Anne Funk-Chance
HBSE Chapter 5
Overall reaction to chapter 5: A variety of emotions arose in me while reading this chapter on the feminist theory. Since the earliest of times, when efforts were made toward eradicating the injustices of women, little progress was made. Beginning in the 17th century, women were recognized as a sex and gender; however, little consideration for the female/woman as a citizen worthy of wealth, individual rights with freedoms and governmental acknowledgement. When women fought for universal suffrage, male minorities won the right to vote. Finally, in 1920 American women was able to vote for the male politicians that make the decisions for the nation with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Ironically, women of all colors and classes joined together for this achievement. Women as part of a majority culture was considered a minority not only by race or ethnicity, but by sex. As each accomplishment of the feminist movement occurred (1848-1920, 1960s-1980s, 1990s-present), the patriarch society still dictated how a female could dress in public, how long she could remain in employment if married and pregnant, and violence against women was often viewed as “their own fought.” Often when research would be conducted about the marginalization and oppression of women, researchers would relate the research to gender and recognize the influence of the male gender. As a female member of society and having female gender orientation, I feel that women have made strides to overcome occupation, employment, and societal roles barriers. Reality is, though, there is still a glass ceiling and probably always will be.
Theories/Concepts/Ideas that is Liked/Disliked and Why: Theories of gender inequality rejects the idea of personality differences between men and women. Commonalities are the focus of this theory and that people are adaptable with the characteristics to pursue self-actualization. The theory does acknowledge that differences do exist which are structural in nature and contributes to the inequality that exists in society. Males in society are superior and able to achieve power, status, and money to acquire self-actualization. Females are restricted in their pursuit of self-actualization by their role of wife and mother. In order for females to realize their own self-fulfillment, structural change in society must occur to review the nurturing characteristic barrier of women. I feel that in reality being a wife and mother are attributes of power in society rather than a barrier. Male counterparts should remember where they gained their ability to have power, status, and money for their self-actualization.
The contemporary feminist theory discusses issues relevant to all genders, the continuum of sexuality, and the way in which gender is socially constructed. This theory differentiates that sex is biological and that gender is socially constructed. The outcome of this distinction is that gender is constructed by rules, views, and practices of society. Only by changing the way society views a gender can women of the feminist movement move forward to achieving self-actualization. The manner to change how society views a gender is by observing repetitive behavior in interaction with others in societal situations. The outcome of this observation is that the gender differences result in formulating inequalities rather than end the disparity. A metaphor by Tucker states that society needs to think of gender as a rowboat: some people perch carefully in the center, others sit on one side or the other, and others lean out over the edge tempting to tip the boat over. I do not like this theory. Seems to me that the theorists imply rather than outright stating it that women are not equal to men as a whole minority. I especially did not like the statement by Lev that a female could acquire a masculine gender identity while adopting traditional masculine gender expression and sexually
