Gender Roles and the Perception of Women Essay

There was a time that having a girl born to a family evoked more pity than congratulations from the community. Sons were cherished more for they were viewed to bring practical help towards aug workforceting the family income through physical labor, as well as ensuring that the family name lives on with his progeny. (Feminism) Daughters were valued unless for the potential discover they could bring the family with a good marriage. In decrepit days, a good marriage was not necessarily specify by the couples happiness but rather was deemed as much(prenominal) if both families al-Qaeda to benefit from the union.Usually benefits would be measured in wealth, alliance or business. Marriages then were basically mergers. Women were not expected to progress to anything other than the mastery of domestic duties and union with a suitable husband. afterwards marriage, the totally duties that a woman is supposed to fulfill are to port after the needs of her husband and give birth to a s some children as possible with preference to the birthing of sons. The 1920s and 30s saw a wave of feminism that sought to overturn the tralatitious gender role assigned to women.They viewed patriarchy as oppressive to women and progress the thinking that women are complements of males and therefore should be treated as equals. The 1920s also saw a major victory for women in the join States with the passage of a law that resigned for womens suffrage. (Feminism) The Second public War in the 1940s also provided women with the opportunity to prove their value outside their duties as homemakers. They started signing up as army nurses, members of womens corps and workers in factories that provided supplies and ammunition to the boys overseas. Even with this however, women becalm experienced inequality at the hands of employers who believed that it was the mens role to earn bills for their families. Those that were hired stable had to face inequality in wages as their work we re deemed easier compared to the mens. (Acker 46) It has continually been an uphill climb for women in the assumption of their rights and the fight for individuation and equality. Despite the many progresses made by women since the gray days, some cultures liquid place more premium on males.Sandra Cisneros accountancy (Kirszner, 96-99) of be and born and living in a traditional, patriarchal gild in the 1950s show that even with the many new freedoms and rights accorded to women, their roles were still defined by marriage and domestic duties. What I didnt pee-pee was that my father thought college was good for girls good for finding a husband. subsequently four days of college and two more in graduate school, and still no husband, my father shakes his head even now and says I spare all that education. (Kirszner 97)The selection further goes on to relate the attempts made by Cisneros in getting her father to acknowledge her fulfilments and herself as more than only a daugh ter. She wanted to BE his daughter in every consciousness of the word and enjoy the same pride her father has in her brothers achievements. I often witness the hunch posture, from women after dark on the warrenlike streets of Brooklyn where I live. They seem to set their faces on neutral and, with their purse straps strung across their chests bandolier style, they forge ahead as though bracing themselves against being tackled.(Kirszner 242) In Brent Staples observations in the Black Man effect in altering a public space (Kirszner 240), he presents the image of a woman who is determined to move forward yet re principal(prenominal)s sensible of the possible challenges to her progress. While in the story the context women is defined in is couched in terms of potential threat from street violence and crimes, unmatched could almost picture the same description as applicable to the naughty and set determination of the feminists who steadfastly battles for womens rights and progress. It has been many years since women achieved a major victory in suffrage and set about to establishing their identity in society. Yet in some expressions, there seem to be some women who remain oblivious or at least, not benefited by the new stature and rights women have been able to claim through years of struggle with a male-dominated society. In Anna Deavere smiths Four American Characters monologue (2005) she shares a conversation she had with an elderly philosopher friend she had, Maxine Green. In the conversation, Smith asked Green What are two things that you dont know and still want to know? Green replies Personally I still come up that I have to curtsy when I see the president of our University and I feel that I ought to get coffee for my male colleagues even though Ive outlived most of them. Smith follows this up with the characterization of Maryland condemn Paulette Jenkins. Paulette Jenkins represents the women in abusive relationship who suffer in silence. She never r out because she didnt want people to know that there was something defile with her family. She took her husbands abuse and allowed him to do the same to her childrenchildren that she had in the sentiment that it would soften her husband.What would make a man do such a thing? At the same time, what would make a woman stand by helplessly as her husband beats up her children and herself? employment in relationships between men and women are believed to stem from four main reasons mens jealousy, mens expectation of women and domestic work, mens sense of right to punish their women, and the importance to men of maintain and keeping their authority. Women on the other hand, are kept silent overdue to feelings of shame and responsibility (Dobash, and Dobash 4). More often than not, the women feel that they deserved any(prenominal) the husband did to them.This acquiescence may be due to their cultural taste of women as subservient wives. Upbringing and cultural orientation can do much to influence a persons understanding and bridal of gender roles. (Dobash, and Dobash 4) However, there is always the freedom of election and personal introspection, which should allow individuals to reason out right and wrong and the applicability and rationale of traditions for themselves. The case of Sandra Cisneros is the perfect illustration of this. Despite being brought up in a highly patriarchal household and culture, she chose to follow her own desire and achieve in her own right.In the end, she managed to earn her fathers rate and acknowledgment that she, as a woman, can accomplish and gain honor and pride for the family. Regardless of background, doctrine or culture, everyone, man and woman, has that same choice in choosing how their manhood or womanhood will be defined in their lives.Works Cited Acker, Joan. What Happened to the Womens Movement? -An Exchange. Monthly Review Oct. 2001 46. Questia. 28 Sept. 2007 <http//www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=50024219 32>. Feminism. The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2004. Questia. 28 Sept. 2007 <http//www. questia.com/PM. qst? a=o&d=101243850>. Dobash, R. Emerson, and Russell P. Dobash. Women, Violence, and Social Change. saucily York Routledge, 1992. Questia. 28 Sept. 2007 <http//www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=107605974>. Kirszner, Laurie. Patterns for College Writing 10th ed. New York Bedford/St. Martins. 2006. Mcneill, William H. Violence & Submission in the Human Past. Daedalus 136. 1 (2007) 5+. Questia. 28 Sept. 2007 <http//www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=5019968515>. Smith, Anna Deveare. Four American Characters. 2005 TED. com. 27 Sept 2007 < http//www. ted. com/index. php/talks/view/id/60>