Patriarchy And Violence Against Women Essay

Author Charlotte Perkins Gilman in her The Man-made domain or Our Androcentric polish (1911) presents the most comprehensive statement of her over al ace guess. In it she argues that we live in a patriarchy or what she calls an androcentric, male-centered society and that our culture in all its aspects reflects this androcentric bias. Gilman sees this bias as destructive because the male sensitivity is destructive.A womanhood-centered, or better a mother-centered, world would be very different, because it would express the positive, clement character pf womens sensitivities. In this work, and in His Religion and Hers, Gilman presents her most positive statement of the radical differences betwixt men and women. These differences she attributes to prehistoric roles assigned the two sexes. The male naturally supports, and naturally crows, triumphs over his rival and takes the prize therefore, he was made male.Maleness delegacy war (92) while the basic womanish impulse is to g ather, to put together, to construct the basic manly impulse to scatter, to disseminate, to place down (114). A male-centered culture reflects these negative masculine concerns in nearly each argona of expression. Some of Gilmans most original contributions to feminist theory be contained in her discussion of the ideological warp impressed upon language, art, literature, sports, education, political relation and religion by the androcentric perspective.While public society is organized as a democracy, the man-made home remainsdespotism. The male is esteemed the offer of the family it belongs to him he maintains it and the rest of the world is a wide hunting background signal and battlefield wherein he competes with other males as of old (41). In the copyrighted family of the patriarchate, women remain mens property in the household they are little more than objects whose purpose is first and foremost a means of pleasure to him (32).Every law and custom of the family relatio n is arranged from the masculine viewpoint (35). From this same viewpoint comes the requirement that the woman shall serve the man. (35). A great challenge occurs when campaigns to improve gender comparison by promoting the offbeat of the marginalized are conducted in sync with transaction and training policies that favor the stintingally strong multinationals and compromise the welfare of the lowly locals, particularly the helpless women and children.We ought to hark back that sexism and patriarchy are all manifestations of a power struggle mingled with the strong and the weak, the same kind of struggle linked to worldwideization and duty liberalization today. Patriarchy involves an imbalance of power between man and woman leading to unequal roles and benefits, a situation that place be seen in a larger context between the evolution and the industrialized economies, as the latters efforts to spread globalization and to weaken the formers trade laws also leads to unequ al gains.Globalizations capitalistic intent, although salutary in several ways since it brings outgrowth to poorer states, may be heathenish imperialism dressed in new clothes when the more powerful caller uses its stronger bargaining authority to manipulate or exploit. (Gilman) In no developing region do women experience equality with men. This clear-cut statement from the World Bank, the reputed international monetary institution, relays one of the most apparent yet very much overlooked realities of our snipgender inequality.Gender inequality is a world-shattering social concern that deserves to be analyzed with the utmost diligence development both empirical and scholastic evidences. This inequality is deeply entangled in the fabric of the everyday lives of many men and women, and it has been in existence since time immemorial. Gender inequality, from its very name, implies an un even up treatment ground on ones gender. Essentially, gender inequality is the prejudice th at one gender, usually the female, is tributary and subordinate to the more capable and hence superior male gender. just about societies practice gender inequality, with the men reinforcing it and the women passively receiving it, because it is considered part of an enduring time-honored culture. Deviating from this norm means that one runs the risk of being branded a weak husband or a bad, undeserving wife. Both cases are an embarrassment to the individual and the family. The causes and effects of gender inequality are part of a larger network of social problems that compound the difficulties people view everyday.It is deeply related to other social problems, such as poverty, economical growth and development, and globalization. The World Bank (2001) underscored the notion that gender issues are at once more prominent in debates related to development, though the relevance of a gendered perspective in policy-making is yet to be widely understood. Thus, based from its report, g ender inequality ought to be considered when drafting developmental policies for poor and developing states because failing to take into account gender roles and relations as wellhead as disparities lead to policies that confuse limited effectiveness (p. 5).Although gender inequality is characteristic of developing and poor states, it is not restricted to them. This phenomenon is also spy in wealthier and developed regions where both men and women are relatively pissed and do not experience scarcity of resources. In these rich societies, diminished but noticeable gender-based discrimination remains. Gender discrimination crosses races, classes and ethnicity remarks Lucy Bednarek (1998, p. 60) in her article, probing for Equality in a Global Economy. Compared to the gender gap in these wealthier states, gender inequality in poor states poses graver consequences to its citizens.The devalued women and their children sense of smell the pangs of poverty and bear the heavier brunt of economic unproductivity with greater intensity, compared with the men who possess greater freedom, privilege, and economic and political control. As stated by the UN (2004) in handicraft and Gender, A gendered perspective of development is seen as a difficult becoming task, so that extending the gendered approach to the realm of trade is considered to be an even larger challenge (55).Yet the organization believes that international trade must yield a gendered approach wherein speed economic growth and sustainable development will take place without endangering the well-being of the women and children in the community. The issue of trade has become so important in the consideration of gender equality because the current multilateral trade negotiation and regional trade agreements (RTAs) have pervaded state development policies.Because of these ubiquitous bi- and multilateral negotiations and agreements, governments do not bonnie make decisions solely for the state but also according to the dictates of the global and regional environment or the overall plan of their affiliated economic groups. This environment therefore affects policies on gender for the UN (2004, 56), Every major function in the trading system can have direct or indirect implications for a countrys gender welfare, equity and development goals. The crime of mishandle and other forms of violence against women have come into change magnitude focus in recent years, due in part to the acclivitous prominence of the feminist movement. Rape has come to be widely comprehend not only as a means of obtaining sexual happiness but rather as an extreme manner of expressing hostility to women. This broader commentary of the term is related to the heightened awareness that far more often than not sexual aggression occurs within the context of courtship or fellowship relationships (called acquaintance rape or date rape) or even that of marriage.The recognition that the forms of coercion used b y men over women can go beyond direct and overt use of force brings sub judice theory closer to reality. However, some scholars fear that expanding conceptualization of rape and the inexact definition of sexual harassment serve to blur the distinction between the sexes, especially between the expanded conceptualization of rape and male initiated seduction.These problems in defining behavior can exacerbate the difficulty in obtaining rape convictions from male jurors who may perceive an uncomfortable similarity between some of their own past actions and those of a defendant in such cases. Clearly, there is heightened sensitivity to the problems of rape and sexual harassment that will lead to accelerated efforts in legal and legislative policy formation. Reflecting this heightened sensitivity is the $1. 6 jillion in the 1994 Crime Bill to fund Violence against Women Act. The challenge is to fight rape and harassment in all their forms while protecting the rights of women.