Male Privilege Checklist

When the Founding Fathers brashly declared that all men are created equal in the United States Declaration of Independence, they conveniently forgot to include the word “women” in that statement. In my own pursuit of happiness I have been oppressed on a myriad of occasions due to my gender. As a female in the United States Army, I have been told by my male counterparts that I should be in the kitchen rather than in the field. I have been denied access to branches in the military that are said to be unfit for females to serve in, and I have watched as male soldiers rank up both faster and higher than female soldiers. Being a woman in today’s society means unequal pay, sexism, and overall general oppression.

With all this in mind, injustices toward women on the personal level are extremely prominent as well as relevant. More often than not, especially seen in the workplace, women are deemed as inadequate, weak, and fragile. At a young age, they are socialized into believing that men are naturally more capable of challenging and rigorous work. Furthermore, since birth, women are repeatedly exposed and socialized to unequal standards, and it is these unequal standards that produce unequal yet normalized notions of how women should act. American society possesses a system that privileges masculinity. This can be attributed to the fact that the standards for masculinity are perceived as more positive than

Child marriage impacts not only the children’s lives, but also of those around them. Especially these young girls that are married off young, before their minds and bodies reach full maturity, become pregnant before they are even ready. In fact, “child marriage also reinforces the gendered nature of poverty, with limited education and skills bringing down the potential of the girl, her family, her community and her country.” These marriages become a sort of economic deal between the families of the bride and the groom. The family of the bride is passing this burden to the marital family, who then expects a dowry for taking the burden that is this young girl from them. The young girl is then forced to do unpaid household work, while the rest of the family have paid employments. Also, women’s sexuality is controlled “in order to limit inheritance of wealth and maintain caste purity.” “Marriage is considered to be ‘safe’ to keep the girl protected from unwanted sexual advances; without such security, a girl who is unmarried and no longer a virgin, is considered to ruin the family reputation.” This places a high value on the young women’s virginity, even that a forced sexual encounter leaves a

Child brides are a little voiced problem that occur around the world. Fourteen million girls become child brides every year, a number that is increasing due to the growing populations of countries where child marriage is common (Fisher). I chose to focus on child brides specifically in Africa and the Middle East due to the high instances of child marriages in those parts of the world. In my research I also found that child brides are very common in South Asia and South America as well. In Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea, Central African Republic, Mozambique, and Nepal over half of girls are married before they turn eighteen (Fisher).This is largely due to traditional tribal practices, cultural norms, and an overall lack of education.

“As many as 80 percent of girl’s face forced marriages”. (Faisal, Safa) “Forced marriages occur when either or both participants have been pressured into entering matrimony, without giving their free consent. It 's not the same as an arranged marriage, which may have been set up by a relative or friend, but has been willingly agreed to by the couple.”(BBC-Ethics: Forced Marriage) We have often seen to have the choice in the matter of who me marry, choosing our partner based on shared values or interests. But when a marriage is not mutual, (Forced) This is seen as disgusting use power and the violation of some of our most basic human rights. Abdulmumini a Nigerian female married at the age of thirteen was in a relationship characterized under “systemic abuse”.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, child marriages, marriages where at least one of the parties is under the age of 18, began when mothers and families started to force their teenage daughters into marriage at an early age to prevent them from rape as well as to secure a safe economic future for their daughters (Child Marriage and the Law, 1). This issue is very prevalent in countries such as Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Niger, being the most prevalent country, is reported to have “every three in four girls married before their 18th birthday” (Where Does It Happen, Girls Not Brides). In addition to this heavy statistic, Girls Not Brides also reports that globally “more than 30% of today’s women were married before their 18th

Gender inequality lives amongst both men and women around the world. As gender separation has played a big part in the evolution of genders, this has brought about a major setback for women, because it has created men superiority, which evidently put women on the lower spectrum of society. This issue has affected the way women are being paid, how much political power and voice they own, and restrictions placed upon their actions. The only way this could be stopped is if the world changes the way both men and women are taught in order to change current views, but instead choose to continue to shrink womens’ ambitions because it would be considered ‘a threat to men’, without understanding that is not only affecting the women of today, but also the women of tomorrow.

