...The role of women in Canadian society has changed dramatically over the past two centuries. These roles, which had been defined in various cultures for centuries, were based both on natural instinct and on necessity. When Canada was first settled, it was natural for immigrants to maintain traditional roles for men and women. By the eighteenth century, these distinct roles were strongly established in Canadian society. During the nineteenth century, views on women’s role began to change, as urbanization and industrialization progressed. These changes reflected the many social, political, economic and technological changes that were occurring at that time. Aware of the many inequalities in society, some women began to challenge the existing conditions and questioned the definition of a “proper woman”. In “The Cult of True Womanhood”, Barbara Welter explains that the virtues by which a woman judged herself and was judged by society were piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity. These were the standards of True Womanhood in Victorian Canada.1 Fortunately, social reformers eventually challenged the alleged status quo of Canadian women. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Church, the medical profession and the arts all tried desperately to maintain women’s sexual passivity in Canadian society. During the Victorian era, sexual passivity was seen as both natural and necessary for women. In fact, the Canadian society was based on the ideology that it was natural...
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...Many of us think of "traditional" gender roles as being like a 1950s sitcom: Dad puts on his suit and heads to the office, while Mom, in her pearls and crisp housedress, stays home and keeps house. But the report from the Pew Research Center reveals a sweeping change in traditional gender roles and family life over a few short decades. At the decade of the 2000s, More than 80 percent of the jobs lost during the recession had belonged to men, which led to women holding the majority of jobs in the United States for the first time ever. Men who lost their jobs were employed in fields like construction and finance, whereas the women had been in slightly steadier fields like teaching and health care, fields where there will always be a demand for workers. With their husbands unemployed, women would now take on the role of breadwinner, while the men would take care of the home. However, these changes are not easy. Men have had to struggle with what masculinity means to them if they're not the sole breadwinner. And while the recession may have forced more men to stay home, they didn't necessarily pick up the bulk of the housework or childcare. The New York Times also reported that unemployed dads spent about as much time caring for their children as their working counterparts did. How to change their mentalities will be the big challenge for the laid-off dads. And Women have to deal with making less than men in wages and a difficult time advancing to the highest positions...
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...The Role of Women In The Age of Innocence, a satiric account of the society of New York, women play a major role in the development of the plot. This novel, by Edith Wharton, is about a society that controls its individuals, particularly women. For many years, women have followed the same customs and traditions and have not been given the opportunity to develop new talents and encounter new experiences. The women have been carefully trained not to possess “the experience, the versatility, [or] the freedom of judgment” (Page 38). This conventional society ignores reality and pretends to act innocently. “In reality [they] lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs” (Page 39). Women are expected not only to be pure and innocent, but also to pretend to be oblivious of the unpleasantness of society. May Welland and Ellen Olenska, two of the main female characters of the novel, set the conflict and develop the story with their contradicting personalities. The protagonist, Newland Archer, is a wealthy lawyer that is happily engaged to the pure and innocent May Welland. May is the perfect model of a wife in that society. She is a traditional woman that has been pressured by her family to remain unimaginative and predictable. She is conventional and a typical conformist. Because society has trained her not to speak of unpleasantness, May ignores unsettling situations, particularly...
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...by: Shoaib Saiful women now play as important a role as any man in the development of any nation,more so the Bengali nation. We should rephrase and ask for names of sectors where women have not contributed. Even then one may not be able to name one because these days women have made their presence felt in every field.And they are second to none.When a lady has captured the presidency of Bangladesh.Even a super power nation like USA is likely to have a woman president next.Never ever underestimate or question women power. Women play a very important role not only in running the household but also the nation. They provide the anchorage and support that working men seek for their success. They are not only good home-makers but also the caretakers of the culture and tradition. History has shown several brave women who have laid down their lives for the nation and have been freedom fighters. Today there is not a single field where women do not play a role. Due to natural reasons they bear and rear children which is very vital and time consuming. This puts them at a slight disadvantage when it comes to paving a career for themselves vis-a-vis men. It is upto the men to understand and respect the role of a women inspite of several adversity and reciprocate them with the support they need. Great men are actually created by women who teach them moral values including equality and respect for one and all. First of all women r mother. It is the teaching of mother which makes his child...
