Gender Inequality in Italy and Sweden Essay

The Renaissance was a time of rebirth of old traditions, and in old traditions women’s role in society was very minimal. During times of the Renaissance women’s roles were often more suppressed than it once had been before. Many times women were looked off primarily her looks and social status. Another contributing factor of women’s role was how well she would be acquired to married life. Women were so suppressed in the Renaissance that many women joined convents to be able to have the ability to learn like the men were able to. Changes and continuities of women’s public roles during the Renaissance included social status, acquirement to marriage, and reduction of rights for women.

Life in Italy in the 1930’s caused difficulty to some Italians during that time period. During the 1930’s a large number of Italians who had opposed the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini arrived in the United States. After the news spread in Italy about the bombing of Pearl Harbour almost all Italians supported the war against Benito Mussolini. At this point, Italy was slowly becoming under the Nazi rule, the significance of a woman’s role in Italy was emphasised as they were expected to accept the fascist ideology. Girls were expected to get married and conceive lots of children. Many young women in Italy felt the pressures of politics that were dominated by men and felt that women’s rights were disappearing

When discussing what are the existing gender roles in Italy (and in any other country), we need to remember that such roles are not only established or created by biological or physical circumstances, but rather by the various living conditions of these individuals. In the past, it is well known that Italy was one of those countries following the ideal that the men would work while the women would reproduce and control private issues, but this has started to change when during the first World War women would have active roles in the production process, something that the Fascist regime immediately tried to stop through discrimination of women, but did not last long as during the 1960s economic boom the amount of autonomy and freedom floating

First, Italian Renaissance society was very different for a male elite than a female elite. In the time of the Italian Renaissance, people lived in a patriarchal society. Elite men were very powerful, due to their ability

“Without doubt, the last century has witnessed an unprecedented expansion of women’s rights, in one of the most profound social revolutions the world has ever seen. One hundred years ago, only two countries allowed women to vote. Today, that right is virtually universal. Millions of men and women around the world today advocate to end violence against women, and a record two-thirds of countries have passed laws against it.” – Michelle Bachelet, UN Women Executive Director

I have seen the struggles for equality to men in many aspects. Regardless of the great strides that women have achieved today, it is still hard to find equal opportunity and to be fairly recognized. Some of the areas where gender inequality is very prevalent are in areas such as, equal pay in the workplace, professional & education careers, household work, sexism and discrimination just to name a few. Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender.[1] In this passage I will briefly elaborate on the areas outlined earlier to show the various degree of inequality and explore the path that women have taken to achieve equality. Additionally I will focus on the economic growth as a dependent variable and stereotype as the independent variable.

In this paper, I discuss the “Swedish model” which bans the purchasing (but not the selling) of sex and its effect on the people it governs. The general world view seems to be that prostitution propagates male violence against women. The Sex Purchase Act was based on the idea that in an ideal gender-equal society, it is shameful and unacceptable for men to pay for casual sex or even a nice blow-job. The penalties for this “crime” range from petty fines to six months’ in prison. In reality, it is the decriminalization of prostitution that would make conditions for all people in the sex industry happier and safer as well as decrease the occurrence of other crimes involving rape.

The Swedish model has certainly reduced the visibility of street prostitution for obvious reasons. Although, a report in 2007 by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare found that it was impossible to draw any conclusions about the overall level of prostitution in Sweden, thus the industry most likely has simply transitioned underground. Therefore, the Swedish model needs to be recognized for what it is -- a more effective prohibition model, rather than what it is not -- a truly feminist model.

Inglehart’s and Norris’ piece sheds light on the phenomenon of pre-existing gender differences diminishing as women take on more active roles among the younger generations in affluent, post-modern societies.

Parenting classes need to be regulated to make sure they relay the information provided in this paper to parents. As previously stated, awareness in parents is key for any of the above changes to become attainable. Furthermore further changes need to be implemented so that both parents can be allowed to pursue their careers. Sweden offers a generous 16-month parental leave which can be taken by either mothers or fathers, with two months of that set aside for dads. By implementing policies such as the paternal care implemented in Sweden, only then can we break the stereotype of women being the primary caretakers while men are the ones expected to work. This will likely have an impact on the probability of women pursuing industries such as technology and finance which require skills in the stem disciplines as those industries typically are unforgiving in North America in regards to taking paternal

Since World War II, Italian society has profoundly changed, with a significant impact on daily life. One of the main elements of change is the more visible role women play in society outside the home, such as increased participation in higher education and various professions. One aspect of this changed role is that Italy records one of the lowest average numbers of children per woman in the world, as well as some of the lowest birth and fertility rates. (Brittanica Online Encyclopedia)

Feminism is often seen as a negative word towards women, but it actually represents the gender inequality for both men and women. In 2014, Emma Watson, a twenty-four-year-old British actress, and the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador co-hosted a special event for the UN Women’s HeForShe campaign. Before Watson was a UN Women’s Ambassador, she was known as a strong activist for women’s rights. The importance of the HeForShe campaign, which is a united movement, to spread and inform the gender equality awareness for both men and women to the public. As a speaker, Watson comes across to her audience as credible also reliable because she is a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, she also sends her message across by building a trust relationship with the

Comparatively, to Sweden’s policy to decrease domestic work, it also has policies in place to ease the workload of child care. As most parents would agree, taking care of a child is a full-time job and society has normalized the idea that a majority of that job

for different social classes or statuses for various individuals within a group or society. It usually refers to people of distinct genders, ages

Emma Watson, best known as a leading actress in the Harry Potter series, gave a speech titled “Gender equality is your issue too” during a HeForShe campaign at the United Nations headquarters in New York City during on September 20, 2014, in attempt to raise awareness about gender inequality. Throughout the speech, Watson attempted to persuade the audience in joining the HeForShe campaign by providing examples of those who have been subject to the burdens of gender inequality – however, this speech could be considered problematic due to Watson’s lack of credibility and failure to include all types of people in our society.