Discussion
Discuss abou the gender inequality and sexual offenses against women in various settings.
Gender, the common term generally refers to the constructed roles of the society, the activities, and the behaviors that are considered as appropriate to the society. The distinct roles and attitudes contribute to the rise on the concept of gender discrimination. The prejudicial treatments are generally faced by the women in the society (Wilson 2015). The female populations of the globe have been facing discrimination throughout the ages and are still subject to various forms of marginalization in the current day. Denial of equality, opportunity, rights, and suppression contributes to the context of gender discrimination. The practice of gender discrimination and gender inequality tends to have an adverse impact on the pathway of women participation in socio-economic and political activities. The gender discrimination includes many faces in various forms. One of the major factors contributing to the norms of gender inequality is the sexual offenses and harassment towards the women in the nation (McDowell 2018). The paper highlights the common concepts of gender discrimination in the world and argues against the gender inequality and sexual offenses against women in various settings. The paper states the argument that women in the glove deserve equality and equal access to justice and power. Relevant theories related to radical feminism has been used in the paper to summarize the key points of the argument related to gender discrimination. The paper furthermore develops a critical analysis on the topic of the issue and highlights the need for equality among women.
Summary of the argument
The core concept of the theories of feminism relies on the fact that both the genders should be equal socially, politically and economically. The core feminist theory rejects the concept of the difference and similarity between men and women. The basis of the theory lies in the fact that it does not exclude men for furthering women’s causes (Connell 2015). The core feminist theory states that equality in women should be propagated by facilitating the feminine gender on equal terms with the men and not by discriminating and suppressing the male population.
One of the major issues in relation to the gender discrimination is the sexual abuse towards the feminine gender in the society. Interpersonal sexual abuse is one of the horrendous acts of violence that contributes to long-term sequelae in both social and psychiatric way (Williams 2018). Women tend to ignore their right to equality and justice and restrict themselves from further expression of their feelings. The topic of sexual violence is a rarely discussed topic (Ross et al. 2016). The definition of sexual violence according to the World Health Organization states that any attempt for the obtaining of an unwanted sexual act which is totally against an individual’s concern can be termed as a sexual offense. Sexual violence furthermore results from the misogynist attitude that is prevalent in the cultures where do not have any access to power and justice and neither towards her sexuality (Ritzer and Stepnisky 2017).
Body of paper
Sexual harassment is a heinous crime. I have witnessed and heard about many forms of sexual offenses against women in the society. One of the most common examples of sexual offense towards the women happens to their husband. This is generally termed as marital rapes. Societies to date do not consider the notion of marital rape since women are considered and expected to be husband’s personal property after marriage. Furthermore, sexual harassments of women at the workplace and even at the public roads are some of the common scenarios in today’s world. I believe sexual harassments are implementation and manifestation of the power of gender. Sexual violence against the feminine group is the result of unequal equations of power that is strongly influenced by the factors and values of the cultures and the society. Sexual harassments occur since all the men in the society have been brought up with a belief that men are the powerful gender of the world and hence they have the right to dominate the weaker genders. Furthermore according to my perception, increased access to pornographies, social Media are developing several urges in the men to manifest and implement it in the real life. Sexual harassments happen when men in the society consider and take the women gender as the weaker sections over which they can showcase their powers both physically and mentally. Sexual harassment is a serious problem since I believe that this act is not only about sex but of power. The act objectifies the power of the men of the society towards the women as their social right. Sexual harassment is a social issue that oppresses the power of the women in the society in the context of justice and rights. I believe the patriarchal society and the age-old norms and customs of the societies are responsible for sexual harassments actions. Women have been always treated as the object of reproduction and the control of their sexuality are transferred from her father to her husband who being the men of the society plays the most valued and important role. Women tend to ignore their right to equality and justice and restrict themselves from further expression of their feelings which make them vulnerable to further violence in the near future and thus they tend to accept themselves as the weaker gender and suppress below the male. I believe this act increases the feeling of powerlessness and helplessness in the women that majorly affects the feelings and self-esteem.
Relevant Literature
I believe the promotion of gender equality is a critical part of the prevention of violence towards the women. This is because the relationship among the gender and the violence are complex. According to my personal insight, the sexual offense against the women is a deep and a serious health and social concern in the context of misogynist, patriarchal and undertones of gender shaming. I believe the promotion of gender equality is a critical part of the prevention of violence towards the women.