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...Throughout history, the role of Chinese women has changed dramatically. In ancient times women were mutilated with painful foot bindings and forced to marry men of their family’s choosing at very young ages. Today, Chinese women have received world-class educations alongside their male counterparts and command high power roles in business, politics, the sciences and other industries. Chinese men and woman now work side by side in most modern Chinese cities, however; this trend does not hold true for women living in rural Chinese villages. Gender roles in modern China have come leaps and bounds from where they were in ancient times, yet women in rural China still follow traditional guidelines. Women in China have worked hard over the past century to reach where they are today. The change in gender roles was sparked by China’s republic years. During this time, women in large cites were able to seek formal education and even travel to the west to receive it. Communism, although a questionable form of government, ended the distinction between men and women and finally allowed women to break out of their defined gender role. Women stepped up and took positions of political power and for the first time received influences from outside cultures. New laws have been enacted calling for equality in education, marriage, and rights, but a large group of women do not receive these benefits. Women in rural Chinese villages do not see the advances in gender roles that women in the city have...
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...Book Of Galations The role of women in the Christian faith has always been matter of debate. Whether women are equal to men in the eyes of the church still presents itself as a major question as we move into the 21st century. Women are still not allowed to serve as priests or hold major positions in the church s hierarchy. This inferiority is something that is seen as tradition and rarely do people question it. However, in Paul s letters he alluded to a different role that women should take on. He presents the idea that everyone is equal in the eyes of the Lord as long as they have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Although he was not the first to ever express these beliefs, the idea that Paul presented was quite radical for his time and may not have been taken with the same authority as some of his other teachings. However, the basic formula that Paul used in some of his letters was also presented by subsequent writers years after he was finished with his ministry. The most straightforward presentation of Paul s view on the role of women is in Galatians 3:28, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. This statement brought up the idea of baptism and the key role it plays in the life of a Christian. Paul states that when you are baptized in the name of Jesus all worldly distinctions are no longer important. A person is not to be viewed based on past religion, life before baptism, or gender, he or she will now be viewed simply as a...
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...The role of women in society has been greatly overseen in the last few decades. They are now becoming a more of a perspective to people, but in the earlier days, women were not seen in the workplace. They were seen as mothers taking care of children, or any household duties like cooking and cleaning. Soon enough the role of women gradually changed as they became to voice their opinions. Throughout history, the roles of men and women would always be directed by gender. Traditionally, women in America were limited in their roles. Women were once seen as only needed to bear children and take care of household activities such as cooking and cleaning, while their husband would provide for his family. It was common for a man to go out and provide for his family while the woman would stay at home and take care of all the necessary household chores and children. A married women always took the husband's status. Even though we are seeing more and more women succeeding in life, American culture still defines a women as unequal. Society has set men and women apart by labeling them. Men have always been portrayed as the dominant sex. They have always been seen as strong and aggressive vs. women as weak. The culture effortlessly portrays women that they cannot perform jobs like men do; jobs like policemen, firefighters, and running corporate establishments. Society looks at women and puts a negative slide to them, because of most jobs like these having the image of male dominance or masculinity...
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...The Roles of Islamic Women Shania P. Fennell May 5, 2008 The Origins of Western Culture – HUM 101 Dr. DeChaby Spring 2008 The position of women in Muslim society has altered drastically in the centuries ever since Islam initiated in Arabia in the early 600s. Their place has fluctuated with irregular social, economic, and political situations. Even though Islam considers men and women as honorable equals in the eye of God, women have not had equivalent access to several regions of Islamic existence. This research paper will discuss Islam, Early Historical Background, Women in Islamic Society, Women in the Qur’an, Religious Life, Women Covering, Financial Matters, Financial obligations, Education, Modern Debate on the Status of Women in Islam, and U.S. Muslim Women Islam The Arabic word “Islam” means submission – in a religious situation, it indicates the submission to the will of God. Islam’s prophet is Muhammad, who acknowledged the initial revelation from God through the angel Gabriel in about 610 C.E. Muslim thinking consist of the oneness of God; the angels formed by Him; the prophets through whom His revelations were pass to humankind; the Day of Judgment and individual responsibility; God’s entire power over human fate in life and in death; the commands of the Quran; and the devotional services of prayer, fasting, aims giving, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca. Islam practices...
