Feminism: How and what's the Female's Role Change in the Past and Now - Research Paper Example

Feminism: How and what's the Female's Role Change in the Past and Now The history of human being regarded man as a superior and more respected over the woman. Females were subjective and submissive to the men and society in general. Some sections of society did not allow women to stand and speak in public arenas. Women had limited access to education and employment opportunities. The society tasked women to take care of the family and perform home chores. However, the trend changed spontaneously with the revolution that saw the coming of industrialization. Industrialization that stroke Europe led to transformation in the roles of women and breaking of the limits that defined their roles in the society. The actual feminism begun in France and became clear in 1610 when intellectual and noble women began to hold meetings in salon (Conger). These gatherings involved discussion into the cultural and social beliefs about the roles of women in the various societies. From the discussions attended by French women, it became clear that structure of the societies depended on human shaping and not naturally stamped by God. Feminism is a philosophical concept describing the war purposed to end sexism in the societies. Feminism tends to liberate and advocate for the review of roles and place of woman in the society. As mentioned earlier, the women enjoyed limited freedom and could only perform functions recognized and approved by men. Tendon discloses that some societies also consider feminism as constituting war on oppression and discrimination of women in the society (4). The role of feminists in such a circumstance therefore involves expression of interests of women from different regions, social classes, education backgrounds, ethnicity and religious backgrounds. The rise of feminism saw women beginning to engage in employment opportunities initially denied to them (Walby 12). Tendon indicates that feminism also saw women start getting education in the societies that restricted access of women to education opportunities (12). In addition, feminism encouraged women to underserve their roles as caretakers of the family. Furthermore, the rise of feminism led to the rise of human rights groups that advocates for the gender equality within various societies. Even today, feminism continues to stir discussions about gender balance and equality that enable women access to every issue concerning societies. With all the struggles and fights triggered by feminists, some societies find it hard to accept all the changes and demands advocated by the feminist groups. Religious believes have also posed challenges towards the achievement of total freedom for women. For example, Islamic religion continues to disregard some aspect of call for freedom of women in the societies. Some societies founded on the Islamic religion do not allow women to participate in politics and general issues concerning the public. The concept of feminism has faced numerous counterattacks as far as its definition and initial intentions are concerned. Some sections of anti-feminists especially in the Eastern countries and developing countries in general have tended to divert from the initial concept of feminism, as they view it as tool used in the Western countries to gain political rights for women. Instead, the anti-feminists have resolved to consider feminism as a driving force towards expression and protection of interests and safety of women in the societies. The reasons that earned the Western feminism rejection in the contemporary world involve its attempts to breach basic rights of the members of the society. For example, feminists have been advocating for legalization of abortion in the society, a fact that has received solid opposition from the religious spectrum. Feminism have also created excessive rights for women, and this has seen women engaging in antisocial behaviors such as men battering on the basis of legal protection. Feminism in the Western cultures has also resulted to delinquencies of marriages and relations as women tend to compete with men over the separation and definition of roles. Another problem related to feminism is its overconcentration on the issues concerning women only while neglecting other problems that concerns the whole society (Shepherd 23). Feminism has also proved strong obstacle towards protection passing of laws that intend to protect the rights of males within the societies. Feminism has also remained a liberation tool for individual women especially in the developed countries while disregarding the section of women in the developing countries. This has seen continued abuse of women in the marginalized community through acts as genital mutilation and forceful marriages. As outlined by Shepherd, another problem that restrains effective and uniform spread of feminism across the world involves regional diversity and differences in social practices across various societies in the world (24). For example, it has been difficult for the white feminists to mobilize women in the African communities due to the strong belief of the blacks in their traditions. The rise and spread of feminism across the world did not just happen at once, but involved some other forces. As demonstrated by Conger, the enlightenment of women concerning their place in the societies during the industrial revolution begun in France. Conger further exemplifies that the French Revolution of 1789 and Revolutionary War of 1774 marked the rise of social movements that advocated for freedom of women. According to Conger, the two revolutions focused on ensuring human equality but without clear attribute to women’s equality. However, Conger notes that these revolutions projected to mobilize women politically and set grounds for establishing freedom as the benchmark for human rights. The freedom message spread by the two revolutions intended to liberate women from the social and cultural custody that restricted access of women to particular issues within the societies. Conger further discloses that Mary Wollstonecraft further built the message