Individuals in Nigeria think which the male is actually the mind of the household and we come across the female as being a helper to the male, every Nigerian female is seeking a responsible male, a male that's in a position to make choices in dire circumstances. Girls

In some parts of the world, children are viewed as a wonderful gift from God, yet in others they are seen as a useless burden. To obtain value in a third world country which has absolutely nothing is nearly impossible, especially for a child that is born into a family who sees her as a social and financial catastrophe simply because of her gender. Perhaps this is why in multiple countries; children, specifically girls, are sold off into marriage on an hourly basis. Child marriage has been happening for hundreds of years and can be branched into many forms, including consensual and, the more often used, nonconsensual. Unfortunately, child brides are a repercussion of the families and parents who allow them to be married off so young. In the cultures which a child bride is raised in, a family sees them as nothing except a chance to get some money, the societies these children grow up in view it as tradition making it impossible to try to escape the cycle, and they will never have the chance to escape because of lack of education.

In order to talk about sexism, its position as a system of a privilege must be discussed. There are three pillars to a system of privilege. The first is the domination of society by the privileged group. This portion occurs, when the oppressed group is viewed with skepticism if placed in a position of power. An example of this can be seen in the classroom. Students are unlikely to question the competency and authority of a male professor. Male students, however, are likely to argue, interrupt, and ignore female professors. This action exemplifies the institutionalized belief that women are illegitimate or less legitimate than men. The second pillar occurs when the dominating groups is

A huge scale of the problem is the strong correlation between high rates of child marriage and low levels of education. Focusing on keeping girls in school is a key way to ensure the perception that they are still children and are not ready for marriage. "People do not really see the value of education for girls as they are mostly expected to be wives and mothers and raise children," says Yahaya, a schoolteacher in Niger. Changing the attitudes of these people is a daunting task, but this is not just a basic right, it is a powerful force for girls and their societies.

Most girls dream of their wedding from a very young age, from meticulously planning each detail to fantasizing about walking down the aisle. But, for many girls across the world, their wedding day is something to dread. In many cases, these girls are forced to marry men much older than themselves, sometimes even by three or four decades. The International Center for Research on Women defines child marriage as, “a formal marriage or informal union before age 18” (np), and although rarely mentioned, child marriage is a growing problem worldwide. The United Nations Populations Fund states, “In developing countries, one in every three girls is married before reaching age 18. One in nine is married under age 15” (unfpa.org). Young brides who are put in this terrible situation face tremendous mental and physical risks and often die from the abuse they receive from their husband. The following paper will highlight the oppression young brides face including first hand stories, female genital mutilation, and health consequences across the Middle East and Eastern Asia.

The life of this girl is one tip of the iceberg of the consequences caused by child and early marriages. For individual girls, on one hand, child marriage is a violation of basic human rights. It puts the girls below 18-year-old in a vulnerable and disempowered position, preventing them from fundamental human rights to education, health, freedom and safety. On the other hand, child marriage exposes girls to infectious diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, high incidence of maternal mortality and morbidity, low life expectancy, inter-generational cycle of violence and all forms of discrimination.

One issue that has greeted the large population of Nigeria amongst other issues is the issue of child marriage, which basically is a prevalent practice. An easy explanation or yardstick to this would be the fact that Nigeria is divided on religious grounds. This division is as follows; the Southern part is mainly occupied by Christian while the North is principally occupied by Muslims. On this note, it can be said that although the country is operated by a Federal Law as well as the Nigerian Constitution a host of Northern states in Nigeria still uses the Sharia law, or what can be known as their own version of it. Basically, the federal law of the Nigerian people prohibits the marriage of persons that are below eighteen. However, the states in Nigeria that indulge in Sharia law do not forbid child marriage. therefore these generates a clash of laws and principles, but still not enough to stimulate the intervention of the federal government. Child marriage can then be seen as a traditional convention that has been allowed to subsist within Nigeria. It is a popular fact amongst elites, as proven by medical practitioners that the Autonomy of a person as well as his or her Consent, are two key elements, amongst others, that are important to consider when a person is entering into a marital relationship with someone else,

Early marriage is more common in the northern parts of Nigeria. Here, many parents prefer to marry off their daughters at a very young age, for cultural and economic reasons. The rate of illiteracy among females is higher here than in the south. Recent studies have