Gender Binary
Feminism involves political movements, ideologies and social movements with views to establish, defines and attain the economic, social, political and personal equality of the sexes. Feminism follows a belief that societies prioritize males and treat women unfairly, which depicts inequality between the sexes. As a result, feminism is viewed as political activism that focuses on changing gender relations, which involve women’s movements who tend to be victims of gender stereotypes. Men, however, play a spectator role regarding feminism as they tend to benefit from the gender binary, which favors them in different ways as opposed tom women. Women therefore seek to establish equality between the sexes by establishing professional and educational opportunities for women and fight gender stereotypes. Gender binary follows division of gender into two opposite forms based on a cultural belief or a social system which tend to favor the masculine form of gender. Women therefore play a significant role in social and political movements galvanized with ideologies that aim at attaining equality of the sexes as opposed to men who barely challenge the gender binary following the benefits they obtain from society.
According to Ridgeway (2009), gender plays a critical role in organizing social relations in all cultures across the globe. As such, individuals and particularly women require to consider frames of gender social relations to understand the structure of modern society that promote or challenge changes that allow equality of sexes. Gender emerges as a primary frame in establishing the structure of modern society which impacts the behaviors of people and organizational logic that propagate gender inequality. Ridgeways (2009), also argues that societies that have advanced in addressing gender inequality have gender-segregated occupational structures in their industrial sectors. Structuralists posit that gender inequality has deep roots in institutional and organizational structures having robust material bases. The deep-rooted gender inequality in organizations and institution promote green-ceiling effect that hinders women from advancing and holding top managerial offices which men dominate. As a result, women engage in political activism to challenge the gender stereotype that position men to hold top managerial offices while imposing barriers against the promotion of women in organizations.
Women have also been at the forefront in the feminist movement following the actions of governments in empowering men at the expense of women. History of some countries such as Canada provides that men have been accorded rights that women lacked. Barker (2008), provides that Native women have engaged in struggles for self-determination and Native sovereignty and against violence and social inequality. The women’s movements have increasingly gained impetus over the years in countries such as Canada following an act of 1876 that aimed at determining the Indian status, such as their rights to engage in band government. The amendment, however, empowered the Indian men giving them status, privileges and rights from band government alongside reserve life. Primarily, the enforcement of the Indian Act by the Canadian government perpetuated and affirmed expectations among the Indian men for entitlements from band government and provided rights to own properties over women. The act of the Canadian Parliament following the Indian Act tended to stimulate women’s movement to have equal privileges and rights like men who benefit from the gender binary.
Notably, the Indian Act and dismissal of the agenda of women for reform in Canada following the act of 1876 propagated discriminatory and sexist ideologies against the Indian women (Barker, 2008). The Indian men obtained rights for participation in band government at the expense of the Indian women, which denoted conflicts revolving around women’s rights and gender politics. Men seem to benefit from the gender binary, which provides them with human and political rights as opposed to women. The Indian women, therefore, engaged in Native sovereignty movements to ensure that they attained equal rights and privileges as Indian men. As such, the women, such as the Indian women, engaged in feminist movements to pursue social reformations required to attain equity between women and men in Indian communities. The gender binary however, provides men with the status that they tend to transfer to women through marriage, as was witnessed with the case of the Indian states where women would also lose status in case of divorce (Barker, 2008). The women of status would not have passed the same status to men and their children despite marriage.
Principally, societies and governments tend to benefit men by empowering and elevating their cultural, economic and political responsibilities and roles while devaluing that of women. According to Barker (2008), societies and governments normalize sexist practices and sexism as perpetuated by the Indian Act. The gendered role and Indian women were being devalued and maligned, while men were empowered based on their gender by the band government in Canada. The social responsibilities and roles of heterosexual Indian men were elevated within the band while those of the non-heterosexual were promoted by institutions of Christianity, sexism, capitalism and homophobia over those of women. The men, therefore, seek to amass material benefits following privileges and entitlements under the law, which they take advantage of at the expense of women (Barker, 2008). Women, therefore, seek to challenge governments and societies to change gender stereotypes that allow men to have status under the law while devaluing women. Men, on the other hand, barely play a role in the feminist movement or political activism as they are privileged to the extent of taking advantage of laws.
