Womens Rights between 1750 and 1914 Essay Example for Free

Womens Rights between 1750 and 1914 Essay The era spanning 1750 CE and 1914 CE was the era of revolutions. These revolutions were political, economic, and cultural, and usually very drastic. Perhaps the most visible cultural change was that in working-class womens rights and conditions, which improved significantly during the era of revolutions. The most visible improvements in womens rights were seen in Western Europe and China, where women gained many rights but remained under patriarchal authority and could not vote. Western Europe was the home of revolution. Social revolution grew out of Europe, and Renaissance men and women heralded human rights. Revolutions of the people were built upon the support of women, and in women used their dedication during wartime to garner support for peace-time rights. Women in Western Europe tried to harness the spirit of freedom, equality, and popular sovereignty. It was during the era of revolution that large womens rights movements were established, providing women with their own unions. Enlightenment thinkers presented very convincing arguments for female rights, and in many cases persuaded governments to grant women rights such as free public education, inheritance, and legalized divorce. However, little in terms of actual rights were achieved. In China, industrialization had become a part of life following the mid-eighteenth century. Unlike European industrializing power, China industrialized while relatively remote from other industrial nations, allowing it to develop its own strand of industrialization. Before industrialization, the humiliating practice of foot binding was very popular. Girls were often victims of infanticide, as boys could grow up to become government officials whereas girls would be married and become subservient to another family. Population growth in China caused by industrialization led to social change, and social revolution came in the form of the Taiping program, which decreed that men and women were equal. Though quickly put down, this showed that on the small scale, Chinese women were gaining more rights and independence, and a many people believed that they should no longer be treated as subservient individuals. Throughout the era of revolution, women maintained a, to some degree,  subservient position to men. Despite the many attempts by feminists to try and gain equal rights, little besides recognized was gained for the feminist cause. Indeed, it was not until after World War I that women gained suffrage. Up through 1914, women throughout both China and Western Europe maintained the same generally subservient role in the male household, despite gaining several token rights. It required large-scale social change in order to change the ingrown attitude towards women. Overall, working-class women in Western Europe and China gained little between 1750 and 1914 CE. They built the ideas and foundation that they would need in order to gain rights such as suffrage and legal equality later in the twentieth century, but little more than symbolic rights were granted them. Works Cited Hosken, Fran P., Towards a Definition of Womens Rights in Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 2. (May, 1981), pp. 1-10. Lockwood, Bert B. (ed.), Womens Rights: A Human Rights Quarterly Reader (John Hopkins University Press, 2006), ISBN 9780801883743Lafitau, Joseph Franà §ois, cited by Campbell, Joseph in, Myth, religion, and mother-right: selected writings of JJ Bachofen. Manheim, R (trans.) Princeton, N.J. 1967 introduction xxxiii

Part II of Sir Gawain :: Sir Gawain Essays

Text: Part II In this passage of the story.......We find that Sir Gawain is feeling very melancholy and distraught over the events that have shaped the last year of his life. It is the Christmas season, and while most of his comrades at King Arthur's Court are enjoying the warm fires of their castles, he is trudging through the cold mud and muck of an uninviting wilderness. At the end of his journey he ultimately expects to meet certain death at the hands of the immortal Green Knight, and so alone except for his loyal horse Gringolet, Gawain in his hour of need turns to God for divine intervention:Click Here to Hear Gawain "He said his prayer with signs, Lamenting his misdeed; he crosses himself, and cries On Christ in his great need." No sooner has he made the sign of the cross to conclude his petition then before him appears the most wondrous sight. A great castle looms up where a moment before there were only stark mountains and dark mysterious woods. Gawain has never seen such a magnificent structure. In the center of a park more than two miles wide it stood, constructed of stone blocks that shimmered amid bright colored leaves that should not have been in bloom at that time of the year. There was a double moat surrounding immense battlements which had been fortified to withstand an assault from even the fiercest of invaders. Yet with all the barbicans of war there were also delicate spires rising in tiers amid elaborately ornamented gables. So perfect was the image of this estate that it reminded Gawain of "A castle cut for a king's feast". He thanks God and St. Julian the patron saint of hospitality for his redemption from solitude, and approaches the castle over a strange bridge which hangs in the air. On the far side he is met by the most polite of porters. Humbly Gawain asks permission to enter the grounds in order to seek the lord of the castle’s hospitality.

