Early Women Sociologists and Feminist Theory
I feel bad for disclosing this but I finally snapped with my father in a contempt regarding the patriarchal treatment that is highly enervating and overtaxing. The notion of “you live under my roof; you obey what I tell you to do”, although is an attempt to establish dominance, did rob me off my value as a child and as a grown-up woman — from the way I dress, to the time I go home and the career I wanted, I feel controlled.
With this experience of familial dilemma reinforced by the system of patriarchy, I am intrigued of the idea of what would be a world run by women. Not so long ago, the idea that women might rule the world seemed slightly ridiculous- regarded as science fiction. Now it is reverted to reality with more women tipping off the social balance with men. Society run in a woman-centered perspective is more egalitarian, as it is founded on the premise of the basic questions pertaining to those in the periphery: that is women — what about them, why is all this as it is, what about their differences and how can it be changed to a more just society?
In binary with men, women have been viewed as the weaker, more vulnerable and inferior gender — not necessarily by their consent, but with considerable help from social constructs and scientific researches (Norris, 2019). In the default male-operated society, women’s struggles as the opposite gender is conceptualized through (1) gender difference, (2) gender inequality, (3) gender oppression and (4) structural oppression. These concepts according to Ritzer (2010), elaborate women’s location in and experience of most situations different from that of the men in a way that they are less privileged than or unequal to that of the latter. Women’s experience of difference, inequality, and oppression varies according to their location within societies’ arrangements of structural oppression — class, race, ethnicity, age, affectional preference, marital status, and global location. Notably, there is a direct power relationship between men and women through which the latter are restrained, subordinated, molded, used, and abused by men.
The concept of women running the world does not necessarily equate to the image of women as the frontiers of our political arena but the ideology and the essence of every political debate we have. Female narrative should be prioritized in every policy-making discussions as it caters the most issues by which primary societal problems stem about — poverty, hunger,
healthcare, and economy. At the hindsight of the sign — “the future is female” is a call for egalitarian society that opens opportunities for men and women and all types of genders as active characters taking active roles — void of inequality and discrimination. Supremacy based on gender has never been an attractive idea. While patriarchal dystopias are part of our present, in a profound sociological way, I find the balance on the scale of men and women (and of course the LGBTQ+) as an ideal state of the society — that is equality.
Word count: 498
References
Norris, M. (2019). Why the future should be female. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/10/why-the-future-should-be-female-feature/
Ritzer, G. (2011). Sociological Theory. 8th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. From https://www.academia.edu/33077856/_George_Ritzer_Sociological_Theory_8th_Edition_BookFi_org_