Relevant Literature
One of the breeding ideas in the context of raising awareness on feminism is the theory of radical feminism. The theory contributes to the cutting edge of the theory of feminism from the year of 1967 to 1975 (Ritzer and Stepnisky 2017). The theory of radical feminism views the oppression of the feminine gender as the most common or the fundamental was of oppressing a woman that crosses the boundaries of several factors of discrimination, namely culture, race and economic class. The theory induces the movement that intends to change the social approach towards the marginalized gender on a revolutionary basis. The theory of radical feminism sets out the query that why the women in the society are forced to adapt to certain ways on the basis of their biology or gender as assigned by the society and the social norms (Smelik 2016). The theory of radical feminism attempts to discriminate among the biologically stated behaviour and the culturally determined behaviour to free both the gender from the conservative narrow mindsets regarding the gender roles.
The theory of radical feminism illustrates the power structure which tends to oppress and discriminate the women population. The major concept of the theory lies in the fact that female as the biological class is oppressed by the masculine gender on a global basis (Jayachandran 2015). I personally believe that our society has constructed the male power and has maintained the power in the name of cultural and institutional practices for bolstering the superiority of the men by the reinforcement of the women inferiority. This hierarchy of superiority of men is constructed socially to suppress the feminine gender and incorporate the idea that females are the most weaker gender in the society.
According to the critiques of the radical feminist, all the religions and institutions together with other degrading practices promotes violence against the female population. Practices like prostitution, FGM, pornography, widow burning are some of the worst religious practices around the globe that targets the female population (Price and Shildrick 2017). It a social procedure to subjugate a woman. I believe this procedure has no biases in the context of biology and hence It should be challenged and abolished. According to the perspectives of the radical feminists, the oppression of the female population is linked and bound to the roles of the new life bearers (Wagner et al. 2015). The feminist of the radical theory thus takes the unequivocal stance towards the right of the reproductive justice of the female population.
I believe that the female population from the different oppressed classes and groups furthermore experiences a more and wider combination of oppression. Factors like class, race, disability tend to have a systematic structural impact on the lives of the female population with a variety of toxic combinations. To summarize, the theory of radical feminism and the feminists believe in the movement of the female population which is autonomous and which contributes to the path of liberation of the women (McDowell 2018).
Mackay (2015) in his work sought to the understanding of how the concept of feminism has changed on U.K throughout the decade among the Women Liberation Movement of Britain. The concept of radical feminism serves as the vessel that creates significance to feminism; it furthermore gives a philosophy of the major sources of the factors of inequality among both the genders. There lies a strong connection between the theory of radical feminism and patriarchy. Crenshaw (2018) in his work states that the theory of radical feminism opposes the political and the social organizations which tend to relate to discrimination and inequalities towards the women in the society on the basis of power. Researchers furthermore illustrate how the women in the society are still subject to discrimination and suppression despite of the various theories, movements, and formation of activist groups for the rights of the women.
Discrimination of women has been a subject of much debate and controversy. Noronha (2016) in his work indicated how the discrimination in gender still persists in the context of advanced humanistic society. From the theory of radical feminism, I got a view that the most fundamental form of oppression of the female population is the control of men over the female’s sexual and reproductive living. In their work, Alison Jaggar and Paula Rothenberg stated a number of interpretation in the context of women’s oppression (Miltenburg et al. 2016). From the prehistoric times, women were the oppressed class which is still existent in the society. Some of the basic perspectives that underlies the thought process of radical feminism include some of the factors like androgyny, sex system, sexuality, pornography, lesbianism, and reproduction.
One of the perspectives of the radical feminist includes encouragement of women towards embracing both the feminine and masculine characteristics. The theory generates an attempt to enable women to choose their personal gender identities. The cultural radical feminist critiques the idea of androgyny (Price and Shildrick 2017). According to their perspectives, women should celebrate and embrace their female nature and feel proud of it. In the sexual politics, Kate Millet explained that the main reason for the female oppression lies in the system of sex or gender (Ellsberg et al. 2015). According to her insight, elimination of oppression and discrimination is only possible after the successful elimination of the concept of gender. In this context, I think social institutions such as the patriarchy, family and other things justifies the domination and control of the male population by the imposing of ideas that are gendered and naturalized. In order to abolish and eradicate oppression and sexism, it is important for the female population to reject the traits of masculinity and embrace the qualities of females. I believe that the traits of the female that are constructed by the patriarchal society can only be shattered and the oppression can only be eradicated when the women strip themselves of the context of femininity. Women can embrace their power and beauty only by raising their voice against the age-old system.