Examine the ways in which feminism has contributed Essay

Examine the ways In which femlnlsm has contributed to our understanding of families Feminists take critical views of the family as they argue it oppresses women and therefore creates issues such as unequal divisions of domestic labour and domestic violence against women. Feminists believe that there is a triple burden’ of paid work. domestic labour and emotional work. Also gender Inequality Is not regarded as natural or Inevitable, but something that has been created by society. Feminists also argue that the oppression of women is due to patriarchy. The New Right has been criticised by feminists such as Ann Oakley (1997) as it has a conservative and anti-feminist perspective on the family. The New Right is firmly opposed to family diversity. The New Right sees the nuclear family as the ‘natural’ family and Is based upon fundamental biological differences between men and women. In their view, the nuclear family has clear-cut divisions of labour between the breadwinner-husband and homemaker-wife. Therefore leading to criticisms from feminists. Ann Oakley argues that the New Right wrongly assumes that husbands and wives’ roles are fixed by biology. She also believes that the New Right view of the family is a negative reaction against the feminist campaign for women’s equality. Even more so, other feminists argue that the traditional nuclear family favoured by the New Right Is based on the patriarchal oppression of women and Is a fundamental cause of gender inequality. In this view, it prevents women working and keeps them financially dependent on me. Feminism is often referred to as feminisms’ as it is acknowledge that the feminist label Is broad and a cover many types of feminist. The main types of feminists are; Liberal, Marxist, Radical and Dfference. Liberal feminists such as Jenny Somerville (2000) believe that the main obstacle for women is the equality in attitudes, practices and law in which can be changed without any fundamental changes to the structure of society. They also are concerned with campaigning against sex discrimination and for equal rights and opportunities. Through people favouring and challenging the gender role soclallsatlon In childhood, attitudes can then be changed towards roles In the family. Liberal feminists argue that women’s oppression is gradually being overcome hrough the changing attitudes and changes in laws such as the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) which outlaws discrimination in employment. Even more so Liberal feminists hold a similar view to theorists such as Young and Willmott, although they do not believe full gender equality has been achieved in the family, they argue It has been a gradual progress. Through the gradual progress of changing attitudes, the ways In wnlcn cn110ren are soclallsea In tne Tamlly Is now OITTerent. Daugnters are socialised more equally to sons in the modern day compared to the past. However, ther feminists such as Marxist and Radical, criticise Liberal feminists for failing to challenge the underlying causes of women’s oppression and for believing that changes in law or attitudes will be enough to bring equality. Marxist feminists and Radical feminists believe instead that far-reaching revolutionary changes to deep- root social structures are needed. Another type of feminist is Marxist feminism, and they argue that the main cause of women’s oppression in the family is not men, but capitalism. Several functions are performed through women’s oppression for capitalism, firstly that women reproduce he labour force, through their unpaid domestic labour and by socialising the next generation of workers and maintain the servicing of the current generation. Another function is that women absorb anger that would otherwise be directed at capitalism. Wives are describe as takers of shit’ by Fran Ansley (1972) who acknowledges that women soak up the frustration of their husbands feelings due to the alienation and exploitation they suffer at work. This is a primary example for Marxists, as it explains male domestic violence against women. Abbot and Wallace (1990) note that the main ause of domestic violence is the male perception that the partner is failing her duties. Dobash and Dobash (1979) also found that these duties tended to be about sex, money and home making. Due to the male perception of the partner failing her duties, it is often resulted in the women believing that they deserved to be beaten. Also women are a ‘reserve army of cheap labour, meaning that when extra workers are needed women shall be taken on to work, but as soon as they are no longer needed the employers ‘let them go’ to return to their primary role as unpaid domestic labour. However, Radical feminists have been critical based on the emphasis is being put on capitalist forms of exploitation. They argue that patriarchy predates Capitalism which makes it a more significant explanation of female exploitation and oppression. Radical feminists argue that all societies have been founded on patriarchy and for radical feminists the key division in society is between me and women. Radical feminists see men as the enemy as they are the source of women’s oppression and exploitation. Also that the family and marriage are the key institutions in patriarchal ociety. Men benefit form women’s domestic labour and from their sexual services, and they dominate women through domestic and sexual violence or the threat of it. Radical feminists argue that the family is the root of women’s oppression, so therefore must be abolished. They also argue that the only way to achieve this is through separatism, where women must live independently of men. Even more so, radical feminists argue for ‘political lesbianism’, which is the idea that heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive because they involve ‘sleeping with the enemy. Germaine Greer (2000) argues for the creation of all-female or ‘matrilocal’ households as an alternative to the heterosexual family. However, for liberal feminists such as Jenny Somerville (2000), radical feminists fail to recognise that women’s position has improved considerably with better access to Jobs, divorce and control over tnelr own Tertlll ty Somerville also argues tnat separatlsm Is unlikely to work as heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that the conventional nuclear family will disappear. On the other hand, Somerville does agree that women have yet to chieve full equality. The feminist approaches already considered tend to assume that most women live in conventional nuclear families and that they share a similar experience of family life. However, difference feminists argue that women have very different experiences of the family from one another and so therefore cannot be generalised. For example, working-class and middle-class women, black and white women and lesbian and heterosexual women all share different experiences so therefore cannot be compared. Black feminists argue that by regarding the family solely on a source of ppression, white feminists neglect black women’s experiences of racial oppression. The black family is positively viewed as a source of support and resistance against racism by black feminists. However other feminists argue that this approach neglects the fact that, despite such differences, women do in fact share many of the same experiences. For example, women face a greater risk of domestic violence and sexual assault and low pay compared with men. Feminism is criticised for ignoring the increased family diversity of families in the modern day, and although the nuclear family remains important, it is by no means the only family type.

