The Way Feminist Theories - Case Study Example

Your full November 28, Women Changing Traditions Women have made an impact in changing genderroles in the workplace, political field, and the military. They are no more ready to stick to their societal gender roles that are assigned to them in their cultures. They have made up their minds to come out of their houses and work like men. They want their rights and want to do all that men are supposed to do because their own gender roles make them feel inferior. They want to be at the workplace, in the politics, and in the armed forces. This has been inculcated in their minds by way of strong feminism which comes with the agenda of women liberation. This paper discusses the hot debate whether women should be allowed to change gender roles or not by shedding light on the way feminist theories are changing the trend. Let’s start with explaining the difference between sex and gender which will show to the reader how gender roles come into existence. Sex refers to physical anatomy and biological differences between male and female; while, gender means the characteristics by which the society defines who is male and who is female (Roughgarden 22). Every culture has different concepts of gender roles that are assigned to males and females, and these are the gender roles that define the masculinity and femininity of an individual regardless of his physical anatomy or, in other words, sex. “Men and women are social categories” and socially “we have the freedom to decide who counts as a man and who counts as a woman” (Roughgarden 23). Male gender is associated with roles like going out for jobs, playing games, joining clubs, and becoming politicians; while, female gender is associated with roles like running a house, bearing children and raising them up, doing grocery, serving the family, and the like. These are all the gender roles that every culture assigns to men and women. Feminist theories have arisen because of distinction in gender because “most feminists differentiate sex from gender” (Nfah-Abbenyi 16). Women at workplaces, politics and military have become a part of contemporary popular culture. They have changed traditions (Scott). Humm (58) asserts the fact that since the main aim of contemporary popular culture is to refigure the body, hence issues regarding the body such as its shape, age and other requirements are the hot subject matter for magazines, books, journals, TV shows and even popular science. He states that these issues regarding the body raise questions about body frailty which creates concerns about gender differences, women being treated differently from men and the inferiority they experience as a result. For this reason, the issues regarding body and the gender differences encompassing the popular culture are the main concern of current feminist theories. Liberal women talk about women being treated differently than men, that is, gender discrimination that is favored basically by male domination. They talk about women’s understanding about sexuality, their experience at the workplace and how they manage their families alongside work. They are also concerned with women working with disciplines like history, social sciences, philosophy, arts and anthropology. The other important thing this feminism has to say is that women can tend to change the whole scenario by using their practical and empirical knowledge. This would help construct “a future non-sexist society” (Humm 5) which is the focus of attention of feminism. There are some feminists who characterize women as slaves in their houses doing work for their families without getting paid and thus their houses become a sort of prison for them. This is often referred to as domesticity. They say that this domesticity has to be ruled out from women’s lives if they want themselves to be treated at an equal status with men and considered as modern. The issues of domesticity and gender discrimination define how today’s woman reacts to her inferior position in society. According to Tuchman (qtd. in Gillis & Hollows 1), “many early second wave feminists focused on how ‘false’ images of women were created within popular culture, socializing girls into restricted definitions of femininity that were based around ‘hearth and home’”. This imagery of women is what defines the point of view of feminism toward popular culture. Gillis and Hollows also suggest that critics and feminist theory researchers have studied women’s role in popular culture to find how much women have changed their relationship with domesticity. There were critics who held women, shown in these popular forms, solely responsible for their being captured by domesticity; but later on, critics began appreciated these genres and were pleased about the power of women about being capable enough of running a home and becoming a source of inspiration for young women. The decade of 1990 brought forward a blacklash thesis that focused mainly on family values and attracted many critics who said that this thesis aimed to bring back the women from the workplace into the pre-feminist times. Gillis and Hollows cite the example of the movie Fatal Attraction released in 1987 which showed that the correct place of women was at home doing domestic chores. Thus, the release of such popular culture reduced the chances of the spread of feminism by the feminist theories. McRobbie (256) cites Andrea Stuart who states that in pop culture such as magazines and television shows, “issues which had been central to the formation of the women’s movement like domestic violence, equal pay, and workplace harassment, were now addressed to a vast readership”. This was where the feminist or female success took its start and the feminist theories started bearing fruit through portraying the feminine imagery through popular media. This period shows a clear cut social change in institution of politics, military, education, law, medicine and the like with major contribution from women’s side. So, we saw how women changed traditions over time. However, the point here is that- is not home a very right place for women to be in? What are all these feminist theories heading to? Can women move and act like strong men in military? Are they able to fight and shoot with weapons and heavy machinery keeping in mind their frail bodies? If they can, this means they will have to negate the natural innocence and frailty they have been born with which will lead to a negation of their God-defined sex. When women start leaving their houses for work, they tend to neglect the household and their duties which they must fulfill regarding their husbands and children. It is very difficult for men to accept them at workplaces doing the same tasks as them so gender discrimination occurs which, no matter how strict a company’s policy is, can never be totally eliminated. Managerial roles and organizational responsibilities require more masculine characteristics than feminine (Powell and Butterfield, qtd. in Brewer, Mitchell and Weber 78). When women start participating in politics, they tend to make emotional decisions because women are always sentimental and sensitive. They are not known for making strong and mindful decisions. To sum it up, society and culture assigns gender roles to men and women considering the strength of their bodies and minds. Men are strong in body and nature and thus they are supposed to work outside and earn money. Women are frail in body and emotional at mind due to which they are supposed to run the house and raise kids to make them good citizens. This does not mean that women are being considered inferior. Instead, they have a more difficult and important task of raising kids and running household. They do not have to take part in politics and military to hold themselves equal to men. They are more important gender than men only by staying at homes. Works Cited Brewer, Neil, Mitchell, Patricia, and Nathan Weber. “Gender Role, Organizational Status, and Conflict Management Styles.” The International Journal of Conflict Management, 13.1(2002): 78-94. Web. 29 Nov 2011. . Gillis, Stacy, and Joanne Hollows. Feminism, Domesticity and Popular Culture. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis, 2009. Humm, Maggie. “Cronenberg’s Films and Feminist Theories of Mothering.” Feminism and Film. USA: Edinburgh University Press, 1997. McRobbie, Angela. “Post‐feminism and Popular Culture.” Feminist Media Studies, 4.3(2004): 256-264. Web. 29 Nov 2011. . Nfah-Abbenyi, Juliana Makuchi. “Gender and Feminist Theory.” Gender in African Womens Writing: Identity, Sexuality, and Difference. USA: Indiana University Press, 1997. Roughgarden, Joan. “Sex versus Gender.” Evolutions Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People. USA: University of California Press, 2004. Scott, Jacqueline. Family and Gender Roles: How Attitudes Are Changing. University of Cambridge, 2006. Web. 29 Nov 2011. . Read More