Cartesian Gender Equality

In “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” she stated that women were treated as if looks were the only thing important. Many women were not very educated and when beauty fades they are left uneducated and old. Women are not treated as well as men only thought of as objects of lust. They are treated as less than men because they are physically weaker than them. The fact that men are physically stronger than women is the only thing that is justified as true. Men and women did not really completely understand each other. Men thought of themselves as better than women and they did not want women who were educated. They did not think of them as wives or mothers but as just a woman not like the rest of them. She sees that man is her counterpart and respects them as part of the human race but with women being stripped of many of their rights that things are not equal

As De Gouges’ pointed out women as men should be considered the same and be able to take their own decisions and be granted with independence. Mary Shelley showed with Elizabeth how women were mistreated. Victor Frankenstein was described in chapter I how he and his future wife were educated. “I delighted investigating the facts relative to the actual world; she busied herself in following the aerial creations of the poets.” (20).

Equality of the sexes has been a point of contention in society for many centuries and indeed to this day it still is. Considering the rather harsh and rigid expectations of women in the past it seems even more amazing that there were those willing to listen to arguments on equality even if some may not have been aware that the ones making the arguments for equality were women and not men. Two such writers were Mary Astell and Judith Sargent Murray who were born just a few generations short of each other. But of course these women were also subject to their upbringing and religious affiliation, something some writers today would view as a hindrance to progress, but they viewed them not as a hindrances but as tools to justify their arguments.

Women have been continuously institutionalized through out history. For many years, they have been subjected to being labeled as less than. During the 1950's women were institutionalized because they were expected to remain a house wife, cook, clean, and reproduce. Some men and husbands are to blame for these ideologies of how women are suppose to carry themselves within the household. The third paragraph on page 63 because it talks about how "institutions assigns various roles to women and men and are also places of employment where people perform gendered work. I agree with this because I see this a lot in especially in Pre- Kindergarten through 8th grade. Women are "supposed" to play a role of a baby sitter and interact with adolescences

Language: In On the Equality of the Sexes, there are a few phrases that seem to show some importance. “There is something new under the sun” is italicized in the text. She is saying that there is going to be some change coming soon with women’s education. She also uses the word superior, or superiority, quite a bit in the text. She questions whether or not mental superiority between sexes actually exists. She also talks about imagination a lot. She makes the point that society constricts how women use their imaginations. The way she uses domestication in the text is in a negative way. She uses the phrase “fertile brain of a female” and by doing this she is trying to show that females’ brains are productive and capable of becoming so much

Women form an important part of each society, however their role and importance to its function are often times overlooked. Society is/was organized and directed by men. All of the most important positions and purposes within it`s routine were filled by males. This societal organization is often times reflected in many pieces of literature of various time periods, however there are texts in which contrary to the patriarchal society models, women are given substantial importance within the plot. Homer`s The Odyssey, Heart of Darnkness by Joseph Conrad and Aeschylus`s Oresteia each demonstrate or conceal female importance in a given society.

According to Judith Lorber, an author and professor, gender is socially constructed because “everyone is guilty of doing gender everyday (pg. 65).” Since the beginning of time women were considered subordinate to men and only believed to be successful at womanly task. Women were expected to clean the house, cook the food and take care of the children. Men were expected to be the providers, get jobs and get an education. However, there were many women who saw the value in achieving the goal of an education for themselves. In the early 1800’s society did not share the same opinion with advocates for women’s education. Many believed that if a women pursued an education it would take away her “piety, modesty, frugality, and fertility (Solomon pg. 11).” For many women there was a struggle to maintain her female characteristics and prove she can be equally educated as men. There were many obstacles women had to jump over before coeducation of schools came

Women are typically degraded as those who are lowly and aid the purpose of serving men, and bearing children. “The female contains all qualities and tempers them, She is in her place and moves with perfect balance, She is all things duly veil’d, she is both passive and active, She is to conceive daughters as well as sons, and sons as well as daughters” (Whitman).