According to Hook (2015), feminism involves movement aimed at ending oppression, sexist exploitation and sexism. The feminists focus on gender equality, where individuals from different sexes have equal salaries for equal work, and both men and women sharing parenting and household chores. Feminist politics aim at ensuring that women attain rights such as freedom to be lesbians, have abortions and challenge malicious acts such as domestic violence and rape. Men, however, tend to benefit from gender binary as their degree of exposure or victimization to acts such as domestic violence and rape are minimal. Men also do not require to have abortions and tend to have high pay and hold high offices as compared to women. Different cultures, people and religions such as Christianity believe that women should be subordinate and submissive to men in matters of domestic household (Hook, 2015). The gender binary, therefore, tends to benefit men following advancements of beliefs based on sexes that victimize women. The beliefs tend to victimize women and subject them to domination despite assuming roles believed to be of men, such as becoming breadwinners.
Women in a contemporary society increasingly adopt new roles believed to be of men, such as being breadwinners. However, male domination tends to remain intact, which allows them to control domestic life while women take parenting roles and household chores. Male domination tends to spur anger among feminist activists which propagated the creation of a women’s liberation movement (Hook, 2015). Notably, the early feminist activists sought to address the state of male domination who propagated for freedom but subordinated the women in their course and in various settings. Men wanted to lead in the anti-racist and anti-classist settings where the women would follow. Both the women and men participated in radical freedom struggles which spurred the spirit of resistance and rebellion among progressive females who advanced contemporary women’s liberation (Hook, 2015). The contemporary feminist realized that gender binary promoted sexism not only from men but also from women. According to Hook, (2015), feminist movements or political activism, therefore, aim at creating gender justice rather than following the anti-male agenda.
Gender binary promotes perceptions that position men as leaders in society in various political, economic and cultural settings. The men, therefore, create policies and directions that women should follow to attain defined objectives. The fact that men occupy many and top offices position women to subordination and to follow the directions of men. Thompson (2019) provides that women follow the direction of other people, such as celebrities and models, to incorporate different cultures and even their looks. The society also shapes perceptions of women regarding things such as beauty, which is defined by aspects such as straightened hair. The perception created by society informs the belief that men should dominate in a different setting, which benefit them as compared to women. Women, however, in contemporary society tend to take new roles that aim at redefining their status (Thompson, 2019). The women for instance engage in active politics where they run for political seats and impact policy making. On the contrary, men seek to maintain their status by focusing on dominating in various places such as in businesses and politics. Currently, governments across the world have a high number of male representatives which depict dominance by males.
Additionally, feminism aims at changing gender relations to attain equality of sexes in contemporary society which follows inequality following the impacts of gender binary that benefits men. Men tend to gain from gender binary following perceptions of people regarding masculinity and their capabilities. Men for instance benefit from the hip hop genre which is associated with class and race issues. Females however have ventured in the hip hop genre where they embrace elements linked to masculinity which they mobilize to challenge masculine norms (Berggren, 2014). Chiefly, the hip hop genre involves domination by black males which create a paradoxical impression in case of entry by white females. The genre also encompasses ‘battling’ and ‘dissing’ which appears to define masculinity following aspects of aggression, hardness and competitiveness (Berggren, 2014). The gender binary therefore positioned men to venture in various genres which at the same denies women a chance. Women such as Nicki Minaj therefore have to subscribe to the masculine norms to fit in the hip hop genre. The feminist movements emerge to intervene in cases that deny women chances of entry in particular industries such as the hip hop genre while men enjoy the domineering system.
