Evaluating Women's Role in Society

Why do men believe they are superior to the woman? History seems to show, that since the beginning of time, the male has been superior to the female. This of course is not the case for all men, but just the view a lot of men have in general. There are many different arguments and opinions on the subject, but in the end, no matter how you look at it, the situation still exists. Many men feel that they naturally are more intelligent than women, thus giving them a superior position to the opposite sex.

Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to the social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. This partially implies that the position the male holds is dependent on female subordination. These viewpoints are not only wrong but imply that because of one's sexuality, they are superior to another. These types of males feel that because of their sex that they are better than their counter sex.

This is seen in many instances throughout history. Not only in American history, but also through out the world and especially in works of literature. It seems that the male character always needs to have a dominant or superior role. It portrays the woman as the male's property, something of his ownership. This is clearly shown in Henry Ibsen's "A Dolls house". The two main characters are Torvald and Nora Helmer who are husband and wife. Tovald is the dominant male who treats his wife as if she were a child. He does not hold any conversations of any real substance with Nora. From the Story, you can derive that Torvald feels that his wife Nora is not capable of having such conversations. He always refers to Nora as some sort of animal or pet. It seems that society in most cases portrays the male as being the dominant and authoritative figure in the household.

These views go back a long time. They go as far back as the prehistoric times. Societies were based on the principle of hunting and gathering. This is where the male, the dominant figure, would be the one to provide food and shelter for the family. And because it was his role to do so, it gave him the superior role to the woman. These views continued throughout history. History has given the woman an inferior role to the male. It portrays the female's duties as being a caretaker, or one whose duties are primarily the home she lives in. These duties are looked upon as less important that the duties the male has, which are primarily duties performed outside of the home.

Women were considered so inferior to men intellectually that when the United States of America was formed, and for many years after, women were not given the right to vote. They did not receive their right to vote until 1920. That is over a century in this country where women did not have that right. This also had to do with how the woman has been viewed by society. Married women