Kimmy
08-10-2014, 05:22 PM
http://oi57.tinypic.com/30as2lk.jpg
Do you think equality in men or women has, or ever will exist?
This question was actually posed to me in an English Literature class today by a boy who likes to provide a counterargument to everyone's statements, whether they have a valid point or not. It was completely out of context. I was analysing quotes from Frankenstein, he was looking for some typical smart-boy 'banter'. Being the quiet girl chucked into his group to do some much loved group work, I guess he figured that he'd test my wits and brains with a topic irrelevant to the work. Sure, fine. I'll answer... and then I'll write an article about it later, because that's what article writers do, isn't it? Gossip. Rant. Argue. Little did my interrogator know, my views on this particular subject run strong and firm.
I'll begin with history. in the late 1800's – early 1900's, women's station in society was substantially less than it is today. Where men worked and earned their living, the women were expected to stay at home and provide nurturing and mothering care to children, do the housework and cook the food. A man was entitled to beat his wife, so long as the stick he used was no wider than his thumb, whilst any property that a woman had was transferred to her husband at the point of marriage. The division of the sexes was certainly more stark at this point in time; one might argue that the genders were used to their roles, although the actions of Madames Fawcett and Pankhurst in the early 1900's would dispute this.
These days, of course, equality is supposedly a far more advanced and accepted idea; men and women are, prima faci, equal in every non-biological respect. There are women MPs (although not, feminists argue, enough), there are women in high positions within companies (although once again, it is argued, not enough) and many influential modern female role models (although very few of these seem to be acceptable). Some facts about gender inequality in the UK:
Only 1 in 4 MPs is a woman and women from minority ethnic groups make up only 1.2% of MPs yet comprise 4% of the UK population.
The full time gender pay gap is 10%, and the average part-time pay gap is 34.5%.
Women are entitled to 39 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay at 90% of their average weekly earnings.
Men are entitled to an equal amount of pay for Paternity Leave, but only for two weeks, assuming that the mother/adopter has returned to work and ceased recieving their maternity pay.
Women are outnumbered 5 to 1 in the House of Commons.
Men are, on average, given 2/3rds the prison sentence as a woman for equivalent crimes.
The emancipation of women is marked in British history as an essential starting point for human progress and the transformation of society. The persistent denial of equality to one-half of the world's population is an affront to human dignity. I believe that the oppression of women is linked back to facts of history and, arguably, of evolution. The majority of societies which did not have a matriarchal religion have been patriarchal. I believe that if a woman were born a woman, and a man were born a man, then they should take the traits and qualities that they develop in early life and prosper in those traits and qualities to be who they want to be, whether a female wanted to be a fire-fighter or a builder and a man wanted to be a nurse, or a carer of children. In this day and age, that is indeed possible as opposed to the aforementioned differences, but I still believe that true equality of gender and sex will never truly and fundamentally exist because through years of tradition and induction, it is not what society has become accustomed to.
So, to answer my little English class, debate-winning interrogator, I answer above. Equality has not, in the better part existed, and, although there are hopes towards a future where we weigh out identically on the scales, I do not think it ever will truly exist.
http://oi59.tinypic.com/2gvlw6c.jpg
Note: To those women who wish to be subservient to men, or to men who wish to be dominant, or vice-versa on both spectrums, I say good luck. So long as whichever partner you find yourself with is accepting of this, everyone is entitled to determine their own lifestyle.
Edited by e5 (Forum Super Moderator) - Moved from 'Current Affairs' as I feel it is better suited here.
Do you think equality in men or women has, or ever will exist?
This question was actually posed to me in an English Literature class today by a boy who likes to provide a counterargument to everyone's statements, whether they have a valid point or not. It was completely out of context. I was analysing quotes from Frankenstein, he was looking for some typical smart-boy 'banter'. Being the quiet girl chucked into his group to do some much loved group work, I guess he figured that he'd test my wits and brains with a topic irrelevant to the work. Sure, fine. I'll answer... and then I'll write an article about it later, because that's what article writers do, isn't it? Gossip. Rant. Argue. Little did my interrogator know, my views on this particular subject run strong and firm.
I'll begin with history. in the late 1800's – early 1900's, women's station in society was substantially less than it is today. Where men worked and earned their living, the women were expected to stay at home and provide nurturing and mothering care to children, do the housework and cook the food. A man was entitled to beat his wife, so long as the stick he used was no wider than his thumb, whilst any property that a woman had was transferred to her husband at the point of marriage. The division of the sexes was certainly more stark at this point in time; one might argue that the genders were used to their roles, although the actions of Madames Fawcett and Pankhurst in the early 1900's would dispute this.
These days, of course, equality is supposedly a far more advanced and accepted idea; men and women are, prima faci, equal in every non-biological respect. There are women MPs (although not, feminists argue, enough), there are women in high positions within companies (although once again, it is argued, not enough) and many influential modern female role models (although very few of these seem to be acceptable). Some facts about gender inequality in the UK:
Only 1 in 4 MPs is a woman and women from minority ethnic groups make up only 1.2% of MPs yet comprise 4% of the UK population.
The full time gender pay gap is 10%, and the average part-time pay gap is 34.5%.
Women are entitled to 39 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay at 90% of their average weekly earnings.
Men are entitled to an equal amount of pay for Paternity Leave, but only for two weeks, assuming that the mother/adopter has returned to work and ceased recieving their maternity pay.
Women are outnumbered 5 to 1 in the House of Commons.
Men are, on average, given 2/3rds the prison sentence as a woman for equivalent crimes.
The emancipation of women is marked in British history as an essential starting point for human progress and the transformation of society. The persistent denial of equality to one-half of the world's population is an affront to human dignity. I believe that the oppression of women is linked back to facts of history and, arguably, of evolution. The majority of societies which did not have a matriarchal religion have been patriarchal. I believe that if a woman were born a woman, and a man were born a man, then they should take the traits and qualities that they develop in early life and prosper in those traits and qualities to be who they want to be, whether a female wanted to be a fire-fighter or a builder and a man wanted to be a nurse, or a carer of children. In this day and age, that is indeed possible as opposed to the aforementioned differences, but I still believe that true equality of gender and sex will never truly and fundamentally exist because through years of tradition and induction, it is not what society has become accustomed to.
So, to answer my little English class, debate-winning interrogator, I answer above. Equality has not, in the better part existed, and, although there are hopes towards a future where we weigh out identically on the scales, I do not think it ever will truly exist.
http://oi59.tinypic.com/2gvlw6c.jpg
Note: To those women who wish to be subservient to men, or to men who wish to be dominant, or vice-versa on both spectrums, I say good luck. So long as whichever partner you find yourself with is accepting of this, everyone is entitled to determine their own lifestyle.
Edited by e5 (Forum Super Moderator) - Moved from 'Current Affairs' as I feel it is better suited here.