Gender Oppression Assignment Sample

Ectogenesis and Gender‐based Oppression

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Discussion.

Conclusion.

References.

Introduction to Gender Oppression

“Oppression” is something that has existed since the beginning of time. If one is to delve into the definition of it, it would go something like this - the act of practicing authority on specific groups cruelly or unjustly. It can often be the result of “governmental authority” or “cultural opprobrium”. The main cause of oppression is the imbalance in the power chain, where one group gets the bigger stack while whatever other is just not enough. The following essay will decipher through topics of “operation of power”, “privilege” and the “power imbalance” that often leads to oppression and has chosen the African-American female population in America for the analysis.

Discussion on Gender Oppression

The term “oppression” is something that has found its way in today’s reality when it would have better if it was left in the history books. Oppression can be based on many things - gender, race, sexual orientation, economical condition and others. Though the reasons may vary behind oppression, the result is always the same. Oppression often ends up making a specific class “backwards”, depriving it of basic human rights and that is how a whole group is pushed to darkness. The history of “oppression” can be traced back to five centuries when “European American” colonization began. But sadly it is something that still exists. The discrimination that started with race, has now branched itself to gender, sexual orientation and economical class. While a man of “Caucasian” race holds a great amount of privilege, a woman belonging from a minority community holds no amount privilege in comparison to that man (Allcon and Ogletree, 2018).

The word “power” is closely related to the word “gender”. To put it in very simple words “gender shapes power”. While putting power in the middle of work, gender is often forgotten about. Gender shares a link with power. The distribution of power is interrelated to gender itself. The distribution of power changes once it is linked with a specific gender. Men and women are very unequal when it comes to dividing power. This pattern has been stuck in the system for long and this has lead to a woman having lesser influence than a man. This essentially makes a woman “powerless” while a man holds the most “power” in his hands. The gender roles make the difference in power even more prominent. As for centuries women have been deprived of having a “voice” or having their own “independent opinions”, even in today’s 21st century it is considered abnormal for a woman to participate in decision making.

The preconceived notion that exists is “Power is Masculinity” and that gives powerful men the chance to govern dominance over women. For example, in Malawi’s political setting, the leaders use women to maintain their “big man” status by making them perform sexual favors to other leaders and political people. Here, the “mobilization” of women in sexual roles is a prominent feature in the political system. The power dynamics are not limited in the office, it has found its way inside people’s homes. In a family, even if the man is not the prime earning member he holds a greater position than a woman. The increased female employment and females being exposed to a bigger world has changed the “power relationship” between the two genders and that has led to conflicts inside the family (Cavaliere, 2020).

A “privilege” is when a person gets an advantage or a special right. The privilege can come from many things - it can come from a person’s gender or ethnicity or social status. A man gets many “unearned benefits” that a person of different gender will not get. Being a man comes with many privileges that may be minuscule in terms of size but held great importance to other genders. Women in the workplace face sexism regularly, where men in their duties and responsibilities do not face such a thing. A women’s performance, attitude, attire, promotion all are linked to her gender and as needed her gender is used against her. While a man and a woman put the same amount of effort in a work, the woman is subjected to the “wage gap”. For the same amount of work, a woman is paid less than a man and that is a “privilege” that the man gets but the woman does not. “Privilege” is not caged only in the threshold of gender; privilege comes with being from a certain ethnicity group. For example, being “Caucasian” or “white” puts a person under the more privileged group. White people are represented widely throughout the world, while in popular culture people from “minority races” have been subjected to unrealistic representation and mockery that has led to the stereotypical and racist treatment they get from other people.

Gender-based oppression still stands strong in today’s society. If one is to look at the history of gender-based oppression, one will find that is not a mere accident but a systematically planned occurrence that has been in culture and society for quite long. Gender-based oppression is powered by patriarchy and enriched by people who practice misogyny in their daily lives. This oppression leads to many things - firstly gender-based oppression has built its structure by implementing violence on women (Hailey et al., 2020). Violence is used to suppress a whole gender by using “fear” and “physical power”. Other two pillars of the oppression structure are “misogyny” and “sexism” that helps in keeping the inequality in check and letting it expand itself. As a man comes into this world with “unearned benefits”, a woman enters this world carrying the heavyweight of “prejudices” on her shoulders. “Sexism” and “misogyny’ work hand in hand, in tearing a woman’s “strong, confidant and capable” image. The society already considers a woman “weaker”, “less intelligent”, “less capable” than a man because of the brainwashing that put “preconceived notions” in their head. On top of that, there is the use of violence, which is there to suppress a woman in every form and that is how her “identity” is taken away from her. Instead, she is given a “made-up” personality that exists to please the patriarchal society and its biased “gender norms” (Mutolib et al., 2016).

However, the question remains, what is the exact cause of oppression. Oppression can only be abolished if its roots or cause is properly identified. Oppression came from “imbalance” in the chain of power. In this chain, if one was given more than enough, the other was deprived of even the basics. The unequal distribution of power has led to an underlying imbalance that has corrupted the system for ages and while it lifted one community or one gender to excellence, it has very sufficiently subjected the other community or the other gender to a life full of “injustice” and “hardship” (Hoskin, 2020). Patriarchy has used power according to its needs; it has used power to maintain the “status quo”. It has shifted time and again from one method to another to implement male dominance. Sometimes it has chosen the “brutal” method of violence to oppress women or at times it has kept its approach “subtle” by implementing a wildly inappropriate law that channel discrimination against a certain gender (Wilson, 2018).

