Introduction
Equality is a state of fare and equal treatment despite existence of religion, culture, race or tribe. In his book, the pursuit of equality in American history Pole describes equality as the central moral, ideological commitment and as a source of power through which American people appealed to the European colonies for independence and consideration of human equality as a self evident tool of truth. Historians trace the fight for human equality in America to the eighteenth century. In the earlier days of human development, man and woman played equal household roles that translated to equal roles in economic building. History postulated that men and women are known to do different kind of jobs and therefore hold different responsibilities. For instance, in traditional America, men were supposed to handle field labor, building and hunting. On the other hand, women were responsible for the household jobs that were inclusive of child rearing, food preservation, clothing preparation and taking care of the household in general. The cooperation of woman and man in equal terms was a critical necessity for the success of any household.
The source of inequality
The introduction of the market economy that was a radical change from subsistence economy brought about different changes in the way at which man and woman related to each other. As a result, there came about changes in social responsibility, behavioral and cultural change. At this point, the household commodities were obtained from the market. The exchange of goods and services for money made men superior since the items they handled were the only items exchanged in the market. This changed the position of a woman to inferior position of dependence on man and the change of women role in society. Men dominated power and resources and therefore controlled household decision-making.
According to Passet, churches and the state were other sources of women slavery since they pressurized for the subordination of wives to their husbands. Sex radicals argued that government and religious bodies were responsible for marriage regulations and had corrupted the initial purpose of marriage resulting to slavery of American women. The societal perspective of a woman was another source of inequality as noted by Neal. Neal describes a nineteenth century woman as a pure, submissive, selfless, and dedicated woman, first to her father and mother and then to her husband, children and the church. The community also viewed a woman as physically fragile and intellectually inferior person.
The beginning of women liberation
Women liberation in America began in the late eighteenth century through the emergence of women movements and gender equality supporters’ movements that fought hard for women equality in the society. In her book, Passet argued that between 1853 and 1910, the movements for women rights in America fought hard for the inclusion of women in matters that affected them directly. These movements led to the embracement of the sex radical movement dimension between men and women of America by the end of 1910. Sex radicals remained a priority for all twentieth century feminists who advocated for equality. They argued that women should be given freedom to control their bodies and to freely discuss issues concerning sex, contraception, marital sexual abuse, and physical mistreatment among other critical issues affecting them directly. This was believed to be an effective strategy for women empowerment. The nineteenth century feminists also fought for freedom from the slavery of household labor by advocating for plans for cooperative kitchen and communal childcare.
Modern day Inequality
Despite the challenges faced in the fight for equality by women, we cannot fail to recognize the milestone covered in realization of women equality. In the modern times, women have got access to education, health care, ownership of resources, right to vote, participation in economic matters, participation in political matters, and autonomy of choices among other rights that they were not accessible to them earlier on.
In modern world, inequality still persists between men and women meaning that the fight is far from the end as noted by the World Bank. In recent years, gender inequality has been seen to exist in terms of girl child to boy child access to schooling and also allocation of resources. In the labor market, women have fewer opportunities as compared to men. In a family perspective, boys have greater access to resources than girls do, though this is highly influenced by the social cultural norms surrounding the family.
World Bank advocates for equality in the modern world for the realization of improved economic benefits. They argue that women given the equal opportunities can perform as well as men can. This is Cleary evident as observed in modern world where women are seen as agents of change. Women should be given a chance to explore their ability to bring changes in the world through equal provision of resources, equal access to health care, education, and general economic development. Women should be free from any kind of physical and sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender.
Conclusion
As established in the paper, it is evident that the goal of equality between men and women is yet to be realized. There is cases of inequality especially in areas of access to resources and economic asset ownership that is a crucial factor in determining wealth of individual and economic growth of a country. Women should have equal access to assets and access of loan facilities to be able to build their lives. Women should be involved in equal basis in state policy making to enable them address the matters affecting them at state level whose effect trickles down to the common citizens. This can be effectively realized by the support of the government through creation of opportunities in the government and the cabinet. Religious institutional regulations should be reviewed not to enslave the same people whom they are supposed to protect through the churches.
Women should be given freedom to control their bodies, and protected from sexual harassment of any kind. Rules and regulations should be enforced to discourage modern moral decay involving sexual harassment and rape which is highly dehumanizing. Girls in modern families should be treated equally to boys in order to nature equality in future generations. Women should be empowered through women based initiatives to become financially stable to stop the kind of dependence on men that makes them inferior, such initiatives are like the women finance initiative for business. This will also increase economic growth since the ratio of working population-to-population dependence will decrease.
Bibliography
Neal, Teresa. Evolution toward Equality: Equality for Women in the American West. New York: Universe publishers. 2006.
Passet, Joan. Sex Radicals: Quest for women Equality. Washington: Indiana university press. 2003.
Pole, Jack. The Pursuit of Equality in American History. Los Angeles: University of California press. 2001.
Stanton, Elizabeth. “Women religion and social change.” In Yvonne Haddad-yazbeck’s Gender Equality. Hartford: Trinity College. 2000.