The Nature of Female Oppression - Research Paper Example

The Nature of Female Oppression Female oppression is a topic that has attracted a lot of attention among many scholars asthey seek to understand the factors underlying the problem. While the concept that women take up inferior positions within the society is indisputable, the idea that all women experience oppression in a uniform manner has become a controversial issue. Recently, some scholars have pointed out that women experience discrimination in different magnitudes and that the concepts of race, color, and education underpin this difference (Wollstonecraft and Poston, 45). From experience, there is evidence that colored women have experienced the severest form of discrimination in countries such as Canada, and the White women are treated far much better. The history of gender disparities is historical and has punctuated the history of the world. Men have consistently resisted the struggle of women to take up senior positions within the community, and there is evidence that different societies have resisted differently. From this perspective, it is clear that different women have experienced oppression in different proportion and that men have been behind this ordeal. The idea that women are the enemies of their empowerment is acceptable to some extent but only contributes to a small proportion of the problems that women have encountered. Conventional politicians criticize the politics of sisterhood on different relative grounds. They argue that by encouraging women to identify their lives as shaped by patriarchal oppression, feminism has produced images of women being victims outside the forces which have consequently denied their critical involvement in most decision-making processes. Bacak (164) believes that by assimilating the differences between women into a sisterhood of common, shared experiences, power relations between women are under-theorized. Both limited and distorted analyzes of gender are in play. Convincingly, it is notable that contemporary feminists criticize the second wave of politics that promote women as victims (Crenwshaw, 2). The critique, in this case, frustrates the perceived inability of second wave feminists to explore and celebrate womens agency instead of presenting women entirely as victims of masculine prejudice. The critique stresses that women shared status as victims’ acts as a key rhetorical role in generating believes of unity and sisterhood. Nonetheless, Kirkland (89) notes a second wave of feminist driven ideology encourages a gender power relation predominantly altering the difference between men and women. There have been investigations attempting to establish feminine involvement in gender concerns. In fact, mainstream feminists have battled limited gender roles where women are often relegated to a sex objects, mothers, and wives. Conclusively, the complexity of women lives suggested that oppression does not operate in a linear uniform way. Lichter notes that patriarchal oppression is not limited of one race or a particular ethnic group, women in one class, women of one age group or sexual preference, women who live one part of the country, women with certain physical, mental abilities or disabilities 49. Hence, oppression of women can best be understood as a limitation of different kinds. The discrimination of women has been exhibited in different perspectives within the society. Gender violence is an element of female oppression that many societies have upheld until recently. Women have been limited to domestic duties while men have taken up senior positions within the employment sector. In the education sector, females have faced a wide range of challenges as most cultures still disregard female education and pay more attention to empowering the male counterparts (Wollstonecraft and Poston, 1987). Besides, women who share the same level of education with men still face discrimination in the employment sector as they are perceived as inferior and people who cannot solve organizational problems. Worse still, women who are employed in the same position with men receive lower salaries that the male workers (Taplin and Rodgers, 2012). From a close a look, females have suffered for a long time from gender discrimination, and this explains why they have remained behind in terms of development. Statistics indicates that despite the high number of females in the world, there are more educated men, and women are still underrepresented in the employment and political sector. The majority of authors have come into a concession that females have been victims of oppression from the male who are perceived as superior beings. A new concept on female oppression as there appears that there is great different in the level of oppression among different groups of female. Crenshaw (1-2) points out that discrimination is a reality that has been observed over a long period in the history of the world. Besides conquering with other scholars that all women in the world have suffered some form of discrimination, he brings about a new idea on the nature of gender discrimination. The author notes that the colored women have suffered a great deal that the white women in countries such as America. Notably, the Black Americans and Mexican, referred to as the colored population, have suffered a great extent of oppression within the employment sector. It is twice difficult for a colored woman to obtain a formal job within the country as it is for a white woman. This explains that double standards are applied, and the treatment of female varies depending on the race of females. At the same time, colored women have suffered a great deal due to unequal pay within the employment sector. Evidently, white women earn more than colored women while working within the same position and exercising the same duties (Taplin and Rodgers, 827). The idea of Crenshaw has received a lot of support from other authors who noted that the Aboriginal women have severe oppression than white women. Cornish (2009) points out the wage gap has affected Aboriginal women who have migrated to Ontario in search for a job. In his research, Cornish (12) found out that aboriginal woman graduate