The Evolution of Women's Rights - Essay Example

Philosophy-Human Rights For centuries, the rights of women have been overlooked, challenged and even ignored. This is a cross-cultural problem which has taken great efforts on the parts of many, just to make strides in a positive direction on women‘s behalf. The struggle however, is not nearly over. Human rights in general are globally accepted as being those rights assigned to every human being with regard to freedom of religion, speech, freedom from abuse or murder, freedom to be politically involved and other freedoms which laws are designed to protect on behalf of everyone, “ Human rights are international norms that help to protect all people everywhere from severe political, legal, and social abuses. Examples of human rights are the right to freedom of religion, the right to a fair trial when charged with a crime, the right not to be tortured, and the right to engage in political activity. These rights exist in morality and in law at the national and international levels”( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003). On a global scale, militaries by design, were and are formed primarily for the purpose of the preservation of human rights. But to speak specifically about the rights of women, one must examine which human rights specifically, in the past have been overlooked or neglected throughout history as compared to the assumed rights granted to women in Westernized cultures today. It should be noted that the word ‘assumed’ it used purposely to indicate that though many may believe that women are in fact granted equal rights in modern times, this is not always the case and overall is indicative of a still flawed system. One hundred years ago in this very country, a woman was not permitted to vote, she was often not permitted to work or rather hold employment like her male counterparts, and certainly, she was not able to exist on her own due to these regulations in the same capacity that a man might be able to. Some countries to this day still practice arranged marriages where women are essentially assigned a husband who she typically does not even meet until the day she is married. This is a situation where women are really just used as a type of currency for trade or for political or business alliances. It is often the men in non progressive cultures that make the decisions and foster the role of leadership within the home and within the community. Going back to an earlier time of Native American tribes such as the Iroquois which were constituted by the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Mohawk and the Seneca; were all matriarchal societies. Many early cultures revered women as life givers and as being connected to the gods due to this ability. It was not unusual for some tribes to possess women elders or even chiefs, who were highly honored and even obeyed. This ultimately came from a primal rationale that dictated that it was women who were primarily responsible for bringing forth life, nurturing the young and thus sustaining the propagation of a species. It was not until more colonial times that man begin to see women as the ‘weaker’ sex and thus in need of male domination. With this, it was easy to disregard women as being less than man and therefore meant to be dominated by men. Biblical references to woman as second class citizens furthr encouraged the colonials to repress woman even more. Since colonial times, women have managed to achieve the right to vote, the right to hold the same jobs granted to men and essentially every right which a man has. But, the system is still flawed as women in America still receive substantially less monetary compensation for employment than their male counterparts. America has yet to have a female president or vice president. In this current, heated political climate; women are amidst a political tug of war as to whether they have the right to make decisions regarding their bodies when no such legislation exists for males. The United Nations has made every effort to set guidelines wherein women and men are equal and are afforded equal rights in all areas from marriage and the decision to get married all the way to freedom of thought and speech. The General Assembly has also dictated that each and every human being is born a free entity with dignity and equal worth. The Articles of the General Assembly also dictate that people of different nationalities, race, religion and so forth; have the right to enter into marriage provided that each party consents to the union and is doing so of their won free will. The United Nations and General Assembly have certainly made huge bounds of progress in human rights in general but this does not mean that each and every country follows such guidelines. Additionally, not every country has been granted clearance for induction into the U.N. due to their stance and practices regarding human rights. When discussing human rights in a philosophical light, it is important to outline what is actually encompassed, “The philosophy of human rights addresses questions about the existence, content, nature, universality, justification, and legal status of human rights”(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003). Though the U.N. and the General Assembly have made provisions for both men and women to be of equal rights, similar proclamations throughout history have been less than observant of the rights of men and women as equal, “From the very start of human rights movements, women have employed the language and moral substance of the idea to combat male suppression and unjustified social superiority. For instance, barely a year had passed following the 1789 proclamation of the French Declaration of the rights of man and citizen than Olympe De Gouge published her own Declaration of Rights of women. In it De Gouge criticized the male revolutionaries for leaving out of their work a concern for equality between the sexes”(Orend 174). Not two years later, another woman of greatness named Mary Wollstonecraft published her own work known as Vindication of the Rights of Women which went above even the great work of De Gouge by making an argument for education to be offered to young girls and women. These women were visionaries and paved the way for later women who would pursue the same spirit of equality as did De Gouge and Wollstonecraft. From that time, many women have followed suit and appealed to patriarchal