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The Book Woman's Daughter


A mesmerizing and beautifully rendered tale of strong women, bravery, and ...
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What roles do you feel patriarchal laws have played in the past in shaping women and children's rights and lives? Do you believe they continue to play a role, and if so, how and why?

Created: 05/12/22

Replies: 6

Posted May. 12, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

What roles do you feel patriarchal laws have played in the past in shaping women and children's rights and lives? Do you believe they continue to play a role, and if so, how and why?

Children, especially rural children, were a valuable commodity to families who needed farm labor without having to pay wages. Society continues to be mostly patriarchal, and during the time in which this novel was set, it was the father who could "express" emancipation and consent to his child's emancipation. What roles do you feel patriarchal laws have played in the past in shaping women and children's rights and lives? Do you believe they continue to play a role, and if so, how and why?


Posted May. 13, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kimk

Join Date: 10/16/10

Posts: 889

RE: What roles do you feel patriarchal ...

I think it's only in the last 60 or 70 years that women have become empowered to think of themselves as equal to their male counterparts. Unfortunately, I feel like we're going through a rough patch regarding women's equality. Although I know a lot of women support a ban on abortion, most of the people making laws to ban it are men who often don't have to live with the consequences of having an unwanted child. And yet, we've got the first woman VP in history. Interesting times...


Posted May. 19, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
joanp

Join Date: 06/13/11

Posts: 102

RE: What roles do you feel patriarchal ...

There have been great changes in my lifetime. I think it started during WWII when women entered the work force and had money that they earned and didn’t depend financially on their husbands. As late as the 1960’s a single woman could not get a bank loan or a credit card even if she was fully employed. The fight for equal rights still has a way to go but it’s a different world than it was sixty years ago.


Posted May. 20, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
BuffaloGirl

Join Date: 01/13/18

Posts: 208

RE: What roles do you feel patriarchal ...

Almost all societies through human history have been patriarchal; very few have been matriarchal. Some individuals try to blame it on Judeo/Christian teachings, but if one looks at other parts of the world and world religions patriarchal control is overwhelmingly dominant. Women and children were seen as property and treated as such. They had few, if any, rights. Women couldn't own property, if they weren't sufficiently submissive to their husbands they could be thrown into the insane asylum, and their only "career" choices were wife, teacher, prostitute. Children were seen as expendable: Put to work as young as age 5 in dangerous factory jobs, thrown in orphanages or kicked out of the home at a young age.

As others noted, it has only been in the last 100 years that hold has been loosened. The suffragettes were the trailblazers and both World Wars helped open jobs up to women, but my personal opinion is that the 60s and reliable birth control is what really brought the women's movement forward to women on the Supreme Court, running for president, and servicing as vice-president. Because women moved into more positions of authority during the past 100 years, children's rights were also brought to the forefront. Obviously, there is still a long way to go: The Equal Rights Amendment has never been ratified by the States. I do have concern that with our society becoming more and more polarized that we may go backward rather than forward, but I do remain optimistic.


Posted May. 24, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
vickic

Join Date: 09/15/14

Posts: 84

RE: What roles do you feel patriarchal ...

Well, clearly, patriarchal laws were what all women and children lived by, not by choice but necessity since the beginning of time. It has not been but a moment in all time in which this has begun to change. Women (and female children in particular) were, through most of history unable to follow their own hopes and dreams as they had to live by the rules of the patriarchy. This is still the case in many countries...consider much of the Midde East.


Posted May. 28, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
rco

Join Date: 11/04/18

Posts: 40

RE: What roles do you feel patriarchal ...

In the 60's it was not uncommon if a male and female applied for the same job it was given to the male even if the female had more experience and a better resume. Also females were often not hired or advanced in their positions because they would "probably get pregnant". Oh my how that has changed. Males are now being granted paternity leave from their jobs!


Posted Jun. 05, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
taking.mytime's Gravatar
taking.mytime

Join Date: 03/29/16

Posts: 364

RE: What roles do you feel patriarchal ...

I believe that depends on the religion the family is. Mormon, Hindu, American Indian all hinge on the husband being the boss. They dictate exactly the lives of their wife (wives) and children. Of course there are varying examples of that both in those religions and out of those religions. I think more is expected out of children living in rural areas than children living in cities. More is expected of children with one parent, than those having two parents in the home. Pressures are different.


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