gender blog entry- with theories

Audience: regular Guardian readers but also people with some interested in gender equality

In modern day it is said that gender equality has been cut down a lot since the recent years. However, is this really the case? We live in a friendly community where people are not badly discriminated against gender apart from some women who experience sexism on a daily basis? Is this really the case when men and women should have equal rights and opportunities in the world?
Men don’t seem to be getting the same level of sexism on a daily basis so… are the issues changing?

Theorist robin Lakoff suggested many ideas how men and women are treated and communicated differently. If this is put into modern day some of these could ‘normal’ for some people who have experienced sexism on a daily basis. It also gives the impression that language is changing as society grows. Women are stereotypically the ones who deal with sexism which means that men are the ‘powerful’ ones saying it. This indicates that the men are more direct and straight to the point as they don’t think before they say which is from Lakoffs findings. Men tend to tell more jokes and have a better sense of humour too which makes them more dominant to women. It also means that males don’t care about how they say it as they also use non-standard form when in a social situation. This however makes the female race seem weaker and that they can be easily interrupted. This could be because women use polite forms and tag questions such as ‘isn’t it?’ which softens the conversation to make other people feel included or like they need to listen. It would make it easier for men to ‘pick on’ women due to the easy target of polite forms.

Margret Thatcher was the first female Prime Minister in the UK and has been the only one since. As she had power, and also being the first women to do so, it made her more influential to the general public. However, because she had to compete with the male audience she felt like she had to lower her voice just so she could feel accepted. This is why she took lessons to change her speech just so she could present the ‘male’ figure to society. Could she have done this to be as powerful as men? Or because she lived in a world where men were seen as the more confident and firm in what they believe in which Zimmerman and Wests theory didn’t denote? Zimmerman and Wests’ theory indicates that men are the more powerful out of the sexes. This is because they had research on interruptions within a college which said that men interrupted the conversation 46 times compared to women who did twice. So if Margret Thatcher was publicly speaking to a mix sex audience with no lower tone, would she have still got the attention she did?

Another example of a female who wasn’t treated equally was Jennifer Lawrence. She co-stared with male actors and earned more money than she did which was leaked. Some news magazines seen Jennifer’s option on the situation and said that she was yelling at the fact she earned less when she wrote she gave her option in a ‘clear and no bullshit way with no aggression’. Does the public feel like women are weaker and don’t deserve the same amount of pay? Or were the audience surprised that a successful celebrity was complaining about something without knowing that she had a voice? It is strange that the public found it shocking that a women had expressed her views about something when if it was from a male perspective people wouldn’t think much of it and that women are ‘complaining again’. Women are generally meant to use polite forms and emphatic language such as ‘so’ which creates a sweet, loving woman image as Lakoffs theory suggest as suppose to a direct and clear expression in which men are supposed to use.  It overall suggests that men think that they are better than anyone else.

We live in a world where society can change day to day, hour by hour on sexism. Stories and everyday sexism can always change regarding who the person/ people are. Do we live in a world where men are taking over society and becoming more dominant weakening women’s potential? Or do we live in a world where women’s opinions and opportunities make them less equal to men? Or do we live in a world where men and women should be treated equally regarding rights or equal amount of pay and not be surprised when either sex’s voice has to be heard?