The Significance Of The Feminist Movement
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Prof. Catrina Carrington
Feminism: Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. As we look back in history women and men were never thought of as equal. When put up next to the strong, dominant male, females were often thought of as lower and not nearly as important. Even now though, as we enter into the twenty-first century, with all kinds of womens rights and the thought that Hilary Clinton might just become the first womens president, I have to say that I am probably one of the few women that are actually not in favor of it. During the 1950s women did not work nor did they in any way contribute to the success of the United States. Men preformed all the dirty work and because of the
The Significance of the Feminist Movement
Feminism is the belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. As we take a look back at history, women and men were never thought of as “equals.” When compared to the strong, dominant male, females were often thought of as inferior and not nearly as important. Even now, as we enter into the twenty-first century, and the thought that Hilary Clinton might become the first woman president, I have to say that I am probably one of the few women that are actually not in favor of it. During the 1950s, women did not work, nor did they contribute to the success of the United States. Men preformed hard labor jobs, and because of them being physically and mentally more able to handle different situations, women were not provided the opportunity to enhance their job skills. Should we really consider this a bad thing? Why have we, as women, made cooking, cleaning, and watching the children seem like such a sexist way of life? Is it really? To me, it seems like we are doing nothing more than something we were already good at in the first place.
The view that women are inferior relates to two qualities: strength and emotional stability. This is the reason that women are not prevalent in jobs requiring these qualities, such as the military. Less than 10% of todays American military is female. Women in the military are still not allowed to serve in “combat” occupations, such as infantry, special forces, or pararescue.
American women have made great strides toward independence compared to many other countries. In the Middle East, women are at a profound disadvantage in practically every facet of society: the criminal justice system, the economy, education, health care, and the media. Gender inequality in the region is created by high levels of illiteracy among women, apathetic governments, and chauvinist traditions, all of which conspire against women, leaving them unaware of their rights and ill-equipped to advocate for them.
Women do not enjoy the same citizenship and nationality rights as men in many Middle Eastern countries. A woman who marries a foreigner cannot pass on her citizenship or nationality to her spouse and cannot confer her citizenship to her children. In regards to domestic violence, there is not a country in the region which has laws that clearly outlaw all forms of domestic violence. The burden of proof is placed entirely on the female victim in cases of domestic violence, which discourages women from reporting crimes. Some laws, such as those that encourage men who rape women to marry their victims, even condone violence against women. Husbands are given power over their wives right to work and travel, and they can divorce their wives at any time, without reason and without going to court; women are required by law to meet specific conditions in order to seek divorce through a court of law. In the most grievous violation of womens rights, the family of a woman may kill her for disobeying male members of the family, for marrying outside of her race, or for one of many cultural violations in what is known as an “honor killing.” There are many movements to bring womens rights to the Middle East. For example, The Charter of Committee to Defend Womens Right in the Middle East is fighting for many amendments to the rights of women. “The major laws and measures that we demand and struggle for are as follows: 1- Abolition of the current Personal Status Code, replacing it by a secular and egalitarian family law. Laying down equal rights and obligations for women and men regarding the care and upbringing of children, control and running of familys finance, inheritance, choice of residence, housework,