A little bit of respect towards Woman.
A LIITLE BIT RESPECT TOWARDS WOMAN Through the centuries, the relationship between men and women had been a subject of discussion. Since Adam and Eve, it has been thought that men are superior and dominant in a society. In fact, history also confirms this: If we generalize; in mythology for instance the major god who is Zeus is a man, in a society the sovereign, in a war the one who fight at the front line, in a factory the boss, in a family the father who is seen as the sage and the children whose ideas are most considered by his parents is again a man. These prejudices differentiate according to the education level, the environment in which the person has growth and his philosophy of life.There is still in many societies the inequality of genders. Hence, women want their rights and their role in a society. They want to be independent. They do not want to behave in such ways that their culture, tradition and religion oblige them. They want to have the right to comment on someone or something. They are looking for a little respect. Although today’s women are taking place in many fields, we cannot compare it with men’s activities. In the developed countries, women can have more rights than underdeveloped countries, but the world is not bounded with only developed countries. Even nowadays, there are still women, who have to die because their husband has died, there are ten years old girls who are pushed to marry with very old men because of cultural causes. So this is underlining the importance of a movement: feminism.Women, who became aware of these injustices and their power, gradually started some actions. One of them is feminism; a movement which defends the belief that woman should have at least the same opportunities as man and which tries to increase the rights that a woman can profit, in a society. Feminism, which started at 18th century by the reaction of woman, who forms the half of the population of the world, to the events, realized by man and which affect them is continuing its existence in order to fulfil women’s ideals. Especially Anglo and French feminist had many studies to prove their competence. Simone de Beauvoir, French philosopher, novelist and essayist concerned with social status of women. Her two-volume treatise ‘The Second Sex’ is among the most widely read feminist documents.In ‘The Second Sex’ written in 1949, Beauvoir traced the development of male oppression through historical, literary, and mythical sources, attributing its contemporary effects on women to a systematic objective of the male as a positive norm. This consequently identifies the female as ‘Other’, which commonly leads to a loss of social and personal identity. In it, she wrote frankly about her
experiences growing up female in a male dominated world. Simone de Beauvoir never accepted for the role society had created for her gender. So, in order to first of all starting by analysing Beauvoir, her life and ideology and secondly her ideas stated about woman in his novel and finally her prescriptions that would, according to her, better the woman’s position in society we can better understand the feminist mind and the importance of feminism. It was not amazing that Beauvoir will one day be a great thinker and one of the avant gardes of the movement feminism. Simone de ...
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experiences growing up female in a male dominated world. Simone de Beauvoir never accepted for the role society had created for her gender. So, in order to first of all starting by analysing Beauvoir, her life and ideology and secondly her ideas stated about woman in his novel and finally her prescriptions that would, according to her, better the woman’s position in society we can better understand the feminist mind and the importance of feminism. It was not amazing that Beauvoir will one day be a great thinker and one of the avant gardes of the movement feminism. Simone de Beauvoir grew up in a respected bourgeois family, the eldest of two daughters. She adopted atheism while still an adolescent, and decided to devote her life to writing and studying. She had a grate education level: “She graduated from the Sorbonne in 1929, writing a thesis on Leibniz” (Woolf, 2000). Philosophy for her was not only a lesson; it was a discussion and study of the essentials of existence. She also thought high school while developing the basis for her philosophical thought between 1931 and 1943. Moreover, Beauvoir followed the tradition of the 18th century ‘gadfly’ philosophy’s (Marvin, 2000). Thus, she used her background in formal philosophy to voice her sentiments on feminism. Her major thrust into philosophical analysis was due to her life-long friendship with Sartre. Using some of the ideas she worked with in ethics and a few of the existentialism as described by Sartre, she went on to produce her famous work, ‘The Second Sex’ where she explains that; “far from suffering from being a woman, I have on the contrary, from the age 21, accumulated the advantages of both sexes.” (qtd. Wool, 2002). Working with the idea that women are the "other," and another statement: "that woman is not born, but made." Beauvoir delved deep into the history of women's oppression. This was the definitive declaration of woman's independence.Beauvoir, with a feminist mind studied in his novel woman’s situation in society and its character. The factor, which shapes woman’s character, is not only her biological structure; there is also the man factor, which shapes her personality and her place in society. According to Simone de Beauvoir; we must only note that the varieties of behaviour reported are not dictated to woman by her hormones nor predetermined in the structure of the female brain: they are shaped as in a mould by her situation (Beauvoir, p.608). Thus, we have to apprehend the eternal feminine in the totally of her economic, social, and historical condition. Therefore, it is not fair to judge woman by only considering her biological structure. Woman have never constituted a closed and independent society, they form one part of the group, which is governed males. Hence, man’s influence on woman’s character and situation in the society is incalculable. As mentioned Beauvoir: “they belong at one time and the same time to the male world and to a sphere in which that world is challenged; shut up in their world, surrounded by the other, they can settle down nowhere in peace” (Beauvoir, p.609). Woman that is why does not consider herself responsible; according to ‘eternal children’, as Beauvoir named women; they do not have any role in the masculine world. This world is ruled and dominated by man. Woman, through centuries has shut upped and as a consequence she doesn’t interest in the reality around her, as a child she accept the laws laid by men. Therefore, it is not correct to accuse woman to not to be in a high rank. Woman generally is not familiar with the use of masculine logic. To see things clearly is not her business, because she has been thought to accept masculine authority. The masculine world seems woman as an unchangeable reality, an absolute, therefore; she does not criticizing the world, nor herself. As cited Beauvoir: “Man makes the gods and woman worship them” (Beauvoir, p.611). Women’s