Sociology
Gender equality is among the critical contemporary sociological issue in society. There has been an evolving perspective in which men and women are viewed in society. In specific, the men’s standard has remained intact while society’s perception of women has changed in terms of standards and body perception. Socio-cultural and socio-economic reasons are basically behind such evolvement. Notably, integrating sociological perspectives in explaining the varying view towards women over time, the conflict theory proves its essentiality. Therefore, with the aid of the conflict sociological perspective, sociologists can explain the changing standards of women and the pressure for women’s maintenance of a thin body.
The dynamism of women standards is much prevailing in contemporary society. Socio-economic factors education empowerment programs which have increased women productivity are highly influential. Again, higher living standards, especially in developed countries, contributes to the change in women standards. (Cole, 2020) notes that employment and education have a critical influence on women’s autonomy, confidence and efficacy. Notably, women have gained coping power in the job market in the attempt to outdo male dominance which has fathered their income stability. The current competitive nature of women, especially in the job market, has given them a different standard. Therefore, it is inarguable that the changing standards of women are based on competition arousing from socio-economic factors.
Moreover, the societal pressure on women to maintain a thin body stature is based on the competitiveness of achieving a particular societal perception of the best women’s body. Despite the chunks of food present today, the society embraces small-bodied women, which is termed as the fittest body, flexible and capable of maintaining health. According to (Cole, 2020), the impact of culture on women, including their rights, cannot be assumed. Besides the pressure being societal, women have responded to compete among themselves achieve the best body and gain the accolades from the members of the society. Therefore, present women are pressured by society to maintain thin body shape, responding appropriately and viewing the pressure positively.
In sum, the changes that surround women dynamism closely relates to the conflict sociological perspective. The changes in standards and the pressure to remain thin bodies are competitive as women compete to fit the societal demand. Therefore, conflict theory suits appropriately in explaining the concept of societal perception of women.
References
Cole, W. (2020). Working to protect rights: Women’s civil liberties in cross-cultural perspective. Social Science Research, 91, 102461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2020.102461