Difference Between Man and Woman Essay - Reasons for Gender Inequality
Difference between man and woman essay. The inequality between the two sexes can be alleviated through education. Gender inequality has always been present in the society, until feminists finally brought the issue to light. Most ancient societies were based on gender inequality, Male dominant society was violating women rights. Patriarchy is the root of discrimination between genders. There has always been a gender discrimination culturally and historically as a result patriarchy has always been a major problem in the history. Yet gender superiority still exists till today in different areas of the world.
Mary Wollstonecraft observed, strengthen the female mind by enlarging it and there will be an end to blind obedience, but as blind obedience is ever sought for power, tyrants and sensualists are in the right when they endeavour to keep the women in dark because the former only want slaves and the latter a playing- thing.
Simone De did not accept that the man and woman were different by birth. She wrote the book second sex against the backdrop of oppression and inequality rampant in society. The woman was forced to yield to male domination which enforced domesticity and denied financial, political and sexual autonomy. The woman was not allowed to write and speak openly because she was considered a lower class in society. A woman rarely led an independent life. She lived in an extremely depressed condition. A woman was seen always in terms of the male-oriented world. Her identity was seen only with a male counterpart. From this, it was crystal clear that there was no existence for women apart from men. Her existence was seen through man. Accordingly, the woman’s image was depicted within the house and in the society.
The subjugation of women was written by John Stuart Mill. He pleaded for equality of woman with man and participation of women in social and political life. He asserted that perpetuation of the old and rigid belief that the woman was inferior to man and she was detrimental to the progress of the society.
Virginia Woolf was a feminist writer A Room of One’s Own was a popular feministic text in the literary world was written by her. The above feministic thinkers and writers sowed the seed of feminism. Due to this fact, different feminist writers emerged from different region and invented the different types of feminism The ideology of feminism was not adopted uniformly all over the world. It changed according to the local place, social, political, economic attributes. Therefore the western women enjoyed unfretted freedom, unbounded by tradition, culture, and responsibilities. The western feminism focused only on gender discrimination negating all other struggles such as ethnic struggles. Due to this fact, different feminism emerged.
Liberal feminism asserted the equality of man and woman through political and legal reform. It was an individual form of feminism. According to the liberal feminist woman was capable of asserting her equality without altering the social structure. Liberal feminist felt that interaction of man and woman freely without any restrictions which would bring genderless society. Liberal feminism argued for equal rights of a woman based on the doctrine of the Liberal state’s citizens. Liberal feminists found that the woman was discriminated against participation in the public sphere and denied access to education, politics and financial independence. The Man had the power and authority in the church in the state and within the family
Radical feminism was a part of second-wave feminism. The purpose of this feminism was to reconstruct the rigid notions prevailing in the entire society that were necessary to achieve the goal. Kathie Sarachild explained the ‘radical’ in Radical feminism. “The Dictionary says radical means root, coming from the Latin word for root. And that is what we meant by calling ourselves radical. We were interested in getting to the roots of the problem in society”.
The woman’s oppression or suppression was the result of male domination. The oppression might be in different forms like controlling female sexuality, marriage, love, housework. The concept of Radical feminism emerged due to the dissatisfaction with liberal feminists which failed to address and explaining the importance of oppression. The radical feminism developed due to several radical political movements. Fried criticized the traditional role assigned to a woman. The sexual politics was written by Kate Millet she exposed the ‘power relationship’ between the two sexes. Due to the biotic differences, it assigned the dominant role to men and subordination roles to a woman. Sexual inequality would be the basis for the woman’s subordinate position in society. Radical feminism was labelled as ‘consciousness rising’ against the restrictions imposed by patriarchal structures. Radical feminism accelerates and gives impetus for the growth of cultural feminism. Radical feminists felt that male-based authority and power structure were liable for the oppression and reconstruction of society that was needed to achieve the goal.
Cultural feminism looms to fill up the lacuna in the radical feminism. Due to the biological difference, it gave a psychological reason for man’s violence against women. The cultural feminist also opposed the existing patriarchal norms for the woman in the matters relating to love, marriage, sexuality and they demanded woman’s equality in society. The cultural feminist fought for the complete transformation of society. Cultural feminism and Radical feminism were interlinked.
Postmodern feminism was founded and emerged out upon the ideas of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Marie Emile, and Simone de Beauvoir. The above feminist refused to accept the binary system existed in the form of patriarchy and further, they were opposed to brand it as ‘feminism’. They were against the assumption, attitudes views ideas of the liberal and radical feminist. The liberal feminist fought for equality while the Radical feminist found out the exact cause for the discrimination and oppression against women. Postmodern feminists determined to examine from the traditionally male field of vision. The radical feminist considered that male tyranny was “General” in nature but in postmodern.
Overall, the feminist movement arose and continues to develop for a reason. There were and remain good reasons for its existence, related to the discrimination and oppression of women in society, against the background of their difference from men. Sex is a term referred to the biological difference between man and woman and gender refers to the roles that society has assigned to them. All genders should be respected, no one should be superior to other. There should be a society where everyone can live according to their beliefs and there should be no dominating power. Equal opportunities should be provided to men and women. A woman can be a CEO and man can look after the house and the children, there should be no shame in that. Both should have basic human rights and live according to their own will.
