Seminar Three Journal

There are many poems written about women. Poets admired their beauty, bravery, commitment… The least of all good qualities is endless. However, why there existed a problem of women’s status in society in the past? How a life of a modern woman differs from one of the woman in ancient times?

To start our comparison let us remember, that a human history describes the woman as an active member of a society. In all times she widely participated in manufacture of foodstuff and in a creation of material benefits. The woman always was engaged in education of children, worked in the house and, together with the man, in the field, in a workshop of the handicraftsman, and later – on a factory. In some cultures, women had to work side-by-side with men. In the Anglo-Saxon period, women often took part in battles alongside the men. However, very often men considered women as the second-class citizens.

Green induces us to remember, “Since Adam and Eve, women have been embarrassed in many ways. They had no rights even to decide something” (Green, 2011). In the past, the woman had barely any rights in the family; she had no right to divorce her husband and no one paid attention if her family life was unhappy or a man offended her. She just had no authority. Now a woman is the same member of a family as her husband and she has a right to choose whom to marry.

In the past, the woman’s duties at home were to cook meal, to clean the house, to take care of children and all things concerning household duties. If there was a daughter in a family, she even could not receive inheritance of her father just because she was a woman. In the sphere of business, women never occupied high positions. They worked as slaves in agriculture or handicrafts.

In some parts of the world, the old proverb about women “barefoot and pregnant” is still true and reflects the reality. Women are deprived of any rights in the family because men make major decisions and women agree with all things the husband says. Women do not possess anything, and they cannot go to school and receive education. Hundreds of years ago in England women also could not take over money or property. Widows were not allowed to marry again.

It must be underlined that our world is always in a progress. Today the position of women in society has changed for the better in comparison to the past centuries. Years ago, women were considered to be in charge of only their household duties. Nowadays they play the same role as men in society, and even more important. They are still mothers and at the same time, they hold high posts in politics and other branches of social life.

It is very important that now they have a right to decide what status to have in a family and business. They succeeded in the fight for women’s rights. Today, women are on the same footing with men in most branches of life. If necessary, women can now occupy such positions in business that, as a rule, were held by men. The example here is a profession of a doctor as there are many brilliant woman specialists now. There are also women prime ministers and even presidents.

Today, woman all over the world are able to show their talents and their status in family and business is higher if compared with the past. Eichner writes, “the breaking lines which changed the understanding the value of life were World War I and World War II” (Eichner, 2004) People learned to protect their rights. Moreover, this new understanding encouraged women to insist on their rights.

The feminism became the world phenomenon. The United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Italy, Germany and other countries have faced direct influence of feminism.Today there are a lot of feminist organizations which inform us on the issues of the women’s lives both in the past as well as today. Though today women have equal rights with men, there are still countries where the woman submits to a will of men. Feminists struggle for the rights of such women. In Feminist Peace Network, they declare their rights to live free from aggression and violence. They are against wars, because each victory is made on mothers’ and sisters’ tears. They call for an end to terrorism and rape. They demand the education of women and girls in every nation.

The one thing I don’t like in the feminism is that women intend “to struggle for equality” gaining man’s qualities. “To execute!” – there was a feministic slogan. Women adopted man’s roles and individual traits. The Family/children became less important while the care and education of children became the central question of the day. I think that woman is born to be a mother, to care about the family. The problem is that many men do not support their woman and even do not think that a wife can have other interests except home. Both man and woman must take care of their family and both have a right to be good specialists at their work at the same time. As for me, the woman in a feminist’s vision is a bit rude and energetic person who cares just about her social position and forgets about her real valuable mission – to give a life to a new person.

I think that now there is no need to struggle because each country guarantees equal rights both to man and woman. This became reality due to Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Women today to have rights to obtain inheritance or to divorce as well as an opportunity to express themselves in all spheres of life. Nowadays, if we look at business life, we will observe a great number of talented, effectively-working women. There are also a lot of women among scholars. In the twenty-first century women are active participants of every field. They proved they could do things and think like men and even better. In addition, there are many examples when a woman is successful both at home and at work. These women are worthy of admiration and emulation.

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