Op-Ed on Short Paper #2-Gender Inequality
From birth, children are socialized to fill gender roles that have become normalized in society. Girls play with dolls and wear pink, boys wear blue while playing with their trucks, warrior figurines, and swords. When children dare to veer outside of these expected behaviors, parents scold and friends torment. Little girls often start out with ambitious career goals of being a doctor or lawyer, which slowly fade with age as they are socialized become wives and mothers. These subtle inequalities become internalized cultural norms. Gender inequality will persist until both law and culture reflect male and female expectations as equal.
An example of gender inequality is obvious within Nigerian society, as more progressive ideas like feminism take hold, there is push back from men and women clinging to the traditional gendered cultural norms (Adichie, 2012). Feminists are made out to be women who are embittered from marital dissatisfaction and unAfrican as they identify with “Western” views. With this misconception is a prominent component of Nigerian culture, those fighting to change these norms have even more of an uphill battle. The sheer disgust towards feminist thought in Nigerian society illustrates the inability of some to empathize with the experiences of females in a patriarchal societal structure (Adichie, 2012). Anti-feminists stay safely within their own cultural perceptions, never relating to the experiences of others.
With this being said, the first step to achieving gender equality is to change cultural misconceptions of gender. As mentioned in the first paragraph, child socialization reproduces cultural norms. It only makes sense that this would be a good place to start. Through media, social movements, and education the population can be cultivated to understand and combat gender inequality. Progressing gender issues is really all about changing public opinion, which will then translate into more progressive child-rearing practices. Rather than maintaining the historically mandated gender differences, societal advancement should facilitate more widespread acceptance of female equality. While change may not be immediate, changes in the way children are socialized will leave a lasting impact on societal advancement.
For instance, as Adichie (2012) explains, boys are taught by their parents and peers to elevate themselves above girls. Through cultural practices, boys learn that their emotions should be expressed through violence, and females should compete for their attention. At the same time, girls are taught to suppress their talents and ability to build male confidence, and display their emotions more peacefully. Cultural norms progressing marriage and motherhood should no longer be emphasized for girls at a disproportionate rate. In order to change these cultural norms, expectations for boys and girls must be changed.
Once cultural practices begin shifting, there is a need for legislative support to protect against those who may attempt to thwart progressive ideas and changes. In many MENA countries, Islamic family law has worked to reverse progressive cultural norms (Scutt, 2017). Similar to Adichie’s (2012) argument, women in these MENA countries have been kept in the status quo of their society for generations because of cultural reproduction and the internalization of these values, which then leads to a lack of legal change. However, Islam itself is not entirely to blame for continued gender inequality in these regions, as Western imperialism, motivated by oil resources, has caused many of the more progressive movements to be stomped out by radicalization (Scutt, 2017). However, if culture is successful in moving society towards more progressive gender ideas, law can then enhance this process making change permanent. To support permanent gender equality, laws must be motivated by internal forces that will guard against reversal from radicalized groups.
Neither cultural nor legal changes come easily (Adichie, 2012; Scutt, 2017). It takes effort on the part of both community members and legislators to inspire social change that can eliminate inequalities like those surrounding gender. Cultural change requires that members of society change their outlook on societal institutions and internalized ideas. In order to progress social change, societies must fully adapt norms stemming from cultural reproductions, like child-rearing. A new cultural habitus must be created (Bourdieu, 1986). Changes in the law are important to both motivate and support cultural changes. Legal protections should be in place to prevent continued discrimination and inequality. However, it is critical that these legal changes come at the behest of those members within the society itself, not outsiders. Whether law or culture should lead is dependent upon the societal context in which gender inequality persists (Adichie, 2012; Scutt, 2017). What is important is that change is happening.
References
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. 2012. “We Should All Be Feminists.” Presented at Tedx, December 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2018 (https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_we_should_all_be_feminists)
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. “The forms of social capital.” In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education: 241-258. New York, NY: Greenwood Press.
Scutt, Jocelynne A. 2017. Women, Law and Culture: Conformity, Contradiction and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan.