Because women are sometimes stereotyped as the weaker sex, they become disadvantaged and don’t share many of the privileges men are given. This is why feminism is such an important matter today. Feminism is a broad social movement that strives for equality for women and seeks to end of sexism in all forms (Topics in Feminism). However, negative attitudes toward feminism have continued to exist. Feminists are often stereotyped as angry, man-hating, unattractive women who scream absurdly about their political views.
THE ESSAY QUESTION: What is patriarchy? What are the origins of patriarchy?Are women really discriminated and subordinated because of the patriarchal rules or are there ‘other’ reasons? Why? Why not? Discrimination of Women Because of Patriarchy Economically All over the world people are imposed by a system which declares them the boundaries between women and men and expresses that “the most powerful roles in most sectors of society are held predominantly by men, and the least powerful roles are held predominantly by women.”(Allan 1) This system is named as patriarchy and while it is shaping people according to patriarchy’s rules, people are unaware of this huge because after a while patriarchy is regarded as an objective system.
Social inequality and social stratification, according to this view, lead to a meritocracy based on ability. Conflict theorists, on the other hand, view inequality as resulting from groups with power dominating less powerful groups. They believe that social inequality prevents and hinders societal progress as those in power repress the powerless people in order to maintain the status quo. Positions are important so long as those in power consider them to be significant. Gender is seen closely related to the roles and behavior assigned to women and men based on their sexual differences.
Therefore the term / concept of gender is a systematic way of understanding men and women socially and the patterning of relationships between them. The concept of patriarchy help in the study of the male dominance in the society. The concept of gender helps to study the differences in behaviour between men and women and to analyse the basis of these differences as basically biological or as social constructions by the society. The concepts masculinity and femininity define certain trout‟s as typically male as so masculine in nature or as typically female and so feminine in nature. In this unit some basic concepts will be
Atwood’s portrayal of a dystopian society criticizes the present day attitudes towards women and the exaggerations depicted in the novel can be the result of the inequality between men and women today. The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel that covers the backlash of feminism. It depicts how common attitudes towards women are brought down in an extremist way. “In order to offer women “freedom from” they must give up their “freedom to”... the only offered alternatives to rape and exploitation.” (Prattas 5) In the novel, the Pre-Giledean society was considered to be a dystopia for women where they feared physical and emotion violence. The current Giledean society is to protect them from such fear and is actively promoted through re-education centres run by Aunts.
Outline and evaluate sociological explanations for social inequality (women) In the following essay I am going to be outlining and evaluating three sociological perspectives as to why women face inequalities in society. The three sociological perspectives that will be discussed are the Feminist view, Functionalist view and The Conflict Theory. In society, it is argued that women are treated in an unequal manner. Feminists would argue in society, there is a struggle between men and women. They hold the belief that power lies with men instead of the economy and the structure of society is so men are able to maintain their power.
Fulcher & Scott (2011) believe gender to examine the differences between men and women in relation to feeling, thinking and behaving. When focusing on gender and how it is socially constructed, this essay will first determine the distinction between gender and sex, the inequalities between genders in relation to health and employment, and finally, will consider the extent to which gender is socially or biologically constructed. Sociological thinking of gender is relatively new in the sociological realm. It was only from the 1970s that sociologists began to make a distinction between gender and sex. The women’s movement and the consequent development of feminist ideas in the 1960s and 1970s influenced the question of gender and began emphasise the importance of gender as a concept of its own.
We can briefly say that feminist international relation scholars generally argue that the way many conventional international relation scholars approach the study of world politics discloses gendered thinking. In this approach,two concepts also are explained which is related to feminism theory of international relations. This concepts are the Feminism and the Feminist Theory.Feminism is about the oppression of women by men. In Western countries where women have equal legal and political rights, oppression may seem an exaggrated claim. However, women did not gain the vote until in the twentieth century; when John Stuart Mill championed female suffarage in 1869 he did not hestitate to like situation of women to taht of slaves.
This division consequently formed expectances for both men and women in society and occupations. These expectances in turn gave rise to gender stereotypes that play a role in the formation of sexism in the work place, i.e., occupational sexism. [1] According to a reference there are three common patterns associated with social role theory that might help explain the relationship between the theory and occupational sexism. The three patterns are as follows: Women tend to take on more domestic task; Women and men often have different occupational roles; and In occupations, women often have lower status These patterns can work as the fore ground for the commonality of occupational stereotypes. [2] One example of this in action is the expectancy value model.
Gender also creates important social divisions amongst societies and further divide the social classes creating even more divisions in society. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles and relations of men and women. 'Gender norms' allocate specific rights and responsibilities to men and women, for example, women might be expected to take on caring or domestic duties and remain in the home, while men may be expected to work outside the home, and provide financially for his family. This therefore creates ‘gender relations’ and in return creating unequal power between men and women. Within society women remain in roles and relationships that often make them subordinate to men, because they are paid less than men for the same work, or because they are not permitted to take on higher status work.