So it would seem that here on God’s good Earth men and woman are different. When looking at gender from a physiological perspective, there is little argument au contraire. However, when it comes to things like work, school, and even within the private confines of one’s own home, there is a not-so-subtle social movement vying for every whisper of difference to be abrogated. The film Miss Representation tackles some of these issues and places American media at the forefront of the discussion on gender equality, social responsibility, and its apparent lack of self-control. The filmmakers are right in calling out callous media sources such as television, Hollywood, and tabloids in their disgraceful, overly-sexualized portrayal of women but are wrong in their uncompromising blanket-struggle for absolute gender homology.
Money is the great instigator. The media has loosened its buckles and eagerly tossed aside its coat of moral code in its pursuit of riches; the naked form thereof revealing a disingenuous carnal posture, unto which it attempts to lure the unsuspecting minds of Americans. Indeed, our country has been caught in this surreptitious snare of moral destitution. The high price of this shift is manifest not only in a booming cosmetic industry, raking in billions of Americans’ hard-earned dollars by promising a step closer to the model’s unattainable “perfection” on the cover of Cosmopolitan, but also in the decline and collapse of the family (Statista). in 2012, more than 1,609,619 children were born outside of wedlock and that number continues to climb (CDC). Studies suggest children born to parents who are unmarried are more likely to struggle in school or suffer emotional and behavioral problems (Amato). The disintegration of a family unit consisting of both a mother and a father will further escalate the current epidemic of illegitimate children resulting in more child suffering.
The Women’s Rights movement which spanned largely from 1848 to 1920 was a huge step in equality amongst the sexes. On August 6, 1920 women were granted the right to vote through the 19th Amendment. Social ideas continued to develop which challenged the idea of gender equality, including the Equal Pay Act passed by Congress in 1963, and in 1964 the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act barring discrimination in employment on the basis of race and sex (U.S. House of Representatives). Traditional understanding and views of marriage, sexuality, and gender roles began to be challenged in most Western countries during the 1960s and 1970s, following the approval of birth control pills by the FDA in 1960. For better or for worse, birth control pills suddenly allowed for greater sexual freedom among women and subsequently lead to woman seeking even more equality.
Gender equality movements which sought equal opportunities among the sexes were favorable, but when equal rights and opportunities did not result in equal outcomes feminists were outraged. There was a supposition that by simply creating legislation which provided for the obvious need for equality that some people’s idealistic picture of equality would also be realized; this picture being not only equal pay and rights, but also the same number of women as men in positions of power. While current efforts are striving to push equality to this level, one cannot help but ask, will standards necessarily have to be manipulated or lowered in order to achieve their ideal of equal outcome?
The question of course comes down to biology: men are physically stronger. John, an analyst for the FBI, was recently traveling abroad for training where he met Jane, a young woman about 5’2”, who he describes as “petite”. Jane was training to become an agent and over time they became good friends. John one day saw Jane sobbing and looking very shaken. He asked her what was the matter and she told him that they had a apprehension test that day. She had to handcuff a large man and the instructor gives points to the person trying to ‘cuff the other for doing it quickly and efficiently. The other person will be reprimanded by his superiors if they see that he goes easy on anyone, even a woman. She was completely shaken by the physicality and brutality of it all. It was a real life scenario simulation, one which an operative agent would more than likely be faced with in the field and one which she was unable to complete. This was a true reality check for Jane, a talented young woman who thought to do anything she set her mind to.
This same idea was echoed in an interview with a retired Green Beret who told The Washington Times:
“I’d ask the civilian leadership, if you’re on the third floor of a burning building and aren’t ambulatory, do you want to look out the window to see Bruno or Mindy coming up the ladder to carry you down? …I have personally witnessed women in the military in riot situations where rocks are being thrown at them. They put their hands to their faces because they didn’t want scars. The men in the same riot got hit in the face and got mad.”
In fact women have played roles in American military since the Revolutionary War. Only recently have strides been taken to allow women into combat roles. Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness (CMR) and a former member of the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces commented on an earlier decision made concerning women in combat roles, “The presidential commission on which I served in 1992 thought about this long and hard,” she said. “We approved of gender-normed scores in basic, pre-commissioning, and entry-level training, but the recommendation was contingent on women’s exemption from direct ground combat,” (Wiser).
In more recent efforts to reconcile women’s roles with men’s in military applications the US Government made provisions for women to enter into combat roles provided that they completed the same standard training courses the men do (Scarborough). In the Marine Corps physical fitness test, 55% of the hopeful women were unable to complete the basic requirement of three pull ups in order to graduate, compared to the 1% of males who were unable to do so (Wiser). In regards to the matter Donnelly said, “A program with a failure rate that high, compared to a 99 percent success rate for men, clearly indicates that incremental plans to order women into the combat arms are not viable.”
Military service is a strong example of where men and woman play distinct roles and while steps may be taken to assure equality, the only way an equal outcome may be possible is through lowering a standard. Some critics may question whether the standards really need to be as high as they are but these standards are set to measure the ability of a soldier to act in real-life direct ground combat. As Donnelly puts it, “In [the direct ground combat] environment, which goes beyond being ‘in harm’s way,’ lives and mission success often depend on superior physical strength.”
While some modern sociologists or feminists may downplay the historic norm of a patriarchal order as outdated and impractical in a modern society, the standard cultural modus operandi of a leading male figure has ground. It stands to reason that there are strengths and weaknesses to this societal model and casting out what has worked for thousands of years is possibly not be in the best interests of either gender; more, for humanity. As such, a great deal of consideration should be given to an absolute, blanket approach to gender equality. Men and women are inherently different and will never be completely equal, nor should they be.
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Works Cited
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