When de Beauvoir says, “One is not born a woman, one becomes a woman,” she means that there are people who are born female in that they have a uterus but they do not regard themselves as women. She argues that if one shares the femininity attributes, then she can identify as a woman. This assumption leads to the development of the statement femininity is in danger while half of the worlds’ population is made up of women. This statement indicates that’s there are people regarded as women, but they lack the femininity that comes with having a uterus.
de Beauvoir rejects any essentialist theory of what a woman should be because the theory is developed by people who were biased by the dominance of men. They source their information on writings that are focused on glorified on the dominance of men. The interpretation of woman is based on any recordings that justify her coming second to man. There is no concern about whether that’s what the woman wants or desires. The opinion of women is not important, and people against feminism are never concerned.
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When de Beauvoir says, “woman is other,” she means that woman comes second to male. The identity and significance of man come first. Their place in society is second to none, and this way, women who are their daughters and wives, among other titles, come second, and their status in society is tied to them. The status of women in terms of their economic and socio status depends on their fathers and husbands.
The oppression faced by Jews, African-Americans, and colonized peoples is enabled by the fact that there will be people ruling over others, and the fact that these women come from minority groups puts them at a disadvantage. Women have never been able to align and put themselves in groups that would be able to fight for their rights and advocate for equal treatment effectively. The Jews, African-Americans, and colonized peoples are considered ‘second’ to women of other races. Women are secondary to men, and the racial grouping of these women puts them in a more situation, subjecting them to discrimination and unfair treatment from people around them as well as the society at large. “Women being other” also distort the identity formation of men through propagating the ideology that man is superior to women. People that are against feminism have drawn their support from historical philosophers, religions, and writers that women have a subordinate position to man. Some religions had been invented to indicate the dominion of man over the woman. This is evident in the writings of Aristotle and St Thomas. Laws drafted went ahead to limit the liberties of women, all to protect the interests of males such as inheritance. Women being the other also inhibits their ownership of property; justification for this is that women are not decisive nor constant.
Social power is considered by de Beauvoir to be a key player in perpetuating women's subordinate role in society. The subordination is done by setting up laws and orders that ensure that man takes the lead in all matters. The outcome of the law includes curtailing inheritance and property ownership, among others; this way women have to depend on men majorly economically. Socially, they are also required to depend on a man. Marriage has been given much significance to the point that women who seek family life have to attach themselves to a man. The identification of man also is never questioned, and no man has to explain their existence. This goes ahead to be reflected in prayers where men say thank you to God for not being created female.
References
de Beauvoir, S. (1949). The second sex, woman as the other 1949.