Wollstonecraft explains the tradition views that society has the effect it has on women: Still to avoid misconstruction, thought I consider that women in the common walks of life are called to fulfill the duties of wives and mothers, by religion and reason, I cannot help lamenting

The society always queries about the role of women and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was remarkably negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfil the domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: “During the first half of the 19th century, women 's roles in society evolved in the areas of occupational, moral, and social reform. Through efforts such as factory movements, social reform, and women 's rights, their aims were realized and foundations for further reform were established” (Lauter 1406). Feminist poets like Emily Dickinson and Anne Bradstreet talked substantially about feminism in different lights in the past two centuries. They were very vocal and assertive about their rights and the ‘rights for women’ in general. While they might have been successful at making a good attempt to obliterate gender biases but still there are lot of disparities between the two genders. Nevertheless, their poetry reflects a deep angst.

Women have been treated and portrayed similarly throughout history-- Made to be housewives and handmaidens to men of all ages and expected to be the “perfect woman”, a standard image created by--shocker--men. In fifth-century Greece, the “perfect” woman was expected to obey her husbands at all times. The “perfect” English Renaissance women was meant to be seen, not heard. The “perfect” woman of the eighteen hundreds was given novels to read. Novels that held lighter topics than the newspapers of the day, such as intemperance, nothing too heavy because “once a woman starts reading, she starts getting ideas” (indirect quote from Beauty and the Beast). The tables began to turn in 1848, when the first women’s suffrage movement convention was held in Seneca Falls, when women began to realize what Emma Goldman voiced years later in 1915. The “perfect woman” image began to crumble. Skirts became shorter, topics became heavier, women started thinking, forming ideas, becoming more outspoken, creating their own image, without the aid of men. Slowly, they climbed their way up, proving to be more independent and more than what men thought them to be. How women were viewed as by a society, and their evolution of independence, has bled through in literature, especially through female deities in ancient mythologies. Over time, goddesses of different mythologies have grown bolder and more powerful as the world finally noticed that women were actually people, not pretty trophies. Greek,

In the critique, From Doing to Undoing: Gender as We Know It, discussed how wives did most of the household work including cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children even if they were employed outside of the home. Whereas men only had to work outside. Household labour was seen as a female job and men did not take apart in it. However, in todays day and age this can be seen as undoing gender. Nowadays a lot of men take equal responsibility in doing the household work and it is split equally between the husband and wife. This shows how household work that was designated with only woman is now also associated with men. Barbara indicated that we should try to focus getting rid of sex categories but I believe this extremely difficult because everything around us is gender and to change that we would have to change people perspectives and everything they have been influenced by that has formed their definitions of

It is again seen in Theories of Sex Difference, that the author, Whitbeck, makes no attempt to establish one definition of woman. Whitbeck examines how philosophers have historically examined and thus defined women from the male perspective as either a partial man or as the second aspect of opposite principles[1][1] (35). Finn’s On the Oppression of Women in Philosophy – Or, Whatever Happened to Objectivity? contains a syllogism that demonstrates that philosophy’s omission of women:

As one of the earliest feminist writers, Mary Wollstonecraft faced a daunting audience of critics ready to dispel her cry for the rights of women. Her powerful argument calling for equality in a society dominated by men was strong, and her ideas withstood a lot of criticism to become one of the most important feminist texts. Her argument was simple and illustrates a solution to the inequality in society. The foundation of this argument is the idea of education and how independent thought is necessary to live a virtuous and moral life. In the present state of society, women are seen as inferior to men and held in a state of ignorance. The worst effect of this

The role of women in the society is always questioned and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was extremely negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfill domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: “During the first half of the 19th century, women 's roles in society evolved in the areas of occupational, moral, and social reform. Through efforts such as factory movements, social reform, and women 's rights, their aims were realized and foundations for further reform were established” (Lauter 1406). Feminist poets like Emily Dickinson and Anne Bradstreet talked substantially about feminism in different lights in the past two centuries. They were very vocal and assertive about their rights and the ‘rights for women’ in general. While they might have been successful at making a good attempt to obliterate gender biases but still there are lot of disparities between the two genders. Nevertheless, their poetry reflects a deep angst.