Violence Against Women, Sexism And Gender Bias Would Always Occur

Growing up in a very traditional and ethnic household, sexism and gender bias would always occur. Questions would always pop in to my head such as; why is my mom always in the kitchen and never my dad? Why does my mom always have to plate my dads food? Why do the women of the household always do the chores while the men just sit there? Why is the man always the head of the household when my mom also went to work? At the time, doing more chores was never questioned but now gender bias is a very relevant issue that has been around for centuries. Women have always been treated lesser than men. Bias and stereotypical thinking have flooded society creating assumptions about women and it has changed the attitude and opportunities that is given to them. This bias is shown in patriarchy, violence against women, and institutional sexism. As a result of this bias, women feel as though they cannot earn the same opportunities that men are given.

Patriarchy can be defined as a social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line (“Patriarchy”). This idea of men having more power than women still exists in modern day society because it has been passed down through different generations creating a cycle which can not be broken. In Canada, a study came out in 2017 which stated that women earn 13% less than men for ever dollar earned. Another study came out in 2018 which stated less than 10% of women can be found working at the top of Canada’s largest public corporations. These issues go deeper than just “women need to chose higher paying jobs” or “women need to be more direct with what they want.”

The real root of this issue is the way that men grow up in their household, if they are aware of the bias between genders, they may start feeling as though they are the superior gender and add to the bias that women face everyday. This can be quoted by Virginia Woolf’s “Professions for Women” speech when she talks about the double standards between men and woman,“They are impeded by the extreme conventionality of the other sex. For though men sensibly allow themselves great freedom in these respects, I doubt that they realize or can control the extreme severity with which they condemn such freedom in women.” By getting rid of gender roles, such as the man being the “breadwinner,” and the women being the “housewife,” women will be treated equally and the bias will phase out of society.

Violence against women in society is seen as a very taboo subject, many people act as though it does not exist but it is a very prominent issue that needs to be talked about more often. Women are scared to share their stories because they feel that they will not be taken seriously and that the men will always be trusted more than the women. An example of this would be the recent Brett Kavanaugh story. He was a Supreme Court nominee with multiple sexual assault allegations and the Senators still ended up voting him in, completely ignoring the credible, vivid and raw stories of those four women. The result of this was not shocking to many people because it was expected. The act of sharing a sexual assault story is a very courageous and difficult experience to go through so when a women does feel ready to share it, they should be supported instead of being put down even more. In 2017, a social media frenzy resulted in the “Me Too Movement,” the main vision of this movement is to “address both the dearth in resources for survivors of sexual violence and to build a community of advocates, driven by survivors, who will be at the forefront of creating solutions to interrupt sexual violence in their communities.”

(“About, History & Vision”) This movement has given a voice to sexual assault survivors around the world, women are feeling safe to tell their stories because many other woman are sharing their stories as well.

‘Patriarchy.’ Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2018.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14694-eng.htm
https://www.rosenzweigco.com/media-1/the-13th-annual-rosenzweig-report-on-women-at-the-top-levels-of-corporate-canada
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/29/kavanaugh-ford-hearing-protest-patriarchy-borrowed-time
“About.” You Are Not Alone, metoomvmt.org/about/.