Stereotypes Of Women In Today's Society

In todays society, there is still a contradictory kind of existence for both women, as well as men, stemming from woman’s historical and societal situation. Simone de Beauvoir argued for this by saying, “Women are the perfect intermediary between nature that is foreign to men and the peer who is too identical to him” (Beauvoir 160). What she is saying by this is that women need to be perfect, they need to have the perfect balance between being submissive and being too submissive, between being passive and to competitive. Historically, women were seen as inferior, and this has led to many stereotypes, but most importantly this has led to them having a contradictory kind of existence.
Women have no room for error, and this has led to there …show more content…
Women were considered naïve because they had no educational access and also because they were considered domesticated. While society has come a long way on this topic, it is still seen in a lot of places around the world, and women are still fighting for true equality. Women are also considered to be submissive or passive because of the domestic chores they must do as well as the stereotype of women being the weaker sex. Another character trait women are seen as having is being emotional. Women are the emotional ones, they are the ones that cry. Men are not supposed to show weakness or emotion, and this leads to women being seen as weaker, less rational, and also illogical. The last character trait describing women that I will talk about is complaining. Women feel powerless, so they complain. It does not help the situation, but they use it as a kind of release and they come to accept the situation. These are the character traits Beauvoir described women as having and while these have changed somewhat in todays society, these are still the stereotypes that women have to deal with caused …show more content…
Beauvoir has this to say on how to change this topic, “Women must refuse the limits of their situation and seek to open paths to the future; resignation is only a surrender and an evasion; for women there is no other way out than to work for her liberation” (Beauvoir 664). What she is saying by this is that only women can liberate themselves. They need to work for their own liberation if that is what they truly want. Women can break free and liberate themselves because all people are subjects and have the same inner freedom, they just need to be aware of it. The first step towards the goal of liberation is having more economic freedom. If women had more economic freedom they would be less dependent. You need money and education to be able to set yourself free. Second, women need to band together. If women are truly going to break free and liberate themselves it truly has to be a collective