Comparing Beauvoir's 'Anatomy And Destiny'

De Beauvoir, Simone. "The Second Sex." Anatomy and Destiny. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 117-24. Print. Beauvoir’s text The Second Sex serves as the main focal point for my research. This piece is highly feministic and explores many of the discriminatory aspects that women experienced during the specific time period in which the text is written. Beauvoir’s main criticism is that women are characterized as the Other by society as a whole. Meanwhile, man assumes the role of the Self. Throughout the text, Beauvoir attempts to analyze the reason behind these extreme gender imbalances. In her attempts, she examines the difference in anatomy between males and females, traces the historical emergence of male superiority in society, and evaluates the differences in social roles. Instead of dismissing gender roles as “always having been this …show more content…
It clearly states that although German women joined the workforce, it was at a much lesser rate than that of other countries involved in World War One. Trade unions were mostly responsible for this because they feared undercutting men’s jobs. Furthermore, this article coincides with Beauvoir’s statement that “… Even when her [women’s] rights are legally recognized in the abstract, long-standing custom prevents their full expression in the mores (p. 121).” Germany implemented the Auxiliary Service for the Fatherland law during World War One in order to shift workers from the civilian to military industry and to also increase the potential of the employed workforce. This law explicitly left out women and instead focused solely on men aged seventeen to sixty. Women’s rights were not only oppressed due to historical patriarchy, but they were not legally recognized at all in this specific instance. Ignoring women ultimately affected Germany adversely; however, it was of little interest to German officials because they did not want to impede