The Status of Women in the Society - Essay Example

09 October, The status of women: The status of women has always been one of the most fascinating and engaging subject in the field of sociology. This is partly so due to the vast and ever-increasing opportunities of research, this subject offers and partly because of the continuously changing trends coming up and newer approaches observed related to this broad subject, in the context of sociology. The status of women is a highly riveting subject and holds utmost interest if contemplated with the sociological point of view, because then it is combined and studied with the rapidly changing attitudes of human societies. The approach and thinking of humans towards different subjects has always been changing since it is not possible for humans to have a resolute approach towards anything. This is a general consensus that the status of women has been secondary to that of men in the society throughout the history. This is so due to a variety of changes which have kept on modifying over the years. One of the biggest reasons and perhaps the most persistent one also, is that the attitude rendering women inferior to men is reflective of the social, cultural, political, and religious norms as well. Among these, religious norms have the most dominant impact on the position of women in the society in many parts of the world. Some hold on to this unjustified segregation and difference between the two sexes on the basis of physical and intellectual capabilities. Unequivocally, men are more adept at doing activities that require vigorous physical strength than women, but saying that this makes women significantly out of action and inefficient in terms of work is an utter mockery. Also this discrimination comes into practice because women have less social exposure than men have in everyday life. Women employment may be increasing on a rapid pace, but that can be said with pure confidence only about the developed countries. A woman’s right place and which suits her the most, is still broadly thought to be the kitchen only in the developing countries. Do women not need exercise for their faculties when God has blessed them with as much brains as men are blessed with? Why have they nearly always been looked down upon socially as humans, who should confine themselves to their homes and forget about learning more than society deems necessary for them? Ever since the civilization came into existence, men gradually became dominant socio-economically because many activities were necessary for living, which required more strength and that made men more influential. Consequently, women were left to look after the domestic tasks and a pattern began to be established, which is still unchanged and unchangeable in a few parts of the world. Though more and more women rights movements are fighting for justified rights and equal treatment in every field of life, equality satisfactorily devoid of bias, prejudice and discrimination is still not achieved, especially in Asian and African countries. Amidst this pandemonium, the good fact is that there have been prominent and effectual strides made in this direction ever since women became aware of the social indiscrimination. I have huge interest and fervor for this particular topic because this offers a broad field of research and encompasses a broad collection of ever-changing opinions and approaches. This is not the kind of topic which maintains a fixed nature, a persistent aura, and inflexible information. In fact, topics having persistence of nature are mostly devoid of true charm in my opinion, since they do not invite new concepts and changed thinking styles. Such subjects have a limited amount of information and so they keep maintaining the same impression from the very beginning, because sociological perspective is not modifiable for them. Another reason why the topic regarding the status of women holds attraction for me is because I can enjoy the freedom of looking at this according to my own style of thinking. Basically, this is the gripping beauty of this subject that it does not enforce restrictions for pondering it in a different manner, which does not coincide with the established social perspective. This generously offers oceans of knowledge regarding how women were socially judged and considered in the pre-historic times and how their position has marvelously risen in the society now, in stark contrast to the past. Women have undoubtedly become an indispensable and unavoidable part of the world now and their share in the make up of any society is at par with that of men’s in most of the world. Considering all the mass enthusiasm and uphill animosity for the discriminatory social approach between the two sexes, I had a view that women have finally reached or are only a few steps behind from attaining position and influence equal to men. But my opinion has drastically changed regarding the situation of women presently and that is even degrading and humiliating in some parts of the world. According to United Nations estimation in 1980 (cited in Rosenblum, 2007), women, who comprise half the worlds population, do two thirds of the worlds work, earn one tenth of the worlds income and own one hundredth of the worlds property. Recent studies made on the position of women in the society and their share in the make up of the socio-economic face of the world shows that the situation of the women has actually not changed remarkably than what was suggested by the United Nation’s report three decades back. Sex discrimination, for one thing, is still alive and perhaps most pronounced at workplaces. This is a fact that women are still paid significantly less than their male colleagues, in spite of same education and equal intellectual capacity. According to Sisely (2004), pay gap between men and women has still not been closed, no matter if women work for same number of hours as men. Unequal pay between men and women remains the overlooked nexus of work and family balance and government inaction regarding this issue is deplorable. Women may be paid less and face discrimination at work, but one thing that surprised me while pondering this issue is that the inferior status of women in the society can be judged from the fact that they are encouraged to stay at their homes and they are condemned when they strive for increased social exposure. Now, this is something that I do not feel can be passed as a foolproof statement since it has its share of exaggeration and that share is too big to be inconspicuous. This is a fact that women are now preferred to men in employment terms. Cauchon (2009) says that women held 49.83% of the nations 132 million jobs in June and theyre gaining the vast majority of jobs in the economic sectors that are growing, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is a bit of a punch for those who unnecessarily try aggravating the situation related to the status of women in the society, instead of thinking about effective strategies for creating equality between the two sexes. This essay is an effort to describe the actual situation of women in the society, how they were seen in the past, and what has changed or in the process of change presently. This analyzes the accurate status of women and the reasons behind the unjustified approach shown towards women in some parts of the world. Summing up, this much becomes clear from the above discussion that though history has always seen women judged inferior and less capable than men, new horizons are not too far away and which promise a bright future for women. This is undoubtedly because of the incredible efforts made by women themselves, of course, who willingly agree to tackle with two jobs at a time without any resentment. Works cited: Cauchon, Dennis. “Women gain as men lose jobs.” 03 Sep. 2009. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. Rosenblum, Darren. “Globalizing Gender Equality: The Economic Imperative of Womens Political and Corporate Leadership.” 2007. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. Sisely, Diane. “Sex discrimination is alive and well.” 08 Mar. 2004. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. Read More