Question to women - Do you feel like you're 'equal' in society?

Question

I live in the UK. I am not criticising any country in particular. (Why am I writing this? Because some of you are so insular that I have to).

Answer 1

Oh yes.

Besides from having a full time job (working more hours and with less pay than my husband) I also have then joy of:-

KEEPING THE HOUSE CLEAN
COOKING
WASHING
IRONING
GARDENING
GOING TO SCHOOL PARENT'S (meaning mum's) DAY
TAKING THE KIDS TO DOCTORS, DENTIST, ETC
DOING THE CAR RUN TO PARTIES, FRIENDS, FAMILY
ARRANGING BIRTHDAY PARTIES
REMEMBERING ALL FAMILY BIRTHDAYS
CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
ARRANGING SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Last, but not least - trying to be sexy in bed (and not fall asleep)

OH YES, I am definite an EQUAL!!!

Answer 2

I think things are as equal as they can be when it comes to the sexes. I feel an equal to any man but that's because i understand and have no problem accepting that there are things they can do that i can't, and vice verser.
It probably sounds strange coming from a woman but i can't stand it when women say anything a man can do, they can do, because in some jobs (physical labour for example) men will always exceed women simply because they are physcally stronger and that will never change. And i'm sure there are many things men just can't do as well as women.

Answer 3

I have always felt like an equal. I grew up with brothers, and from the time I was young, and in my families relationships with each other, I have always been treated as an equal. I have not chosen to go into a field that would make me the minority, however in all the jobs I have held, I have always felt like an equal. I believe that you have a victim mentality, and are always looking for the people who are putting you down, then that is all you will see. Instead I have met many wonderful people in my life and believe that if you work hard and show yourself as an equal that anything is possible. Perhaps not in a poorer third world country, but definitley in our first world countries.

Answer 4

Of course not.

On a personal level.... Still can't get paid an equal wage. Still get ignored by the old white men who run the company (but they'll chat freely with the young white guys, inviting them golfing, etc.). Still get asked if I ride my own bike or am my husband's passenger (male bikers don't get asked that in reverse).

On a global level.... Baby girls are killed in China because the parents wanted a boy instead. Teenage females in Ethiopia have their clits cut out because their husbands-to-be don't want them to enjoy sex because the wives might otherwise cheat on them. Taliban women are treated worse than the family dog. Other than Maggie Thatcher, there has never been a woman leader of a first world country.

Answer 5

i live in south africa and i'd say women in this country are placed on an equal footing with men in terms of rights and opportunities. But we can never really be equal, equality is just a theory that will never come into practice completely because it's hard to break accepted behaviours that have lasted centuries. And some women believe that they aren't equal to men. so in business blah blah- a controlled evironment u can enforce the equality theory.
but at home men are/should be at the top of the hierachy

Answer 6

Wish I had time to answer this in more detail! I'm glad there have been some good answers so far.

No, I don't think women have achieved full equality in society. Evidence of this can be seen in the way that things seen as "female" are denigrated (eg in phrases such as "you run like a girl" and in the social acceptability of women in trousers but not men in skirts).

However, I do believe that both sexes are of equal value and that there are more similarities between us than differences (or, rather, that the many differences between individuals are not connected to gender nearly as much as conventional society would have us believe). This means I largely don't subscribe to the "Equal but different" philosophy. The obvious exception to this, for me, would be the fact that only women can give birth. This, in my view, creates a use-value that makes women vulnerable to being exploited like breeding mares and men vulnerable to being excluded from child-rearing.

PS: I think Miss B’s saying that "Women who want to be equal to men, lack ambition" has a ring of truth to it in that *some* feminists do rather fall into the trap of buying into macho ideals or placing greater value on things connected to “maleness” and masculinity (eg the traditional work ethic). Though I appreciate the need for pragmatism (i.e we need to achieve equality in the real world as it exists *now*), my real ambition is to see a radical change in society that truly beats the system. Otherwise, we'll just end up in a society where women are free to be like "men" but men still have to be like "men" or face ridicule.

