Friday, September 25, 2009

Feminism can only go so far

Feminist Jurisprudence has brought women's rights and equality for women a long way over the years. Women were previously not allowed to own land, work, or even vote. Today, women are, in many senses condsidered equal to men. They have fought for and won equal pay for equal jobs, as well as many other equalities that they did not previously have. However, changing and reshaping laws to make women "equal" to men can only ever go so far. When it comes down to it, the reason that women were never considered equal to men goes back to the societal perception of women that became accepted as the norm until recently. However, this perception will never be completely broken, and women will never truly be considered "equal" to men. While many feminists may be upset by this statement, the fact is that passing some laws to create equality can not undo hundreds of years of a lesser perception of women. While family roles are ever changing, many will always consider the woman to be the homemaker of the family. Women are nuturors by nature and will never break this sterotype. Additionally, there are just several jobs and activities that men will always do better than women. Many physically demanding jobs such as construction and industrial related jobs will never see an equal ratio of men to women. Sports is another area where women will never size up to the men. While feminist jurisprudence is doing a lot to gain women more and more rights, there can never be such a thing as true equality in our society.

2 comments:

  1. I have to agree with your post - It does not matter if a society changes or "reshapes" some laws, the society will still have gender inequality. Like you said, we cannot undo hundred of years of a lesser perception of women.

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  2. I tend to agree with that statement. I think there will be true equality eventually, however, in all the laws and eventually there will be a proper amount of representation from all minorities. One of the main things that is holding women back, as you said is their size. Jobs that rely on size will probably never see a lot of women unless there is a new hormone invented where everyone has equal strength. The infantry will never see women because of size and also mental factors that men cannot control during times of war.

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