrenched in the theory of natural and core rights as set out originally be Locke. Therefore all men are created equally as derived from the state of nature but in order to create a civil society men contracted for a just system of governance with essential human rights. This is the traditional theory of the relationship between the market and the state; however this value-neutral approach fails to create equality for women. It must be stressed that Nozick's liberalism is entrenched in the theory of natural and core rights as set out originally be Locke. Therefore all men are created equally as derived from the state of nature but in order to create a civil society men contracted for a just system of governance with essential human rights. This is the traditional theory of the relationship between the market and the state; however this value-neutral approach fails to create equality for women. The problem of inherent inequality is because such a theory based on the free market would view re-distributive actions by the government as unjust. The main problem for this thinking is the original premise whereby Nozick assumes all people began as equals, because the present Western society has been created primarily by white men, therefore for there to be equality. Therefore inequality is the key term that needs to be discussed when contemplating the validity of re-distributing resources. Re-distribution can be done by either handing out state benefits of money, housing or material items or by providing more opportunities to those that are in disadvantaged positions. Nozick and Rawls8 are examples of two extremes in liberalist thought; Nozick represents the true laissez-faire liberals whereby redistribution is against equal opportunities and the only way to present a just government is to follow free-market principles Bibliography: Primary Texts Michel Foucault. Two Lectures pp. 200-221. Culture/Power/History Ann Laura Stoler. Carnal Knolwedge and Imperial Power: Gender, Race and Morality in Colonial Asia. pp. 13-36. The Gender/Sexuality reader. Ed. Roger Lancaster and Micaela di Leonardo Secondary Texts African Canadian Legal Unit, July 2002, "A Report on the Canadian Government's Compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination", can be found at: http://www.aclc.net/antiba_employment.htm J. Bridgeman & S. Milns (1998) Feminist Perspectives on Law: Law's Engagement with the Female Body, London, Sweet & Maxwell R. Crompton & K, Sanderson (1990) Gendered Jobs & Social Change, London, Unwin Hyman The Constitution Press Unit (UK), "Legal Change Could allow Quotas for Women" Press Release, June 22nd 2000 which can be found at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/files/preleases/wompress.htm S. Duncan (1994) "Disrupting the Surface of Order and Innocence: Towards a Theory of Sexuality and Law" 2 Feminist Legal Studies 3 M.J. Frug (1992) "A Postmodern Feminist Legal Manifesto (An Unfinished Draft)" 105 Harvard Law Review 1045 E. Jackson (1992) "Catharine MacKinnon and Feminist Jurisprudence: A Critical Appraisal", 19 Journal of Law and Society 195 Helena Kennedy, 2005, Women and Justice: Eve was Framed (2nd Edition), Vintage, London Kymlicka (2002) Contemporary Political Philosophy: an Introduction (2nd Edition), Oxford, Oxford University Press C.A. MacKinnon (1983) "Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: Toward Feminist Jurisprudence", 8 Signs 635 C.A. MacKinnon (1987) Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law, Cambridge Mass, Harvard University Press C.A. MacKinnon (1989) Toward a Feminist Theory of the State, Cambridge Mass, Harvard University Press Marsh D & Stoker G, 2002, Theory and Method in Political Science, Palgrave MacMillan Maynard & Winn, 1997, Women, Violence and Male Power, in Robertson & Richardson (eds), 1997, Introducing Women's Studies, Palgrave, London Nozick, 1978, Anarchy, State and Utopia, Blackwell Rawls, 1973, The Theory of Justice, Oxford University Press Carla Rice Out from Under Occupation: Transforming Our Relationship with Our Bodies in Amin et al, 1999, Canadian Women's Studies: An Introductory Reader Inanna, Toronto Adrienne Rich, 1986, Blood, Bread and Poetry, WW Norton, New York Adrienne Rich, 1977, Of Women Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, Virago, London Diane Richardson, 1997, Sexuality and Feminism, in Robertson & Richardson (eds), 1997, Introducing Women's Studies, Palgrave, London S.L. Roach Anleu (1992) "Critiquing the Law: Themes and Dilemmas in Anglo-American Feminist Legal Theory", 19 Journal of Law and Society 423 Rosenberg A, 2002, Philosophy of Social Science: A Contemporary Introduction Routledge R. Sandland (1995) "Between 'Truth' and 'Difference': Post structuralism, Law and the Power of Feminism", 3 Feminist Legal Studies 4 Shestack, The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights from Ed. Janusz Symonides, 2000, Human Rights: Concepts and Standards, UNESCO Publishing C. Smart (1989) Feminism and Power of Law, London, Routledge Liz Stanley "Methodology Matters" in Robertson & Richardson (eds), 1997, Introducing Women's Studies (2nd Edition), New York University Press, New York Ed. Janusz Symonides, 2000, Human Rights: Concepts and Standards, UNESCO Publishing Read More