Markedness Tannen focuses on the analysis of women in “There is No Unmarked Woman” that women are subjected to prejudice and judgment based by the way they dress. Tannen highlights that there is no unmarked woman. Tannen confirms “marked” as a staple of linguistic theory and as to the way language changes the meaning of a word by adding a linguistic participle that has no meaning on its own. Based on her observation at a small working conference, Tannen points out that women have to make profound decisions regarding their own appearance – hair style, makeup, clothes, shoes, etc. - to avoid preconceptions whereas men can make superficial decisions ranging incomparably narrow.
Culture and Women In “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and “How to date a browngirl, blackgirl, whitegirl or halfie” by Junot Diaz, both authors elaborate on culture, and how it shapes the outlook on women. In Jamaica Kincaid's “Girl” a mother enforces her cultures strong beliefs on appropriate female behavior onto her daughter. To do so, she displays her parental authority with a series of short commands influenced by her culture. A sense of naivety can be seen in the young girl after questioning her mother's request. The culture associated with “Girl” has a definite attitude towards women, believing they should live a modest, conservative lifestyle.
Anthropology of Gender Critique Neither Man Nor Woman Within our Western culture, we believe that only two genders, which are attached to two sexes, exist. We find it very odd when given the idea that there are other cultures may have more than one gender. However, these sorts of cultures actually exist. Places like India and South America have more than two genders. In the cultures there are men, women, and “hijras”.
I was the only child, so it was fairly quiet around the house. I would come home and sit on the couch and do my homework as my mom occasionally came around to see how I was doing. Whenever I slacked off, she made sure that I got back on the right track and got each part of my work done for school in the morning. Sometimes I would wait until the last minute to do projects for classes. I mainly pushed them off because elementary teachers always wanted some kind of colorful and creative diorama or drawing.
The movement helped bring about major changes in the lives for women as a whole, and also in everyday life of others in the United States. Before the women begin to act out about the treatment they received for society, their expected roles was to sit home, bear children, clean the house, clean the clothes and cook. Tired, stressed and frustrated women had many demands that the societal expectations of them change, from being servile house-bound creatures expected to save themselves for one man in marriage, after and during this movement women were able to get professional and blue-collar jobs that were available only for men. Women were treated as though they were second class citizens and not as an equal to man. It put the demands for women’s equality, religion, sports, marriage and child bearing on a higher scale.
I grew up with my grandma and my aunt. My dad took us with him and my older sister. My grandma was the one who took care of us, but she was old. My grandma can’t read or write. And while I had my toys and my friends around I still had to be responsible about doing my homework and wake up every morning and wear my clothes to go to school.
Rosa Lee is a woman who grew up being told that cleaning and cooking are what she should concentrate on, not school. This was about all her mother taught her. “My mother didn’t ask me did I have my homework done. When she came home from work, she’d say, ‘Betcha didn’t pull those sheets, Betcha didn’t wash those cloths’. School wasn’t important to her and it wasn’t important to me” (76).
Public patriarchy encompasses the domination in the institutions of the larger society. How does gender in your household affect your home life? “Being a female and a mother, I seem to do the majority of the housework. I take care of the children more than my husband, whether it is getting them to appointments or making appointments. I help them with schoolwork, and I do the majority of the cooking, and cleaning.” It’s hard to undo centuries of women’s and men’s roles in a couple decades.
IN the early part of her marriage she tried to stay true to the Confucian gender code of women in her house. She said “A women could not go out of the court we women knew nothing but to comb our hair and bind our feet and wait at home for our men.” (Pruitt, p. 55) As time went on she decided to go out and find work to support herself and her children. She worked until her youngest son was married, which was typical Confucian family. Ning followed the Confucian beliefs on a primary duty of women saying “It is the destiny of woman and her happiness to carry on the life stream.” (Pruitt, p. 153) Ning did not follow the rules regarding women
According to Dietz and Lehozky (1963), the discipline of nursing slowly evolved from the traditional role of women, humanitarian aims, religious ideals, common sense, trial and error, war, and feminism. To truly appreciate where we are going, it is important to know where we have been. Sullivan (2002) mentioned that in many societies, the provision of nursing care was a role that was assigned to female members. As caretakers of children, family and community, it was natural that women were the nurses, the caregivers, as human society evolved (Sullivan, 2002). Because women traditionally provided nurturance to their own infants, it was assumed these same caring approaches could be extended to sick and injured community members as well.