History of Gender Inequality
According to Ridgeway (2011), gender inequality refers to the unequal treatment of individuals based on their gender. In this case, the most affected category is women, owing to their physical attributes, as well as society’s general social conditioning that provides this strayed viewed. For the longest time, women have been looked down upon as their role in the society is not recognized or given importance. This construed perspective still persists in the modern times, although significant progress has been made to reduce its impact. However, the aspect of gender inequality has not always been so. This paper will assess past perspectives in gender roles in the society and assess factors that contributed to the change.
According to Reily (2007), women were considered somewhat equal to men before for the pre-market period. This situation was associated with their important roles in the society at the time, which included clothing preparation, food preservation, and the provision of food to their families. On the other hand, men engaged in heavy field work, woodwork, and repair.
All that soon changed after a subsistence economy was replaced by the market economy. At this point in time, the majority of household goods were bought as opposed to being made at home. In this case, a family could buy clothes instead of making them as well as buy prepared food. As a result of this, the role of women was diminished as the previous tasks they undertook were replaced and enhanced in the market economy. Due to this fact, it was later argued that women should concentrate on home affairs as they were naturally suited for child nurturing due to their loving and gentle nature. The man’s world was understood as tough while that of the women as loving.
In ancient misogyny, women have historically been associated with inferiority. Over the centuries, an idea was developed describing a woman being a temptress, who tempts the man and distracts him from the true path of wisdom. According to Christianity teachings, Eve, the first woman God created, enticed Adam, the first man, to disobey God’s wishes and as a result condemned mankind to a life of pain and hardships. Moreover, the creation of Eve saw her being made from the man’s rib. This situation has led to suggestions of woman as a subordinate of man.
In the first five centuries AD, women’s inferiority to men was justified due to the fact that they were physically weak as compared to their male counterparts. According to the Aristotelian tradition, woman is portrayed as the imperfect version of man. It goes on further stating that woman is matter whereas man is form (Aughterson, 1995). This signifies the inferiority of woman in comparison to man.
Hammurabi, a great Babylonian king, was famous for evolving and enacting one of the oldest codes of law which still exist. According to one of his codes, the murder of a man who was noble was punishable by death whereas as the death of a woman only obliged the murderer to pay her husband or her father half a gold mine (Lerner, 1986). Furthermore, if the woman was a slave, the price to be paid by the killer was significantly lower. This situation indicates the importance given to a man’s life than compared to that of a woman’s.
However, through the years, the society has come to appreciate the important role played by women, hence the establishment of their rightful place in the society, after massive sensitization efforts. This fact been demonstrated by Jean Jacques Rousseau in his book Emile, where he writes of Sophie, a character, to be treated equally to Emile (DiCaprio and Weisner, 2001). He indicates the only difference between a man and women are their sexual organs. This is because a woman has the same needs and faculties as her male counterpart.
A feminist known as Mary Wollstonecraft wrote a book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman where she starts off by saying that humanity’s greatest gift was the ability to reason and since man and woman have the same ability to reason, there should be no reason as to why a woman cannot enjoy as much education, influence and power in society as a man does. She writes that even though men have an advantage on their physical strength that does not account for any formidable difference. She argued in her book that boys and girls should have equal rights to education despite their backgrounds. She thought of a public school system that should be free for children.
Conclusion
All in all, learning the history of gender inequality can influence decisions made by governments and the community. In this day and age, women have almost, if not equal opportunities in the world that we are living today. Gender disparity has significantly decreased as seen in the increased number of women holding influential positions in power.
Formation of various groups that protect women rights have also helped in portraying a girl child having the same right as a boy child. This has helped in the awareness of the important role of women in the society and these groups fight for rights violated against a woman. Due to the widespread and popularity of protection of women rights in society, most people now and forever in future will learn to appreciate the women in our society and also be part of the fight against any form of gender discrimination.
Bibliography
Aughterson, Kate, Rennaisance woman: Constructions of feminity in England, A Sourcebook. London and New York: Routledge, 1995.
DiCaprio, Lisa and Wiener, Merry, Lives and voices: Sources in European women’s history. New York: Houghton Miflin Company, 2001.248-251.
Gerder, Lerner (1986). The Creation of Patriarchy. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg 101-107
Reily, Kevin, Worlds of history: A comparative reader. 3rd ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007. 27- 29.
Ridgeway, Cecilia, Framed by gender: How gender inequality persists in the modern world. London: Oxford University Press, 2011.
