GENDER AND SEXUALITY ACROSS TIME - Comprehensive Notes

Understand the historical roots of our understanding of gender and sexuality.
Appreciate how this understanding evolved through time and affected various aspects of human life.

Patriarchy is a social system where men primarily hold power in the political and the private spheres.
In a patriarchal society, women are expected to be obedient and submissive at all times.

The term Patriarchy comes from the Greek word Patriarkhes which means “the rule of the father.”
In this social system, the society is organized and maintained in a way that men rule over women and their children.

Egalitarian: men and women have equitable power and roles.
Changing views on gender equality: attitudes toward gender equality have shifted over time, with data showing changes in public opinion.
Key data on changing views (illustrative Pew/Gallup-style data):
- 1993: Favors men over women = $62\%$ , Treats them equally = $23\%$ , Favors women over men = $10\%$ .
- 2013: Favors men over women = $45\%$ , Treats them equally = $40\%$ , Favors women over men = $9\%$ .
- Notes: Based on all adults. For 2013, N = $2{,}002$ ; for 1993, N = $1{,}065$ .
- Source: Pew Research Center.

Key demands include:
- Right to vote
- Right to education / allowed to go to school
- Right to earn money / wages
- Right to legally own property
- Right to participate in learning politics and science
- Right to live free from violence and discrimination
- Enjoy the highest attainable standard of education
Notable references: Simeone de Beauvoir (sic Simone de Beauvoir), Women’s Liberation Movement, United Nations reports.

Greek world: Aristotle, Plato, and other Greek philosophers viewed women as the inferior sex and as property of men.

Herodotus observed that Egyptian women enjoyed a higher social status than Greek women, citing that they could inherit property, engage in trade, and participate in politics.

The written doctrines titled the Three Obediences and Four Virtues state that women should:
- Obey their father
- Obey their husband when married
- Obey their son when widowed

Friedrich Engels argued that patriarchy arose when people started having private property rather than living in communal arrangements.

Key claim: women historically were denied the vote because they were perceived as irrational and temperamental and thus unable to make rational decisions.

Feminists call for equality in politics and society, arguing that women’s voices were silenced for centuries and rights must be restored.

The right to decide about marriage and the number of children.
The right to information throughout life for all matters relating to reproductive health.
The right to a safe, healthy, and satisfying sex life.
The right to safe, effective, affordable, and acceptable contraception methods of choice.
The right to safe abortion and birth.
The right to be free from domestic violence and assault.
The right to privacy in relation to reproductive health.
The right to have a responsible and empowered young people.

Other rights include the right to divorce their husbands, the right to make decisions about pregnancy, equitable wages, and equal employment opportunities.

In its broadest sense, domestic violence also involves violence against children, teenagers, parents, or the elderly.

“No woman has to be a victim of physical abuse. Women have to feel like they are not alone.”
Source attribution notes: Salow Hajek (2002).

You can help in making the world a better place for women by learning to respect and recognizing that women deserve the same rights as men—that women are not the weaker or submissive sex, but equals.