What can people really do to distribute power equally throughout society?

Question

I've seen a few questions claiming that men have more power than women. This is sometimes claimed to be a result of discrimination, sometimes a result of society, sometimes a result of history...

Whatever the cause, my question is simple: What can people (particularly the average individual) do to make it so that women and ethnic minorities have an equal opportunity to hold a position of power in society?

Actually sashali, I am half black, and a victim of the hierarchy.

:(

By the way Jasumi, how can one person eliminate all stereotypes? Is it enough to avoid using them oneself, or should one also discourage others from doing so if one hears them?

What if the stereotypes are perpetuated by a minority and directed toward a white male?

Answer 1

I thought women held all the power, that's what some (men and women) say a lot here.

''The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.''
''We have the ____, we have the power!''
''Women were always in power, just behind the scenes.''

To answer the question: I don't think there is any thing we, as individuals, can do to change the power imbalance. It is up to the leaders (of country/ state/ company/ etc...) to redistribute the power equally.

Answer 2

It is called The Vote. Both Men and Women use it. It is how You use it that counts. Allowing for the fact that less than 30% of people actually bother to cast a ballot is it any wonder that there is room for a new surge of power? When You vote, take Your friends, family and the people next door. Organize fron enrollments. Register voters in Your precinct, county, and constituency. Agitate for information on how to vote to be made freely available to the masses. Draw attention to the activities of those who hold Public Office but do not serve the public's best interests. Run candidates of Your own if You have to. Get the idea? Become a force within Your own electoral area.

Answer 3

First you have to get the power away from the really powerful. The ones who are controlling all the money. And guess what? It is not your average middle class person, even though you may be a white male thinking you have some little bit of power, you don't. Remember the best way to control is to divide and conquer. As long as the poor and the middle class are pitted against each other, either economically, racially, religiously, sexually, nationalistically or any other way. And lord how we ALL buy into it, then the money boys keep on making more and more and sending more of the middle class to the poor house ending with only the Haves and the have nots. Think on that theory.

Answer 4

Ill try to explain it with a song.

Da di dum nothing...

No matter what feminists blatter about social conditioning and androgenity, men are the ones who are more likely to take more risks. You cant found a company or start up a buisness without taking some risks. In the capitalistic world those who hold facilities that produce capital eithier by rendering a product or offering a service are the ones who hold power. Power will be mostly in the hands of males in the future as well, since they will be overall more ambitious than women.

Answer 5

well this is easy. the united states national electrical master grid has several redundancies to prevent failure. It's pretty safe to state that our society has equal power from coast to coast. u can test that by switching on a light bulb from CA to VA. Sure there may be some more power hungry states during power surges but don't u worry, we do have reserve "pools" or caches where are can easily borrow additional flows from other sources. don't want to get into the ohms & resistance bit but u get the drift. X-)

Answer 6

1. refrain from using any form of stereotypical speech, ideas, yourself and try to sensitivly correct those who use it also
2. I think women should stand up for a man's reproductive rights and write their congressmen about men possibly being able to "abort" their parental rights. (and obviously men should do the same)
3. I think men should support women in closing the wage gap.
4. reassess your beiefs and take "inventory" of the issues fought by the activist groups you associate with often, to make sure that they are speaking for you, not that you are conforming to their ideologies. after all these (and politicians) are in place to secure your right of you voice being heard, if your voice is no longer being heard, then its time to switch groups/politicians.


just a few off the top of my head.....

Answer 7

The people with the power (employers, managers, politicians, etc.) need to lead by example and remain completely blind to gender and race. Quotas, I believe, are more patronizing than equitable. They imply that special-interest groups aren't good enough to go through the normal employment channels.

Answer 8

Make raising children no longer a specifically female liability. How to accomplish this? Who knows, unfortunatly. But motherhood is the #1 risk factor for poverty, and people in poverty generally don't have a lot of power.

Answer 9

They are more even now as just living together if the cops are called they will lock him up for hitting her and if they are married they seldom do but the cops are getting a bit better on this issue,,,

Answer 10

If you want to talk about power - power in society - then you need to define the term. You failed to do this so I have done it for you:

'POWER'
'The capacity of individuals or institutions to achieve goals even if opposed by others. Sociologists and political scientists, among others, have examined the way power is exercised through political parties and institutions of the state or the way that men exercise power within the family or the work place...". '

Who then are the players? The definition above mentions

1. political parties
2. institutions of the state
3. men ...within the family
4. men...within the work place

'Society' and 'history' and 'discrimination' are not separate entities, rather

Society (today and in the past - aka 'history') discriminates against women. We know this women remain a minority (please look it up if you don't understand how 'minority' is used in sociology). Women constitute 50% of humanity, yet are consistently underrepresented in:

1. political parties
2. institutions of the state
3. the work place - the 'movers and shakers' of business and industry

Women need to be encouraged to make up a greater percentile of 1, 2, and 3 above. The specifics of just how this is to be achieved is far too complex a question to be addressed on this forum.