Society’s Impact on Darwin

Society’s Impact on Darwin

There aren’t many who would doubt that Charles Darwin was a genius, a pioneering ground-breaker in the world of science. Many of his ideas and thoughts have been validated by science since their initial proposals and continue to be taught in classrooms today. However, despite Darwin’s enormous contributions to the body of scientific knowledge it cannot be overlooked that he was still a man vulnerable to biased notions and ideas of his society, as most people likely were and still are. He was still influenced by the culture in which he had lived and grown accustomed to. With this in mind it becomes easier to understand how he could make a statement such as “man is superior to woman”. There are people to this day who still believe ideas like these despite the fact that women when given the chance by society always seem to prove themselves to be competent. Despite the presence of professional, self-supportive women in society there still remain some who believe they should be subservient to and dependent on males. Darwin, however, wasn’t privileged to live in a society such as modern America or England in which women have more freedom and depend more upon themselves. Because he lived in such a sexist society it is not at all hard to see how his ideas on evolution were most likely influenced by his surroundings.

In Darwin’s time his society did not promote equality of males and females. Women were commonly brushed aside and kept to the household. Their main occupations in life were often thought to be maintaining and cleaning