Feminist Evolutionary History: Women And Society

Feminist Evolutionary History
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Introduction
The role of women in the society has significantly changed over the years. This is with the revolution of the rights that women are accorded. Years back, women did not have the right to vote like their male companions. They were not allowed to hold public offices in high places within the government among other public offices. This has since changed although with absolute shift in the concept of women being weak and men being the stronger of the two genders. In the film industry, there were also such notions where women roles would be subject to humiliation and in some of the cases showing women as sex objects. For viewers that have encounters films such as the James Bond movies, there is an outstanding amount of content that shows women as sex objects (Lipsitz, 2011). The main character in the films are male and they also seem to be given higher social standards than the women. The main character is seen to use almost every other woman that crosses his path as a sex object. However, a closer look at some of the main films that have been released in the recent past, there is an indication on the shift of the women roles. These are films that indicate an evolution on the feminist history. The evaluation of the films; The Hunger Games, Thelma and Lovise along with parched give a vivid indication of the evolution of feminist roles on and off the screens. There is a clear change in the roles that females take in society which is also reflected in the films. This paper evaluates the element of feminist evolution with reference to the changes in the women roles on and off the screens (Kaushal, 2016).
Women and Society
Women in society have been treated as second class citizens for the longest time. Most of the rights that women have today had been only held by their male counterparts. Elements as simple as voting, holding public offices and even the roles that they had at the family unit level were minimal in nature. For most of the part of civilization history, women were considered as objects to give birth, perform house chores, take care of the children, take care of the husbands needs and properties and be submissive to their husbands and even male figures in their families and society. These are notions that are still held in some of the society across the world even to this age. As such, most of the women did not have the chance to reach their full potential as much of that potential was held back by the many social obstacles that limited them objects (Lipsitz, 2011). For a man, a woman was considered another part of his property.
However, this has since changed with the element of women rights being accented into law. Today some of the most accomplished figures in the society are women. They have managed to break through the glass ceiling that was placed on them thousands of years ago and curved a position for themselves in the society. There are women holding some very senior positions in the government, judiciary, education and business among other places such as entertainment industry. The latter is one of the most interesting sections of the society where women have been subjected to feminist role and of late given back the power to dominate (Lipsitz, 2011). The entertain industry is one of the most powerful tools in the society as it tends to set the platform for most of the social orders. For example, in the past, as mentioned above, films used to give women roles that reduced them to sex objects. However, this has since changed and women are holding much better roles in the film industry. In The Hunger Games, Thelma and Lovise and Parched, there are clear indication of the evolution of the feminist themes in the film industry.
Parched
In the film Parched there are three main characters, that is, Rani, Lajjo and Bijli. All are women in their early 30s, however one of the most important approaches that they have is that they are still teenagers. As the film starts out, Rani and Lajjo are married off at a young age and most importantly to older men. Bijli on the other hand turned into the flesh trade where she is a prostitute. All the women are almost the age and though they are living different lives, they are stuck. They all have been stuck in life that they did not chose (Kaushal, 2016). When they should have been fooling around with boys and other girls, breaking a few rules and learning as small school going children they are stuck in marriage and for Bijli, prostitution. While they should be exploring their chances in life in their twenties they are stuck with dealing with acholic men in abusing relationships. The three are not different regardless of their status in the society. They are in institutions that hold them back from all the potential that they would have achieved had they been given an enabling environment. The women are exposed to inhumane treatments in the village where they are not allowed to make their own money to rely on the men. They are also exposed to rape and men that beat them up, such as the case of Lajjo. For the longest time Lajjo would not get pregnant and as such, her husband would always beat her up. In the end, however, they are seen to take control of their lives (Kaushal, 2016). They start making decisions that affect their lives on their own terms. Towards the end, they finally run away from the village and go out to seek the life that they wanted and a better life where they are not held back by the customs in the village. This is a key element in the liberation of the women in the story and one that speaks to the shift in the women roles. The role of the women a...