Henrik Ibsen, a humanist playwright, once said that “A woman 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 judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.” At that time, he was talking about the late 19th century, but not much has changed from then. Society still continues to be dominated by men making decisions about women and what they can do.
A prominent example in the current day would be America. In January of 2017, Trump signed an antiabortion order, reinstating the ‘global gag rule.’ A few months later, they were discussing a health insurance bill which would cut services like reproductive health, maternal health, and breast and cervical cancer screening. The current political party consists of 25 white males, with zero female input on these decisions. As can be seen in the article, the citizens of America are not too happy about it. This sort of societal action proves Ibsen’s point about women not being free to do what they want in a male-controlled community.
Another example of how women are controlled by men in today’s times is Yemen. This country has no parliament and has never had a female head of state. The law does not mandate equal pay, and women only have partial access to financial services. Suffrage was gained only in the last 50 years, but they still continue to struggle in exercising their full civil and political rights. In Yemen, women are continuously forced into things they may not want, such as marriage, pregnancy, and female genital mutilation/cutting.
Syrian, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and multiple other Middle Eastern countries tend to still have a patriarchal society, the best one in that region being Israel, with a 0.721 on the WEF Global Gender Gap Index rankings.
The best country, according to that ranking system, is Iceland, with a 0.878. In fact, the gender gap has been reversed in some cases, with more women attending university than men. However, women still have less economic power than men, earning 14% to 18% less, on average. Sexual harassment and domestic violence is another issue that has yet to be resolved in Iceland. There are two emergency rape wards for women who have suffered sexual violence, as well as a shelter for women and children who have suffered violence at home.
Henrik Ibsen was a man with thinking ahead of his time, and that thinking has helped to change the way society thinks and acts towards women. Ibsen’s words may still be true today, but I can also say that today’s society has progressed and come farther than in the 19th century.
