Alienation and Societal perception of a Woman.
What is a Woman?
I would like to start with the typical definition of a woman that is, a female human being who is capable of reproduction and is another name of fragility, shyness and a weak soul. This societal definition of a woman justifies a strict criteria for becoming a woman that is she should be capable of bearing offspring.
It is beautifully said by Simone De Beauvoir, the existentialist philosopher, that, “One is not born , but rather becomes a woman”in her book called, The Second Sex”.The philosopher inspired me in visualising the role of women and how the society perceives them in a narrow way and treat them as a second class citizen or as the second sex.
Alienation of a Woman
The alienation of a woman is this, that she is considered to be the idealised form of society and thus she is known as a lesser woman but more a societal woman.
Even in the contemporary times, why is it so normal for men to expect women to cook and clean when they both share the same responsibilities in terms of earning and particularly in case of women bearing the triple burden that men don’t have to bear. This happens because of women operating in typical patriarchal structure where respect is only entitled for men and women are considered as, Docile bodies and a glass ceiling concept is manipulated for women where an unacknowledged barrier is set in her all round development and it’s assumed by the society that she can’t do the tough job because She is a woman.
It is so terrible that how they can judge a woman on the basis of her physical strength, and it’s the woman who bears a child for nine months and then gives birth to a new life, but she is still considered as the weak body by the parochial society.
I feel, it’s the woman who plays an important role in transforming a naked infant body into it’s fully clothed personality .
Karl Marx beautifully said, “Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex” that is the emancipation of women is integral for the development of society.
Woman as a docile body:
It starts when she is told of the appetites of men and how she must behave in front of them particularly within the ambit of marriage, she is told to obey a combination of rules and has her movements severely restricted and thus loosing a right over her body. This is where the objectification of a woman happens where she is merely reduced to a commodity and is completely alienated from herself.This becomes a legitimate expectation of society on the part of women where as men enjoy stability in the growth and are developing as individuals without violent alteration to their goals.
