Exercise

To advocate the notion of having equality between men and women is definitely easier to say than to translate into action in our contemporary society. The facts presented in Shannon’s article entitled “Equal Rights for Women? Survey Says: Yes, but…” are truly reflective of the residues that our patriarchal world has left behind even after a few several waves of feminism across the world. It is a historical fact that women in the past were often seen as inferior and less rational beings as compared to men. This notion mainly positioned most of the women inside the private space while men were left to rule the entirety of the public space. In my opinion, the contemporary response of women with regards to their perceived equality isn’t much of a surprise for me anymore.

The data in Shannon’s article depict that most of the countries in the Middle East and in Africa disapprovingly responded to the concept of equal rights. This brings me to the role of how cultural relativism separates our ideas about gender equality. In these societies, women have different roles and expectations to meet which are very much cultural in nature. These culturally embedded things are difficult to remove from them because the departure from the traditional role of women would entail a massive and radical rupture from the nature of their identity which holds them together as a society.

Regarding job opportunities for women, I find it pleasing to know that many people in different countries hold the belief that men and women must have equality before a job selection. However, in my own opinion, it is quite distressing to see that in reality, there is sometimes a logic that backs up this kind of treatment to women in the workspace. Women aren’t really preferred in tedious jobs because of the so-called lack of physical capability. Also, according to Cabarde (2010), women are sometimes seen a burden because of her special maternal needs and menstrual concerns that would require her to take maternity leaves and absences. This occurrence would then lead to an economic unproductiveness of a particular workplace.

Overall, I find it quite remarkable that there has been at least a few positive changes in the perceptions of gender equality in different parts of the globe. However, the main societal challenge is still at hand to find the necessary means to translate these positive perceptions into realistic changes.