Watermarks The Changing Status of Women by Jonathan Seagraves

Women have played a huge role in society. Many people respect women for the simple fact that they bring life to every human that is put on earth and, without them, none of us would be here today. Although many people respect women, women believe that they have been treated unfairly in the past. I believe that women have been treated unfairly, but I also believe that women today have much better opportunities offered to them than in the past, and that women today are closer to equality than ever before.

Writings by Simone de Beauvoir, Karen Horney, and Margaret Mead document that, in the past, women have been oppressed or repressed in many ways. For instance, they were not allowed to vote until 1920. Women could not hold high positions in the workplace, and they were not paid the same amount of money for the same jobs. Women have not been allowed to have any say-so in the financial or political issues of the family and the economy. Women have been treated unfairly partly because they have been raised to believe they were supposed to be the ones to stay at home, do the chores, and take care of the children. It has been traditional since ancient times in most cultures that the man was in charge of a family's household, and it was traditional for the woman to obey the man. Therefore, if a woman was told to clean the house, tend to the children, and have dinner waiting on the table, she was expected to do this with no objections. Today there is less emphasis on the woman to be the sole house worker. She is often working outside the home, and in any case, there is cultural pressure, in the United States at least, for women to object to the traditional role in full and demand a more balanced distribution of the family workload.

Beauvoir, in "From The Second Sex," states, "It is not the inferiority of women that has caused their historical insignificance; it is rather their historical insignificance that has doomed them to inferiority" (179). I do not agree with Beauvoir's conclusion that women are doomed to inferiority. There is evidence of a cultural shift in many of the industrialized nations and particularly in the United States, where women are rapidly gaining ground in positions of authority and leadership. There are women in positions as senators and judges, CEOs and clergy, to name a few. Ground has also been gained in middle management and small business ownership. One of the more interesting recent effects is that technological advances in computers and Web-based activities have provided a new path for women to leap forward in their position relative to men.

Women have also been treated unfairly because of the physical differences between men and women. For example, women were thought to be unable to do physical work that men did because men are genetically stronger than women; however, this is no longer the case. Today there are many women who do hard physical labor that is equally strenuous to that of a man's. Women are making strides in the areas of construction, military, and others, demonstrating their capabilities and value as physical laborers. There are even areas in which women are proving to have some physical advantages over men, including some high-tech areas such as a combat pilot, where they withstand higher G forces, or an astronaut, where they react better to long term weightlessness.

Beauvoir also states, "Most female heroines are oddities: adventuresses and originals notable less for the importance of their acts than for the singularity of their lives" (179). This point of view is based on the limited view relating to acts of major historical significance and does not take into account the day-to-day impact of women on men's lives. I disagree with Beauvoir's assumption that a heroine is defined as a woman who performs an action or service that is of major historical significance. The broader definition of a heroine should encompass the positive aspects of women in everyday life, and when these are taken into account, there is significant evidence of the value and even the superiority of women. My definition of a heroine applies to the women who are moral leaders and primary advocates for their families, and the champions of their children's welfare and growth to adulthood. I do not believe there is any more important function in life. I can cite many examples of heroines, such as my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, just as most everyone has examples of heroines in their own lives. This itself proves my case for the expanded view of women's value.

When I talk about the superiority of women, I am talking about one area in particular--that of being a parent, and the ample evidence that women are more protective, loyal, and supportive of their children than men are. In most cases, when parents split up, the women end up as the only functional parent of the children. Courts recognize this effect and base decisions for custody on it.

Beauvoir also addresses the issue of women not getting equal pay for equal work. She states, "The woman who seeks independence through work has less favorable possibilities than her masculine competitors. Her wages in most jobs are lower than those of most men; her tasks are less specialized and are therefore not so well paid as those of skilled laborers" (182). Beauvoir adds, "She has fewer chances for success" (183). I agree that this has historically been the case and is true today in many ways. However, I think there is evidence that this too is changing in the modern world. The number of women in the workplace in this country is higher than ever, and there are more and more small business owners, supervisors, and managers who are women. Women in many fields today are paid on a par with men.

Horney, in her 1930 era speech, "The Distrust Between the Sexes," addresses a number of issues and causes for a natural distrust that exists between men and women. She describes the case wherein the woman, as a result of repression, will shift the blame for her helplessness to the man. I think that, while many of the causes for distrust remain in place, the improved opportunity for a woman to make her own way in our modern culture tends to reduce the repressive nature of the male-female relationship and reduces the incidence of this type of situation.

Not without sarcasm, Horney says that woman "is said to be deeply rooted in the personal and emotional spheres, which is wonderful, but unfortunately this makes her incapable of exercising justice and objectivity, therefore disqualifying her for positions in law and government and in the spiritual community," and "Woman may be industrious and useful but is, alas, incapable of productive and independent work" (346). I believe that women have made significant strides toward equality since Horney wrote this. Horney herself has identified the start of this trend in her text, stating, "At present we seem to be going through a period of struggle in which women once more dare to fight for their equality. This is a phase, the duration of which we are not yet able to survey" (347). I believe that the attitudes toward women today are much different, at least in our country, in that men think more of women as equals.

Mead, in "Women, Sex, and Sin," talks about the big cultural change in women's standing in the Manus tribe, when the Old Way was legally replaced by the New Way, a set of standards for the equitable treatment of women. Our "New Way" may have begun with women getting the right to vote. I think that the advances women have made can be partially attributed to the elevated status that they have as a political entity. There is a majority of women in the voting pool, and this power enables them to generate momentum for their political agenda and to shape public opinion.

My conclusion is that many scholars present historically accurate information about women's history. There is, however, a cultural shift that is changing this history. It may be moving too slow on a day-to-day basis, but, when today's woman and her rights, functions, activities, and values are compared to those presented in the writings, there are significant differences. I believe that women are becoming more equal to men every day.

Beauvoir, Simone de. "From The Second Sex." A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. 5th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998. 173-185.

Horney, Karen. "The Distrust Between the Sexes." A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. 5th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998. 337-351.

Mead, Margaret. "Women, Sex, and Sin." A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. 5th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998. 529-541.

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