Democracy Outlined by Plato and Aristotle Essay - 914 Words

In the fifth-century BC, Athens emerged as one of the most advanced state or polis in all of Greece. This formation of Athenian ‘democracy’ holds the main principle that citizens should enjoy political equality in order to be free to rule and be ruled in turn. The word ‘democracy’ originates from the Greek words demos (meaning people) and kratos (meaning power) therefore demokratia means â€Å"the power of the people.† The famous funeral speech of Pericles states that â€Å"Our constitution is called democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people.† However, only citizens (free adult men of Athenian descent) could participate in political matters. Women and slaves held no political rights, although they were†¦show more content†¦In short, it outlines the problem that there can be no correct leadership in a democracy. The leader elected by the people must act accordingly to secure and maintain his pos ition, as a result the leader cannot act in the best interest of the society, only in the interests of the ‘mob.’ Secondly, Plato argues that within a democracy there will always be factions or a group of people that believe they are right, these factions gain power and support through their wealth and property. This problem creates conflicts and a breakdown of society which Plato believes could lead to civil war. Thirdly, Plato suggests that a proper society maintains itself by stability and authority. Stability is maintained by looking towards the future rather than short term, when authority is lost the people lose sight of what is best for them, thus losing stability. Finally, considering points two and three Plato argues that with a breakdown of authority and stability combined with factions, this would result in violence creating the inevitability of civil war. As a consequence, tyranny is formed to end violence in the interest of the many for the power of the on e. These four problems present the inevitability that democracy is destined for ruin. Plato in the Republic writes about a new form of society which would be based upon the good of everyone, whereby those who are most able should rule. Plato states that Unless, said I,Show MoreRelated Foundations of Political Thought Essays1664 Words   |  7 PagesAristotle and Socrates and Plato’s beliefs have similarities mainly evident in their denouncement of democracy for the state. The views of Socrates expressed and written by his pupil Plato are vastly philosophical in nature and he promotes the idea of questioning life to achieve insight. The philosophers who possess the absolute truth are the best equipped to rule society according to Plato and his Allegory of the Cave. Conversely, Aristotle takes a more political science approach of discussingRead MoreComparing Aristotle s 8 1455 Words   |  6 Pagesqualified compared to others. Plato outlines the different aspects of government and why he believes an aristocracy would be better form of government. In book 8 Socrates starts to wrap up his depiction of a just city. He starts to break down the four unjust constitutions of the city and man. Timocracy, which is represented by the honor-driven man who resembles and rules that sort of government. There is an oligarchy, ruled by a man driven by his necessary appetites. Democracy, in which the man is controlledRead MoreCritical Analysis of Plato and Aristotle1634 Words   |  7 PagesPOL 311 (HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT) TOPIC A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLES POLITICAL THOUGHT WRITTEN BY OKWOR, STEPHEN USHIE 09/ED/EF/814 DEPT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS (POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIT) FACULTY OF EDUCATION SUBMITTED TO DR. EJERE DEPT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF UYO, UYO AKWA IBOM STATE MAY, 2012 A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLES POLITICAL THOUGHT In order to compare these great philosophers, it isRead More Aristotle and the Techne of Rhetoric Essay1447 Words   |  6 PagesAristotle and the Techne of Rhetoric Between the third and fifth centuries B.C. there existed a â€Å"golden and classical age† of thought in the ancient world, with the majority of this activity centered in the polis of Athens, Greece. Although the city is historically recognized for its legendary conflict with rival polis Sparta, Athens is perhaps best known for the creation of democracy—that noble political experiment that laid the preliminary structure for most of the rights we AmericansRead MorePlato s Ideal State1919 Words   |  8 PagesCHAPTER III. Types of Plato in this part of our presentation, we take a look at another important part of the teachings of Plato s ideal state in particular and the political views of Plato, in general. Plato s ideal state - a speculative concept, which takes place in comparison with other types of which Plato also describes. First of all, we mean the four imperfect form of the state - timocracy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny. Also in this context, it is advisable to consider utopian aristocraticRead MorePolitical Philosophy and Plato Essay9254 Words   |  38 PagesSocrates 469 BC–399 BC, was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes. Many would claim that Platos dialogues are the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. 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Even if there were other civilizations that were more established and advanced than the Greeks, they had produced â€Å"vast literatures on every human practice, as well as speculations about the origins of life and the formation of the universe†. But, tracing back to ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, is the tradition of politicalRead Moreontemporary Thinkers: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aguinas Essay6220 Words   |  25 Pages Contemporary Thinkers: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aguinas Question #1 : Please discuss the political organization of the Greek city- states, particularly Athenian democracy at the time of Pericles, Plato, and Aristotle. Also discuss the backgrounds of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and the fate of the Greek city-states historically. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;During the time of Pericles, Plato, and Aristotle, Greece was divided into city-states with a wide variety of constitutions, rangingRead MoreThucydides and The Civil War at Corcyra2013 Words   |  9 Pagesparty. Aristotle describes these political parties by saying â€Å"these parties you see, were not formed under existing laws for the good, but for avarice in violation of established law. And the oaths they swore to each other had their authority not so much by divine law, as by there being partners in breaking law† (3.82). Another venal motivation behind the civil war was the financial issues between the two parties. Although the Democrats falsely accuse the Oligarchs of threatening democracy, there