Answer 7

well i'm male but i feel like ranting anyway......

women DO have full equality....there will always be people who enjoy feeling victimised when they're not. a lot of the women on here don't seem to realise that there are universal differences between males and females. i'm not saying i feel segragated from women, we're all humans; i can just acknowledge that there are some differences. the phrase "you run like a girl" is in no way meant to demean women. women are physically the weaker sex (i'm not saying this is positive or negative - i'm just stating a fact). it's just there to motivate. guys don't hear that and think any less of women. concerning the "objectification" of women: again, there are differences on how this is generally perceived. sometimes men want to look at a sexy babe. there generally isn't as big a demand from women for this. it sells papers, eh? men don't see this and think all women are slags

Answer 8

There is a difference, there will always be a difference. I appreciate the difference. I enjoy being a woman. I have a job that has been traditionally held by men and I am respected by the men I work with. I love life and people and I am enjoying this journey to the best of my ability......I love men and I appreciate our differences

I bring something to the table that a man would miss. Men bring something to the table that would not have thought of.

Equal? In what regard? Am I missing something?

Answer 9

That's a really tricky question. The answer is, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Although we are emancipated, this has led to some 'Catch 22' situations in terms of relationships, careers, motherhood, and how they all get balanced. For example, I don't think enough has been done -- either governmentally, legally, socially, psychologically for all people (men and women) -- to accommodate the biological basic need for women to have babies before age 35, if possible. The pill freed up sexual relations, but it didn't account for the fact that women now face great difficulties with finding a committed partner and having a baby at a healthy age. There is also a certain stigma against having a baby at a younger age, which is not helping matters. We can make up all the theories we want, and there are scientific treatments being developed for late mothers, but the truth is our bodies function a certain way biologically. Feminism was so preoccupied with getting women education, the vote, and jobs, that it never properly addressed this problem that ensued from being emancipated.

Therefore, women who stay at home as mothers are not formally considered as having 'worked' which can affect their government pension levels, or lack thereof, in certain countries. Sometimes I also feel as if so-called 'equal' treatment is used by men to camouflage 'unequal' treatment. This has happened both in job situations and in private relationships -- men have started to perceive women both as competitors and as companions, which can be very difficult sometimes as the two roles overlap. It is very easy to undermine women professionally by treating them in a personal capacity -- and vice versa! Also I think men have gotten some bad deals in the sense that the market admitted women as workers, but then downgraded everyone's salary accordingly. Thus, whereas one salary was once enough to sustain a family, now both partners must work. I don't think this was a conscious thing, it just developed in the economy. In addition, I think there has been a bit of confusion in the last 50 years or so about the roles in relations between the sexes, with both men and women being affected -- men have some crises of masculinity, and women have some crises of femininity as old ways of thinking have been overturned. I do not agree with the rabid feminist attacks on men who are just trying to deal with their own lives and problems. -- Nor do I agree with women being paid unequally, treated as marketing commodities or being treated in private with abuse or disrespect -- all behind a mask of equality.

All this said, it is a stage of development. We have to remember that women have only been voting and had general access to higher education for the past one hundred years or so -- in some places, only 50 years, in some places it hasn't even happened yet! You need only read Mary Wollstonecraft to see what a nightmare life could be before such laws existed. These things were necessary to open up our society, but the real social transformation that resulted because of them has yet to stabilize fully. Also I think it is important to remember that women's emancipation was part of the emancipation of many other groups in the West - religious freedom, working class freedom, industrial standards, and the emancipation of the serfs, universal manhood suffrage, and so on. We forget what a huge percentage of the population worked as servants at some point in their lives before the First World War. The whole late 18th century to late 20th century was a period of huge change, so I try not to be too pessimistic about women's rights. These things take time for everyone to understand and come to grips with. For many of these issues, it all comes down to individuals and the choices they make in their day to day lives, which will eventually become new traditions.

Answer 10

Yes and no.

Yes in the sense that i pay tax same as everyone else, am responsible for my actions like everyone else. Yes also in the sense that i work for myself so commend the fees i demand and don't feel undervalued as too many women do, working for employers.

No in the sense that being a woman and a mother i worry more, have more health problems than men have and when it comes to sicety's projection of women in particular, and to quote one of your answers ... Read the Sun. It makes me wonder if i'm not a member of a lost tribe, most importantly a second class citizen in many ways.

I also feel some people find it really hard to accept that women my age should enjoy a career of their choosing! It's as though they resent it (Some of them and most of those being men).

Answer 11

Depends on what you mean by equal, and equal to what! There will always be tasks that women can do and men can't and vice versa. As they say, untill men can have children, there will never be equality between the sexes.