aged between 25 and 44 earn about 47% less than native women holding the same employment position. This idea is in tandem with Crenshaws idea that women do not experience uniform oppression. However, this does not imply that the white women do not face oppression within the society. As observed, the white women each much lower salaries than their male counterparts even when taking equal duties within organizations. Apparently, all women experience some form of oppression but there level of oppression varies from one race to the other, an issue that has been ignored by many researchers. Previous research has consistently generalized the idea that females are equally oppressed within the society. The same way, the channels for fighting gender discrimination within the society have ignored the variation of oppression within the society. The origin of gender disparities is an issue that taken a big part of the discussion of female oppression. Wollstonecraft (26) argues that the idea that females comprise a weaker gender has been borrowed from earlier traditions. Gender inequality in Western societies was lost in the past, and the course causes of historical origin caused anxiety amongst scholars. However, questions about the ultimate, biological causes and often in the back of peoples minds have justified inequality. A crucial point to make clear is the social relation processes that would describe the persistence of gender inequality, which continue influencing the genetically determining factors. Biological explanations have played a crucial role in ideologies legitimizing the origins of gender inequality. Indices have continued measuring the beliefs about the origins of gender stratification, where nature and the society play as the source of women domestic roles and other item contrasting natural difference. Taplin and Rogers (446) claim that these origins have continued relying on social cleavages, which are disadvantaged by a particular distinction. However, the biological question has continued presenting vivid justifications on the origins of gender equality. However, in relation to biological conceptions and other factors, one will notice in the past and even now, not all women experience gender discrimination in the same way. Agnew (45) views that the conjoining multiple systems of subordination has helped to describe multiple crossed and compound discrimination. As such, the intersectional approach aims to capture both constitutes the creative interactions between different sexes. Men and women do not experience racism in the same way; as well women do not always gender oppression in the same way. Research has also proved that different forms sexual harassment and other forms of gender discrimination often occur distinctively. Studies have differentiated domestic violence and sexual harassment and vice-versa. Reflectively, it seems that victimized individuals suffer negative sequelae to either harassment or discrimination. Different forms of discrimination and other forms of prejudice enhance the negative effects of sexual harassment. The most harassment and discrimination are not time events but are rather than experiences that unfold, with no wanes or waxes over time. Other researchers have justified that other forms of discrimination can be categorized into two practices. This includes access and treatment. On one hand, access discrimination emphasizes non-job related qualifications on women as the weaker sex. In this case, women might be denied equal opportunities a form of senior discrimination. On the other hand, treatment discrimination is expressed as a salary, job level, and status discrepancies. The woman subject might be forced to take up a role that she feels that she cannot handle. Age is also encouraging the indifference of gender discrimination. Agnew asserts that the except for the manifestation of sex discrimination in the form of age discrimination 78. Although there is confusion, qualitative studies have indicated that older women experiencing discrimination might be thinking that the age difference is encouraging discrimination. However, an in-depth research by Sargeant (59) women faces multiple gender discriminations based on their ages. The weaker women are naturally vulnerable. These women seem to go beyond consideration for placement in a job sequence where they would compete with me. The women accept their roles as subordinates, and they did not lose their job. Similarly, black women have experience a form of gender-based discrimination based on their race and color. Qualitative studies have proved that white Hispanics women have a possibly of claiming that they have been discriminated against because of their gender. Likewise, most of the white women indicate that they were treated differently, probably better. It is clear that there is a raging whitewashing of current affirmative action programs that have led to the unfortunate results. In relation to race, black women and Hispanics have been discriminated greatly since successive affirmative groups have largely remained on paper. In other words, failure of affirmative action programs has accelerated discrimination. Donohue (45) explains that black women suffer oppression than black women because of unsuccessful affirmative action programs. The hierarchical pattern of race and sex relationships established in western societies might have taken a different form under feminism. This is the form of being classed as an oppressed group under the disguise of affirmative action programs. This further perpetuates the myth that the social status of all women is the same. However, the truth of the matter is that white women continue facing equal oppression as their folks in other races. The fact that affirmative action program remain on paper justify that these programs will continue failing with time. Whereas there are different kinds of feminism, all feminism can be said to have two common components. Feminists believe that women have been and continue to be oppressed in various kinds of injustices, inequalities and discrimination. This is described in conditions and circumstances they are forced to live in. However, feminist movements continue