Gender Theories
Feminist theories are however, mainly developed by women themselves and “…sees the family as contributing to the exploitation of women in society.” (Mustapha, Naseer. 2007, pp135) This exploitation may however, vary from society to society and culture to culture. Naseer Mustapha furthers this by stating the form of exploitation as “…the woman’s subordinate position in the family…” (Mustapha, Naseer. 2007, pp135) The following essay attempts to identify and discuss three theoretical issues that have concerned these feminist theories. Sexism in Language, Patriarchy, and Sexual Division of Labour are the three main threads of discussion in this paper. The paper therefore gives some of the more apparent feminist issues within these broad concerns.
The use of male dominated pronouns ‘he/him/himself’ and the generic ‘man,’ in language, to relate to both genders has been of a major concern for feminists. Prescriptive grammarians of the past ruled that the above-mentioned words not only represented the male species but encompassed both male and female. Feminists however believe that it was really “…intended to promote the primacy of man at the expense of woman…” (Spender, Dale. Disappearing Tricks, pp.430)
To further validate sexism in language, at least from the feminists’ perspectives, and to demonstrate the wide use of the masculine pronoun and generic ‘man’ to refer to both genders are the following examples:
• Musical introductions”…to boldly go where no man has gone before…”
• Professional Titles, for instance, ‘foreman,’ ‘workman,’ (Lakoff, Robin. 2004)
• The use of ‘brethren’ and ‘mankind’ (Gibbon, M. 1999, pp.41)
• Academic achievements like Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees (Gibbon, M. 1999, pp.41)
• Proverbs such as, ‘It’s every man for himself’
The afore-mentioned are just a few of the many...
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