Inequality Between the Genders Today

Inequality Between the Genders

Today a number of scientists who represent different anthropological and sociological schools agree that gender inequalities were basically created by physical factors (differences in anatomy of man and woman) and by economical factors. Psychological factors and others played an important role as they contributed to these two. In the primitive societies there existed formal equality between genders as there were no personal or private interests, inequality was mainly expressed by the fact that man was stronger than woman. In such society there existed no personal interests, the main interest was collective survival as human was unable to survive individually under conditions of wild nature.

With the development of human society there appered gender roles division, which became more obvious in hunting and gathering society. It's estimated that in the epoch of hunting and gathering there existed nearly 100,000 tribes, which existed isolated from each other. Hunting and gathering society was mainly characterized by nomadic way of life and minimal agriculture. In these societies there was a clear division of gender roles, but nevertheless man and woman were formally equal. Male roles basically included: hunting, exploring, gathering, basic medicine (shamanism), home protection, boys' upbringing. Female roles were pretty much the same, but women didn't participate in hunting and were upbringing girls only. Leading positions in social and public hierarchy of tribes could be held either by women (matriarchy) or men (patriarchy). It had been estimated that women brought nearly 70% of food, but 30% brought by the men was more vital (as it contained proteins). In addition, it's generally agreed that power; sexism and patriarchy were not natural and were limited in hunting and gathering society. There are a lot of logical and historical explanations of such fact. First of all equality seemed natural, as domination of one gender over the other was not widely spread in wild life; second, primitive people could not explain the phenomenon of pregnancy which put women in privileged position. With the development of social and economical processes and transformation of hunting and gathering societies into agricultural societies, gender roles began to transform as well. In agricultural society there was clearer division of labor between woman and man, as women's activity was limited mainly to housework and upbringing of children. In such societies where a number of issues were solved from the position of violence and power, women were gradually alienated from public and social life, and institutes of religion and power were concentrated in hands of men. Development of religion (primary mythology) on the hand with regional particularities insured social, economic and gender hierarchy and inequality.

In the epoch of Ancient empires, gender inequality was insured by legislature, making women dependent first, upon the authority of their fathers and then upon the authority of their husbands. In Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece such inequality set the premises of patriarchal civil society for several centuries. Under the law of Roman empire woman could not even manage their wealth after the death of husband, as the law made woman hire male in order to control their financial activities. But the basic principles of Roman and Greek democracy had influenced social life and gender relations as well: Roman had a clear concept of state duty, loyalty, civil obedience, and clear concept of family.

Unlike Greek, the value of marriage, home and love was very important for Romans, which as a result influenced in promoting fair treatment of women.

Women could not take part in political discussions and were not allowed to hold public positions, but in the years of empire such principles were changing. Attitude of Romans towards home and family made them seek advices of their wives, in fact women began to enjoy some basic public freedoms.

In years of empire woman got a right to control her own finance, which made her financially independent in case of divorce. Roman women worked seldom, labor was typical only for women from poor classes and slaves.

Since Roman society was based on slave-owning economy, gender roles were also observed among slaves. Female slaves were in more favorable position than male. Female slaves worked mainly at households and took part in child upbringing of their masters.

As we can see, gender roles in Ancient Rome contributed to the development of modern gender relations as they set the basic principles of family ethics.

In the middle Age epoch gender inequality was contributed by the Catholic Church strict canons about family ethics and morality. The life of medieval woman had to be close to the life of Virgin Mary: faithful wife, loving mother and housekeeper. Women could not participate in social life, hold offices, all their public life was restricted to activities, which had direct relationship to church only. Family life in Middle Age Europe was protected not only by the norms of current legislature but also by church. Divorce was prohibited and adultery was considered to be a mortal sin. Nevertheless love began to play a more important role in family relations of man and woman, especially if they wee from upper classes.