Gender Inequality And Gender Analysis

This essay will explore inequality in the form of gender inequality and how it relates to male violence against women. Male violence against women is very prevalent in western countries: in New Zealand the most common way it takes shape is domestic violence. The New Zealand Ministry of Health shows that in 2006, out of the people who went to a hospital for a domestic abuse injury in New Zealand, 91% were women (Collins, 2012). Violence against women can be explored through theory, and the theories that are going to be applied in this paper to gender inequality and violence against women are Radical Feminism and Intersectionality. This essay will explore how both theories illuminate the gender inequality of violence against women and how they …show more content…
Feminism consisted primarily of the views of white, middle class women and it didn’t consider other forms of oppression. This theory was intended to show the struggles and experiences of black women who experience gender and race inequality (Davis, 2008). Intersectionality argues that forms of inequality (such as race, class, gender, and disability) cannot be understood individually and that they all intersect with each other and create different power relationships and experiences for people that come under these categories (Collins & Chepp, 2013).Intersectionality also consider identities: it looks at the micro or individual level to see how people’s identities are shaped by forms of oppression such as gender. It also explores the macro or societal level of how different types of inequality manifest in social …show more content…
Radical feminism focuses on the biggest cause of gender inequality, which is patriarchy. This theory is very specific on what they believe to be the root cause of oppression, and the different structures of patriarchy are very detailed, helping to explain women being victimised by males. Intersectionality works well with Radical Feminism as it shows what the other theory obscures. Intersectionalitybelievesthat gender cannot be alone in explaining a woman’s oppression; they look at how things such as race and class also add to the oppression of women and how all inequalities add to a woman’s experience of inequality (Samuels & Ross-Sheriff, 2008). This theory is more general than Radical Feminism, but it is good at exploring male violence against women as it looks at all women and sees the individual’s micro experiences of oppression and violence, as well as the macro and structural forces that cause gender inequality and gendered