Oppression Of Women In Society Research Paper

“The extension of women’s rights is the beginning of all social progress.” -Charles Fourier Initially. Women have always been seen as the fragile sex, the one that has to be protected and kept safe. Still, not everybody thinks like that. There are several places around the world where women are seen as the weaker sex or even a burden. In order for women to be valued more we have to address the issues behind the cause, and we need to find a solution immediately. We need to achieve social progress by fighting all the types of oppression against women and by creating a better future for them. Oppression towards women is still a problem in today’s society because they are victims of modern day slavery, it causes gendercide, and have no educational

Due to the time period, one is raised in there are certain things that are considered to be the norm. In the late 1900’s women had no voice to speak out or give any of their opinions regarding any matters. In those types of society’s, the women are oppressed because the males were dominant. Edna Pontellier from The Awakening by Kate Chopin and Janie Crawford from Their eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston are two women who are oppressed in the society they are brought up in.

Domestic violence has become an increasingly dominant problem within Australian society but is constantly pushed to the side like a burden. Domestic violence is a relationship between intimate partners in which one individual seeks to assert power and control over the other and cause fear or intimidation and doesn’t have to be physical abuse, it can be emotional, psychological, financial, sexual or other types of abuse. It can affect anyone in the community regardless of gender, sexual identity, race, age, culture, ethnicity, religion, disability, economic status or location ("home - Domestic Violence", 2016). Violence isn’t just physical violence it can also be sexual, verbal, psychological, emotional, spiritual, economic or social. Domestic violence is the most frequent form of assault in Australian society nevertheless, it remains a hidden problem because it occurs within the privacy of the home and those involved are usually reluctant to speak out. Women and Children are commonly affected by domestic violence in fact, 33.3% of women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15 (Domestic Violence Statistics, 2016). Although, studies show that men are not the only perpetrators, in fact more than 10,000 men alone have been affected by domestic violence in NSW ("10,000 men are domestic violence victims", 2016).

Ann Levine and Naomi Neft's article "Women in Today's World" asserts that although the status of females in developed countries has vastly improved with society's movement toward a more gender-equal condition, the majority of women remain in a dire state of oppression. Women are more impoverished, illiterate, unemployed, and more destitute than men. In spite of some women's improvements under developed countries' more progressive, gender-equal regimes, education, literacy rates, employment, civil rights, health, and public representation remain substandard for most of the world's females.

Domestic violence in Australia is a very serious issue with just under half a million women reporting that they have experienced physical or sexual assault in the past 12 months. Domestic violence is defined as violent or aggressive behaviour that occurs in the home. This can involve every member of the family. As the public have become more aware and open to speaking about domestic violence, organisations such as Reach Out and support services have been setup. The more open a society is to an issue the more that can be done about it. Media has helped strongly to spread awareness around as information is able to be sent to millions of Australians.

A recent news article cited statistics that suggest domestic violence is increasing dramatically from year to year in West Australia (Pownall, 2012). In 2011, the police in West Australia responded to 39,297 domestic violence calls. This represents a 12.2% increase from the previous year and a 27.0% increase from 2009. Some of the factors blamed for this year to year increase were population growth, creation of domestic violence awareness campaigns, the economic downturn, and drug and alcohol abuse.

Domestic violence is an issue that is impacting the indigenous Australian population (Korff, J. 2015).This should be concerning to Australians so that they may help reduce fatal deaths by domestic violence (Korff, J. 2015).

Patriarchal Views and the Oppression of Women Since the beginning of time women have been ruled by the patriarchal societies set in place by men. In these societies women are slaves to the men in power and the men in their lives. Great women and men over time, have called this oppression to the attention of readers through revolutionary works. Some of these works include: "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner, and "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin.

Frye opens the essay with defining what oppression is about which it targeted toward women and the minority people. Oppression happens when a woman or a person from minority group are denied the privilege that white male made to prevent from them to receive same rights as the white males experience. It results for them to be expected to smile, accept the fate and move on with daily life no what how unfair the situation is. Oppression is not only just limited to just one structure but also many factors in force which it includes the barriers and double binds. Oppression is not about not able to receive the privilege but the barriers that they had to face everyday that prevent them from able to move forward with their position. On the other side, double binds occur among to the barriers, mainly targeted toward the females because unlike males, they cannot win any type of situation. Women are double standard by white males, for example, women are expected to be prude, but not too prude which it leads for males to tell them to lighten up and be more flexible. They cannot enjoy sex too much or they will be labeled as slut, thus it shows how males set up structured barriers to keep women inferior from their social status. Oppression is more than just a group of people who are being treated unfairly, which Frye had explained one way to see oppression macroscopically by using an example, as to look at the birdcage. The first time you see the cage close enough, which you merely

Even though there are more services and awareness about domestic violence in Australia, it is still an epidemic with 1 in 3 people affected. Those affected usually do not seek support from outside sources due to being scared of the reactions of the perpetrator, fear of not being believed or even fear of what the police or other services may do to their family. This leaves the victim in a vulnerable situation feeling helpless and subjected to more and more violence overtime, increasing risk of suicidality or worse, murder.

Australian studies have thrown that partner abuse within Australia ranged vastly from 2.1% to 28%. This is because results were largely dependent on the definition of domestic violence used in each study. The lack of precise definition of the term results in a number of various definitions. It is therefore essential that all forms of abuse, whether they are physical, sexual or verbal, truly are categorised under the term domestic violence (Hegarty and Roberts, 1998). Hence, it is evident that perceptions of domestic violence would vary from one individual to another.

"The Women's Rights Movement, 1848–1920 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives." The Women's Rights Movement, 1848-1920. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. <http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Essays/No-Lady/Womens-Rights/>.

Although they have been given more rights and equality, women still lack fairness in areas such as education, domestic abuse, crime, and lower class value. Cassandra Clifford states in her article “Are Girls still marginalized? Discrimination and Gender Inequality in Today’s Society”, “Woman and girls are abused by their husbands and fathers, young girls are exploited by sex tourism and trafficking, girls in many countries are forced into arranged marriages at early ages. Twice as many women are illiterate as men, due to the large gap in education, and girls are still less likely to get jobs and excel in the work place than boys.” She describes some of the issues that women face today around the world. These issues are what keep society from coming together to form a better world.

When one is asked to think of education through a gendered lens, the image conjured is typically of the women and girls in developing countries as described above, poor, and with many

In countries where gender inequality is rampant, such as countries that are ruled by patriarchal cultural, where women amount to nothing more than property, making women and young girls voiceless. One of the biggest obstacles for women and girls to achieve their own potentials is a male dominated society. While gender inequality exists in first world societies, women do have power, providing political and social contributions, unlike women and young girls who are forced to live under archaic rule in under developed nations. Women are forced to be subordinate to men and experience a wide array of maltreatment. In countries where women are stripped of all rights, such as countries under Islamic rule, women are subjected to “discrimination, disregard, insult, control, exploitation, oppression,