Women in America

An interesting title popped up while I was reading the Give Me Liberty textbook today: "Women and the Family". Equality between men and women has always been a controversial issue in the United States. However, it is not as strongly debated upon in some older and more mature countries, such as England and France. To put it into perspective, sexist statements in more developed European countries tend to be considered as less offensive, because sexism in these countries has already lost its meaning, and the comedic element of these statements are weighed more importantly than its offensive qualities. Nonetheless, Americans seem to be extremely sensitive to this issue. From a man's perspective, women can react very dramatically to statements which punctuate the differences between the two sexes. From a woman's perspective, many aspects of society are still inherently in favor of men, and such injustice must be resolved. It doesn't make sense, however, to have such great inequality between men and women, especially in a highly developed society constructed upon the principle of egalitarianism.

The textbook gives some insight to solving this mystery of gender inequality. The unstable family life of Virginia - the earliest enduring English colony - dramatically changed women's role in English American settlements. Although women's rights technically improved in the colonies due to demands for labor, this movement of gender equality was superficial. The failure of men to establish their patriarchal ideals led them to view women not based solely on their ability, but arrogantly their very identity.

Historically speaking, women have been mistreated due to the misconception that they are inferior to men in most aspects. This argument had been greatly undermined throughout history, as the European society gained liberal qualities which enabled philosophers and scientists alike to explore social, physical, and mental differences between men and women. Over time, humanity has reached a general consensus, or at least recently established a social norm, that although there are fundamental differences between men and women, such differences should be regarded as insignificant. Although this argument may not be consistent throughout the globe, certain countries have already established this fact, and the world is indeed progressing towards agreeing to this statement. However, the early American colonies, which was founded atop the most primitive model of liberty and ideals regarding gender, diverged from this meritocratic thinking at its starting point. This inhibits them from completely accepting the fact that men and women should be treated equally due to their approximately equal capabilities.

The reason for this divergence was how rapidly women surpassed men in terms of ability during the early colonial era. The recognition of the female potential and capacity was not overnight - it was a gradual process. Even now, a woman's ability may not be fully recognized. However, due to the influx of men and women into the American colonies during its early stages and the demand for labor, women were taking on jobs they were never exposed to in England. This was revolutionary, because many of the tasks women were doing could be considered as equivalent to men. During this time, feminism was still a premature concept, so it was difficult for men in the colonies to accept that women were equally capable. Therefore, in order to justify the inferiority of women, men had to discriminate against them arrogantly, without clear reasoning. This may be the underlying reason why there is still a significant part of the American population who refuse to accept gender equality, despite the strong claims supporting equality between the two sexes.

- Kung-Min Lin