Just because the majority of top jobs are reserved for men it does not mean women cannot have careers. The traditional jobs such as midwifery or nursing, which were once dominated by females are now open to men and therefore women have been allowed to enter into the job vacancies left by men. A fine example of a successful woman with a career is portrayed in the American TV show “Sex and the City”. The programme revolves around 4 dominant females whilst the men featured are merely accessories. An average episode would show a man being used and then his personality heavily scrutinised for the women’s entertainment. The particular show provides evidence that that women can do just as well, or even better in the workplace than their male companions. The main character, Carrie, is a journalist and so too is her boyfriend. One book written by a male, one book written by a female but Carrie’s book receives better reviews. In 1857 however this would not have been the case so many female authors chose to publish their works using a pseudonym. Charlotte Bronte for example used “Currer Bell” to write as. I should probably comment that “Sex and the City is set in New York, where to survive having a career is necessary and that in Southern areas of the USA the facts would vary considerably.
On a completely different line some women have no freedom. For example those who until recently were under the control of the Taliban. Whereas in England a hundred years ago a girl in education was unheard of the same still happened under the Taliban only a few years ago. The Islam religion on its own without being made more extreme is still damaging to women; millions of women and girls are forced to marry and have sex with men they do not desire due to the tradition of arranged marriages. Muslim women have little say and cannot even ask for a divorce if they are unhappy. Some men are permitted to have four wives so you could argue that he views women as possessions. Muslims follow a life pattern set out in the Quran, which has been around for thousands of years and the treatment of women has changed very little. Even in the Christian faith religion has modernised itself and allowed women vicars.
“We were attacked by military together with Interahamwe. The Interahamwe were sent by the military. The Interahamwe were wild. To survive you had to let yourself be raped.” Marie-Clare, victim of rape during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, quoted in Human Rights Watch report
The above quotation shows how in some countries omen are unable to depend on the government to protect them from physical violence in the home, with sometimes fatal consequences, including increased risk of HIV/AIDS infection. Women in some state custody face sexual assault by their jailers, just because they are women.
From reading “More” magazine I can interpret from the many fashion and beauty pages that women obviously wish to be perceived as sexual beings that are attractive to men. Men also want women to look good as the pages of FHM magazine are filled with scantily clad ladies. However women also want to be seen as intelligent and in “More” magazine there are book reviews suggesting this. Men often make fun of women particularly with the use of ‘blonde jokes’. The subject is never a fair-headed man but a ditsy girl. Both magazines discuss women but they are both biased so to appeal to the particular audience who they are aimed at.
I have proved that he position of women in our society cannot be generalised as throughout the world women receive differing amounts of respect. When occasionally comparing today’s woman with history I have discovered that there has been a change, and perhaps it will be only a small amount of time before the less socially developed countries begin to follow the examples of America and Great Britain in evening the divide between the sexes.