Images of Women in Western Civilization

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Table of Contents

Title: The evolving role of women in western society
Saga of Florence Nightingale, the lady with the lamp
Assumptions/Hypothesis
Purpose of Study
Discussion of Findings
Recommendations
Conclusions
Reference List

This paper seeks to establish better coherence and content matter on the subject of women empowerment, especially in the light of western civilization. Since the Greek and Roman era, women have come to occupy a secondary position to men, in caring for their households, rearing children, and making themselves useful in household chores. However, in the present context, it is noted that the creative outlets of women not only assist in finding outlets for their creative talents but also help in shaping and changing the course of society. Perhaps, one of the great women who have left a deep impression in human nursing care is Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War. Another great woman humanist is the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, beatified Saint Mother Teresa, who attained worldwide fame for her life dedicated to serving the poor and destitute. Feminine writers like Jane Austen, Daphne du Maurier, Virginia Woolf, Ayn Rand, and others, have also contributed to the intellectual renaissance of women and have carved a niche of their own in contributing significantly to great writings by women over time.

It is seen that women writers have often adopted gender identity rather than national identity. They have thus proved that gender identity is often more potent than national identities, especially when having to identify with developing a strong rapport with their women readers. The future augurs well for the females of the human species, with a greater role to play, in their respective chosen fields of human endeavor, not only in the terms of autonomy and self-determination but also in creating more opportunities for personal fulfillment and development and in the wider context, community service and nation-building for the common good of all people. This paper seeks to establish better coherence and content matter on the subject of women empowerment, especially in the light of western civilization. Since the Greek and Roman era, woman has come to occupy a position second to man, in caring for his household, rearing his children and making herself useful in household chores. However, the roles are now being redefined in the 21^st century and modern women need to inculcate new values and postulates with the challenges of modern society. In her excellent book, “Women’s Work – The First 20,000 Years”, its author, Elizabeth Wayland Barber traces the evolution of women ‘s lives from ancient civilization, and traces the various factors ranging from artistic to religious that help to mould women’s lives and environments. The author shows that “women were a powerful economic force, in the ancient and early modern worlds – with their own industry, fabric.” (Barber, 1994).

Title: The evolving role of women in western society

Opening statement: The role of women in contemporaneous society has undergone sea changes, since the days of weaving, stitching and darning. It is now seen that the creative outlets of women not only assist in finding outlets for their creative talents, but also help in shaping the course of society. It is seen that over the years, the clothes produced by women have created and maintained social order, thus not only posing challenges to the society’s gender hierarchy, but also introducing sea changes in the perspective held erstwhile by society of women’s role as homemakers and careers of children. According to the book, “Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves” by Sarah B. Pomeroy, “The ancient Greek Goddess, Athena, is significant because she presides over crafts, which at that time, for women, were mainly spinning and weaving. According to this mythology, a woman’s skill in the areas of fabric-making is attributable to the Goddess Athena.” (“Goddesses, whores, wives, and slaves”, 2009, para.2). Although it is true that the primary and predominant role of women have been to look after the children and the household, it is also necessary that they also need to indulge in primarily creative work in order to carve a niche of their own in a male dominated society.

Saga of Florence Nightingale, the lady with the lamp

Perhaps one of the great women who have left a deep impression in human nursing care is Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War.

Her “many accomplishments in improving health–decreasing the death rate in the Crimea, pioneering evaluative statistics, establishing the first secular nursing school, and improving sanitation in Great Britain” have raised her status from a nurse to that of “mystic, theorist, researcher, teacher, author, leader, activist, and visionary.” (Hensel, 2006, para.5).

Today’s nurses could truly draw inspiration from her life and deeds, and what contemporary nurses are performing are, in many ways, carrying forward the legacy of the legendary humanist and savior Florence Nightingale.

Another great woman humanist is the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and beatified Saint Mother Teresa. She “attained worldwide fame for her life dedicated to serve the poor and destitute.” (Mother Teresa, n.d., Biography Mother Teresa, para.1). Her life and work is a glowing example of the fact that championing the cause of the poor, diseased, suffering and the oppressed is best form of serving God, one of the main reasons for our life and stay on earth.

