Rough Draft #2

2 Dec. 2012

Burden of Gender

Dear Readers:

Discrimination against women has been a reality for thousands of years. Lack of birth control and lack of economic power due to limited opportunities for education have kept women in a subordinate position in society. Throughout history men have held the reins of power because men are more aggressive than women they want control. From what I have observed, men want power, and men are bigger and stronger.  Biologically, men are more aggressive than women. Men commit 90% of violent crime.  The need for equality is always an important issue. If there is inequality is society then you have a situation where there is the haves and the have nots. In other words one group has more power than the other.

Economic problems that were caused by the great recession have speeded up the process of the decline of male dominance in the western world.  The shift in power is affecting men’s ability to accept women in positions of power at work. Today you see women in high positions of power that you did not see fifty years ago. Change is bound to happen because women now have more access to higher education in the west.  The world is changing its view slowly towards women. However, this is not so true non western countries. The laws in the west guarantee that men and women are equal.

According to the author, Reihan Salam, male dominance is beginning to decline in the West. However, the economic problems caused by the great recession have speeded up the process. “More than 80% of job losses in the United States since November have fallen on men, according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor statistics.” At the same time, women are becoming more and more educated. This shift in power will force men to accept women in positions of power at the work place. The collapse in the housing market put many lower skilled males like construction workers out of work. Jobs in construction and manufacturing won’t disappear, but they will make up a smaller percentage of the economy. Western countries are somewhat more open to allow women into positions of power. This is not the case in most third world countries like Asia, Russia, and the Middle East. With this great recession women have suffered more than men because they tend to get paid less and have less economic control.

                In the past, for example, in the Great Depression men wanted to be the breadwinners and women were kept out of the work force. In my opinion, because of the industrialization of the world there are more jobs available. In turn there are more appliances available to women to make their lives easier. We have ovens, stoves, refrigerators, washing machines, and mass manufacturing of clothing. All of the wars in the nineteen hundreds caused women to pick up the slack and work outside of the home. In 1920 women were first allowed to vote here in the United States of America.

                Women have gradually become more educated. In fact, more women graduate from college than do men. More opportunities have opened up to them. With more financial instability all over the world, combined with women’s greater access to education, change is bound to happen. These changes are happening more quickly in the western world. Even so, change is beginning to happen like in India. People are beginning to question the old concepts of a woman’s place in society. Today it is just as likely that the woman is the bread winner. Some men will embrace women as equals while others will resist change.

                I believe that the movement towards women’s equality will take place at a much slower rate in third world countries. There are many countries in which the female has been in a subordinate position for thousands of years. Today’s battlefield will take place culturally. In non western countries this will take a long time because of the weight of tradition. The more educated that men and women become the more that they will realize that they are equal in every way. As women become more financially powerful this will decrease the burden on men economically. If men don’t have to carry women around economically there will be less friction between the sexes.

From what I have observed, the world is changing its view towards women. There are many factors including gender, race, and religion that determine people’s view towards gender. Here in America men and women are treated as equals according to our constitution and laws. How are people equalized in our society? How is it enforced? Now men and women have the right to vote.  Men and women can both be in the military, and women are now allowed to fight and be in danger. Today’s laws apply both equally to men and women. Today’s laws apply to the abled and disabled.  If you commit murder you will get the same sentence whether you can walk, or if you can’t walk, whether you can hear, or can’t hear, and if you’re blind or not blind.  Our constitution insures that people are treated equally. 

                                 

On a biological level, males are more aggressive than females.  Therefore, I think there will always be friction between the sexes. However, the issue of empowerment of women is critical for society to go to the next level. This will happen to the extent that women become educated.  The human race has been around for two million years. However, civilizations have been around for 10 to 11 thousand years. Third world countries are called third world countries for a reason. This is because they are backwards in many ways and their belief systems are very primitive. The empowerment of women is critical for civilization to evolve to a higher level.

In the story of “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”, written by Jean Kilbourne the author talks about sex in advertizing. Kilborne states “We believe we are not affected by these images, but most of us experience visceral shock when we pay conscious attention to them. Could they be any less shocking to us on an unconscious level.” I agree with the author that provocative images are shocking on a conscious and on an unconscious level. The reason that business has provocative advertising is because they are trying to pitch a sale. They use seductive images and words in the media because sex sells.