of feminism in 1792 through the publication of a book that promoted feminism as well mobilizing women to discover their total freedom. Other movements like the National Organization for Women founded in 1966 in American played great roles in defining the scope of feminism as well as its development and growth in the societies. The reasons for the rise of such feminists’ movements in advocating for promotion of feminism in the societies involved fears of individualistic expression in the public. Some societies did not approve the rise of feminism with speculation that it would lead to social disorder. This made it difficult for individuals to express themselves for fear of arrests and perhaps societal seclusion. Additional reasons that made it necessary for the spread of feminism through social movements involved the lower levels of illiteracy of women who lacked access to education opportunities. In addition, the social movements that contributed to the rise of feminism wanted to inform women of their employment rights and direct them into the available employment opportunities. This was the actual reason that spurred growth of feminism during the industrial revolution in Europe and elsewhere in the world. The problems involving the scope of understanding of feminism in different societies have led to the split of feminism into two main classes. The first is the Western feminism otherwise known as secular feminism and Islamic feminism otherwise viewed as religious feminism. This difference arise from the fact that Western feminism does not base on religious principles and teachings, which contradicts the Islamic feminism that involves great consideration to Quran teachings and laws about gender roles in the societies. Western feminism involves complex and highly structured institutions and organizations with typical purpose of fighting for the rights of women. Western feminism has had excess focus on the political rights of women. The groups involved in such fights have led demonstrations demanding for equal representation of women in the political specter. Equality in this context means that women should enjoy equal leadership rights, as do men. Western feminism believes have strong believes that the source for the rights of women relies can only receive solution through political approach and intervention. Feminism in the Western culture only concentrates on the women and not the entire community. The spread of Western feminism involves intensive use of force and impetus coupled with strict demands. Apart from political rights, Western feminism has involved great and unceasing wars on the gender rights and balance within the various societies. Western feminism has seen participation of women of women in activities and roles that were otherwise unique for male gender. Free access to the highest possible level of education for females has also constituted part of the fights by the Western feminists. The Islamic feminism depicts somewhat different characteristics when compared to the Western feminism. First, the direction of feminism in the Islamic society needs to focus and remain congruent to the teachings of the Quran. Islamic societies hold that the Quran contain and defines every aspect of human rights that would necessitate the formation of feminism movements to help fight for the rights. For that case, feminists with Islamic societies have limits of mobilizing society in advocating for the rights of women. In the typical Islamic societies, women have limited rights to hold political and leadership positions in the public spectrum. Islamic societies consider women as subordinates creatures with inferior powers to the masculine gender. Islamic feminism recognizes the basic rights of women and work towards protection of the rights from any form of abuse. The Islamic feminism maintains a conservatism position that label women as caretakers of the families and the societies in general. In spite of the various limitation of feminism in the Islamic societies, women and girls have access to education and other developmental programs like promotion of good health within the societies. Islamic feminism also allows associations among women within the societies (Salvatore 19). The theory of neo-liberalism can offer among the best solutions to the problems of feminism in the contemporary societies. This is because neo-liberalism theory advocates for economic equality within various societies and fair management of public resources. Neo-liberalism theory advocates for the privatization of national instruments and methods of production to promote fair economic development and growth in a given country (Silva and Santos 11). With these attributions, ne-liberalism will solve the part of the problems majorly economic that have seen grievousness of feminism and feminists. First, it is imperative to consider that a man constitutes the greatest population in the political systems of various countries. It is also important to recognize that most production activities and process owned by governments are under the control of the political class. For that case, men are likely to constitute the largest population of employees in the national production sectors. Liberalizing the economy and allowing privatization of the nationally owned production sectors may allow women slight access to the employment opportunities in privatized sectors of economy. Through this, women will be able to achieve and enjoy economic independence and thus ease the problems of feminism within the societies. The fact that neo-liberalism proposes for liberalized trade between nations provides another systematic way of solving problems attributing to feminism in the societies. Liberalization of trade will promote and encourage interactions of different individuals from different regions. Such interactions will also help in ensuring regional integration and understanding of various cultures and social practices of various populations. These interactions will also enable individuals accepts various forms of societal diversity and accept each other’s position. With all these aspects of neo-liberalism in place, it will be easier to