Historical Influence

In terms of historical influence on gender inequality, I believe, Western industrialization may have partially impacted on constructing such a culture of female subordination and male superiority. Transformation into capitalistic society brought out exclusive number of men and gave them opportunity to earn money that further help taking higher position in capitalism. On the other hand, female counterparts were perceived to be supporter of male and required to stay home cooking, cleaning and raising children, which their economic power was completely removed in the first place. The fundamental structure of capitalism that privileged dominantly male over female could have given more strength to the notion of women as the other. Another supporting evidence would be that the Indigenous society, before westernized, exhibited equality of power between different genders (in some tribes, women are more powerful than men). Indigenous women got subordinated and lost their authority like women in western industrialized world, according to the article I studied in other sociology class.

I think that in contemporary society, although I do agree with everyone about the fact that women being the ‘other’ is declining I also think that men still monopolise most important posts like in the economic sphere and politics. Also, education may have an important factor to why women are still represented as the ‘other’ in relation to men because we learn that in the past all history has been made by men and this is taught to repeatedly to younger generations. Therefore, although women have started to take participation in the work force etc., it is ingrained in our minds that we still live in a world that belongs to men and they will always be one step ahead.

Hi Aram, what you mentioned about women's role in the process of industrialization make me recall another aspect of female work in industries. In the third world or global south, the globalization brings many factories to those states. Especially garment industries, and women became the dominant power in this industry because they are considered as patient, and gentle on handcraft. So there is a feminization in modern industries. However, I still agree on Beauvoir's argument that women are the "other" because women under globalization still earned less than man, the value of their labor forces got treat differently.

Another example of Western industrialization and gender inequality that is apparent in the workforce is the type of jobs. Women are given lower level positions, with limited mobility and lower pay, illustrating the fact that they are treated as an ‘other’. The types of jobs that are considered more ‘feminine’ are pink collared jobs such as are teachers, secretaries, nurses, and flight attendants. On the other hand, men dominate in blue collared jobs such as CEOS, skilled trades, carpenter, construction, or electrician. As well, women are disproportionally subjects of physical and verbal sexual assaults and cat calling in the workplace. They are treated as objects because they are seen as the ‘other’ and less of a human being with equal rights. The media plays a significant role in portraying women as sexualized objects for the gratification of men, and to value women based on their bodies rather than who they are.