Assumptions/Hypothesis

The main assumption that needs to be considered is that women are not working women, but are engaged in household duties and occupations. This is important in the context of women playing a subservient role in terms of generating incomes through sewing, knitting that serves to supplement the household incomes, brought primarily by men folk. It could also be seen from the viewpoint that womenfolk attach primary consideration to the rearing of children and their well being, and only after these functions and objectives are met, would they be in a position to consider engaging in household occupations that would render surplus incomes. However, during present times it is evidenced that “….substantially more men are likely to share their creative work online than women even though both genders engage in creative activities at essentially equal rates.” (Why do men share their creative work online more than women, 2008, para.1)? However, over time it is seen that women lost a great deal of ground and could manage to focus on new and different experiments. Due to their many preoccupations women were reluctant to seek innovative practices and labor serving devices and the end result was that a lot of work which they used to do themselves was now transferred to men folk. Thus, women folk lost grounds to male counterparts who, being physically more robust and stronger, were able to take up and complete.

Another aspect that needs to be considered is that over the years, male dominance in European society ensured that women played only secondary roles as house makers and child bearers. Moreover, it is seen that this has sustained for a long time until perhaps the 20^th Century, when women began to assert themselves more aggressively against male dominance and suzerainty.

Further, it is found by analyzing the role of women’s cultural landmarks and gains that long and arduous struggles provide newly fangled framework for considering the ethical, socio-economic, religious and political status in different women’s legal, socioeconomic, religious, and/or political influences in discrete time and situations. By study of such legendary characters, it is possible to adopt them as role models and for motivation and inspirational thoughts. “We also learned that bringing women and their voices to the forefront sometimes radically changed our understanding of certain periods of Western civilization and often introduced provocative new cultural forms, alternative visions of society and its institutions, and challenging critiques of values, ideas, and societal arrangements that many have regarded as “fixed” Western cultural traditions.” (Bryant, & Elder, 2005, preface, para.6).

Purpose of Study

The main purpose of studying this research paper is to know about the images of women in Western Civilization i.e. their lifestyle, culture, position etc in the society. Women’s role in the progress of western culture and sculpture from pre historic to modern world is evaluated and what are the changes occurred due to the involvement of women in the society. By doing this research paper, it helps the students to boost their skill and knowledge about women in western society as they investigate metaphors of women in art, culture etc and also the women’s experience and contribution in economical and political growth. As this paper deals with the images of women in the historical western civilization, it helps the students to know about the ancient civilization. In order to know more about history they will go through many of the literature reviews written by various authors, which can improve the reading and writing habits of students and progress their critical feelings and opinion. They will also able to compare the changes of women’s image from traditional to modern society.

Discussion of Findings

In the western civilization the image of women has improved a lot when compared to the ancient culture. In the book, “Western civilization: 1300 to 1815” by Jacckson J. Spielvogel the author says that “In the early modern era, women joined this debate by arguing against these male images of women. They argued that women also had rational minds and could grow from education.” (Spielvogel, 2008, p.498).

Women were also very intelligent, self-righteous, and moderate and the idea developed in women’s mind that if they get educated they can become along or above the position of males. The women started participating in every activity in which only male took part before and the result was also very excellent. Education was the turning point which changed the women’s image from traditional culture to modern culture. When taking the case of women in every country, one can see that the western women are better than others because they are very bold, intelligent, and no men have authority over them. In the book, “Western women and imperialism: complicity and resistance” by Nupur Chaudhuri, he says that: “The western women’s expressed superiority toward the Egyptian women is quite similar to that of western feminist and missionary women toward Indian women.” (Chaudhuri, & Strobel, 1992, p.6).

The lifestyle and culture of women in western civilization is totally different from others; even when they imitated or influenced the culture of other country it created distinction. According to Tylor in 1871, “culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, moral, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society.” (Oyedele, 2009, para.1). Culture and lifestyle is one of the major things which makes one differ from the other. The way of dressing, eating, talking etc is totally different in western culture when compared to others. Here, the women like to live with full freedom and they don’t like to live in the control of others even in the control of their parents and also don’t believe in married life and do not consider marriage is important in their life. There is no difference between men and women; women do anything from anywhere at any time and there are no restrictions at all. The number of women in the field of politics is greater here when compared to others as the women here are very bold, intelligent and also they are very strong to face any problem. Another striking factor is that women writers have often adopted gender identity rather than national identity. They have thus proved that “gender identity is often stronger than, or at least as strong as national identities.” (Maunu, 2007, p.19).

Recommendations

It is necessary that the research takes into account the main arguments that need to be put forth regarding women’s participation in creative work – whether at home, or outside the precincts of the household. The work or art depicts greater sensitivity, understanding of textual content, shades and other relevant matter which underpin quality products and designs. It could also be said that a detailed analysis needs to be made regarding the creative work of women not only in generally accepted areas, but also cases of women who have excelled as soldiers, astronauts, police officers, enforcement officials, etc. over the tumultuous and eventful time span of their lives. It is seen that traditional bastions of child rearing and housekeeping are now a thing of the past, and women have even ventured where men fear to tread. Further, it is often seen that household chores may not be “capable of easing the burden of unpaid housework that weighs on women and prevents them from playing a full part in public life, whether in terms of employment, education, politics, trade unionism or voluntary activity?” (Feuvre, 2000, p.12).

