Navigating Subordination And Inequality To Attain Power

Name Tutor Course Date Navigating Subordination, Race, Sexuality, and Inequality to Attain Power//Society and the Modern Woman Introduction While it is clear that the USA has already experienced women leadership in a variety of positions, there is still room for improvement, and especially so insofar as achieving gender parity in elective office is concerned. In spite of the growing number of women that manage to get elected into office, there are many more women that continue to face serious challenges when pursuing elective office. Notably, economic, social, and political challenges are all included in this mix. This essay aims to prove that women could be better represented in elective political offices across the USA through addressing the social, political, and economic challenges that they are subjected to. In this way, this essay also aims to show that through the remedies based on the above approach, more women can be elected into political office across the country. Equality Affirmative action, just like a coin, has two sides. In terms of positive effects, it has significantly helped in promoting fairness and equality in many facets of life such as gender, education, employment and human rights. Additionally, it should be noted that it has also contributed towards the empowerment of women over recent decades (Wise 111). This has successfully managed to reduce the amount of discrimination that women face in many aspects of life. Today, women can vote, are paid almost as much as their male counterparts in the workplace, and are exposed to equal opportunities with no restrictions on gender (Hooks). It may be argued that affirmative action has been purposefully used to balance out any historical inequalities that specific demographic groups may have suffered, but these are still great milestones that must be appreciated. Inasmuch as it has been found to be an effective way of correcting social wrongs and restoring a semblance of balance and equality within the society, affirmative action will have to be discontinued at some point in the future. This is because the whole world cannot continue to operate from the perspective of ‘unpaid debts’, where those groups that suffered historical injustices and wrongdoings, such as women, will continue to benefit from affirmative action well into the future. Humanity cannot spend eternity operating from such a perspective. At some point, these groups will have to accept that their injustices have been duly compensated and that all demographics are equal. At this point, there will be no need for affirmative action. Gender and Sexuality At its very basic form, gender is defined as the sex of a person, that is whether an individual is make or female. However, this definition does not always hold true, seeing as in some cases individuals may be born as transgender. Nonetheless, many societies and cultures have continually used one’s sex to define their gender, and in most cases, their sexuality and sexual orientation as well (Meston and Ahrold 78). This is the exact case as far as the modern woman is concerned. For instance, when an individual is born female, their identity as an individual will be inherently based on the definition of women within that culture, and in most cases, it will be automatically assumed that the individual will be heterosexual. To this end, many women tend to suffer from subordination in a patriarchal society owing to their sex and gender. This is a simple case of one’s gender being used to define their gender identity, biological destiny, and sexuality within the society (Freud 128). Granted, these assumptions are not always correct, and very often this results in endless debates and conflicts on the matter of gender and sexuality. Sexuality can be basically defined as the ability and capacity for an individual to have erotic responses and experiences. Sexuality is a core factor in influencing the sexual orientation of an individual, because the direction in which erotic responses and experiences flow will influence the orientation of the individual, in spite of the cultural factors at play (Moradi 140). Based on this, the sexual identity of an individual, say a woman, also plays a vital role in the determination of sexual orientation (Meston and Ahrold 45). In terms of sexual orientation, an individual can be homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual. This orientation, as mentioned above, depends on the attractions that individuals feel towards others based on their sexuality. However, the imposition of patriarchal subordination tends to stifle the ability of women to fully and unashamedly explore their sexuality (Freud 132). It is in this respect that sexuality influences sexual identity and orientation, as well as the social engagement and participation of women. Power Taking into consideration the above issues, it should be well-understood that women need to take up more elective and powerful positions in all facets of leadership within the society. This is purposely because the modern woman is not only enlightened, but also self-aware. She understands how the patriarchal society has been used to subordinate her on the basis of her sex, as well as what it feels like to have her sex and racial composition used against her in the pursuit of education. She also understands the critical role she plays in the society, in spite of the fact that the society is originally programmed to subordinate and stifle her growth and development. To this end, the modern woman should pursue power, position, and status in the society. She should pursue these issues not merely out of her desire for them, but also as a representation of overcoming any restrictions that the society had placed on her under the pretexts of sex, sexuality, gender, race, or subordination. One of the biggest challenges that women face today when pursuing elective political office is the absence of precise laws and policies that advocate for equal representation. However, this does not mean there are no calls for more female representation in political office. It simply asserts the reality that there are minimal policies aimed at supporting women in pursuing elective political office. One of the possible ways through which this can be achieved is the establishment of quotas aimed at ensuring female representation in political office. According to Krook and Norris, quotas are not enough to ensure election of women to political office (8). The authors argue that it is vital that other strategies are applied to ensure election of women into political office. Some of the suggestions raised include developing proper networks aimed at exposing aspiring female politicians to mentors within the political space, which essentially allows them to receive guidance through their political career. This has been in response to the fact that many women politicians, both incumbent and aspiring, do not have enough mentors to guide them through their careers, which essentially discourages many women from running for elective political office (McGregor). Quotas are seen as a potential solution to this issue, particularly due to the fact that when backed up with policy, quotas will ensure that women are represented to a certain degree within the available elective political offices. By making it mandatory for women to be represented in elective office, their participation in politics is ensured, as well as their representation in elective offices. Nonetheless, it must also be understood that these quotas should not be provided in a way that manifests entitlement to female politicians, seeing as this would in itself be discriminatory to men, as well as contrary to the democratic process. While quotas have been tipped as a solid way of supporting more females to political office, the creation of more elective posts has also been found to have significant implications on the participation and election of women into political office. The case of New Hampshire is one of the most elaborate highlighting this issue. At the State level, the presence of multi-winner districts allows more than one candidate to win the election, thereby supporting the participation of more individuals in the democratic process (Hellmich). This is essential to the success that New Hampshire has realized insofar as gender parity in politics is involved. According to Hellmich, the presence of several seats to be filled with elected individuals allows many voters, especially those still practicing sexist stereotypes to consider voting for women. This is based on the fact that many women in the US still have to contend with gender stereotypes that consider them as being less capable politicians and leaders. In this way, the provision of more elective posts works to facilitate the election of women into some of the mentioned posts, which is crucial to improving the gender parity in politics that the US is rigorously pursuing. By borrowing from New Hampshire’s model,...