Gender, Power and Social Oppression, Essay Example

Social oppression may be sufficiently accounted for in terms of somatophobia a fear of one or others physical form. Ableism is a kind of discriminatory prejudice directed a people who are disabled. Sexism is prejudice based on gender. If both men and women continued assuming some physical inferiority of women, it constitutes a cyclical premise whereby both the individual and the society buy into a presupposition that creates an entire paradigm where women are believed to be incapable of performing certain duties. In terms of gender relations this has meant that men were traditionally more educated than women and that certain kinds of training and certain professions were seen as atypical for women (Narayan, 2004). It seems the balance may have turned. A holistic interpretation of these ideas might sound something like this. Ableism reduced the number of women would could become influential in society. Current statistics in modern America show that women have surpassed men in higher education and are gaining momentum in the economic sector. Many economists argue the feminine tendency toward smaller but less risky gains could lend itself to a heretofore unknown stability in global economics. A discussion of the following terms illuminates this trend.

Discussed Terms

1. Ableism is a kind of discriminatory prejudice directed a people who are disabled. In the context of gender relations, it is impactful so profoundly psychological for both men and women that the economic impact had been significantly in favor against women. In the broader philosophical context it seems this has had a lot to do with the cultural biases against women.
2. Epistemic privilege is a type of domination where the ruling class presents others from knowing certain things. In the broader philosophical context, however, women have been earning more bachelorette and advanced degrees than men in America. It is noteworthy to mention is that a significantly greater number of men serve in the military, and the War on Terror has been the longest ongoing military engagement that the country has ever experienced. Perhaps, this offset in more men being deployed in wartime accounts for the shift with respect to education in the last few years.
3. Dominance approach usually assumes two things. It assumes men are more domineering than women, and it assumes male tendency toward hierarchy predicates certain forms of oppression. Some believe there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate this trend in paramilitary services where men greatly outnumber women. The question really should be is it the job that makes men more hierarchical or is it their gender. A study using only female subjects in paramilitary environments might help demonstrate the answer to that question one way or another.
4. Prejudice of custom is the idea that gender bias is a function of culture. It means that certain beliefs become so ingrained in a culture that they become embedded across generations. The fact that we have seen many of these assumption falls by the wayside in recent years is a testament to our collective learning curve as human beings.
5. Dependency critique is the argument that states that people who tend to control certain resources gain an unfair advantage over others with less influence. Such prejudicial custom had kept women dependent on male hierarchies. In the broader philosophical context, things are clearly changing.

Reference

Narayan, U. (2004). The Project of Feminist Epistemology: Perspectives from a non-western feminist. Chapter 15 in The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies: 213-224. New York: Rutledge.