Womens Equality to Men - Research Paper Example

Women’s equality Grade (April 19th, Women’s equality Introduction Women’s equality to men has long been fought for, but there is still a belief that women have not achieved equality, many decades after several legislations were enacted globally, to ensure that women would get equal rights with men. The feeling is not harboured amongst the women alone, but there is still a strong feeling amongst men, even those ones in the most developed countries, which have enacted very progressive laws and constitutions, that women are not, and should not be equal to men (Kimmel & Aronson, 2011). However, this feeling does not necessarily mean that women are not respected in today’s society. Thus, it is presently difficult to see that glaring discrimination against the female gender in many progressive societies, unless in those societies which are highly conservative, and which operates on the basis of cultures, traditions and social customs. In this respect, it has even become increasingly difficult for women to continue advocating for their rights to equality with men, owing to the fact that it is now being argued that the laws and the constitutions have already guaranteed the rights for women (Benningfield, 2004). Thus, the only thing that has resulted in the reversal of the gains that women had made when they managed to advocate for their rights through untold struggles is the social-cultural definitions of societal roles. Thus, there is still no accurate definition of the roles of either gender in the society within any law and constitution in the world, and such definitions are left to the social-cultural norms to determine. Thus, this discussion seeks to analyze women’s equality, with a view to argue that women’s equality has is not yet been achieved. Discussion Women’s equality still remains unachieved even in the most progressive and democratized societies in the world. It could be easy to argue that women have already attained too many rights in relation to the constitutions and the laws passed to safeguard the interests of women, to the extent that it can be contended that women have now achieved equal rights with men. However, the reality turns out to be very different when the issue is assessed both at the family level and at the national political level. While women could get equal treatment at the place of work through gaining promotions, equal pay and equal respect for the positions they hold, the case is different at the family level. Regardless of the position that woman holds in the society, woman must submit to the authority of the man at home, in fact regardless of the nature of this authority (Wergland, 2011). It is the duty of women to look after children and to look after the house, regardless of whether she is holding a similar job position with her husband, or even a higher one. The family system has still remained anchored on the traditional customs of women being the domestic caretakers, and nothing has changed over the years, despite the enactment of numerous laws that grants women equal rights (Kimmel & Aronson, 2011). However, the major challenge at this point is to answer the question; what can the law do to bring women’s equality in the family systems? The mere attempt to answer this question will immediately end at the realization that little can be done. This is because, regardless of the fact that the law can provide for the rights of women to be treat equally within the family, that would still remain to be theoretical, but without any practical means of ensuring that is achieved. The difficulty arises from issues such as pondering on how such a law would be implemented. Again, how can the law define the roles of men and women in relation to the family system without bringing in a huge conflict between the social customs and the cultures of the society on the one hand, and the law, on the other hand? (Conway, 2001). Thus, due to such difficulties, the social customs and the cultures of the society are left to govern the family system exclusively, with mere legal provisions that cannot be practically implemented, unless there is a glaring violation of the law such as assault, battery, rape or any other form of violence against women, when the law can intervene. However, for the rest of the social inequalities faced by women, such as the huge family responsibilities, including where men fail to take their rightful responsibility to provide for their families leaving the whole of this burden to women, the law still remains toothless. Thus, the achievement of women’s equality in the family system still remains illusionary (Coontz, 2013). Further, despite the indisputable gains that women have made in the last few decades towards safeguarding their position as to equal men, many atrocities and rights violations are happening against women. Women are being raped every other day even within the developed societies (Coontz, 2013). In addition, women still remain the most vulnerable group to the social ills committed in the society such as human trafficking, discrimination and street violence. No wonder that there are either women or children affected on the event of any street violence such as shooting (Wergland, 2011). Despite the existence of laws protecting women against the violation of their rights, women are still suffering from unprecedented domestic violence, with assault and even murder being on the rise in the 21st century. More women are being killed or harmed by their partners in the modern world, than it used to happen in history, yet the constitution and the law have provided against such violations of the rights of women (Kimmel & Aronson, 2011). Similarly, women are increasingly being discriminated against in certain professions such as the military, where women are being exposed to discrimination on the basis of the gender. Raping of female soldiers by their fellow male soldiers is no longer a secret, and the failure of women to get deserving promotion or other benefits purely because they have failed to submit to the sexual advances of the male leaders who are in the high position of authority is not a new occurrence (Wergland, 2011). All these occurrences points to the fact that women are yet to achieve equality. The other major issue that points to the fact that women’s equality is yet to be achieved is the issue of property ownership. Despite the fact that there are numerous legislations that have been made towards ensuring that women may have equal rights to property in different countries of the world, the practical aspect of this requirement is yet to be actualized (Global Issues, 2010). In many countries of the world, especially where both religion and culture form an important of the law, women are not