The Fairer Sex, The Weaker Sex
Neither claim is particularly relevant; men can be as handsome in appearance as women, and women can be as inclined to strength as men. Generalizations usually submit to scrutiny that proves the average, disproved by the anomalies among the average. Which is called splitting of hairs. In a world where extreme poverty on a wide scale exists, men are often as disadvantaged as women.
It is true that women's burden is often greater than that of men. But it is also true that men are burdened with the responsibility of their families and where poverty is king, men are paupers no less than their wives and their children. So when we speak of women finding their equal place within society we speak of a relatively small international society, that of entitled advancement within economically, socially, politically advanced countries.
Where women are advantaged by enlightened society's recognition of their equal rights and abilities and rewards thereof. If women are held back to a degree, it is certainly because the world in general is patriarchal. And men have always sought to control women, to own them, and to dictate to them. In certain cultures and religions nothing has changed to alleviate women's lot.
But in Western countries of the world women have moved from dependent to independent status. The struggle was long and difficult and the rewards were hard to come by, at first. Now, the difference in the way women are regarded, the esteem in which they are held, the respect given them, between developed and the undeveloped world is as distant as pre-history from the present time.
The question is whether over half of the world's human population will ever attain equality. The answer is that this can occur only when the world has been able to move from partial developed, part undeveloped, to fully, entirely developed. Women will have to continue to take their place, as development continues, in every facet of human activities, to gain the momentum to insist on their human and social rights.
There will likely always be a struggle between men's and women's entitlements. Partially as a result of the heritage of male control, partially as a result of the patriarchal social contract that recognized the male as head of family to whom full respect is given as opposed to women to whom full respect is never appropriate as a dependent.
In the developed world where women's work is vital to families' welfare, both as bread-winner and household controller, women still lag behind their male counterparts in monetary recompense for equal work of equal value. But in under-developed countries where women's work is often the mainstay for the family, they are burdened indescribably and scorned as of lesser value than men.
According to the United Nations, women perform 66% of work internationally, while producing 50% of the food, earning 10% of global wealth, owning 1% of property. Of the world's estimated 1.2 billion poor, women represent 70%.
We've come a long way, and have a far longer way to go.
It is true that women's burden is often greater than that of men. But it is also true that men are burdened with the responsibility of their families and where poverty is king, men are paupers no less than their wives and their children. So when we speak of women finding their equal place within society we speak of a relatively small international society, that of entitled advancement within economically, socially, politically advanced countries.
Where women are advantaged by enlightened society's recognition of their equal rights and abilities and rewards thereof. If women are held back to a degree, it is certainly because the world in general is patriarchal. And men have always sought to control women, to own them, and to dictate to them. In certain cultures and religions nothing has changed to alleviate women's lot.
But in Western countries of the world women have moved from dependent to independent status. The struggle was long and difficult and the rewards were hard to come by, at first. Now, the difference in the way women are regarded, the esteem in which they are held, the respect given them, between developed and the undeveloped world is as distant as pre-history from the present time.
The question is whether over half of the world's human population will ever attain equality. The answer is that this can occur only when the world has been able to move from partial developed, part undeveloped, to fully, entirely developed. Women will have to continue to take their place, as development continues, in every facet of human activities, to gain the momentum to insist on their human and social rights.
There will likely always be a struggle between men's and women's entitlements. Partially as a result of the heritage of male control, partially as a result of the patriarchal social contract that recognized the male as head of family to whom full respect is given as opposed to women to whom full respect is never appropriate as a dependent.
In the developed world where women's work is vital to families' welfare, both as bread-winner and household controller, women still lag behind their male counterparts in monetary recompense for equal work of equal value. But in under-developed countries where women's work is often the mainstay for the family, they are burdened indescribably and scorned as of lesser value than men.
According to the United Nations, women perform 66% of work internationally, while producing 50% of the food, earning 10% of global wealth, owning 1% of property. Of the world's estimated 1.2 billion poor, women represent 70%.
We've come a long way, and have a far longer way to go.
Labels: Human Relations, Realities
posted by Pieface @ 7:45 PM
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