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...Women’s Role (1865-Present) Kimberly Burrows HIS 204 Joseph Scahill February 2, 2013 Women’s Role (1865-Present) Throughout history, women have suffered fewer rights then men and are discriminated against because of their gender. Historically, a woman’s main role was to tend to the home isolated in the domestic “bubble” and to raise their children while their husbands were away at work. In this paper, I will describe the historical significance of this issue from 1865 to the present. I will explain the historical developments that presented new opportunities for women in society. I will discuss the main individuals that were involved in these struggles. To conclude, I will analyze ways in which it contributed to an “ending of isolation” while assessing the challenges involved. Even today, women still face discrimination based on their gender. However, the role of women has changed significantly which has created a lasting and ongoing increase of women's rights. The woman’s role presents a historical significance from 1865 to today for many reasons. Prior to the Civil War, women were perceived as the weaker sex and were considered intellectually inferior to men. Their freedom was limited and they had fewer rights than men. Women were expected to marry, care for their home, cook, make clothing and raise their children. According to (Manning, 2005), “Women were viewed as wives and mothers, whose economic rights were mainly to be supported by a male breadwinner and protected...
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...The role of women in the economy and in other aspects of social life is not the same today as they were 50, 100 or even more years ago. And it is not the same in the eastern world than in the western world. It is basically a gender issue. Women have struggled for years to be considered equal to men intellectually, to have the same rights, to have the same access to education, to earn equal salaries, and to be considered equals under the law. This battle started long ago, and a lot has been achieved, but still women need to gain more rights, in order to have equal opportunities. Probably the key to equal rights starts by allowing women to have access to education because education contributes directly to the growth of national income by improving the productive capacities of the labor force. In the early eighteen hundreds women in Europe, were only allowed to attend primary school and they even had different curricula than men. Primary school taught girls how to repeat the received words from others, but couldn´t generate their own. By midcentury the professions more commonly found for women were: teacher, nurse and midwife, and in the late eighteen hundreds, different Universities in Europe opened their doors to women. During the war, many women had no other alternative that getting out of their homes, and enter the workforce. This gave women a sense of independence unknown to them until then. Some years later the feminism era started and women in Europe and in other parts...
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...THE ROLE OF WOMEN by: Saiful007 The role of women in development is vital. However, it has changed somewhat over the years:Women are farmers and food providers - In some parts of the world, 80% of basic food is produced by women. In doing this, women contribute to national agricultural output, general environmental maintenance and, most importantly, family food security. They achieve this despite the unequal access to land, machinery, fertilisers etc. It has been claimed that if men and women had equal access to these resources, there would be substantial gains in agricultural output for both men and women, their families and their communities (ifpri.org). Women are business people and traders - Up to 40% of the world's labour force are women and this does not include the informal work carried out by women. More often than not, workers in factories, in the home, on the land and in the market place are women. Despite this fact, the majority of these women remain dependent on men due to lack of access to necessary resources such as capital or credit, household resources and due also to patriarchal practices and traditions (link to definition in HIV and AIDS glossary) including those that relate to the economic position of women. Women are heads of households - In both developed and developing countries there has been an increase in female-headed households due to male migration, high death rates due to conflict or illness and abandonment or separation. Although female heads...
