Women's Struggle For Equality In The United States

Westerners often hear of how oppressed women are in Saudi Arabia. As a result, one might expect these women to be vocal about their challenges living in such a country. However, contrary to the assumption that they are unhappy, they are quick to defend their country, saying that their often overbearing abayas are parts of their tradition. These women say that they still enjoy freedoms and that “[i]t is Western women… who have been manipulated into becoming the toys of men” (Kristof 272). Even so, they still receive unequal treatment from men. Saudi women journalists must stay in their own rooms when they work while men do not. Because of these types of segregated and deleterious practices, Nicholas Kristof argues in his essay “Saudis in Bikinis” that the West is not being paternalistic in trying to advocate for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia; they are trying to free women who have never tasted true liberty. It is

Women have been fighting the fight for women’s rights for a long time. In fact, evidence can be traced back centuries of women’s desire for equality. Specifically, women have fought for their rights in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Saudi Arabia is commonly known for its strict moral values and customs regarding religion and women. Gender discrimination is a global conflict but it is prevalently seen in Saudi Arabia. Gender discrimination is so poignant in Saudi Arabia because there are strict sets of moral guidelines and ideologies that Saudi Arabian culture implements on its people. Although Saudi Arabian men impose restrictions on women for the sake of upholding their cultural beliefs and family’s honor, there is no doubt that Saudi Arabian culture is male dominated and holds misogynistic views on women, but progress is being made.

In the United States in 2016, women were paid 80 percent of what men were paid (Kevin Miller, The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap). Women are still treated as second hand to men to this day, but we have come a far way since the sixteenth century European women. Women can go to school, work, and have lives in the United States. In other countries and cultures, however, women still have a long fight ahead of them. In Saudi Arabia, women were just recently granted the ability to drive (Nicole Gaouette and Elise Labott, CNN). This is a huge stepping stone for women in Saudi Arabia and many more countries. The guardianship rule in Saudi Arabia is still ongoing, stating that women cannot make any decision without a man or young boy telling her yes or no. Women have no freedom for making their own choices, but their chains will soon be loosened through newly imprinted laws. Just like in the home, European women and Native American women vary greatly in societal structure and cultures.

Accustomed to stereotypical depictions, Westerners are told that Middle Eastern women are passive, weak, and always veiled. It is often assumed that the severe conditions in Saudi Arabia—where women are not even allowed to drive cars—represent the norm for women throughout the Middle East and in the larger Muslim world. In reality, Saudi Arabia’s versions of both Islam and sexism are rather unique in their severities, although the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan is now emulating the sexist Saudi model. Women enjoy political and social rights in many Muslim countries, and Egypt has recently granted women the right to divorce their husbands. In Tunisia, abortion is legal, and polygamy is prohibited. Women have served as ministers in the Syrian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Iraqi, and Tunisian governments, and as Vice President in Iran.

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

Being born and raised in America, I and many other Americans have been taught that we live in a country of freedom. Women and men are treated equally; every human being has rights, and you have the freedom to move at will and without restrictions. Women have come a long way in our country, gaining rights ever since the dawn of patriarchy and proving that they are just as good as men with the ability to think, speak, and act for themselves. However, discrimination of women still exists in America and many other countries, but women are taking a stand and trying to eliminate the inequality between genders, such as the difference in salaries, and the bad representation of and portrayal of women in the media.

A common misconception is that Muslim women are oppressed all around the world, but this is a fallacy created through the use of propaganda and misinformation. The so-called "oppression of women" is not a characteristic of Islam at all and to say otherwise would be out of ignorance. Reza Aslan (2015), a scholar of all religions, makes it clear that oppression of women is not related to Islam but to particular countries. A common propaganda technique is to use Saudi Arabia as the standard of Islam. This could not be further from the truth, as many Muslim countries view women equally if not beyond that. There are dozens of Muslim countries who have had more female heads of state than the US; Algeria, Turkey, Sudan, Senegal. There are a handful of Muslim countries around the world, who mention women's equal rights in their constitution, whereas the U.S is one of 32 countries who does not include an explicit gender equality guarantee (Ravitz, 2015). Using an uneducated generalization, that holds no merit, causes inconsistencies and mistaken impressions of a particular

