The Role Of Women And Men

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Nguyen, Truc Professor Will English 1A 20 October 2009 The Role between Men and Women Throughout human being, men and women fit into different gender roles. They are told what is anticipated of them from the time they are born until the time they die. In today’s society, men and women have equal opportunities, rights, and liberty with each other. Not only do they have equality in the society, they also share chores while staying home, such as cooking, washing, and cleaning. However, in history, the difference between men and women is not the same as they use in the modern society. Men and women did not have equality with each other when they wanted to do something, such as working in the society. The gender roles between men and women have severely changed over time and now both men and women share equal and the same responsibilities within a family. Around the 19th century, men and women had very different gender roles. In John Stuart Mill’s essay, a distinguished philosopher and proponent of utilitarianism, wrote: “The relation between husband and wife is very like that between lord and vassal.” (Mill 821) Mill believed that the relationship between husbands and wives in a family was like the relationship between a king and his slaves. For the husbands, they lived in a period of time when society respected men more than women. The duty of the men or the husbands was to make all the money for the household. They were the ones who went to work and provided money for the family. The husbands also held all the power and made all the decisions in the family. Husbands were considered the head of the family and were anticipated to act as such. For example, in Claude Levi-Strauss’s essay, a philosopher wrote that there was a chief held all the power and made all the choices in the family in the Indian tribes. He was the
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