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...Purpose: To inform on why women are less seen in engineering and also to create a solution to how we can motivate women to join the science field Introduction I came from a country far along the Atlantic and the Pacific ocean. I was a child born in the midst of boys who wanted to be involved in everything. As time went on, I began to fall for the love of wanting to build things and experiment with many materials. Upon arriving in the United States, I fell in love with computers. I later made up my mind to be a computer engineer. With such dreams of mine, I got a call on this particular day from a friend in Nigeria. We talked and he later asked me what I wanted to do with my life, joyfully I told him I wanted to be a computer engineer. I felt this sudden silence and shock on the phone, he made a comment to me, a comment that changed who i am today, he said “But you are a woman, Engineering is a man work, how will you do that?”. This later caused me to research more about women in engineering, and to my amusement, women are less found in engineering. Today I will tell you the two reason why this issue is occuring and the steps we can all take to end such issue. Lack of women in the engineering field can be because women were often assigned jobs sorting papers, copying, and typing—tasks they felt did not value or cultivate their skills. Lack of confidence also causes women to feel unwanted in the engineering field....
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...Role of Women in WW2 The role of women changed dramatically during and after World War 2 (WW2). Initially women would do the housework and look after the children. During the war, women did not only have to take care of the house, they slowly started becoming popular in the working industry. After the war, women were able to have more power and were considered more than just a pretty face. Topic sentence: Before the war, women had very little freedom, power and job opportunities. Explanation: Women were the leaders of the house. They would cook, clean, wash and wipe whilst looking after children. Some of them had feminine jobs, like tailoring, where they would work and try to earn money in order to support their husbands or if their husbands were unable to work. Before the war, it was generally thought that a MAN was the main bread winner and provider for their families. Ladies were very limited with their social interactions as well. They were occasional allowed get-togethers along-side their husbands. Evidence: Women were devoted to their husbands and if you weren’t married then you were supposed to be devoted to their father. Meaning that you were born to cook, clean, wash, wipe and bear children. Link: But with so many men away at war, this idealistic view began to change. Women were allowed to work and were expected to be an active member of the workforce. Topic sentence: The rise of women and their path to change during WW2. Explanation: When all the men where off...
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...Women Role in Society Essay Women and rural development Women rarely have access to the resources that would make their work more productive and ease their heavy workload. Ultimately, it is not just women who are held back, but also their families, their communities and local economies. Rural women have many roles, and they have responsibilities and knowledge that differ from those of men. As farmers, they plant, weed and harvest food crops and tend livestock. As caretakers, they look after children and relatives, prepare meals and manage the home. Many women earn extra income by working as wage labourers, producing and selling vegetables, or engaging in small-scale trading and enterprises. Added to these multiple tasks, they spend long hours fetching water and collecting firewood. In developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, women typically work 12 more hours per week than men. In poor and marginal areas and areas affected by climate change, where men have been forced to migrate in search of work, women often have the sole responsibility for farming and raising the children. Despite their many responsibilities, women have significantly less access to the resources and services they need to increase their productivity and their income and ease their burden of household duties. Women are held back by lack of education, unequal property rights and limited control over resources. Labour intensive and time-consuming activities further hinder women’s ability...
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...something that I have never really looked into but have always wanted to. The role of women in society, and how prevailing orthodoxies have changed along with the cultural landscape to further shape this often misconceived topic. With the matter of gender equality ever present in today’s society, something that could not always be said, I feel now is a great time to investigate further what factors have ultimately sculpted popular thought in regards to this tender topic. Women’s role’s in family and in society is constantly changing. What was expected of a woman 25 years ago has made a complete 360 to what is expected of them now. The role of women in society has definitely changed, in the past 30 years especially. Women and girls have a lot more opportunities and face different challenges. The playing field is not level, but neither is gender bias as black and white as it once was. I still feel that women do not have the same position as men, though a lot of progress has definitely been made in society to bring women to a stage where they have equal rights and equal pay, but still I think the old age conception of man as the ultimate ruler is still very prevalent in most 21st century mindsets. To try and understand how peoples mind work with topics such as this, you really can’t just focus on one particular point in time; you must delve into the historical evidence and examples of women’s roles in society and how with time they have changed and also why they have changed...
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