Women are denied many basic human rights, along with the ability to partake in many activities that us as Westerners would consider to be rights, simply because of their gender. The most infamous example is Saudi’s ban on women driving cars. This takes away a woman’s independence and therefore makes her further dependent on males. The stratification doesn’t stop there however; the enrollment in academic institutions is strictly contingent on the approval of the male guardians. This means women can be denied the basic right to an education if their male guardian so chooses, with no ability to protest. Women are then further marginalized in the work force. According to the Saudi labor code, “women shall work in all fields suitable to their nature.” Although this law is vague in terms of what these fields are, it is clear that this piece of legislation further restricts women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Women also have severe restrictions on their legal rights. Females in Saudi Arabia must be granted permission from their male guardian in order to sue or take a case to court. This makes it virtually impossible to prevent domestic abuse, as the perpetrator is the one who must grant permission to get the legal procedures started. This puts women at a seriously compromised and defensively position creating further stratification between males and

For centuries women had had to bow to men they were taught never to speak unless called upon or spoken to. That their sole purpose in life was to be a homemaker; a servant to the men in their lives fathers, brothers, sons. As time progressed women began to fight for their right to receive equal rights, education and vote. But that wasn’t enough in the year 2013 women still made eighty cents to every man’s dollar but that all changed one day. Women who were sick of being oppressed had risen up against the male chauvinism within society of the united states.The first measure was to take all men out of all positions of decision-making power immediately, and of any kind of social, professional position whatsoever. The men of society were

Many ancient laws and beliefs show that women from all around the world have always been considered inferior to men. However, as time went on, ideas of equality circulated around and women started to demand equality. Many women fought for equality and succeeded in bringing some rights. However, full equality for women has yet to be fulfilled. This issue is important because many women believe that the rights of a person should not be infringed no matter what their gender is, and by not giving them equality, their rights are being limited. During the periods 1840 to 1968, total equality for women did not become a reality due to inadequate political representation, economic discrepancy, and

Throughout history, battles and wars have been fought to gain some type of rights or freedoms. In 1775, the American Revolutionary War was fought for independence; In 1865, the American Civil War was fought to end slavery. Although no wars were fought, many battles were waged for women 's rights. The struggle for women 's rights begin in the mid-late 1800s at a time when women were not allowed to vote or own property. Women, as with African-Americans, during this period were not recognized as having any legal and political rights as men and whites, respectively. This attitude towards women, at the time, was ascribed to the “gender rules in the 1700s” where men thought of “women as fragile creatures always in need of male protection and always denied access to the public sphere." (Lecture 2, 6:19). If women wanted to gain their individualism, rights, and freedoms they were entitle to; they would have to unite and create opportunities to do so. The inequalities women faced was the foundation of the Women 's Suffrage Movement and many other organizations in support of women.

Women’s equality is an issue that has been around for awhile. While women have been given many rights to increase equality, including the right to vote and go to college, the problem hasn’t completely vanished. One area that still sees this is in sports. Women’s sports do not draw nearly as many fans and are not covered in the media as much as men’s sports, pay differences between male and female athletes are large, and female athletes have to wait longer to start their professional career than men, which risks their professional career before it even starts.

Over the course of history, gender inequalities have been a prevalent issue amongst countries around the world. The notion, women are inferior to men has shaped their treatment in all aspects of life. Women were subjected to a patriarchal role in society, the men worked and women took care of domestics to some degree greater or lesser depending the country they resided in. In the late 19th and early 20th century women started rising up against male dominated societies in feminist movements. These movements were campaigns and reform plans to combat issues of equal pay, sexual violence, and denial of suffrage, reproductive rights, equal job opportunities and property rights. Thus observing women in Great Britain and Saudi Arabia today one can see how the role women play in society has dramatically changed from 1800s till now.

The women of Saudi Arabia have been oppressed by the men of the country for generations due to the ignorance of the people, their Islamic faith, and the government. They have no rights and they must receive permission from their husbands or fathers to work, travel, and receive medical attention. The memoir Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson, is an excellent example of the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia and the literary devices of characterization and setting help to bring the oppression to life.