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Socrates on Gender Equality Regarding Ruling a City

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In Book 5 of Plato Republic Socrates and Glaucon have discussed that both men and women could become a guardian of a city. Socrates argues that both male and females although different in respect, can both become guardians of a city, just as both could become something else. Socrates points out that the main difference between everyone is that some minds are meant to become a carpenter, while another person is destined to become a doctor. Socrates concludes that here is not a pursuit relevant to city management where it belongs to a man because he is a man or a woman because she is a woman. Equality needs to be promoted, and that women must be able to pursue their virtues, whatever they may be. In the midst of their discussion Socrates presents the possibility that it could be a mistake to assume men and women could do the same job, when they are different in nature. Socrates compares a bald man to a longhaired man and argues that one or the other does not become a doctor or carpenter based on their hair, but by their craft, (454d). Socrates concludes that although men are naturally better then women, there are no pursuits that are relevant to the guardianship of a city. There is no reason that a woman cannot run a city because she is a woman, or a man because he is a man, (456). Although Socrates has his formed opinion, he presents the idea of what an objector may create that would oppose his findings. If both men and women have distinct natures, how can they do
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