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GENDER EQUALITY One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. No biological, psychological or economic fate determines the figure that the human female presents in society; it is civilization as a whole that produces the creature, intermediate between male and eunuch, which is described as feminine. In the early years of her age a female child, like male children exists only for herself and is hardly aware of the fact that as an adult she would be sexually differentiated. It is not until when she grows up and is faced with occasional denial of some rights, she realizes that she is the disadvantaged sex, ‘the woman’ that men think is inferior to them both, intellectually and socially. This attitude of men is liable to have two kinds of impacts, the extent of which highly depends on the economic and social development of the society a woman lives in. women living in the under-developed nations of Africa and Asia, generally accept the inferior status as the only option. On the contrary, women of the more developed countries like America, often fight for their rights and donot settle for low standards. It is the unwavering motivation of these women, that has successfully produced some prominent American activists like, Elizabeth BlackWell, Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone, who campaigned to expand opportunities for women like, the granting of equal rights and also to improve their lives in general. The demand for women’s rights includes not only the assurance of equal rights (e.g , property, legal, political, marital, educational and employment), with men, but also the removal of all forms of discrimination against women on the basis of sex. The demand for them has been denied both by the custom and by the law and the struggle to gain them is one of the basic movements for human liberty. In the modern world, the status of women varies widely from country to country and from one social class to another within countries. The traditional view of women, as intellectually and socially inferior to men, continues to prevail in certain areas. In rural part of some less developed nations, for example, women have little or no personal independence. They pass from the control of the father, to that of the husband, and function only as servant of the husband and bearer of his children. In most countries women have the right to vote and certain other political and legal rights. Traditional attitudes, nonetheless, restrict women’s activities to some extent, especially in business, industry, the professions, and higher education. Even in societies where women have been given broader responsibilities and power, men have normally dominated political life. The emergence of classes, states, and major religions has universally strengthened male dominance, and the rise of capitalism has furthered this tendency. ‘EARLY HISTORY’ Preliterate cultures: In both hunting and foraging and early settled agricultural societies, women contribute directly and indispensably to subsistence, frequently controlling and collecting the essentials for survival.
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