All human beings are equal

Sarah Elgohary                    Professor Joy Williams Samuels

Introduction to Women Studies                                             3/19, `/ 14

Society’s Acceptable Behaviors of Women and how, W omen Learn to Cope with These behaviors in their careers in the Professional World 

    Throughout history women have not been treated as equals to men in society.  Why is that? Women are just as capable of” maintaining their own homes, children as well as their own professional careers, as men in society.  At the same, time there are so many double standards that society has in place for women, compared to men just because of their gender. For example when a business woman is aggressive on an idea or policy she wants her company to implement, she is considered to be too pushy by society.  On the other hand, when a businessman is aggressive on an idea or policy that he wants her company to implement, he is considered to be too normal in the professional business world of society. Not only is that fact unfair to women everywhere this is a double standard for women with their careers, but this statement proves that society thinks of women as inferior to men.   This is not true; there is no reason why women should not be treated as equals to men in society today. In fact, Thomas Jefferson once said “All men are created equal” Why only men are created equal. Why did he not say all men and women are created equal? We are all the same we are human beings. This is the 21st century women are in the military. Women can have the same jobs and roles in society as men do .So why is it that women suffrage was not passed until the 1920s? Women are not inferior to men just because they raise and nurture their child that is not the only dominant role of women in today’s society. Men are not superior to women just because of their roles in society and their sexual attributes.   The role of women having to raise and nurture their children and be the homemakers is considered to be the most dominant acceptable behaviors of women in society today. Unfortunately society does not see that raising and nurturing their children is no longer the only role women have in society.  

      As soon as they have   learn to walk children are socialized   differently based on their gender. Boys learn to play with action figures like G I Joe army toys and play with Lego.  Society teaches boys to be strong, join the military, be good at math, build buildings be engineers, providers for women in society.  On the other hand, young girls are trained by society and their parents to play with dolls, make up, easy bake ovens and later on in school.   Girls learn that parents only want their sons to do better in math so as a result, girls attention in math decreases because they have internalized the message from their parents that girls are normally not supposed to do better in math than boys in society.  In addition society teaches young girls to be nurturing, to cook clean, do laundry so they can learn to be good mothers and take care of children, while the men are only the providers in society. 

These expectations of women are realistic/and unrealistic for many reasons. First of all, it is very realistic for society to want and need caregivers, nannies, mothers to watch over, nurture, care for and raise children in society.   There are no rules, laws in society that segregates the care giving, and raising children is specifically the responsibility of only to the women of society. Women have a harder time having their own careers because they have to take care of their children.  Women who do work and have children often have dilemmas with what to do with their children when they are at work all day. Women can hire baby sitters, nannies, or they can pay for day care to care of the children for the work day. Unfortunately some women cannot afford to pay for daycare for their children.  As a result many mothers must make a decision on whether or not they should stay home with their children or to work. It is s very hard decision to make because on one hand, a mother wants to be with her children. On the other hand, Women need to work for money to pay bills, to pay for food, daycare, clothes and other essentials.  Aside from the obvious biological factor of a woman’s birth to children men are perfectly capable of raising and nurturing their children. In fact, in recent years more and more men are staying home to care for their children either because more men are unemployed or they have responsibility for the kids, while the wife or Mothers are working all day.   In addition men are allowed to have a two week paternity leave to spend time with their new baby and they still can go back to work without any consequences. While in contrast to men young women who take a maternity leave for twelve weeks might not have a job when they come back from maternity leave even though by law an employer is not allowed to fire a woman just for having a baby.  Women who have a baby and return to work have a stigma attached to them for having a baby because employers and coworker think that women cannot perform their job the way that they did before having the baby and sometimes women are fired from their job for taking extra time on materiality leave. Society has so many different double standards for men and women. For example if a father  stays home to take care of his children while the mother is out working , society will look down on men who stay home with the children because he is too nurturing and he is not considered manly enough. Also if society expects women not to get an education not a degree, not work and stay home taking care of the children and the house how Are they going to pay bills . Society needs to understand that  in order for women to raise their children and be good mothers all women need to have equal access to good education to get a degree and find a job with a good income to pay for a big house, school so women can afford to buy food, clothes, and afford to pay for day-care for their children, while they are out working all day. Society expects boys to play with trucks if parents see their son playing with dolls they might think he is gay and hit him and take the doll away from him.  If a girl plays any sport she is labeled as a tomboy. If men work Victoria Secret, bath and body works, they are automatically labeled as a gay person IN Society. . If men work as designers hair dressers, or they do nails they are seen as gay people in society just for doing what they love. This is unfair people should not be judge differently because of what They like people should be free to do what they want and be the person that they want to be in life just like baby x was free to be his own person.  

