Gender,Property, and the State
Gender,Property, and the State
Inthe field of anthropology, gender may refer the act of sociallylearning the expectations and behaviors that associate with eitherbeing a male or a female. Different scholars argue that genderdifferences are evident in almost all social cultures. In manysocieties, gender expectations influence how they treat their boysand girls just from the moment of birth (Wharton, 2009). Researchshows that most communities handled girls more gently than boys onthe first day of a baby’s life. In encountering the State,Josephine Caldwell argued that women had some political experience.Women could use the experience to change the tradition of the kind ofperspectives that people viewed women in the society (Bretell &Sargent, 2013). Japanese gave mothers little consideration as theywere considered to be of lesser value to societal issues. On theother hand, Chile empowers their women and work towards fightinggender biased (Deere & De Leal, 2001).
Propertyrefers to rights that an owner of a piece of wealth has about otherpeople who do not own the object. The state backed the propertyrights and enforced through its legal institutions (Wharton, 2009). Aproperty is a set of rights and obligations that define therelationships that exist between individuals or groups withconnections to control over material things or persons treated asthings. A property is exclusive for it sets off what belongs tosomeone from what is not his/hers but and it is also social as itroots in cultural customs and protected by law. Property rights wouldmatter in portraying the kind of economic inequality and economicperformance in various societies. When it comes to property, moststates did not give equal rights to their women and men. In countriessuch as Islam and France, women had to rely on the properties oftheir husbands (Bretell & Sargent, 2013). In the book of Brettelland Sargent, Nia Parson argued that single women were politicallybetter experienced. Women were not given the opportunity to enjoytheir autonomy.
Historicallyand geographically, states vary such that there are differencesbetween various types of states. The types of states include thetraditional states, absolutist states, feudal states and the modernkind of states. Distinctions are liberal states, collectivist states,social democratic states, developmental states and totalitarianstates. One would, therefore, define a state as a politicalorganization with sovereign jurisdiction within a particularterritory and carry out its activities with power. The powers of astate are granted by permanent institutions as prescribed in thelaws. Most sociologists consider the government and the civil serviceas the principal organizations of a country. Brettell and Sargentclaimed in their book that most states did not give their women andmen equal rights (Bretell & Sargent, 2013). It is the work of astate to impose laws that would ensure equality when it comes to thegender imbalance in issues such as the right to property. The Islamand French women were expected to rely on their men’s propertyownership. They were not expected to own they own properties. Womenin states that do not embrace gender equality and equity do not givetheir wives the autonomy that they need. However, the idea of malechauvinism is disappearing in the modern nations as most women aregiven the right to property. It is only in Islam nations thatdiscrimination of women is still rampant when it comes to propertyownership.
Bretell,C., & Sargent, C. (2013). Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective,6th edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Publication
Deere,C. D., & De Leal, M. L. (2001). Empowering women: Land andproperty rights in Latin America. University of Pittsburgh Pre.
Wharton,A. S. (2009). The sociology of gender: An introduction to theory andresearch. John Wiley & Sons.