establishment for equality homogenously. Certainly we have discussed the brief historical nature of women’s rights in human rights; but it is pertinent to discuss some current issues in human rights which focus on women in particular. Having mentioned the matriarchal origins of many Native American societies, it is pertinent to mention that in present times, women of Native American origin as well as Alaskan women; are in fact 2 ½ times more likely to be raped than women of other ethnic heritage. In fact, 1 out of every 3 Indigenous women are raped in their lifetime. Alaska seems to be a large problem for the occurrence of rape in part due to its vast and desolate geography making attacks on women, much more opportune and undiscovered by passersby. Amnesty International has reported that Alaska is particularly deficient in finding and prosecuting rapists therefore fostering a breeding ground at times, for sexual predators, “In the US, perpetrators of violence against women are often not charged with any crime”(Amnesty International, 2008). Certainly, rape continues to be a crime which plagues women at pandemic proportions. Certainly, most laws provide for punishment towards sexual predators but the real problem is finding and convicting those guilty of such heinous acts. It was not until recently that even the American government became more aware of how lacks the judicial system was on alleged rapists and sexual deviants. It has just become illegal for defense attorneys to ‘badger’ victims of rape on the stand by introducing facts about their sexual history. Prior to this, women who were victims of rape were often put on trial right along with their rapist. If a woman had had a history of multiple sexual partners or of wearing clothes which might have been deemed provocative; she was often accused of ‘asking for it’ or of creating a reason for the attack. Amnesty International has been on the forefront of women’s rights issues particularly in issues involving rape, torture and degrading of women, “The past two decades have seen womens organizations spring up around the world. Most of the advances which women have made towards claiming their rights have been the result of grass roots campaigning, usually by independent womens rights organizations”(Amnesty International, 2008). Sadly, their valiant efforts are not always met with open minds or progressive thought, even on the level of governments, “This wave of courage, creativity and commitment has all too often met a wall of government indifference and sometimes government repression of the cruelest kind. Few governments recognize the work of womens human rights organizations as a legitimate exercise of fundamental civil and political rights”(Amnesty International, 2008). Certainly countries in the Middle East have fallen short in the area of observing or even respecting the rights of women. Iran has been led by a regime which incorporates the national religion of Islam into its government policies. It is not legal for woman to walk out of their home without wearing a head covering. In fact, woman are ordered to wear clothing which fully covers their bodies due to the belief that the sight of a woman’s hair or skin may cause a man to immediately desire to have sex with her causing them both to be sinners in the eyes of Allah. Woman are also not permitted to leave their homes without being accompanied by a man in many cases. This means that if a woman needs to visit the market or run errands, her husband, son or a male family member must accompany her. Woman who are caught committing adultery against their husbands are often punished severely on a government level and in many cases, are publicly stoned to death. It is not unusual for woman in certain parts of the Middle East, to be beheaded if thought to have committed adultery or to have had intercourse outside of the confines of marriage. The same rules do not apply to their male counterparts. Governments which have allowed religious influence to dictate the natural order of law; have ultimately done a large injustice to its citizens both men and women. Certainly, one might think that at least the males benefit from this but this is quite the contrary. These types of religious hierarchies spread a dogma of intolerance based on gender, ethnicity and even sexuality. There is no place for homosexual members of the population and those who are of homosexual persuasion are forced to either live their lives in extreme secrecy in order to maintain safety; or are harshly and brutally ridiculed. A message is sent to the young generation of such countries, that men are superior and women are either a commodity or less than human. This type of mind set is a crippling disease which quickly spreads through generations and limits entire cultures in each and every area from art to literature to ideology and so on. The children of such societies are taught to disvalue women and girls which fosters an heir of ignorance and hate from an early age on up. It is for this reason that the U.N. and the General Assembly along with groups such as Amnesty International, have worked so hard to reeducate those who are misinformed while providing aid and refuge to the victims of such drastically harmful and damaging ideologies and belief systems. Societies are theoretically and in a perfect world; supposed to be composed of many different fabrics of people, beliefs, cultures, sexual orientations and religious beliefs; such that a myriad of diversity can function to weave all of these together to make something unique and powerful. The division which takes place when the very basics of human rights are denied to any individual for any number of reasons. The bottom line is that each and every individual on this planet is entitled to the same amount of rights as the next. It is not within anyone’s power to deprive anyone of their human rights and by doing so; one is breaking one of the very principles and rules which separates us from other life forms and makes us human. Works Cited: Amnesty International, (2008), “Women’s Rights”, retrieved from website Novemebr 17, 2008 at: http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against- women/stop-violence-against-women-svaw/women-human-rights- defenders/page.do?id=1108333 Orend, Brian. “Human Rights”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Human Rights”, First published Fri Feb 7, 2003; substantive revision Sat Jul 29, 2006 Read More