The Effects of Gender, Oppression, and Ideology of Women in the Society

Women are most often viewed as part of men. They are at the side or behind a man’s identity. A woman is being talked about by connoting “the wife of…,” “the daughter of…,” or “the mother of…” Women are viewed to be not really significant in the society in history. They are only existent to serve their men for physical and emotional aspect. According to history, women are only subjects and/or objects of the society. In this modern period, women still experience these kinds of situations in different countries around the world.

It is good to obtain better understanding on the situations of women in different nations to justify the wholeness of women’s concept. Through this, we could be able to define and analyze the circumstances of women and how these concepts affect their womanhood in their own society. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the three concepts of women in different societies – gender, oppression, and ideology. Women are made only for men. This is the usual perception towards women in the past. Gender is always been an issue for women’s status in the society. They have many limitations because of their gender.

Women are known to be weaker than men because of the society’s perspective in history. Life for women is simple and basic for the whole nation but for women’s own situation, it is more complex and complicated because they have no freedom. For this reason, most women used to stay at home even if they have attained a certain degree of knowledge. After graduating in college, they will marry their man and stay at home – developing their sense of womanhood at home. Women are created to be the wife and mother of their family – no more and no less. In this procedure, it can be said that women’s gender has its own limitation in the society.

It only means that they could not able to go beyond their limit such as serving the whole country. They are ‘imprisoned’ into their homes to serve their family – alone. These are only basic implications of women’s gender in the society but in Tamil, it more than expected. “Gender issues surrounding nations and nationalism are perhaps most clearly articulated at times of war, when bodies become the sites of conflict. The masculinization of war and citizenship has been recognized as being intimately connected, with the exclusion of women from the military crystallizing in their exclusion from citizenship (Segaram, 2001). Because they are also part of the war, women wanted to help hasten the freedom against colonialism. They are eager to serve their country and fight for their freedom. However, it is not accepted in the society seeing women being part of the battle. They can be there to be the healer of men but they could not be part of men’s battleground. The main reason why women could not show their support for freedom in this aspect is because they are women. They are weaker and would not create clear focus and yet they may become the niche of losing. Women’s status in the society is always been a negative perspective.

Because of this, women could not able to empower themselves and keeping their identity as weaker and dependent to men. Women’s gender is a deprivation of their freedom to walk straight and show the world that they could also make changes. Women are always left in their homes to nurture their children but they could not able to nurture their selves. Through this, many women suffer from psychological defects when it comes to their liberty and social interaction. Instead of empowering their hearts and minds, women are feebler and tend to depend on their partners for their needs.

However, in society today, women wanted to change the notion of gender inequality. They are showing their freedom and independence to their society through working. There are also times when women are making money while their partner is the one nurturing their children. From this case, it can be said that that status of women is trying to make changes and equality to men when it comes to the needs of the society. On the other way around, oppression is a manifestation of social inequality. It lies within the issue of gender. Oppression is also an effect of gender deprivation of the society towards women.

Once there is a social inequality, there is a form of oppression. Women’s oppression may exist everywhere – physical, mental, emotional, and even in literature, women is also being oppressed. Once a woman’s identity is used for personal purpose that is negative for women’s depiction in the society, it can be called as oppression. It only means that the concept of oppression is merely a complicated and hard deconstruction of women empowerment and social identity. “Ruling class women were increasingly treated as one more possession of a male controller of the surplus, valued as an ornament, a source of sexual pleasure or as a breeder of heirs.

They would be protected from hardship and external dangers, but also cocooned from any interaction with the wider social world (Harman, 2002). ” When a woman is controlled by a man with objection in the side of the woman, there is a simply a form of oppression. It shows that everything that is a form of hostility against women is oppression and it is shown in different parts of the world. Social inequality, discrimination, condemnation, and sexual are forms of oppression that women continue to experience from the history until now. Oppression is usually experienced of women in the third world countries.

They were being oppressed by their partners and authorities. They experience this form of threat because they are voiceless and helpless. Women in these societies tend to become quiet for truth because they are afraid in the possible outcome of their ‘ideal justice. ’ Every woman who experience oppression is incapable of showing herself in front of others. She could not able to define her identity because she is treated as an object by her environment. Because of this, women’s perspective against this issue is more on the ideal side because most probably than not, they will experience this sense of inequality in their society.

Another concept that affects women the most is ideology. Women have idealistic and observational based knowledge. They have the capability to work for the needs of the people around them especially for their family. According to research, women are more strategic than men especially in the third world countries. Women in these countries took all the burden right through their arms. Their partners may live them and find their own luck with the arms of others but these women who are mothers of 5-12 children could be able to feed all of them.

Women have goals and purpose whenever they enter a certain situation or circumstances. In comparison to men, women would be able to accept their defeat and work harder but men would probably stop from doing his responsibilities once he experience defeat and failure. When a woman entered a situation, she has the guts to kneel to her authority and be with her partner. It exists in the aspect of religion. When a couple has different religion, the woman will bow down and accept the religion of her partner. This is a usual case for women who are part of religious countries like India.

It can be said as a form of ideology because women believed in the sense of acceptance and survival. Women are more prone to adjustment that give them the capability create more ideas and perspectives in every situation. “The ideology of communalism plays around the game of numbers. It goes on to assert that the population of minorities is on the rise due to more wives and children of Muslims. And this will result in this Hindu Rashtra being converted to Islamic country (Puniyani, 2005). ” However, more often than not, the society will dictate where a woman must go when it comes to religious issues.

Therefore, woman’s ideology becomes a social or communal ideology. In conclusion to this, it can be said that women’s gender, oppression, and ideology are interrelating factors that deals with the trend and pattern of society’s perspective towards women. Gender will define the status of a person in the society. If she is a woman, more or less, she will experience certain oppression within her environment but through the depiction of ideology whether personal or communal will give a woman the capability to strengthen her use and status in her country.

Life as a woman is a continuous battle against social oppression and inequality. There is always a need for armor and logical justifications of facts and evidences to make the status of women elevate to the next position. As time passes by, women’s status emerged to a better situation but there is always a challenge beyond everything. Women need to face the different social threats and disabilities to show her dignity and pride in her field. The purpose of each woman today is to make a change for the survival of women in the traditional society that deals with discrimination and social destruction.