 During 1912   there were many  American people and government  were involved in many social political and economic movements  such as the start of European Colonization , the progressive era.  In addition in 1912 the economy was doing well two years before World War I.   People ( men) had all the jobs they worked while the women stayed home to take care of children  at the time our society was very patriarchal women did not have the right to vote they were just supposed to  listen and obey their husbands. Women had few rights no individual freedom in 1912. At the time All a rich upper class  women could do was get married while ; a poor woman was seen as cheap labor in factories There were strong distinctions between the upper and lower classes in 1912 The ruling classes saw people in power saw  no need to change the status quo. (Weirder, pg 1). In 1912 women were not seen as equals to men they were viewed as inferior to men because of their sex. Men saw women as toys to play with not as human beings they felt could do anything they want with women because women were powerless.

In the l9 the and 20th century gender roles of men and women in society were very different compared to the roles in society today For example, In 1912, women were only considered as the homemakers they cooked cleaned and took care of the children while the workforce was dominated by men. In addition young women were forced to marry older men as early as sixteen years old for money.  Poor women did not marry, but they were seen as cheap labor and they were forced to work in factories. Women were not allowed to get an education and they did not have the right to vote until 1920 with the 19th amendment more than a century after African American men got the right to vote in 1865. In 1912, and even today women are denied many rights along with job opportunities not for being unqualified for their jobs, but   they are being denied jobs on a base of race, gender discrimination and prejudice. Over the last few decades especially now gender roles have reversed in society. For example now men and women both have jobs in order to pay bills and maintain a house and survive with children because the economy is so bad. Now more men are staying home to take care of the children because they cannot find work, while women work. Women in society today have many roles,   they are professional women and care givers. Women have gained many rights they are educated and now women have become more involved in politics.  

There are many expectations of men and women in society.  Our society higher achy and capitalistic system has so many rules to follow in order to be successful.  . People know that it is wrong to judge a book by its cover, but people always do it any way why is that?   There is a saying which I believe that “”says ““True beauty is only skin deep.” but if true beauty is only skin deep   was truly really the case, in our society. Then why is that an individual’s appearance is the first thing that people  in our society will judge about individuals when we first meet them without getting to know the personalities of individual people.    Society knows that the act of judging people on a basics of race, sexuality. gender, hobbies, and habitats is known as discrimination and prejudice   people still tend to know judge a person appearance , even though They know it is morally wrong to judge someone, but they do it anyway why. This  is because from the time we are in our mother’s womb there is a set of many guidelines, rules expectations, images on how a person is supposed to look  like, act, interact with other people that every individual in society is trained to follow and obey. These guidelines, rules expectations are based on an individual’s  gender, race, social class sexuality they are put In place in our society so people can be successful. The expectations of society put so much pressure on individuals to be self-conscious and way too much about what people think about you that I do not have any confidence in my own person.  These expectations of society are what make humans very judgmental people. This is why I wish everyone in society can be raised like x from the fabulous child because nobody knew if he was a boy or a girl so as a result x was free from the pressures and expectations that everyone else is bound to their limits.  As a Result x was exposed to everything that a boy and a girl are socialized to play with, this made X the most well adjusted, happy confident person to his environment and society. X had no expectations from people no limits x was completely from the burdens of societal pressures we have to endure. 

In conclusion, Women have many other roles in society other than being mothers and homemakers.   Women are now in the military they have professional careers equal to men in society. Society needs to realize that there is more than one acceptable behavior for women.   Women are not inferior to men they are equal to men. This is not true; there is no reason why women should not be treated as equals to men in society today. In fact, Thomas Jefferson once said “All men are created equal” Why only men are created equal. Why did he not say all men and women are created equal? We are all the same we are human beings.