Womens Rights - A root of societal disfunction?

[Smitten]

This is a theory I am working on from a sociological point of view - constructive criticism is welcome, biased raving about this being some Masculinist plot to undermine women - blah blah blah...

Anyway -

Women's rights are being referred to in this context as "equality" in terms of politics, job opportunity, and freedom to choose one's own societal role.


Let's look at history for a brief moment -
Pre-industrial revolution: women remain the center of the family unit since to concept of a society was realized way back in ancient times. Men work, hold office, make important decisions about the future of their respective culture/societies (with input from their wives, ofcourse) and have a woman to come home to - all is wonderful in man-land.
The woman is responsible for the upkeep of the home, and for raising the offspring. She is, as always, the binding element in the family. The woman teaches the children, disciplines them, watches over them, molds and shapes them to be good, civil, honorable men and women.

Industrial revolution: Capitalism hits full force - Factories arise with the advent of interchangeable parts - job openings go through the roof, but so does available labor. People move away from the farms and into cities - working conditions are terrible, maimings and death on the job is commonplace - wages fall dramatically due to excess labor abundance - mothers and children are forced join the workforce to supplement the income of the man - if there is one (like I said, death toll was pretty high.)

1919: Women granted right to vote
1920: Department of labor opens a womans division to "protect" the rights of women in the work place.

(Skipping WWI, pretty straight forward - husbands working, wages suck, great depression - everyone should know this time period already if you finished your 2nd year of highschool.)

WWII: Men away at war, Women forced to work for the war effort, children left to their own devices, family unit cohesion suffers greatly with few role models in the home and little to no parental policing going on due to the mother being out of the home and at work. This time period is epic foreshadowing.


Over time, Women have fought for the right to work and have the same opportunities as men - however, this has come at a great cost to the fabric of society, and primarily at great cost to the family unit.

Working is no longer a choice that women have, it's no longer a opportunity - it is a necessity in order to survive.

Women entering the work force, has - over the last century - caused mens wages to decrease (when compared with the worth of wages made before womens rights) because 2 working parents means a 2 family income. To buisness owners this means that each individual can be payed less so long as they can support themselves on the duel income. (another way to say this is: The man no longer needs to support the whole family, so you can pay him less since his wife is also working.)

The implications this has are far reaching -

Now it is not a choice whether or not women have to work, it is necessary for most in order to just make rent/mortgage money.

In terms of children, this means that both parents are out of the home and the children have to fare for themselves - This makes people have much more individualistic personalities as they are almost always concerned with themselves and fend for themselves. Community degrades and you get societies like the current American problem.

Millions of self interested people clawing through others to get what they want with no though or care to the consequences for others.

It's all about #1

Hyper individualized, power hungry, and disloyal as a means to an self-interested end.

So now we have power hungry women who care more about their career than having a family or sharing a meaningful existence with another human being. In my opinion, it was always women that held the fabric of civilized society together by supporting the men that they spent life with. Women play a VERY important role in our species - and the balance has been... pardon my language, Fucked up.

Women are being taught to be Alpha's, now in competition with men rather than as a compliment and partnership with them. Contrasting goals, differing opinions, different ideals - so many factors.

Rambling... I'm just going to post and let others apply their own thoughts.


I wrote this in a rush, hope I made the points clear...
Thought's?

[dr2005]

For the record, I feel I should point out you've probably opened a massive can of worms here, so expect some pretty sharp responses.

I wouldn't agree that women's rights has led to the breakdown of the family unit or society - on a number of levels, that just doesn't compute, particularly if you consider single-parent families who are still capable of producing well-rounded, balanced individuals. Pinning it on one sex or another and their attitudes as being the root cause of the problem is to my mind a gross oversimplification. Where I would agree, though, is that there is definitely a more selfish streak in both genders now compared with previous generations, and I think the nature of the working environment does have something to do with that. In order to properly advance in your career, most companies demand that you be at the coalface (metaphorically speaking) day in day out without exception, and thus taking career breaks either voluntarily or by way of maternity/paternity leave may not be actively discouraged but is certainly frowned upon in a number of environments (corporate especially). As such, people feel they need to focus on their careers to the detriment of other aspects of their life, be that partners or wider family. Monetary pressure certainly plays a part in that, together with the ideal of being self-sufficient and independent (which is itself a bit of a joke - no one is truly independent in this life, no matter how much they claim to be), and ultimately it can and does lead to a somewhat more myopic viewpoint on things. At the same time, that isn't because of the rise of women's rights - it's because, I think, we've become much more materialistic as a species, which may be good for business but probably isn't so good for us. Both sexes are guilty of that in my book.

[Jocelyn.]

I feel like I've said this exact spiel to my husband on many occasions. Whether I wholeheartedly agree with myself or not, I'm still unsure of /shrugs. I'm currently battling the fact that I'm stay at home mother who would love to stay at home with my son, but will soon be forced to work because (even though my husband makes a pretty decent income) we are getting to the point where we need a second one to make ends meet. So that means throwing my son in daycare and hoping that they raise him right for me! /sarcasm.

[TigerTank77]

I would argue that presenting gender quality as a "feminist" and "women's rights" has done more damage than people expected.

While I agree with the idea that both genders should be equal, I mean this from an egalitarian perspective, not a feminist one.

The way we're going about it these days is fucking retarded. Nothing is actually being made equal anymore, it's just a race to see who can get the most special privileges, and who can fuck over who more in court.