Bias and Discrimination

I. Barbara Ehrenreich Advocates for Women Power

My paper will present discussions on gender discrimination as essayed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Her works are detailed from the paper entitled "What I Learned from Men." Likewise, I will give an honest review how women did adopt assertive behaviors as influenced by the essay when it came out in the year 1985. Lastly, I will add too how the ideas of Ehrenreich persuaded behaviors in American society.

A. The Place of Women in Society

My initial reaction upon reading the work of Barbara Ehrenreich is not so positive after all. I must say that I have never disagreed more with the propositions she have presented in her essay “What I Learned from Men". This discontent comes from the fact that she has presented the role of a very weak woman. This is not completely true. Many women exemplify strong characters and attitudes that are worth emulating. Personally, I can say that I am not weak in character.

If the premise is that a woman has no strength of her own, this is an unfair perception because a woman would just place herself in submission to men. She would never learn to be tough and even stand up for her rights. However, this is not true because many women have shown qualities that sometimes men also learn from too. According Augusto Contis “women possess wisdom that is more reflective of her strength of character; her strong points are measured not in brute strength but those in matters of the mind and the will” (41). This is very much seen in societies especially in families where women mostly do the household chores and even at the same time make the most important decisions for family issues. The persistence of doing things day in and day out needs enough patience to fulfill the tasks without complains. There are also career women who are up to the tasked of managing businesses with dogged persistence. These attitudes are sourced from their strength within. They have a respected place in society whether or not they are able to learn something from men as counterparts.

Society today has evolved so much that women in the twentieth century are strong willed and has probably more backbone over men (Contis, 57). It may be probably true that she does learn something from men too but it is likewise the same for men who will too many things from her. As such, I believe most women are very strong minded and intelligent enough not to let anyone just run or control over them.

B. Women and their Individuality

In our everyday lives, we meet women around us who are ideals of perfection and models for imitation. It is their very individuality that knows how to sacrifice for the family, for work and career and one’s own personal life. In their different roles and occupations, it is important that women can continually assert their individuality, their will, and their desires (Fernandez, 23).

There have been the constant struggles of feminists to raise the rights and equality in the progress of women individuality. Certain societies already allow women the right to education, the right to vote and even to work without the permission of the husband. Women are given control in the affairs of their domestic family. Furthermore, some societies even promote that woman needs to be in power, to impose their ideology, to control and also gain profits. There have been great strides taken to make women stand out in her individuality.

It has been common knowledge that women have their fair share of resisting the old model that has been ascribed to them. Now many women want to learn different things among others are: to work, to do protests, to be athletic and to be political. This is asserting themselves from their own standpoint.

It is true that women can learn from men as Ehrenreich would say, however, the inclination to be able to assert and individually learn on their own is not a total and remote impossibility (Fernandez, 34)

II. Women as Subordinates to Men: Prevailing Stereotype Perception

The clichйs that women belong to the weaker sex has already been accepted as a basis for a woman’s weakness. This stereotype has somehow affected the way people look at the feminine side and probably even how the women look at themselves (Contis, 62).

A. Biblical Background: The Creation Story

The creation story has brought about perceptions on the submissiveness woman plays in her role to family and society. When God created the world and saw that everything was beautiful,