One of the “Big” questions in life asks whether human individuals are the way they are due to nature, that is the chemistry of ourselves, or nurture, that is how we are raised? There’s no question that both have a role to play in our development, but how much?
In this post I want to attempt to apply this question to understand, in some small way, why nearly every human culture believes and treats women as inferior to men. It seems to me that this belief in inferiority, this inequality, begins in early childhood and continues to the grave.
Socialization is the process of teaching a person to behave in a way that is acceptable to society. Socialization can be anything from parents instructing their young children to behave to totalitarian governments sending citizens to “re-education centers” to indoctrinate them into acceptable behavior.
Okay, what does that have to do with female inequality? For the sake of argument, let’s say that a small tribe is ruled by men and they have definite ideas about how they want “their” women to behave. If they control this tribe for many years, the women will end up surrendering to their rule and the new generation of children will be taught to accept them as well. Boys will be taught one thing and girls will be taught another.
Subtle differences between the genders will even show up in nursery rhymes indicating the existence of differences.
“What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails
And puppy-dog’s tails
That’s what little boys are made of.
“What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And everything nice
That’s what little girls are made of.”
- Girls don’t take shop classes
- Boys don’t take home economics classes
- Girls get told to “Get out of that tree you’ll fall and hurt yourself.”
- Boys are often told “If he hit you hit him back!”
- Girls are told, “Girls can’t play baseball.”
- Boys get told that they throw a baseball like a girl.
- Girls are told they can’t go to that party because boys will be there.
- Boys are told they can go and aren’t asked if girls will be there.
- Girls who are fighting are told, “That’s not proper behavior for a young lady.”
- Boys are told “Boys will be boys.”
- Girls are told, “Oh, no you’re not going to wear that, go change.”
- Boys are told, “Really? You’re going like that?
For every thousand or so people, there might be one, or maybe a handful, who don’t accept the “norm” and go their own way. These might be gays or artists, general non-conformists or futurists who see the need for change. I’d put Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan as one of those individuals.
Malala believed that girls should be educated and that this would be good not only for the girls but would be a benefit for the nation and said so in public. Because of this, she was targeted for death. She was only fifteen years old, when a Taliban gunman shot her in the face and left her for dead.
I make no secret out of the fact that I am a member of the Bahá’í Faith and enjoy sharing with others the writings of the founder of my Faith and His son. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of Bahá’u’lláh, wrote,
“The girl’s education is of more importance today than the boy’s, for she is the mother of the future race,” and “If there is not money enough in a family to educate both the girl and the boy the money must be dedicated to the girl’s education, for she is the potential mother.”
People’s conceptions of masculinity and femininity not only influence gender inequality but inequality influences people’s concepts of masculinity and femininity. In other words, everything that sustains inequality is itself a product of that inequality.
Another thing that legitimates and guides inequality is religion. Reviewing religious writings over the last ten thousand+ years most religions teach that women are inferior to men. Here are a few such examples.
Hindu:
The ancient Hindu Faith is very old. Within its writings are many passages dealing with women. Some of these passages declare that creation is due to the feminine spirit. The Rig Veda states, “I am the Queen…first of those who merit worship. They know it not, yet I reside in the essence of the Universe. Hear, one and all, he truth as I declare it. … “I created the Earth and Heaven and reside as their inner controller. … I created all worlds at my will, without any higher being, and permeate and dwell within them. The eternal and infinite consciousness is I, it is my greatness swelling in everything.”
In the first book of the epic Mahabharata, it is stated, “No man, even in anger, should ever do anything that is disagreeable to his wife; for happiness, joy, virtue and everything depend on the wife. Wife is the sacred soil in which the husband is born again, even the Rishis cannot create men without women.”
These passages are reflective of the positive view of women by the authors, mostly men, writing these holy books some four thousand years ago on the Indian Sub-continent.
The negative is how Indian society has compartmentalized its religious views to accommodate both the positive view of women in its holy texts and the negative treatment of women today on the streets of Indian cities and towns, both large and small.
- A woman cannot dissolve her marriage without her husband’s permission.
- A woman can’t marry a man outside of her own social class.
- A woman can possess only certain types of property.
Hebrew
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 states: “If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife….”
