Women Rights
Women roles and rights were considered to be less important at an early stage in history. However, over the course of the years women have fought to achieve the equal rights as men. There are several time periods, which have a great importance in how women were treated. However, it was not always seen for women to be inferior; things changed when gender specific roles and specialization began. Women have been able to conquer and regain their rights to equality after many years of oppression and hard work.
In the beginning women were not always seen as inferior. During the Paleolithic and Neolithic Era women were seen as equals. Women would help men look for berries and other source of food, however, once people stopped being nomadic a lot had changed. When people began to settle down in one place women would have the chores of harvesting and bearing children. Harvesting during that time was seen as a women’s job, while hunting, like in most societies, was seen as a male’s job. Over years of work, surplus began to change not only the economy but also social norms. Surplus was the main item that led to specialization, which would soon cause a male-dominated work place. Since male were now able to focus on jobs other than hunting and agriculture, they were now able to get jobs that promoted commodities instead of necessities. Women roles had an extreme shift after the Old Testament was written. The shift was created because of the possible misinterpretations of a women’s role. Two
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Examples are, “Realizing that he needed a helper… finding none suitable, God created Eve out of Adam’s ribs’ (Genesis 2:18-200 and ‘she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a Man’ (Genesis 2:27). The first example was most likely mistaken because the word ‘helper’ during that time had a different connotation; the meaning was someone who was inferior. The second example was mistaken because of the part where it says that she was named. Being ‘named’ during that specific time meant that it was a property. Hence, women were being seen as property of males. Women’s lives became severely limited in those ancient times. During ancient times, women were being oppressed without them even knowing. Unmarried women were seen as property of either their father or brother, they could not appear in public places without a veil, talk to strangers, and married women were not allowed to do anything without the permission of their husband.
In the years circa 500B.C.E, many women began to gain political power, but it didn’t not affect the whole female population. A politically influential woman was Queen Amestris of Persia; of course women were seen as equals in Persia unlike Greek and Roman society. After the death of her husband, Xerxes I, she became extremely influential over politics during the reign of her son. Queen Amestris was known for being a military commander, and had the reputation of being the most severe with death punishments over crimes than any other Persian king. She was a woman who was a very strict lawgiver. Unlike the Persian Empire, Greek and Roman female were seen as secondary citizens. These societies were seen as extremely patriarchal. In Greek and Roman
Society it was thought that women should not be involved with politics and that the only purpose of women was to be a ‘companion’ to their husband, and other than that, women should be kept quiet. Even though women were able to inherit property, their husband most likely controlled the
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property. In the years 100-500C.E, Rome experienced many political changes because of the impact that Christianity had done in Roman government. Women had gained decent political and social rights in Rome compared to places such as China and India. During this time, Women coming from an elite class were able to be active participants in business and work. Another economic based right was to receive a primary education similar to those of men. Even though their rights were limited women had constant cultural participation, and they had achieved to gain more right than what they originally had. During the years 600-800 C.E the Islamic world was one of the most influential societies of the ancient world. Islam was a highly religious dedicated society that was frequently influenced by multiple changes. However, it managed to maintain characteristics of their ways of life. The social structure and gender roles of Islam included: matrimonial ways, boundaries of women, social class system, and land ownership. Before the Pre-Islamic society, the Bedouins practiced polygamy. However that changed when the prophet Muhammad stated that a man was only able to have four wives. Along with polygamy, divorce was legal as well, but that right was strictly given to only the husband. The right favored the husband over the wife, since men could work professional jobs, along with being the one who maintained a stable household. The Quran clearly states that women should be treated with respect, but eventually a male dominated convention ruled that out. Women in Islam, from 600-800 CE, were not treated with much respect. Women were usually uneducated and kept in the household, they were expected to raise children and do house chores. A huge change took place when women became ‘slaves’ for their fathers or husbands and soon after the men became the dominant power. Women were locked in their homes, and prohibited from social contact with males outside of their family. They also had to cover themselves with a veil
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alone or even with family, but especially in public. When Islamic culture arose, this practice was no longer considered a custom it had become a law.
The feminist movement of the 1960s and ’70s originally focused on showing the workplace inequality, such as denial of better jobs and salary inequity, it showed that women were trying to reciprocate the image of a man in order for them to show that women could also be leaders.
In the 90’s the Third Feminist movement occurred and their main focus became the “queer theory”, defending sex work, abolishing gender roles , stereotypes, reproductive rights, and pornography. Feminism today has changed in many ways; there are several interests that connect with feminism, an example would be Eco-feminism. Eco-feminism, gives women and men common ground. Women have learned to think equally to men, and while women may have been associated with nature, this does not imply that they have been raised any differently from men. According to common belief about Eco-feminism a social system is good for neither men nor women. Yet because we ourselves are the social system we need to find some common ground from which to be “self-conscious, to enable us to recognize and affect the deep structure of our relations, with each other and with our environment.” In other words, Feminism is only about women rights. Feminism is about equality for man and women. For example, even though women are 90% the victims of domestic abuse male also suffer from domestic abuse, and men should also be protected. The true meaning of Feminism is for both females and males to be seen as equals in each other’s eyes, to show that they respect each other, and to reassure that we (man and women) can help each other succeed and achieve better things if we all work together.
In conclusion, women have gone through many hardships in order to receive equal rights as men. Women have faced inequality, less schooling opportunities, lower wages and several other forms
Of discrimination. Throughout history women have been seen as inferior to men; however, everything changed ninety-six years ago. The world changed not only when women were ready for the change but also men, and for that feminist should always be grateful for those men who voted in favor of the 19th amendment because they agreed that we have each other’s backs.