To what extent are Ibsen’s words still true today? Provide real life examples in your response.
“A women cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that rules feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.” – Henrik Ibsen (1878)
Personally I think that in the past few years we have achieved so much and are getting closer to equality however I believe that we still have a long way to go. I would like to think that this is universal however in many countries there are still vast inequalities between the genders. One only has to look at the pay gap in Jamaica where women earn 60% of a mens salary, or in current affairs in the US on the topic of abortion.
This statement is still relevant in todays world in many countries where women don’t have the same opportunities as men. An increasing amount of women are a part of governments, boards and other high power jobs previously held by only men. According to Huffington post 23.3 percent worldwide of members in parliament are women as of 2o16, showing an improvement from previous years.
Many countries have made advances into equalising the workforce, wages and rights however there are still countries such as Vatican City, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Afghanistan and Egypt being a few examples of places where women are far from equal. In this countries women still struggle to vote and have little freedom. These countries are heavily dominated with societal roles being fairly gender specific and limiting.
An example present day example of a change to this mindset would be Saudi Arabia where only recently women have been legally allowed to drive.
This quote relates to another one of Henrik Ibsen’s quotes, “A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” I think that this relates as everyone needs to be prepared to take the lead and others need to be prepared to sit back and encourage others to take the lead instead. In regards to women in society, this quote could potentially be suggesting that men need to be prepared to let women take the lead or even that men should be prepared that women will have their own say.