Women also engage in political activism to impact gender relations to ensure that they attain rights to participate and opportunities as the men in the labor market. The global labor market and particularly that of Sweden involve sex segregation, violence against women by men, discriminatory sexist practices and masculine norms in different facets of social life (Berggren, 2014). The women and feminist movement therefore tend to fight for changes for realization and upholding of the rights of women. The gender binary also promotes masculine norms in the musical fields that precipitate persistent gender inequalities (Berggren, 2014). Centrally, the musical field and particularly the one involving the hip hop genre define competency based on masculine norm which in turn have impacts of positioning women as lacking femininity or competence (Berggren, 2014). The women’s movements however emerge to challenge the masculine norms and definitions of behaviors based on gender binary. The women movements, for instance, promote women to engage in different genres where they use lyrics that aim at awakening or empowering females.
The gender binary spurs the allocation of different roles between the opposite sexes, where the women tend to adopt the parenting role while men act as breadwinners. The mothering role exposes women to subordination (Fox, 2006). The women are mandated with roles of ensuring adult livelihoods to children, especially when fathers cannot. The mother ensures that children follow formal education, stay at home and away from paid work (Fox, 2006). The social reproduction base on an ingrained ideology that women should do mothering, which consequently affects social relations. As a result, women’s movements emerge to challenge gender binary to have men take equal roles as women in parenting.
Women’s movements have motives for countering the effects of the gender binary that lead to discrimination of women in various social settings such as in schools. Women face challenges in admission to schools as compared to men. Smith, Gamarro and Torr (2017) found that sixty-two percent of racialized minorities and women did not receive response letters from schools as compared to eighty-seven percent of white males who received. Females also experienced high rates of biasness and disciplinary actions, which affected their studies (Smith, Gamarro and Torr, 2017). Feminists, therefore, tend to fight for equal treatment of all sexes in different settings, including social institutions.
Women face challenges based on their gender as compared to men who seem to have their rights upheld and protected. The internet provides platforms that are used to promote or vilify some acts, such as lesbianism (Herrera, 2018). Lesbian sexuality has been stigmatized following advancement in social networks. The contemporary society tends to position women as stigmatized groups which following their sexuality. The women’s movements, therefore, respond by fighting for the accommodation of their rights, including lesbianism. Butler (2011), provides that women have been stigmatized following their gender, which makes them appear as materiality while men follow the rational mastery principle. As such, women are not represented well in areas such as the economy as opposed to men. As a result, the women’s movement fights for the rights of women to be equally represented.
In conclusion, men benefit from gender binary as the differentiation of sexes informs gender stereotypes that favor them in different dimensions of life. Society prioritizes the men and provides them with opportunities at the expense of the women. Women face challenges in organizations and institutions where they cannot ascend to top managerial offices. The internet also facilitates inequality where women are stigmatized following their differences. Therefore, following the fact that gender binary benefits men, women’s movements follow feminists ideologies to attain equality of sexes by changing gender stereotypes in society that favor the men.
References
Barker, J. (2008). Gender, sovereignty, rights: Native women’s activism against social inequality and violence in Canada. American Quarterly, 60(2), 259-266.
Berggren, K. (2014). Hip hop feminism in Sweden: Intersectionality, feminist critique and female masculinity. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 21(3), 233-250.
Butler, J. (2011). Bodies that Matter: On the discursive limits of sex. Taylor & Francis.
Fox, B. (2006). Motherhood as a class act: The many ways in which “intensive mothering” is entangled with social class. Social reproduction: Feminist political economy challenges neo-liberalism, 231-62.
Herrera, A. P. (2018). Theorizing the lesbian hashtag: Identity, community, and the technological imperative to name the sexual self. Journal of lesbian studies, 22(3), 313-328.
Hooks, B. (2015). Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate politics.
Ridgeway, C. L. (2009). Framed before we know it: How gender shapes social relations. Gender & Society, 23(2), 145-160.
Smith, M., Gamarro, K., & Toor, M. (2017). A dirty dozen: Unconscious race and gender biases in the academy. The equity myth: Racialization and indigeneity at Canadian universities, 263-296.
Thompson, C. (2019). My Ten-Year Dreadlock Journey. Body Battlegrounds: Transgressions, Tensions, and Transformations, 54.