Personal View point
From the above discussion, I clearly believe that the realization of the human rights among the women has never been a priority and women in societies have been subject to regular sufferings. It is thus required to understand the comprehensive ways and strategies for the elimination of discrimination and denial of equality among the female population for the achievement of equality and women’s human rights (Ellsberg et al. 2015). The universal declaration of human rights along with the conventions addressing political and civil rights of each and every individual irrespective of their gender is the most appropriate legislation in the world till date that ensures legal protection of the rights of the women together with successful prohibition of gender discrimination. Apart from the international standards, the regional human rights treaties also contribute to the essential provision to protect and promote women’s right to power and justice (Schwanke 2013). Empowerment to me means transforming from enforced powerlessness to the position of optimum power. I believe one of the most essential means for the empowerment of the female population is education. This is because skills, knowledge, and self-confidence are utmost important for full participation in the process of development. It is important for the women to recognize their rights towards access to power and justice. From my personal insight, I believe judicial stereotyping is the basic and pernicious barrier towards the justice of the women victims. Thus, elimination of judicial stereotyping is a crucial step for ensuring equality and non-discrimination and justice for the women suffering from abuses.
Some of the notable books that I came across in the context of gender inequality and the need to propagate equality among the female population for the preservation of their rights towards equal access to power and justice are Ivan E. Coyote and Rae Spoon’s Gender Failure, Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist, Janet Mock’s Redefining Realness and more. Some of the films that I viewed in the similar topic which really shook me up in the context of that women deserve equal access to power and justice are the 2011 film, Bridesmaid, Pretty women of 1990 and the 2017 film, Wonder women. Throughout these films and the noteworthy books, I realized that the women need to rely on the system of justice that is free of any myths and stereotypes and the biological structure as defined by the radical feminist theory is not at all compromised on the basis of bias assumptions.
Conclusion
One of the key realizations of the human rights is the ability to address power and justice that includes rights towards nondiscrimination and equality. There lie various obstacles in the pathway to access justice in case of women. The above essay highlights how women in our society tend to face barriers in their efforts to pursue and seek justice towards the context of gender discrimination and sexual offenses on them. With the help of radical theory and views of the radical feminism, the essay concludes the need of change in the typical stereotype attitude of the society that values the male and tends to suppress the rights of the female population towards equitable access over power and justice.
References
Connell, R 2015, ‘Meeting at the edge of fear: Theory on a world scale,’ Feminist Theory, vol.16, no. 1, pp.49-66.
Crenshaw, K 2018, ‘Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics [1989],’ In Feminist legal theory, pp. 57-80, Routledge.
Ellsberg, M., Arango, D.J., Morton, M., Gennari, F., Kiplesund, S., Contreras, M. and Watts, C., 2015. Prevention of violence against women and girls: what does the evidence say?. The Lancet, 385(9977), pp.1555-1566.
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Mackay, F 2015, ‘Radical Feminism’, Theory, Culture & Society, vol.32, no.7-8, pp. 332-336.
McDowell, L., 2018. Gender, identity and place: Understanding feminist geographies. John Wiley & Sons.
Miltenburg, A.S., Lambermon, F., Hamelink, C. and Meguid, T., 2016. Maternity care and Human Rights: what do women think?. BMC international health and human rights, 16(1), p.17.
Price, J. and Shildrick, M., 2017. Feminist theory and the body: A reader. Routledge.
Ritzer, G. and Stepnisky, J., 2017. Modern sociological theory. SAGE Publications.
Ross, L., GutiŽrrez, E., Gerber, M. and Silliman, J., 2016. Undivided rights: Women of color organizing for reproductive justice. Haymarket Books.
Schwanke, D 2013, ‘Barriers for Women to Positions of Power: How Societal and Corporate Structures, Perceptions of Leadership and Discrimination Restrict Women’s Advancement to Authority,’ Earth common Journal, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 1-2.
Smelik, A., 2016. Feminist film theory. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Wagner, C., Garcia, D., Jadidi, M. and Strohmaier, M., 2015, April. It’s a Man’s Wikipedia? Assessing Gender Inequality in an Online Encyclopedia. In ICWSM (pp. 454-463).
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Wilson, K., 2015. Towards a radical re?appropriation: Gender, development and neoliberal feminism. Development and Change, 46(4), pp.803-832.
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