The phrase … “and lay hold on her…” certainly sounds like forcing the woman to submit to the man’s sexual desires. Then at the end of the quote it says, “…and she shall be his wife….” Altogether, it is hard to argue that this isn’t forcing a rape victim to marry her attacker. Luckily, such a primitive viewpoint isn’t practiced today. At least it isn’t practiced by the mainstream Jewish Faith.
Without continuing to give the chapter and verse citation I will say that Hebrew (Jewish) female inequality included the following:
- Unmarried women were not allowed to leave the home of their father without his permission.
- Married women were not allowed to leave the home of their husband, without his permission.
- They (women) were normally restricted to roles of little or no authority.
- They (women) could not testify in court
- They (women) could not appear in public venues.
- They (women) were not allowed to talk to strangers.
- They (women) had to be doubly veiled when they left their homes.
Christian:
Early in the history of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth nearly all of the adherents were Jews who continued to follow many of the laws, principles and precepts of the Jewish Faith. The conversation of Saul of Tarsus, known ever after as the Disciple Paul, was a milestone along the road to turning the religion of Christ into one heavily composed of, and dominated by, gentiles (non-Jews).
It is interesting to me that from that start, gentile Christians incorporated the Torah and other Jewish religious writings into the canon of the Christian church and included these writings into the sacred writings of Christianity in the form of the “Old Testament.”
It is even more interesting to me, and I would say odd, that many Christian ministers seem to favor sermons based on the writings of the Old Testament, particularly when they want to scare the bejesus out of the congregation and into doing something, or not doing something.
When that is the purpose they pull out certain “hell and brimstone” quotes of the Old Testament that scare the congregation. Many Christians actually report liking such sermons and consider them as a measure of the effectiveness of the preacher.
When we look to the source defining the role of women in both the early Christian church and today’s church, we can look no further than the Apostle Paul. In his first letter to the church of Corinth, (I Corinthians), 14:34 he states, “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.” He follows that advice in 14:35 with, “And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.”
Muslim:
“If Allah favors you with success and inflicts defeat to the enemy, then do not attack those who have surrendered, do not injure the disabled and weak, do not assault the wounded, do not excite women and do not make them angry with rude behavior even if they use harsh and insulting words against your commander and officers because they are physically and mentally weak and get excited easily and frightened quickly.”
Ali b. Abi Taalib Letters from Nahjul Balaagh
“Do not seek the advice of women, their verdicts are often immature and incorrect and their determinations are not firm… Do not let them interfere with affairs where you cannot personally guide or protect them. Do not let them aspire for things which are beyond their capacities.
They are more like decoration to humanity and are not made to rule and govern humanity. Exhibit reasonable interest in things which they desire and give importance to them, but do not let them influence your opinions and do not let them impel you to go against your sane views.”
Ali b. Abi Taalib Letters from Nahjul Balaagh
Sexuality is a co-partner with society and parents in the process of socialization. The definition of sexuality as the subtle presence of being sexual, like inequality itself, is something that both influences inequality and at the same time is influenced by inequality. What is considered sexual in the female tends to be 180 degrees opposite of what is considered sexual in the male and both these definitions are taught, for the most part, by the parents, mothers and fathers alike, rather than being dictated by the chemical biology of the individual. I’m not suggesting that biology has no role to play, but I do believe that ‘nurture’ is the stronger influencer in this scenario than ‘nature.’
What I do see is that the percentage of people who are questioning the status quo is increasing and I would have to say that the beginnings of this seems to have begun in the middle to later eighteen hundreds. An early pioneer in the woman’s movement was Tahirih, an educated poetess in Iran during the 1830’s to 50’s. She was condemned to death by the Shah of Iran for her religious beliefs. Addressing her executioner on the evening of her death, she reportedly stated “You may kill me whenever you please, however, you will be unable to stop the emancipation of women.”
A scant two decades later women in America were beginning to form the suffrage movement to fight for the right to vote, a right they won in the 1920’s. Then again a few decades later in the 1960’s came what was, and is, known as the “Sexual Revolution.”
Although women are still considered inferior to men in most countries on earth, and although this attitude creates and sustains unequal treatment towards them which may yet prevail for several more decades, I firmly believe that the day of inequality is coming to a close.
