Until recent times, women throughout the world have been unable to have their voices heard in cultural, religious or political space in different societies. Women could not inherit any wealth or own property. Instead, women were treated as an object and property to serve the male interests. In some cultures, women could be confiscated by tax collectors or money lenders to help settle debts (Young, 2017). Other cultures had worse practices in which women could be used as mere objects. For example, in ancient Assyria, the punishment of rape involved handing over the wife of the rapist to the husband of the victim to be used as he desired. As found by anthropologists, some cultures practiced ritual widow murder. This involved the killing of women shortly after their husbands died. This was commonly practiced in India and China. These practices went until the twentieth century when the wave of feminism became stronger. Even so, some traces of these practiced as still found in these cultures. Even in the cultures which claim early self-enlightenment and which gave birth to democracy such as Greece; women did not have a voice in political space. Women were not allowed to own property or leave their homes when there was darkness (Young, 2017). Similar experiences were witnessed in ancient Rome where women were not allowed to take part in any social event and could only be allowed to escort their husbands or male relatives.
Over the past few decades, the status of women has significantly risen across cultures in different societies. Even so, male dominance and the culture of patriarchy has persisted in most of the societies across the world (Young, 2017). Oppression of women is still being witnessed by many societies since they are still not given the space to live as an equal human race. For example, in some of the Middle East societies, women cannot leave their houses unless in the company of their male guardian. Most women across cultures still do not have roles to determine their own lives. They are seen as objects and commodities and their lives are controlled by societal rules. Their male owners have the right to make decisions on their behalf and to demand sex from them. In most African cultures, both women and men believe that it is right for a wife to be beaten by the husband if the wife refuses to have sex with him. Such cultures like Uganda have many cases of domestic violence which get swept under the carpet because they are considered as normal (Modleski, 2014). The oppression of women across cultures has been normalized to an extent that women themselves are brainwashed to believe that there is nothing wrong with inflicting violence on them.
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Several studies have tried to explain the oppression of women by using Biology. For example, Lise (2013) has argued that because of the high levels of testosterone in men, they tend to be naturally competitive and aggressive, inevitably taking over the high status in the societies and leaving the women with the subordinating roles. In the view of this paper, however, the oppression of women is as a result of deep-rooted psychological reasons. Human beings have an underlying psychological disorder and the oppression of women is just one symptom of this disorder. Taking over all positions of authority in the society may not be bad if the women were treated with dignity and their roles respected. However, taking all power and still mistreating, despising and inflicting all kind of brutality on women is another level of dehumanization. There is no sane species that can afford to treat half of its population like that.
The cause of women oppression across different cultures is the desire of men to have control and power over everything. This is the same reason why throughout history, men have tried to subjugate and conquer other countries and to oppress different groups and cultures in their own societies. Because men feel the urge of having power and controlling everything, they take away power and authority from the women. They subject women to a society where it is difficult to live just because one is a woman. They serve women with decisions which best serve their interests and expect women to live up to these expectations and standards. By doing this, they expect to increase their status and significance.
Cultures cannot be enough to describe the whole terrible experience that women have had to undergo because of inhumanity inflicted against them by society. Many societies have religious values which hold antagonistic points against women looking at them as creatures that are sinful and impure creatures that are sent by the devil to lead men astray. This view was the reason behind the European witch killing which took place in the 15th and 18th century (Young, 2017). Most religious groups do not have space for women voices. Men, on the other hand, associate themselves with purity of the mind while they associate the women with the corruption of the body.
Anthropologists who analyze the beginning of women oppression place the historical epoch at a time when the men slaves were also being oppressed. The predatory who happened to be men of wealth and class turned the humans into the production of others. Even so, these studies do not find women oppression as something which arose because of class oppression and therefore separates the oppression of women and that of slaves. For instance, from aboriginal societies in Australia, it is notable that the cultures did not class oppression but nevertheless women did not have any political rights or the ability to voice their opinions in front of Africa
In the 1930s, the wave of feminism had begun to create changes even if not significantly but in a small way. Women from different cultures became tired of the oppression that had been inflicted on them for a long time and the voice of enlightenment began dominating the air (Modleski, 2014). Women started to work outside their homes. Even so, only a small fraction of married women went to work outside their homes as they would not be granted permission by their husbands. The dominant expectations of women at this time carried that the domestic chores such as cooking and washing were considered work of the women. The education, the civil service, and other professions operated the bar of marriage with oppressive rules such as the common narrative that women had to resign their jobs and status when they got married. Trade unions at that time were led by the men and were not concerned that women worked for cheap labor.
Feminism has greatly helped in changing the narrative of the low status of women in society. While most people believe that feminism has only helped women, feminism has helped to transform the men too and society as a whole. Women who form half of the population in the society contribute significantly to the economic growth and the general development in the society (Vogel, 2013). This paper establishes that the main function of feminism is to dismantle patriarchy. The definition of patriarchy is the social system in which masculinity has more power and control in society, and where women are not valued. When people view feminism from the point of dismantling patriarchy, one begins to see why it is critical for the society. Feminism is about fighting for the value of the identity of the feminine as much as masculine. This greatly helps all genders because all genders have masculine and feminine traits.
Lastly, while men often complain that feminism only works for women, men also suffer from the effects of sexism and feminism also work for the rights of men. When women are empowered, they contribute to their families development and do not leave the burden for the men alone (Young, 2017). Another way through patriarchy works against the men is through the custody disputes in gaining the parental disputes. This happens when the men are not given the right for parental custody. This usually happens because of the patriarchal assumptions that women are nurturers while men are not. This is an assumption which is held by patriarchy to keep the women in taking the serving roles. The custody disputes affect men negatively. Another example through which patriarchy affects men is the pressure they receive to contain their emotions and man up. This has led to several cases of men committing suicide because when they open up they are perceived to be weak like women. The concept of patriarchy sell the ideology that being a woman is the worst thing and thus any personality traits connected to women is shameful for men to manifest. When feminism pushes for the dismantling of the patriarchal system, they give the men the opportunity to cry and they give the women the same inherent values as the men (Young, 2017). Feminism gives the gender the space to express themselves from all the sides safely without any fear of judgment. The fight is credibly significant because, at the end of the day, the society should recognize the feminine traits as equally valuable and valid in all humans.
References
King, Y. (2015). Feminism and the Revolt of Nature. Thinking About the Environment: Readings on Politics, Property and the Physical World: Readings on Politics, Property and the Physical World , 179.
Lise, V. (2013). Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Toward a Unitary Theory. Historical Materialism Book Series Leiden Brill .
Modleski, T. (2014). Feminism without women: Culture and criticism in a" postfeminist" age . Routledge.
Young, I. M. (2017). Gender as seriality: Thinking about women as a social collective. In Gender and Justice (pp. 3-28). Routledge.
Vogel, L. (2013). Marxism and the oppression of women: Toward a unitary theory . Brill.
