Friday, March 25, 2011

Equality in gender across the world.

In Alexis De Tocqueville's "The Equality of the Sexes," he describes about how European women have more equality with their men than America does with theirs. In Europe, women are both given the same duties and rights as men. In essence, women and men in Europe are alike with the only difference being physical attributes. However, Alexis De Tocqueville states that if they are both equal, they are both being degraded by creating weak men and disorderly women. I believe that this statement is false because there are no given laws that men should be strong and women should be orderly. It is implied in society about these gender roles and allowing the genders to become equal can actually make the society stronger as a whole because there would not be any discrimination in the workforce or even at home. 
In America, the gender roles are widely established and adopted in society. According to De Tocqueville, "The Americans have applied to the sexes the great principle of political economy which governs the manufactures of our age, by carefully dividing the duties of man from those of woman, in order that the great work of society may be the better carried on." This statement opposes Europe's view on women because in America, the gender have split into different paths while Europe has one path. However, in America, for decades women have been trying to push for equal rights with men, especially in the workforce. I believe that if the genders were to literally become equal in America, it would cause a huge shift in our economy and society. For example, it is widely disputed on that men get paid more than women. If women were to get paid the same as men in every job in America, that could cost our economy, millions, if not billions more in debt than we already on. Aristotle said, "The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." Of course all men and women are born equal, but  it has become a way of life in America that there will always be inequality and equality will be a very hard issue to push for.