solve various obstacles faced within a given society through shaping of feminism to cohere with the practices of the given society (Silva and Santos 14). Social democracy is another viable approach that can help in reaching out to solution on the problems of feminism. Social democracy advocates for equal social respect among all the members of a given society. Social democracy defines the rights for equal participation into the country’s political system as well as freedom to access various economic opportunities. Social democrats also advocates for equal rights of access to various aspects of societal development and integration (Salvatore 23). Furthermore, social democracy tends to define the roles of different individuals towards a given society. These proposals qualify the effectiveness of social democracy as tool for solving recurrent social problems resulted by the concept of feminism. In corporation of social democracy in the operation of societies will, help in ensuring balanced and equal opportunities for all members of the society to participate in political activities undertaken in particular societies. This equal political right will automatically reduce or solve feminism problems. In addition, the fact that social democracy advocates for equal economic rights among members of given society makes it thorough in ensuring equal economic rights for women in the society. Revolutions can also provide important and critical tools in projecting and advancing solutions to the problems surrounding feminism. For instance, women lobby groups in Islamic countries that limit the scope of feminism within the society can gather to form structural revolutionary movements to help in representation of their ideas and views. Men can also form revolutionary movements to help in joint representation of their rights and wishes otherwise compromised by feminists. Political revolution can also help in ousting of regimes that oppose development and spread of feminism. The issue of feminism has prevailed in the human rights debates cross the world. Feminism has occupied the center stage of social equity, as women are radical in facilitating campaigns to safeguard and expand their rights in the societies. The manner which feminists conducts advocacies and proposes their demands defines the whole problems attributed to feminism. In solving the feminism problems, governments of various countries affected by the concept should formulate strategic laws protecting men from maltreatment and abuse by wives and women. The reasons for this proposal attributes to the aggressiveness with which women have treated men with confidence of legal and organizational protection (ALanre-Abbas 42). The laws protecting men should consider defining the roles of men in the families to draw the limits within which women subjugate and overpower men in the families. This will help reduce family conflicts and the rates of divorce stimulated by ideological disagreements in the families. In addition, governments and religious groups should define clear scopes of rights enjoyed by women in the societies and hold to the provisions. This will help in clarifying the fate of the controversial issues like abortion. Determination and definition of clear laws by the governments and religious groups will also help in reducing the increasing immorality such as husband battering practiced under the precepts of feminism. With the laws in action, Islamic feminists will learn to live by the provisions provided to guide feminism in their contemporary societies without looking out or admiring the Western culture. As a way of reducing discrimination and harmonization of feminism movements across the world, there needs for establishment of internationally recognized laws defining the scope of practice of the feminist groups across the world. This will help provide plain and fair ground for promotion of feminism defined by maximum respect for basic human rights within various countries. In fact, it would be appropriate if feminists in the black dominated countries promote conduct campaigns for feminism in the white dominated countries, and vice versa. Such approaches will help in ensuring clear understanding of regional diversity and problems faced by particular societies in achieving unanimously accepted threshold for achieving fair feminism. In institutionalizing international laws on feminism, rights to education, freedom of expression and political rights, freedom of association and assembly should form the benchmark of defining the universal limitations of feminism. This is because the listed aspects of freedom seem to be the central points from where feminism outgrows. Women in Europe, America, Islamic countries and African countries use the listed rights to spread their feminism desires and demands. It will also be critical and vital for governments of various countries to consider formation of human rights movements and commissions that determine and weigh the societal impacts of certain demands made by feminist movements in the particular country. Such commissions should also perform the role of advising the governments on the appropriate ways to handle certain complaints about the rights of women presented by feminists. This approach will help individual governments reduce if not avoid cases of feminists demonstrations. The commissions will also in reducing societal frictions between the antifeminists and the feminists. Works cited A Lanre-Abbas, Bolatito. "Feminism in the Postmodernist Age." The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies 28.3 (2003): 355-68. Conger, Cristen. How Feminism Works. 2012. Web. . Salvatore, Joy. Facing the Problems of Feminism: Working toward Resolution. 2008. Web. . Shepherd, Matthew. "Feminism, Men and the Study of Masculinity - which Way Now?" The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 17.1 (1997): 116-28. Silva, Danilo and Santos, Raul. The Theory of Economic Development and Neo-liberalism. 2004. Web. . Tandon, Neeru. Feminism: A Paradigm Shift. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2008. Print. Walby, Silvia. Key Concepts in Feminist Theory. 1996. Web. . Read More