ABSTRACT
I am writing this
article to give my reflections about the things that I have learned during this
week. Mainly we have discussed about gender justice, sexism and racial and
ethnic prejudice among children and adolescents. Under these three main topics
we have discussed about too many subtopics. Those are conceptualizing gender,
gender justice and capabilities, three principles of gender justice, gender
stereotypes, contemporary sexist beliefs, sexism in romantic relationships,
consequences of sexism, confronting sexism, reducing sexism etc. In this
reflection article I am not going to discuss about all these things. I hope to
choose a particular part from the things which I have learned and expose my
opinions on that topic. As I feel most interested topic that I have discussed
during this week is "gender inequality and feminism". So, we will
have a look on this topic by using this article.
Keywords: Feminism, gender, sexism, sex, misunderstanding
1. Introduction
In this article, I am
going to express my ideas about "gender inequality and feminism". As
I have been seen, this is a major topic in modern society. That is why I have
selected my topic of this article " LET US IDENTIFY OUR
DUTIES RESPECTING THE GENDER". Under this topic I hope to discuss about
several subtopics. Those are what is a gender? What are the differences between
gender and sex, can men and women be considered equally? feminism, who is a
feminist, Does the concept of feminism suit for the society? By the end of this
article, I hope you will be able to clear your idea about gender inequality and
feminism. I hope you will start to think differently on this concept.
2. WHAT
IS GENDER?
According to the WHO, gender refers to "the
socially constructed characteristics of women and men – such as norms, roles
and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from
society to society and can be changed. The concept of gender includes five
important elements: relational, hierarchical, historical, contextual, and
institutional.
2.1 WHAT
IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GENDER AND SEX
I mentioned above what gender is. Now
you have a question about what sex is. There are some languages that do not
have word for gender. In such cases, these two words are used interchangeably.
But they have different meanings. According to the WHO sex refers to “the
different biological and physiological characteristics of males and females,
such as reproductive organs, chromosomes, hormones, etc.” Now you can
understand what the differences between sex and gender are.
2.2 CAN MEN AND WOMEN BE CONSIDERED EQUALLY?
This
is a suffering question in the world that most societies are discussing and
arguing. To answer this question, I use some characteristics of sex. Women can
menstruate while men cannot. Men have testicles while women do not. Women have
developed breasts that are usually capable of lactating (producing milk) while
men have not. Men generally have bigger bones than women. I think now you can
understand that are they same or not.
3. FEMINISM
Before
discussing about who is feminist and whether it is suitable or not, we have to
know what feminism is and why this arises. Feminism, the belief in social,
economic, and political equality of the sexes. To represent women’s right and
interest, feminism arises in the world.
3.1 WHO IS FEMINIST
A feminist is a person who support the
feminism. We can see various institutions to represent the feminism. In these
institutions there are lot of supporters to represent this concept.
3.2 IS THIS CONCEPT SUITABLE FOR
SOCIETY?
As I mentioned above feminism is a
concept that having equal rights and opportunities. It is about respecting
diverse women’s experiences, identities, knowledge, and strengths, and striving
to empower all women to realize their full rights. I think this is good concept
for society. We can see the feminism in Buddhism. The lord buddha said some duties
to be done by husband for his wife. This was explained in “ Sigalowada sutta”.
Among these duties we can see the facts discussing in feminism. I think he is
the first person who talked about feminism.
3.3 MISUNDERSTANDING
FEMINISM
In the society, most of feminists those
who are supporting feminism have misunderstood the concept of feminism. The
main reason for this misunderstands is that they believe the women are stronger
than men. They led down the men using this misunderstanding. Can they do
everything that men do? My opinion is something different.
Naturally, men and women are different from each other. Their task on this
nature is unique. Sometimes the things that men can do is impossible for women.
Sometimes the things that women can do is impossible for men. That is the
truth. Naturally, men are physically stronger than women. Think about this. Can
women do all things that men do? Other hand the women are the beings that give
births to this nature. Can men do this? Now you can understand why I am telling
this so. Telling women are stronger than men show the unawareness of their
tasks on this nature.
4. CONCLUSION
In this article we have discussed
concepts of gender and sex, feminism, and their rolls in society. Here I needed
to emphasize what are the opinion about these concepts in the society. In the
society people are struggling with these concepts without knowing real meaning.
So, this is a considerable fact in the society. In my opinion if we respect
each other at the right moment these questions will not arise.
REFFERENCES
[1] Robeyns, I.A.M.,
2007. When will society be gender just?. Browne, J.(ed.), The Future of Gender,
pp.54-74.
[2] Sibley, C.G.,
2015. Julia C. Becker. Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination,
p.315.
[3] Levy, S.R.,
Lytle, A., Shin, J.E. and Hughes, J.M., 2016. Understanding and reducing racial
and ethnic prejudice among children and adolescents.
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