Women’s rights have been something people have been fighting for since the 1800’s , this movement is now becoming the fight for gender equality. Society is starting to realize that we do not just need to fight for women’s rights, but for all genders to have equal opportunities. In this essay, I will explain what gender is, and why the fight for gender equality is so important. I will also explore where gender inequality came from. I will then explain why simply treating women the same as men will not achieve gender equality. Finally, I will use the example of parental leave to illustrate my points. Gender equality is an important idea, and something that everyone should want to achieve.
Gender and sex were for a long time considered ‘natural’ …show more content…
This is not the case. In some situations, men are the disadvantaged ones who need to be treated better. Our society is a patriarchy, which used to be used to mean the rule of the father, but now we use it to refer to a society where men are advantaged . Society values ‘manly’ attributes in men. Men are expected to be tough and strong, not to express their emotions, and to have a high income career. This can be stressful for some men, but because men are seen as strong, it is not likely that there will be targeted help available to them. In many cases, even if there is help available, men do not use it as they do not want to appear weak. Society has taken away men’s ability to be vulnerable, and this can be damaging. There are many other examples of society’s expectations disadvantaging men, and the fact that we do not recognize this is one of these examples. Gender equality is not just about women’s rights, it is about all genders having equal opportunities. This will not happen if we focus only on women. In some cases, treating women the same as men would disadvantage women more. Men and women are different. While the extent of this is debated, it is still true. Men and women are different biologically, have different life experiences, and to some extent different personalities and tendencies. Because of these differences, blindly treating women the same as men would be problematic in some cases. For example, women require different health care to men. If we fail to acknowledge such differences, it can be damaging to everyone. The aim of gender equality is to give all genders equal opportunities, and in order to achieve this men and women should be treated differently in some circumstances. Finding the balance of this can be challenging, as it can be hard to know when to treat men and women differently. I believe that
Gender and sex were for a long time considered ‘natural’ …show more content…
This is not the case. In some situations, men are the disadvantaged ones who need to be treated better. Our society is a patriarchy, which used to be used to mean the rule of the father, but now we use it to refer to a society where men are advantaged . Society values ‘manly’ attributes in men. Men are expected to be tough and strong, not to express their emotions, and to have a high income career. This can be stressful for some men, but because men are seen as strong, it is not likely that there will be targeted help available to them. In many cases, even if there is help available, men do not use it as they do not want to appear weak. Society has taken away men’s ability to be vulnerable, and this can be damaging. There are many other examples of society’s expectations disadvantaging men, and the fact that we do not recognize this is one of these examples. Gender equality is not just about women’s rights, it is about all genders having equal opportunities. This will not happen if we focus only on women. In some cases, treating women the same as men would disadvantage women more. Men and women are different. While the extent of this is debated, it is still true. Men and women are different biologically, have different life experiences, and to some extent different personalities and tendencies. Because of these differences, blindly treating women the same as men would be problematic in some cases. For example, women require different health care to men. If we fail to acknowledge such differences, it can be damaging to everyone. The aim of gender equality is to give all genders equal opportunities, and in order to achieve this men and women should be treated differently in some circumstances. Finding the balance of this can be challenging, as it can be hard to know when to treat men and women differently. I believe that