materializing different ways, in form of legislation, policies and strategies in terms of what ought to happen to be implemented to remove conditions and circumstances of oppression, inequality and injustice for women. Nonetheless, different jurisdictions are at different thresholds in pursuing these policies. Most societies are failing, probably because of lack of a clear strategy or lack of resources. As such, multiple disparities are created in the levels of responsive actions. As a result, discrimination will exist since societies have failed to harmonize programs. Nonetheless, feminist begin to outline aspects of one or the other component substantial differences among feminists and kinds of feminism appearing. Feminists disagree on counts of oppression on what sorts of injustice, inequality and discrimination matter in describing womens experiences. Different kinds of feminist differ in their tribulations, descriptions and sources of explanations for oppression, injustice or discrimination. As noted from the prevailing research, explanations have been provided in terms of womens subordination in the family, women role in sexual reproduction and sexual objectification. Thus, it is agreeable that feminists and feminism provide a wide range and variety of descriptions of women experiences to back up their claims of inequality, injustice, oppression or discrimination. With respect to the normative and political components prevailing in a given system, feminist disagree about what kind of laws, policies or strategies can be effective in eliminating or alleviating womens oppression, discrimination and injustice. From the above justification, it is clear that harassment and discrimination take place in the context and relation to patterns of class and ethnic subordination and oppression. It is clear that by entering the male job market, women place themselves in competition with men who attempt to have more power to secure the dominant roles by emphasizing the womanish of their female co-workers and subordinates (Tuplin and Rogers, 1827). Convincingly, women who work primarily with other women reproduce their subordination in the workplace in relation to men who are likely to the subordination in the workplace. As well, it is clear that sexual harassment is a form of gender discrimination. Thus, women might experience oppression differently. As heavily noted from the research, women experience oppression differently based on traditional lines of age, race, class religion, occupation, educational attainment, health conditions and marital status. This differing oppression occur within one state or across states meaning that only one oppression is differently when comparing different experiences of women. However, multiple campaigns have failed since they recognize diversity and ignore commonality. The affirming diversity working for common or universal goal has proven critical to a form of global citizen action that is more inclusive than one-size-fits-all approach. Justifiably, multiple campaigns that universalize the category of women suppress the attention to power and inequality among women by imposing a limited agenda on all women on the basis of experience. An intellectual understanding that global citizen’s action needs to affirm difference within a framework of commonality, which has subsequent organizational implications. Limoncelli (49) further notes that the international movement for womens human right balanced the tension between commonality and particularity through a form of networking of local, national and international level. Conclusively, oppression is still the underlying uniting force of feminism globally. However, it is clear that women experience oppression differently, and they are subjected to different types of violence in different societies, cultures, and communities. Women further attain gender equality with men on equal terms, where women free from violence. Maxwell (37) further notes that women are victims and objects in need of rescue that continue in the form of contemporary feminists politics globally (Crenshaw, 3). Although oppression subsides pave way for the dismantling of patriarchy in some societies, women share a historical experience of oppression. In summary, future research should attempt to unveil the different forms of gender-based discrimination existing in different societies. Works Cited Agnew, Vijay. Resisting Discrimination: Women from Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean and the Womens Movement in Canada. Toronto: U of Toronto, 1996. Print. Bacak, Bunyamin. "Discrimination Between Men and Women in the Working Life in Turkey and Regulations about Positive Discrimination." The Social Sciences (2010): 164-71. Print. Crenshaw, Kimberle. Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color. Los Angeles, University of Califorinia, 1993. Print. DDonohue, John J. Foundations of Employment Discrimination Law. 2nd ed. New York: Foundation, 2003. Print. Kirkland, Anna. "What’s At Stake In Transgender Discrimination As Sex Discrimination?" Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (2006): 83-111. Print. Lichter, Ida. Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices against Oppression. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2009. Print. Limoncelli, Stephanie A. The Politics of Trafficking the First International Movement to Combat the Sexual Exploitation of Women. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford UP, 2010. Print. Maxwell, Sarah. Success and Solitude: Feminist Organizations Fifty Years after The Feminine Mystique. Lanham, Md.: U of America, 2009. Print. Sargeant, Malcolm. Age Discrimination in Employment. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate, 2006. Print. Taplin, Ruth, and B. Rogers. "The Domestication of Women: Discrimination in Developing Societies." The British Journal of Sociology (2012): 446. Print. Wollstonecraft, Mary, and Carol Poston. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, the Wollstonecraft Debate, Criticism. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1988. Print. Woolf, Virginia. A Room of Ones Own. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1957. Print. Read More