ineffectiveness and ignorance give rise to the respect accorded by them to the laws of the masculine world; they accept them by an act of faith. That is, they respect the law simply because it is the law. This can be a result of their ignorance; to be thrown to a second rang, to be thought since centuries by their father, their husband, by every man in every part of their life that they have to obey the masculine world’s rules. Many of faults for which woman are reproached such as mediocrity, laziness, frivolity and servility as states Beauvoir are simply the fact that their horizon is closed. According to her, it is said that woman is sensual, she wallows in immanence; but she has first been shut up in it. Actually, these adjectives attributed to woman are not true. They are not lazy; their occupations are extremely important for them and occupy all their time. They are not servile; because a slave cannot have the sense of human dignity; it is enough for a slave to rescue (Beauvoir, p.615). Their horizon is closed by others. Everything happens to woman to woman through the agency of others that means men. For instance, a free individual as claims Beauvoir; blames only himself for his failures, he assumes responsibility for them; but everything happens to woman through the agency of others and therefore these others are responsible for her woes (Beauvoir, p.617). Therefore, especially men before claiming woman have to thing largely in order to remember that they are responsible of shaping this state of woman and closing their horizon. One of the most important states of woman is when she falls in love. However, the word love does not have the same sense for both sexes. For woman to love is to relinquish everything for the benefit of a master which is actually a man. Nevertheless, this situation is not similar for man. As Beauvoir in her novel used Byron’s sentence: “Man’s love is of man’s life thing apart ‘Tis woman’s whole existence” and as Cecile Sauvage stated: “Woman must forget her own personality when she is in love. It is a law of nature. A woman is non-existent without a master. Without a master, she is a scattered bouquet” (Beauvoir, p.653). These statements are true for women who live in a masculine world. Thus, it is expected for woman shut upped in their world, knowing and accepting men as their Gods to appropriate them in a relationship ad a master. Love becomes for such people a religion. As well said Beauvoir: “Shut up in the sphere of the relative, destined to the male from childhood, habituated to seeing in him a superb being whom she cannot possibly equal, the woman who has not repressed her claim to humanity will dream of transcending her being towards one of these superior beings, of amalgamating herself with the sovereign subject” (Beauvoir, p.653).Even in our days there is a statement asserted by psychologist: “woman seeks the father image in her lover; but it is because he is a man, not because he is a father, that he dazzles the girl child, and every man shares in this magical power” (Beauvoir, p.655). Hence, this sentence which protecting its value since centuries, keep in our minds the woman’s place in society that is thrown in a second rank and her crushed character. For such a human being it is acceptable to make men the centre of their world. More over they start, when they are in love to identify them with the loved one. Simone de Beauvoir’s one important sentence confirms this phenomenon of identification: “The woman in love tries to see with her eyes; she reads the books he reads, prefers the pictures and the music he prefers; she is interested only in the landscapes she sees with him, in the ideas that come from him; she adopts his friendship, his enmities, his opinions; when she questions herself, it is her reply she tries to hear; she wants to have in her lungs the air he has already breathed; the fruits and flowers that do not come from his hands have no taste and no fragrance” (Beauvoir, p.663). Therefore; as it is understood in a male dominant world, woman’s situation in society, her character and her state in love also take a shape of characteristics dominated by male. It is not true, as it is generally believed that woman are lacking of intelligence; in contrast they are more intelligent than the others can imagine. Moreover they are more competent then the ‘others’. It is usually hidden in their entire act a sign of intelligence. For instance, there are many aspects of behaviour that should be interpreted as forms of protest. Woman who is usually accused of being late, insist actually on her independence, she protest against the long wait which is her life. As mentioned Beauvoir: “When she is late, she has deliberately planned to be. Some coquettish women think they stimulate the man’s desire in this way and make their presence the more highly appreciated; but in making the man wait a few minutes, the woman is above is above all protesting against that long wait: her life (Beauvoir, p.621). Besides this protesting behaviour, women generally are patient. They can stand physical pain much better than men can, they are brave, and they are calm and have passive resistance. As cited Simone de Beauvoir: “They face crises, poverty, misfortune, more energetically than their husbands; respecting duration, which no haste can overcome, they do not ration their time. When they apply their quiet persistence to an enterprise, they are sometimes startlingly successful” (Beauvoir, p.613). The truth actually is that woman is as intelligent as man is. After seeing woman’s situation in society and noticing that they are thrown to a second place in an unjustly manner it is unacceptable to not to give importance to the feminism movement. Women, in a male dominated world became through centuries ‘eternal children’, they shut upped, their horizon is closed, and their character has shaped in a passive manner. These women, because of not possessing masculine logic are accused to not to be as intelligent as man is. Nevertheless, the ‘others’ never tried to understand them. They waited from them always to adapt to their situation and accept their rules. Woman, therefore, besides her high psychological superiority has always seen as unqualified human being and usually could not even receive their natural rights. They have been dominated even when they jumped into the loftier situation; love by men. In conclusion, before centuries as mentioned Simone de Beauvoir, and also as today lots of feminists are fighting for the rights that a woman can profit increase and they can be able to use same opportunities as men. Therefore, in such condition, the power and the quality of women must be understood and they must be brought to the places that they merit. Women with their patience, intelligence, and emotions are the main part of the society. They are sometimes mothers, sometimes wives and sometimes children. However, it is certain that without them we cannot have joy or pleasure in our lives. We must respect them; give a special part in our hearts and a special place in our lives. Therefore, women might have an equal place as men. We cannot even think a life without woman. We must have a little bit respect towards them, towards their being, their character, their personality, their psychology and their rights. BIBLIOGRAPHY
