Roots Of Gender Inequality: Castigation Of Feminism

ROOTS OF GENDER INEQUALITY For the past decade, many women have been recognized for their significant contributions in various sectors. For them to reach where they are, women are often suffered from gender discrimination. Azar Nafisi’s book Reading Lolita in Tehran is an example of persistent gender inequality witnessed in many parts of the world. The book reveals the cruel treatment to women in the post-revolutionary Iran. Azar presents several examples depicting the dominant role of the government and the society in general in enhancing gender inequality.  Environment is a major contributing factor in promoting gender inequality, it also harbors the solution to the problem. Azar confronted this gender inequality issue that has plagued her community from her living room. She sought to sensitize the public and or change the newly instituted legislations that forced women to wear hijab or headscarf at all times in the public. She founded a group of few select female students from her class because it was very risky to include males even when they were discussing ‘harmless works of fiction’ (279). Nafisi and her team would meet at her house. They would come wearing their designated regalia complete with hijabs and headscarves but once they arrived, they would change into different clothes with different colors. Each of her team members had different personality traits and they could be exemplified through their choice of clothes. Iranian laws allow only men to have the freedom to choose their clothing but women are limited to few choices which necessitate them to cover themselves completely. It came to her realization that one of her student, Sanaz had saved to buy her own car though the Iranian laws could not allow her to drive it and she had to request her brother to drive her. This highlights how gender inequality is prevalent in Iran and how masculinity is celebrated in this society while feminism is castigated. Her parents begged her to use her ‘motherly instincts’ and be patient and understanding.  Her parents showed no intention nor willingness to discipline her brother, instead, they tried to persuade their daughter to hold back and do nothing. But what is the origin of this whole gender inequality issue? In Down So Long, Robert Max Jackson also addresses the current situation of many modern feminists, saying that anyone who is advocating gender equality is making two claims. The first one, inequality is not the product of insurmountable processes or sex differences in modern society. Secondly, inequality does not represent needs, they are social or organizational and some people will be undermined if equality becomes established. It is said that these are important because they assume people know not only the causes of gender inequality but also that we can assess the consequences of such.        Despite this and what modern feminists may say, it seems that biological considerations and implications are inescapable. When considered logically, biology has some relationship with the foundations of current gender inequality, because the only consistent differences between men and women are biological. However, it is not justifiable to treat members of another gender whom are nearly half of the human population unfairly. Therefore, it is solely a human issue to treat women properly and fairly. Furthermore, the biological differences between men and women are not great enough that they could cause inequality to this day. A perfect example of this entails human physical strength. If utility of physical strength is a justified reason to perpetrate gender inequality, then men would simply be pushing women around at their will. Consequently, it is a simple fact that individual violence is far outnumbered by group violence. Therefore, if physical bullying were representative of our biological differences in most situations, it would be to the disadvantage of men. Overall, the role of biological differences played the largest role in societies a long time ago. Biological differences gave men a relative a monopoly over the weapons and the division of labor, especially regarding childbearing, but it was still the women who established distinctive cultures. Therefore, the myths which have been propagated to suppress women are largely founded on falsehood and they could be addressed by changing the environment . Eliminating gender inequality means reviewing the important role of the environment and how it plays a significant role in promoting gender inequality and the misconceptions about biological di...