The remarkable transformation of meek and servile women over time has given rise to self-assertive, independent and goal seeking women who are ready to accept any challenges for self preservation and welfare. “We discovered that examining women’s cultural achievements and struggles provides an innovative framework for discussing women’s legal, socioeconomic, religious, and/or political status in different times and places.” (Bryant, & Elder, 2005, preface, para.6).

Next, the research needs to consider the impact that women bring upon society, especially their creative talent. It would also be within norms to analyze the contribution afforded by women and their remarkable role in contemporary society, perhaps shorn of materialistic and parenting characteristics. The creative potential of women is higher than that of others, and given the right kinds of inputs and opportunities, it is expected that they could outrun men in the event of a race for supremacy. However, the fact that male dominance is pervasive in all facets of living and society, with women playing a subservient role. Attitudinal changes could help impart correctional trends, and open up new vistas for creative thinking and execution in many facets.

There was and still exists a lot of debates, talks, and controversies on the subject of women’s role in society. An abundant number of books have been written about images of women in the Western world. Scholars and psychologists have argued, discussed, debated and tried at coming to a common and a mutual understanding of both the genders on this topic. Many feminists all over the world have, and are still coming up with many theories, instances and debates on the issue. A conclusion has never been reached, the main and original reason being: one thinks of oneself being superior to the other.

Sarah Pomcroy, a writer of the past, in one of her writings, “Goddesses, whores, wives and slaves” has with a deep insight explored on the subject along with various other writers’ works and references. Remarks, such as, ‘the woman’s bed never changed its place, nor did the arrangement of the kitchen, but the man’s bed did’ was pin-pointed out, argued and an explanation called out for. The above quotation was of James Mellaart. It said: children too only followed or were buried either with the women or under the remaining platforms, but they never accompany the master of the house. One can draw conclusions from many writers’ instances that a woman is always and only considered as a secondary ancient antique. This is also how the world perceives womenfolk. In fact, it is the opinion of the male public that makes the final impression.

Conclusions

It would not be farfetched to assume that the aspect of creative works by women is indeed profound and all encompassing, and may be beyond the scope of a paper. Over the years, facing innumerable challenges and tremendous odds, women have excelled not only in their home turf of culinary abilities and housekeeping, but in unusual occupations like members of the armed forces, nuclear research science and other strategic occupations (Kinnear, 1982). However, it could be said that “women skill perceive themselves with the foremost responsibility for reproduction work and they consequently choose their occupation with an eye to mobile auxiliary work, secondary in importance to a husband’s.” (Kinnear, 1982, p.189). Further, with broadening of mental horizons and equality of sexes being a major issue in corporate today, it would not be incorrect to assume that the future augurs well for the females of the human species, with greater role to play, not only in the sphere of self-determination, but also in terms of creating more opportunities for personal development and in the wider context, community service and nation building for the common good of all the inhabitants.

Reference List

Barber, E W. (1994). Women’s work the first 20, 000 Years: Women, cloth, and society in early times: Back cover. United States of America.

Bryant, JG., & Elder, E B. (2005). Creating women: an anthology of readings on women in western culture, volume 2 (Renaissance to the present): Preface. Pearson. Web.

Chaudhuri, N., & Strobel, M. (1992). Western women in imperialism: complicity and resistance. Indiana University Press.

Feuvre, N L. (2000). Employment, family and community activities: a new balance for women and men: Household services and gender equality. European Foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions.

“Goddesses, whores, wives, and slaves”. (2009). Lots of Essays.com.

Hensel, D. (2006). Florence nightingale today: healing, leadership, global action. BNET. Web.

Kinnear, M. (1982). Daughters of time: women in the western tradition. University of Michigan Press.

Maunu, L. (2007). Women writing the nation: national identity, female community, and the British French connection, 1770-1820: Introduction. Associated University Press. 19.

Mother Teresa: Biography Mother Teresa. (n.d.). Write Spirit: Sharing Ancient Wisdom and Modern Inspiration.

Oyedele, O. (2009). How much does culture and lifestyle affect behavior. Helium. Web.

Spielvogel, J J. (2008). Western civilization: 1300 to 1815: Debates on the nature of women. 7^th ed. Cengage Learning.

Why do men share their creative work online more than women? (2008). Scientific Blogging.

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