Women Versus Men

After reading the story on John Frog and participating in last week’s discussion, I wanted to analyze more about the circumstances of how society has changed their thinking of the “gendered clothes-line.” We no longer think that a man is gay if he decides to do the housework, while his wife works; however, we understand that a couple of centuries ago if such a scenario had occurred, the people then would have labeled the househusband as one who most likely committed sodomy. The ideology that men were superior to women has dissipated and we question now, how and when did that occur. Now, in today’s context, women are the equivalent of men. Generally speaking, women were physically weaker than men with an exception of a few outliers, but I noticed that that the strengths of women that people pointed out during discussion were largely casted or under the umbrella of a more emotional or mental type of forte. So what allowed women to become the equivalent of men and what made society come to be more accepting of that fact?

In the presentation about two weeks ago, the presenter mentioned the fact that women were able to rule in Egypt and hold the same status as their male counterparts do. She also mentioned that these women were given an education. I know I’m still missing key parts to answering this question, but I think that an education is a component that really enables a female to empower herself and become the equivalent of a man. An education gives or facilitates the ability to read, write, and the capacity to think more critically than before. If a male and female are from similar educational backgrounds, then it is difficult to say which gender is better, but if a woman is deprived of an education, it is much more challenging to be on the same level as a man.

Nowadays, it is further encouraged to make the business world more diversified—women are entering the boardrooms. Research shows that “companies with women directors or even just more diverse boards tend to do better than those with executive teams made up entirely of men” (Merriman). Elin Hurvenes, founder and chair of the Professional Boards Forum, states that the reason for this improvement is due to the fact that “women have a different perspective, which can sometimes lead to better decision-making.” Since “women have a different experience of the world from the typical male corporate executive. They are often not afraid to look stupid by asking the most basic or difficult questions” (Merriman). These are cited quotations that are not necessarily categorically true if done by a case by case basis, but in a broad sense, women are, for the most part, different from men personality wise. The difference in opinion can be attributed to the way that women were brought up. They are on a different side of the “gendered clothes-line” than the male are and thus raised differently than males are. Values are inherently different since the day that males and females were children. Now, some are reluctant to admit that women throughout the world are becoming more and more qualified and permitted to do the very things that centuries ago would have been frowned upon.

Our acceptance that women are entering the very spheres that were once dominated by men is, in my opinion, paralleled by the ending in John Frog. John Frog was accepted despite being a pregnant male man who, in the end, gave birth to the “multitude [of] offspring [as] a hermaphrodite;” “peer pressure transformed” the last person, the scribe, “into another Juan Ranilla [John Frog Jr.] likeness” (Thompson 107). Just as how John Frog was accepted, women might have been accepted through a semblance of peer pressure as well. The true ability of a person may only be inhibited for so long and if a person is given the right tools he or she can succeed. With so many women succeeding in areas where their predecessors from hundreds of years ago could not, men can no longer ignore the women’s latent aptitude for the things that once separated men from women. If men can do the work, we now understand that women can also do it too. There are probably many more possible ways to how women were accepted into the realm of men, but this is currently my take on it. After rereading this, I most likely only scratched the surface of this whole question.

Sources:

Merriman, Jane. "In Business, a Woman's Place Is in the Boardroom Reuters." Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News Reuters.com. Reuters, 05 Aug. 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2011. .

Thompson, Peter E. The Triumphant Juan Rana: A Gay Actor of the Spanish Golden Age. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2006. Print