Global Women

Name:
University:
Course:
Instructor:
Date:
Global Women
Introduction
Throughout most of history, women have had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than their male counterparts. In the recent past however, women in most nations have managed to change the traditional views of their role in society. Back then, women did not have substantial rights. Women were relegated to the fringe of societal matters and their views were not welcome in decision making. The sole role of the women was to look after the home, kids and care for their husband. Their main preoccupation was housework which included cleaning, ironing, and preparation of meals. This was so probably because of the paternalistic social system world over (Gelb & Palley, p 53).
It has been argued that the girl child education was not embraced by many people and this resulted to women who were not literate and therefore it was very difficult for them to secure jobs. This made virtually all women to have no other option but to look after their children, clean their houses and cook for their family. On the other hand, men could go to work thus they had the capacity to earn as opposed to the women. Women who managed to find jobs were unpaid, lowly paid or paid in kind. Beyond the domestic environment, women's livelihoods were predominantly in low paying, temporary and informal sectors (Gelb & Palley, p 69).
There was massive violence against women as in many incidences they were subjected to beatings, coercion into sex and/or some sort of abuse in the course of their lifetime. This violence encompassed domestic violence which was carried out within the family setup. Some women could also be subjected to violence in their jobs, mostly by their male employers. In situation of riots, many women could be captured, tortured and even raped (Gelb & Palley, p 159).
Women were greatly alienated in many national issues to the extent that in some parts of the world, the women were not allowed to participate in choosing their own country leadership. This is to mean that they had no right to vote. Women were also not allowed to vie for positions in some states thus there were no women leaders. It can therefore be argued that the women were alienated politically in the society (Gelb & Palley, p 29).
Even though the women really wanted to be treated equally as men, there was no friendly environment for them to air their views simply because of the constant attacks from the men who doubled up as their husbands and their fathers. Equality was also difficult to achieve because the men were supposed to be respected and therefore the fight for equality was regarded as disrespectful and it could attract punishment which would be executed by men (Gelb & Palley, p 21).
This quest for equality between men and women is still problematic amongst the Islamic countries whereby there is Sharia laws governing the behavior of women. This is confirmed by the fact that adultery i...