Psychological Construction of Womens Personality in Patriarchal and Matriarchal Dominance Societies - Research Paper Example

Psychological construction of women’s personality in patriarchal and matriarchal dominance societies Specific Aims This research project seeks to outline a new sociocultural practice of women’s personality and its formation, in order to determine the differences between matriarchal and patriarchal dominance societies, in relation to the Western notions of self-construction. The proposed research provides insight into the child-rearing practices and the formation of adult personality, in which the ideas about the meaning of life, social relations and the development of character play an essential role. The general problem under study is the way women’s personality is formed in patriarchal and matriarchal dominance societies of Central and West Africa. The research will have two stages: (1) A study on Mubi women (from Nigeria) and Ouaddai women (from Chad). In these societies, women have a representative role, which is considered matriarchal dominance –as there is no real matriarchal society in the present day. Matriarchal dominance implies a society with gender equality and predominance of women. (2) A study on women in Maur community (from Mauritania) and Fulfude community (from Cameroon), where there is a total patriarchal control. In both types of society, the proposed research will provide answers to the following questions: What is the level of injustice, violence and human right violations against women in these different societies? Which is the image that women have of themselves? How is the social construction of women’s self-esteem shaped in these communities? How does the social construction contribute to gender injustice and inequality? Thus, the project pursues two aims: (1) To determine the psychological construction of women’s personality in Mubi and Ouaddai communities, and Maur and Fulfude communities. (2) To establish a social comparison between the matriarchal dominance societies and patriarchal societies. Background and Significance To be born a man or a woman in any society is more than a simple biological fact. It starts as a biological fact, but unfolds social implications. Women constitute a distinct social group, and the character of that group, long neglected by historians, has nothing to do with feminine “nature”. “Gender” is the term now widely used to refer to those ways in which a culture reformulates what begins as a fact of nature. The role of image is important in this context. Our actions are the results of images that we exteriorized. John Berger (1972) states: “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at”. This idea is recalled by Laura Mulvey (1989) in the chapter Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema: In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at. (Mulvey, 1989: 19) A review of previous theoretical and empirical works will allow examining the problem in depth. Deutsch (1944) explained women’s conflict between motherliness and eroticism, and the three essential traits of femininity –narcissism, passivity and masochism. At its publication, Deutsch’s Psychology of Women was considered an influential reading on that subject. The first volume is dedicated to the individual development and the personality of women, while the second studies their role as mothers. An antecedent on the relationships between gender and sexuality is Foucault’s History of Sexuality (1990), in which the author examined the influence of historical trends in the formation of our contemporary interpretation of sexuality. On the other hand, Berger & Luckmann (1966) made an approach to the foundations of knowledge in everyday life, and they studied the society as an objective and subjective reality, and the man as a social product. Hill Collins (2000) dealt with the social construction of black feminist thought. She mentioned Maria W. Stewart, a 19th-century feminist activist who established the influence of race, gender and class oppression on Black women’s poverty, and pointed out the importance of self-definition for Black women. Paul Riesman (1992) carried out a study based on a fieldwork among the Fulani of West Africa. From an anthropological point of view, this author investigated the relationships between self, social structure, economy and ideology. He remarked that one’s personality influences the whole life course, and hence the chances of success or failure. The parents’ raising is essential in the formation of personality. Consequently, a person’s life history and experiences influences behaviour. In this order of ideas, Shotter (1985) argued: “To understand ourselves we must examine how currently we account for ourselves in our everyday self-talk, the procedures and practices we routinely use in making sense of our activities to one another” (p. 172). Another concept considered in this research is governance. “Governance is presumed to be gender-neutral. But in practice, the discourse, procedures, structures and functions of governance remain heavily skewed in favour of men in general, and certain groups of men in particular.” (Ashworth, 1996:1) Efforts to engage women more in local government processes of integrated development planning are encountering many barriers. Women are alienated from participation in deciding issues of service delivery by lack of information, and there is insufficient effort on the part of local governments to consult them. Better results are being achieved where councils work with women through their own community-based organizations. Therefore, women’s participation at the economic level will be studied. It is important to recognize and value women’s economic role in economic policy making, as well as an analysis of budgets and demanding accountability for resource allocations on a gender equitable basis. A budget is a key document which affects whether poor Black women’s needs are being addressed – women are analyzing budgets in gender terms, and advocating for better outcomes. That reflection leads to the necessity of giving women’s economic literacy and training to analyze their situation and to look for an economic independence. Also, women may assume an active role in combating corruption – there is some evidence of an association between women’s participation and reduced corruption. The relevance of the proposed research lies on the importance of the information it will provide, such as the influence of the image on women in the building of their self-esteem, and their participation on their own objectivity. It may articulate the discussions of public policies, governance, and women’s perceptions. This research is oriented to the study of the psychological construction of women’s personality. Its results can contribute to fight against the social, psychological and economic barriers which hinder a healthy development of women’s personality. On the other hand, the proposed research could serve as a basis or starting point for future works on the problem of gender inequality in Africa. It could also enhance the knowledge in the field of social psychology and gender studies, and provide a theoretical and methodological framework for other researches in the same field. In synthesis, this research project will consider a broad view of the phenomenon of the social construction of women’s personality, and it will have an integrated approach to psychological and social issues. Methodology The research methods used in this work are qualitative and quantitative. The methodology is based on Bryman (2004) and De Vaus (2001). An internship in United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) agencies in Ndjamena (Chad), Garoua (Cameroon), and the UNICEF in Mauritania will allow the data collection. Women from 15 to 45 years old, inhabitants of the aforementioned communities, will be interviewed. The number of women and the possibility of including older women inside the analysis will depend on the research needs. This field study aims to investigate equal power relations in society. The combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods may capture the individual experiences of women in African communities, and give the opportunity of a statistical analysis. Both methods may improve the understanding of these phenomena in an interdisciplinary approach. The phenomena to be analysed are the following: Women’s representation in media –e.g. as a decorative object. Gender empowerment and disempowerment. Women’s self-esteem and the process of building their social self-construction. Women and the state, that is, the place of women in the communities. Gender-based education. Women’s culture and its influence on their self-construction. Women’s livelihood. Women’s sexuality and the responsibility for their own body, which include considerations on abortion and body mutilation –e.g. genital mutilation. Women and marriage. Women in family. Women’s childhood and education. Women’s homosexuality. Gender-based equality. References Ashworth, G. (1996). Gendered Governance: An Agenda for Change. UNDP Gender Monograph Series Nº 3. New York: UNDP. Berger, J. (1972). Ways of Seeing. London: BBC / Harmondsworth: Penguin. Berger, P.T. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Bryman, A. (2004). Social Research Methods (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Deutsch, Helene (1944). The Psychology of Women. A Psychoanalytic Interpretation (Volumes I & II). New York: Grune & Stratton. De Vaus, D. (2001). Research Design in Social Research. London: SAGE Publications. Foucault, M. (1990). The History of Sexuality: An Introduction (Volume 1). New York: Vintage. Hill Collins, P. (2000). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge. Mulvey, L. (1989). Visual and Other Pleasures. London: Macmillan Press. Riesman, P. (1992). First Find Your Child a Good Mother: The Construction of Self in Two African Communities. Rutgers University Press. Shotter, J. (1985). Social Accountability and Self-Specfication. In K.J. Gergen & K.E. Davis (Eds.) The Social Construction of the Person (pp. 167-189). New York: Springer-Verlag. Read More