Upon consideration, it is important that women become educated and take care of themselves so that they don’t find themselves in the position of being victimized. Today certain adds, television shows, and movies make women out to be objects. Also pornography and music videos exploit women and turn them into objects. Kilbourne states “Although these ads are often funny. It is never a good thing for human beings to be objectified.” It is shocking to see men against women violent ads. Kilbourne exhibits an ad showing a man holding a gun to a woman’s head above this ad it says bitch. This ad is questionable.  It seems like companies will do anything to boost sales.

There is a big difference on how men and women are treated. Women are portrayed as seductive. Women are made vulnerable because they are looked on as sexual objects. There is more violence today because their bodies are being sexualized. Sad to say there is a lot of violence against women these days. Today’s society has an enormous appetite for sex.

Next Kilbourne talks about sexualization of girls and boys under the age of 17.  Men in Japan are exploiting school girl fantasies, because they are threatened by how smart and powerful women are. This is why education is important for the young that way they are not exploited. There is a picture of a model posing naked on a couch she was portrayed to look 12 even though she was 20. Kate Moss said about this Calvin Klein ad “I look twelve.”  Kate Moss is admitting that this ad was not normal. What this ad did was boost sales for Calvin Klein even though it was inappropriate.

Children are harassing each other in and out of school. Words are not harmless they can cause permanent damage and leave lifelong scares. The teasing and harassment that our parents went through when they were in school is different then what we went through, and different that what teens are going through today. “A 1993 report by the American Association of University Women found that 76 percent of female students in grades eight to eleven and 56 percent of male students said they had been sexually harassed in school. In my opinion the person that you were when you were young has a lot to do with who you are now. To a certain extent these issues have to do with the desire to dominate and control. Men are motivated by power, and women are motivated to bond into love. Society is changing to the point where women worldwide are beginning to educate themselves.

Annotated Bibliography

“Gender Roles in America.” Web. Sun. 18 Nov. 2012

                Over the last 50 years there has been a large shift with regards to the position of women and men in society. Women have more opportunities for higher education and more job choices. Women have more choices in the outside world while at the same time they still have the traditional duties of caring for the home and for the family. The author states that men conduct themselves in a more aggressive way. According to the author, women do not yet feel comfortable being assertive. However, I believe this is because women often have a different style of communication. It is a fact that in the past, that woman was treated as a second class citizen. Men have not willingly given up their economic power and control. This is definitely true today. Nor did they want to let women into institutions of higher learning until relatively modern times. They first let women into colleges in the mid 1800’s, but they were confined to certain jobs like nursing and teaching.

Pretice, Deborah and Carraza.pdf. What Women and Men Should Be, Shouldn’t Be, Are Allowed To Be, and Don’t Have To Be: The Contents Of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes.” Web. Sun. 18 Nov. 2012

                This article contains a lot of statistical analysis. It is a pdf and it is scientific. For that reason it is a very dry article, although it does have a good some good insights. “The qualities they (stereotypes) given to men and women are the ones that tend to be required of them. “ Some of the traditional values assigned to men and women are actually positive. For women to be kind and compassionate is a strength. For a male to be assertive and independent is a strength, also. These are stereotypes, but I think these qualities apply to both men and women. I think there is a blurring of gender roles these days to a certain extent.

Hayes, Jeffrey. pdf. “The Impact of Gender Role Conflect and Counseling Technique on Psychological Help Seeking in Men.” Web. Sun. 18 Nov. 2012

                For men, traditional roles have both a positive as well as a negative side. The positive side of the more traditional male roles is to be self-confident and assertive. The other side of this role is that men can be self-destructive and increased levels of stress. They may be less concerned about taking care of their health and less emotionally aware. The problem is that they are taught to be this way. However, with time, as a man matures he is more capable of sensitivity in relationships. The mature woman is more capable of moving effectively in the world professionally. The whole issue of gender is very complicated and I think that men and women are evolving to develop some of the characteristics of the opposite sex. Organized society is only ten thousand years old and evolution is something that goes on not only on a biological level but also on a inner level of awareness.

Yours Truly; Adrian M