Equal Rights: A Casual Look at Today's Society - Essay Sample

Introduction

A casual look at the society today reveal glaring inequalities and differing views on the equality of both men and women. There are some who sadly outrightly do not agree with the idea that there should be equal right for men and women on the one hand and on the other hand, and others who are confident that that equilibrium has been achieved. Some also feel that the more needs to be done to pave the way for equal rights. Notably, some people support equal right but distance themselves from the term 'feminism.' "To be 'feminist' is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns, domination, and oppression." (Hooks 4).

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In my view to be feminist is to want liberation and actualization of equality of both male and female from gender biases, consciously or otherwise. Gender bias is rampant within our society and cuts across gender and social standing. In Kristen Pressner's TEDx talk, "Are You Biased? I Am" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq_xYSOZrgU) she confesses that she was unconsciously biased against women. Her research reveals that we expect men in the workplace to be leaders, assertive, strong, and driven while we expect women to be supportive, emotional, sensitive, and fragile. Her personal bias was affecting her ability to treat men and women equally. Her revelation points us to look inward and to intentionally and deliberately bring our biases to light and address them. Her suggested strategy of "flip it to test it" is an effective tool to help us deal with. I believe the most effective way to deal with inequality based on biases would be to flip or switch that person for another person and if we would treat the other different then we are biased, and we need to address the bias.

Challenging the Assumptions

We need more manpower - the inherent assumption in this statement is that men are more powerful than women. However, this seems to be gender-biased against women. Women can equally, if not, provide more human resource power than men in some circumstances to perform any task. In some instance women outdo men, and their effort is not recognized nor celebrated

A real man would never act that way- who is a real man? How does a real man behave? The assumption is that a man is ability is categorized in different measures. It suggests that there are more manly men than others, which is a biased and discriminatory view and statement.

This is not a very Christian attitude - the inherent bias in this statement is based on religion. The view from this is that many religions are ignored and attitude isn't based on any religion. For instance, there are many other religions such as Muslim, Hindu who would feel excluded or offended from the above statement

Conclusion

In conclusion, our society needs to do more to bridge the gap between the various assumptions and views which are based on cultural and societal inclinations. This is to cause both women and men to be treated on equal measures despite their, race, religion, gender, age ethnicity appearance, as well as ability. Assumptions have also been discussed in the above.

Works Cited

Hooks, Bell. Ain't IA Woman: Black women and feminism. New York, NY: Routledge, 2014.

TEDxBasel (2019). Are you biased? I am. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq_xYSOZrgU [Accessed 21 Aug. 2019].