Review and Critique of: "Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective" A book by Caroline Bretell Carolyn Sargent

Throughout this course, we learned that women’s studies originated as a concern at the time that “women and men noticed the absence, misrepresentation, and trivialization of women [in addition to] the ways women were systematically excluded from many positions of power and authority” (Shaw, Lee 1). In the past, men had more privileges than women. Women have battled for centuries against certain patterns of inadequacy that all women experience. Every culture and customs has divergent female

Several decades ago the idea of women as subordinate was considered to be a universality by the aforementioned white, Western male anthropologists who lead the field. Despite an anthropologist’s endeavor to be unbiased, the fact is these traditional anthropologists came from a culture where many aspects of human life were male dominant. Though many studied

Throughout the times women have proven to themselves as well as people around them that they can take on roles just as important as men. This paper will begin by detailing the work experience and cultural barriers of Hatshepsut, the queen that reigned in Egypt during 1479- 1458 B.C. Followed by the impact she had on gender roles and issues. Next the cultural challenges and obstacles faced by women in Saudi Arabia will be addressed. These women have had many years of restrictive traditions placed upon them and now they have the chance to get a higher-level education and become professionals in their society. Lastly, the paper will discuss the impact the women who worked in factories during World War II had on gender roles. As well as what their culture thought was meant to be all they accomplished during their lifetime.

Gender inequality has maintained the suppression of women worldwide and unfortunately has impacted third world countries with the greatest magnitude. Everyday in these countries there are countless occurrences of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse that must be acknowledged as a primary concern for the world to help overcome. It is however important to recognize specific cultural and religious practices of gender hierarchy that are accepted by women in these countries. While keeping this in mind it is of paramount importance to keep sight of the consequences of abusing these cultural practices at the expense of women’s liberation and development.

Sociological imagination highlights how society places the two sexes in unequal positions of wealth, power and privilege. It is therefore very useful to look beyond the gender itself and see the global issues associated with it. There are differences regarding the type of gender in different countries, the levels of gender inequality and the amount of violence that are necessary to maintain both systems of difference and domination. Women were always viewed as weak, sensitive, dependent and unintelligent so the society formed a view that they have to sit home, do the housework and raise the children. They were always considered less skilled, incapable of doing a hard work and even now women are more likely to be paid less than man. Women are more likely to be abused and they are less likely to have access to formal power. According to the United Nations, “At least one in five of world’s female population has been physically or sexually abused by a man at some time in their life” (UNFPA, 2000: p. 25).

The extent and degree of information and detail written in this article about each represented author and their contributing works can ultimately be seen as one of the articles main strengths. However, although this article gives a vast amount of information on the women’s opinions and beliefs the article at times seems disassembled and erratic. The flow of the article is somewhat hard to follow, and without an increased measure of concentration, the ability of the reader to comprehend and decipher whom the author is speaking of can be lost. Also, with the extensive amounts of information and detail that each female author contributes to the argument, readers are bombarded with data to interpret and distinguish upon. With the author of the article not decisively choosing the strongest points of argument from each author, the information becomes overwhelming and possibly confusing at times.

In her book “Gender Outlaw: On Men, Woman, and the Rest of us,” Kate Bornstein goes over a lot of the major issues regarding gender awareness and identity politics. She talks about the ideas of labeling ones self, understanding gender differences, how people view laws, behaviors, and the medical and scientific privilege that make transitioning challenging for a lot of people. Bornstein touches on many of the issues today that affect trans people. She includes poetry, pictures, quotes, essays, and a play to raise questions and discuss the idea of gender. This is a great book to introduce and discuss the issues that affect the lives of trans people as they navigate and explore the lines that define gender.