allowed to own or inherit property. Similarly restricted mobility, female genital mutilation and early marriages are part of the occurrences that also hinder the realization of the women’s equality, since they may be prohibited by the law, but they are practices that many countries continue to practice, and the law has not been able to practically hinder these. This is because, while the legal requirements are based on the cases that are presented to the courts or the justice system, such social-cultural activities are not amenable to be investigated by the law, resulting in their continued propagation (Global Issues, 2010). In this respect, the perceived enactment of the law as the actual attainment of rights and gender equality by women is a wrong perspective, because the laws could be in place, but the actual implementation of such laws to target the actual issues of women inequality is the major problem. Thus, the female genital mutilation, prohibition from owning property, early marriages for girls and restricted mobility will continue to thrive in the society, despite the existence of the laws prohibiting such practices (Benningfield, 2004). Education is the major tool through which the society is transformed (Global Issues, 2010). To this end, there is no doubt that there has been a high level of progress in relation to women education. Throughout the world, the number of women attaining education has significantly increased. Thus, since education for women is one of the major inequality issues that the women suffrage movements and all other women organizations had been advocating for traditionally, they have made a great stride. Presently, there is higher number of girls attending schools than boys in many countries and women are also outperforming men in their educational performance (Wergland, 2011). However, the major problem is that the attainment of education has not translated to actual tangible benefits for women in terms of equity in employment and social representation (Global Issues, 2010). Therefore, despite a large number of women remaining educated, they have not been able to gain equal employment opportunities in many countries of the world, most especially in the conservative countries where religion and culture plays a significant part of the law. In such societies, there are some social positions that are reserved for the male gender, and thus women may not be able to access them, despite being highly qualified academically to hold such positions. In this respect, women still remains the highly unemployed gender, an indication that there is still a long way to go before women can attain equality fully, either in the area of employment or social representation that is commensurate with their educational levels (Global Issues, 2010). Politics is yet another aspect in the society that indicates that women equality has a long way to go before it is actually attained (Conway, 2001). The major problem associated with politics is that; it has traditionally been treated as an area where women should not be involved, owing to the nature of violence and dirty politics associated with the field. Another major problem associated with women’s equality in relation to the issue of politics is that; it is not only the male gender that is discriminating against women in politics, but also women themselves (Conway, 2001). Thus, women do not support even one of their own in politics, despite the fact that they form a large voting bloc in many countries, considering that globally, the population of women is slightly higher compared to that of men. Nevertheless, the major issue associated with the inequality of women representation in politics is that money plays an important role in politics, than does ideologies and manifestos (Coontz, 2013). Thus, women are thereby technically eliminated from being strong candidates for political positions, because most of women may not have the control of huge financial resources that might enable them to enter into politics and win elections. Additionally, even when women might have resources that are sufficient to enable them enter into political contests, they always take reservations regarding how men will portray them as women without social values, since in most societies, women are expected to remain at home and care for children (Conway, 2001). Therefore, the negative social branding associated with politics also keep women away from politics, since they may not be effective in playing the dirty games of gimmicks and propagandas associated with politics. Consequently, there are only few women who are representing powerful political positions globally, with such positions as women presidents being most rare occurrences in the world, even within the progressive and developed countries (Conway, 2001). Further, the issue of pay discrimination also demonstrates that there is still a large gap that is left in the realization of the actual women’s equality. This is because; it has been observed that on average, women earn 81% of what their male counterparts earn in different professions. This is because; first, women have the tendency of being hired for the middle and low-income jobs, while men often get the higher positions with better salaries (Wergland, 2011). Thus, it is no wonder to find that there are few women holding the positions of CEOS in different organizations globally. Secondly, there is a tendency for the male-dominated professions to be highly remunerated compared to the female dominated professions (Coontz, 2013). Thus, professions such as medicine, law, aviation, engineering, actuarial sciences and architecture attracts better pays globally, compared to other professions such as nursing, fashion and apparel industries, which are highly dominated by women. Therefore, it can easily be concluded that women’s equality has yet to be achieved, and still there is much that remains to be done, before it can actually be fully realized. References Benningfield, R. W. (2004). Appeal of the Sisterhood: The Shakers and the Woman’s Rights Movement. University of Kentucky Lexington. Conway, M. M. (2001). Women and political participation. Political Science and Politics 34 (2): 231–233. Coontz, S. (February 16, 2013).Why Gender Equality Stalled. The New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/why-gender-equality-stalled.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Global Issues. (March 14, 2010). Women’s Rights. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.globalissues.org/article/166/womens-rights Kimmel, S. & Aronson, A. (2011). The Gendered Society Reader. New York: Oxford UP. Wergland, G. R. (2011). Sisters in the Faith: Shaker Women and Equality of the Sexes. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Read More