To achieve “heterosexual dominance”, women have been devalued and they have been put through abusive power relationships. Power is a tool for “Patriarchy” to carry out its agendas, but the problem lies in the fact that it is often conflated with abuse and masculinity. If one is to do the detailed analysis of the power, one will find the aspect of control. To get back their power, women need feminism. In feminism, the relationships of “power” will be replaced with the relationship “meanings”. Traditional cultural beliefs have a huge role in evoking gender inequality and violence. Sometimes, a culture of a whole country or a specific region is formed around their “gender norms” that normalize violent gender oppression and influence a culture of violence. Gender oppression gets even worse when it is looked at based on ethnicity, class and other things. For example, a study showed that most of the women politicians in the Sri Lankan parliament were related to famous male politicians.

One of the more prominent ways, sexism got manifested in the world is through popular culture. Women have been depicted as the nurturer of the family, the one who is responsible for taking care of everyone else and who is fit for household works as she is shown as weaker. While men are shown as fit and strong, thus they are better for public lives and are naturally born leaders. The idea of power is one’s ability to make others do things under their orders. Popular culture has shown men as the ones who take on the world and women as the ones who keep the household in check and stand beside the successful man to tend to his needs. It naturally places a man as the one who is in power and woman as the one who is simply following his orders. This is how a man is portrayed as the one who can make the women do anything and thus the position of power shifts to him and the woman becomes his mere servant (Owens et al., 2018).

As the discussion deciphered through different topics related to gender-oppression, it became clear that women of color face the worst of the oppression. The following part of the essay will discuss the oppression faced by the African-American female population (Noble, 2018). If one has to start identifying oppression, they have to start from the very beginning of one’s life. The discrimination that women of color face and it starts from their school lives. For example, the needs of women of color are often ignored by the teachers, administrators and policymakers. This ignorance has a far-reaching effect that is why there is no proper educational programming and policies for the “black girls” struggling in the system. The “black girls” have to face both the consequences of “sexism” and “racism”. The policies that are present in the market, have a viewpoint that only focuses on “race” or “gender”. In the gap between “race” and “gender”, the black girls are losing the battle.

The federal government has issued certain initiatives such as “Race to the Top”, “My Brother’s Keeper”, and “No Child Left Behind”. The intentions behind these initiatives are genuine for sure but the government has largely overlooked the complexity of “systematic” and “interlocking” forces that work in an education system. Their approach towards education has been very “general”, whereas they should have specific programs designed according to “race”, “racism”, “sexism”, “gendered sexism” and so on (Lewis et al., 2016). There has been a significant reduction in the rates of dropout in “black males”, but their female counterparts are still lagging in the system. While the statistics related to “black girls” are largely ignored, male’s students of different races and cultures are given very much attention. Because by 2050, 53% of the US population will be compromised by women of color, it is inequitable to dismiss them out of an educational course. Given the de-humanizing history of slavery, black women are expected to work harder in the field. In the 19th century, black women were only offered low-paying jobs, however, in the 20th century the mindset of people and the work culture has changed drastically but still, there is a long way to go (BLUEPRINT, 2016).

Conclusion on Gender Oppression

The following essay focused on discussing the topic of gender oppression with its link with race, class and other things. Gender oppression has been present in society since the beginning of time. Patriarchy has continued gender oppression infused with the power to dominate or control a certain gender to continue dominance of another particular gender. Gender oppression even worsens once it is lined with ethnicity. While discussing black women and their fair share of oppression, it became very clear that the history of colonization has its evident role in gender oppression. Gender oppression along with racial bias makes the lives of black women harder than women in general. Even though they are a prominent part of the population, their needs are largely ignored.

References for Gender Oppression

Allcorn, A. and Ogletree, S.M., 2018. Linked oppression: Connecting animal and gender attitudes. Feminism & Psychology, 28(4), pp.457-469.

BLUEPRINT, B.W.S., 2016. An open letter from black women to the SlutWalk. Gender & Society, pp.9-13.

Cavaliere, G., 2020. Ectogenesis and gender‐based oppression: Resisting the idea of assimilation. Bioethics.

Hailey, J., Burton, W. and Arscott, J., 2020. We are family: Chosen and created families as a protective factor against racialized trauma and anti-LGBTQ oppression among African American sexual and gender minority youth. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 16(2), pp.176-191.

Hoskin, R.A., 2020. “Femininity? It’s the Aesthetic of Subordination”: Examining Femmephobia, the Gender Binary, and Experiences of Oppression Among Sexual and Gender Minorities. Archives of sexual behaviour, pp.1-21.

Lewis, J.A., Mendenhall, R., Harwood, S.A. and Browne Huntt, M., 2016. “Ain’t I a woman?” Perceived gendered racial microaggressions experienced by Black women. The Counseling Psychologist, 44(5), pp.758-780.

Mutolib, A., Yonariza, Y., Mahdi, M. and Ismono, R.H., 2016. Gender inequality and the oppression of women within minangkabau matrilineal society: A Case study of the management of ulayat forest land in nagari bonjol, dharmasraya district, west sumatra province, Indonesia. Asian Women, 32(3), pp.23-49.

Noble, S.U., 2018. Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. nyu Press.

Owens, L., Edwards, E.B. and McArthur, S.A., 2018. Black Women Researchers' Path to Breaking Silence: Three Scholars Reflect on Voicing Oppression, Self-reflexive Speech, and Talking Back to Elite Discourses. Western Journal of Black Studies, 42(3/4), pp.125-135.

Wilson, J.A., 2018. " Ain't I a woman?": Black Women Negotiate and Resist Systemic Oppression in Undergraduate Engineering and Mathematics Disciplines.

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