Is_Women_Facing_Inequality_Today_

ARGUMENT 3: In gender equality argument and issue – people jump to conclusion that women is the aggrieved party – the one discriminated against. However this may not be necessarily so, this is a prejudice which all harbor. In many instance men are at the receiving end. Legal rights and policies often lean in flavor of women. Where divorce cases are concerned, mothers have a higher chance of winning custody of the children, even If the father could possibly provide a more financially stable environment from them to grow up in. Judicial courts are increasingly putting a higher price tag on what the lower earning or non-working spouse(usually the wife)contributes to the marriage and judges are granting them more alimony to women. Similarly, rape laws advantage women by preventing men from challenging their accusers and in instances of male raped by females, women are convicted less frequently and given lighter sentences than if the converse were to happen. There are many facets and reasons on why all these are happening. The underlying reason is that each gender has a specific role. Women have always been the giver of lives, the mother, the abundance and the home makers. Men have always been the providers, the protectors and the political force in the society. These roles are biologically and genetically encrypted and ingrained. Hence in the modern world where the paradigms and society shifted its underlying platforms – the traditional or biological roles became mixed. Economically – work is different – it is not physical anymore, protector’s role is not of paramount importance as we all specialized and there are laws and enforcers. It is against these background and paradigms changes that the equality issues are planted in. Hence the mixed up roles and the acceptance of things like same gender marriage and family unit add to the conundrum and confusion. The social norms and benchmarks are all shifting, making them hard to be measured against. Equality is also a very subjective term and different society takes a different position. The so called gender equality gestated out of the women’s liberation movements in the 60s and gained momentum with the advent of the mass media spreading the fads through the western world. However in the East, developing countries where the key concern is still putting adequate food on the table such ideas are taken as foolhardy concepts. Hence both genders can be discriminated against, and all these depend on the society and level of social development in that country. In the western countries the laws have been over done in favour of women. In the family aspects, men taking on the role of home makers are sneered at whereas women bringing in the bacon is an accepted behavior. Women therefore have an advantages of a dual role, shifting in an out of each without social chastisement- stigma.