Gender inequality can be explained using the conflict theory which is a common agreement that men have been dominant throughout many societies for many years (Joan Acker, 1989). It is believed that women are weak, while men are strong. Most women have been enslaved by men throughout

In “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” Joan W. Scott provides many angles to explore the relevancy of gender. The first thing that needs to be examined is her argument. The main argument that Joan W. Scott is trying to make is how beneficial to history using gender as a category for analysis would turn out. Another factor that needs to be made in assessing her article is how she presents her argument and findings. Scott formats her article with a beginning, middle, and end. She begins by defining “gender,” and how that term has been used in general. She goes on to describe some of the theories that have analyzed gender. The next part that she explains is how, of late, politics has been coincided with the analysis of gender. Finally, she ends her paper by providing her bottom-line opinion about the analysis and approach of gender.

Religion goes hand in hand with culture, and in the Muslim countries this is very apparent. The cultural importance of men over women may have stemmed from religion, however it was further recognized when imperialist countries introduced capitalism and class divides. “Islam must combat the wrenching impact of alien forces whose influence in economic, political, and cultural permutations continues to prevail” (Stowasser 1994, 5). Now, instead of an agrarian state where both men and women had their place, difficulties have formed due to the rise in education and awareness that women can and do have a place in society beyond domestic living Though women are not equal to men anywhere around the

Thus, with agency granted to them, a group of girls further preferred that bridewealth be viewed as a gift than a financial transaction (Ansell, 2001). In this spirit, the custom will lose its disempowering aspects and will create solidarity in the marriage (Ansell, 2001). Furthermore, Ansell (2001) saw that other students were against both subordination of women and commercialisation of bridewealth that is often used to justify gender based violence.

The diversities within North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia (cultural, religious, political, etc.) play a crucial part in the status of women and the key features of gender roles in these particular geographic regions. The Middle East and North Africa share commonalities through Arabic and Islamic culture. Establishing equalities for women amongst the current social and political changes of Middle Eastern and North African societies stands as a difficult obstacle to overcome, but in spite of this, women’s rights efforts are still being made. While Islamic culture is dominant in Southeast Asia, the culture of Southeast Asian nations is diverse. Islam and gender in Southeast Asia have contributed to the continuing debate over Islam, feminism, and gender rights in the region. The cultures of North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia are male dominated, but this cultural dominance might not sustain in the future. This essay will compare and contrast the current status of women and the key features of gender roles in North Africa and the Middle East with those of Southwest Asia. Examples will also be provided to justify any arguments that are made.

The anthropology of women attempted to mend women as distinct cultural actors to save them from being erased by male anthropologists' who focus on men's lives as the universal character of a society. Male anthropologists rarely have access to women in tribes and societies because of the sexual threat they pose to these women, since the stories of men about women in instances only take over whenever women aren’t present at all. The male anthropologists' ignorance and the indigenous men's domination solidifies the creations of instances where, according to “Rosaldo” and “Lamphere”, the asymmetry between women and men becomes universal. Having an asymmetrical world, a second anthropology of women would arise out of American engagements with the arguing of this universal asymmetry how it was never timeless, but a product of capitalist relations that came to dominate the global mode of production. As both approaches grew more vocal in their critique of male’s descriptions as one-sided. Women were only described to be as 'add women and mix' approach to ethnography, and it became popular. They were not necessarily described at detail, but mentioned as part of the wider

In a sociological aspect, gender roles are a set of roles set by society regarding someone’s actual or perceived gender. Throughout the entire world the extent to which these roles are followed differs. The roles for men and roles for women are nothing like each other. Typically, men were known for going to work every day and providing for their family financially, and women were known for maintaining the house and taking care of the children. In some countries, especially those in Northern Africa and Southwest Asia, these roles were never supposed to change or be performed by the other gender. The roles of women in Southwest Asia is largely limited in comparison to the roles of women in the US. In this research paper, I plan on discussing the effects on gender roles in Northern Africa and Southwest Asia alone, and how those gender roles are similar and different throughout other regions in the world especially the US.

The role of gender can be different in accordance with different cultures and traditions. There are millions of culture and tradition in all around the world, and they can have different practices, social aspects, values and the role of gender in society. The role of gender can be evaluated and analyzed among different cultures, for example, the American culture, the Thai culture, and the Omani Culture.