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One may wonder the root of women’s oppression and the ways it can be fought. These are the questions that always ring in the mind of the working class women who have been twice discriminated, as women and as a worker. Women’s oppression is one of the many forms of oppression that are evidently found within the society as a result of exploitation by a few individuals with the aim of catering for their self-interests. Women have been perceived to lack political and legal rights similar to those of men. The society has put them under the control of husbands and fathers. In other words, oppression can be described as the inequitable application of physical force, authority or law to bar others from accessing their freedom and having equal rights as others. This paper aims to narrowly focus on the oppression of females and how centrally it has impacted my life as one of the victims of such treatment.

Women’s Oppression

When I came to America from China to study in one of the prestigious universities in the state of California I was still very young. I tried to cope with culture from this other side of the world. At home, it was a different story. As a female gender, I was only to be seen and not to be heard. Everything in our house revolved around the father who was the head of the family. By this, I mean that nothing could be done without his permission. Not even my mother could dare do a thing without the father’s consent. In general, things were normal for my brother; he never faced the wagging tongue of our father, perhaps, due to his gender status and a chance to be the heir.

My mother did not have formal employment. She stayed at home to carry out household chores and take responsibility of raising us. While my father had a white-collar job, and he owned a business enterprise which he ran during his free time. He remained our breadwinner, thus, he was reserved for all the powers; he made every aspect of the decision concerning our household. This implies that he controlled everything including our movement in and out of our home. My mum could not go visit anyone, go anywhere, buy anything or seek a job without his permission. This oppression was so extreme that she was not even allowed to go and visit her biological parents including her close family members.

According to our Chinese culture, men were viewed as superior to women, therefore, no women would go against the orders of their husbands. Women were expected to do all sorts of things to please their husbands; doing everything per their wish, and bowing down. My father could even beat my mum, but she could simply keep quite as a sign of respect to him. He was always violent with his words which were often directed to our mum. It was not only our mother who had to undergo the harsh treatment. My sister and I would also sometime face the same hardships, especially when the father came back home drunk. He would speak as if he was regretting having given birth to us.

The act of my mother of surrendering her soul and being obedient to her husband has two foundational bases. First, she viewed my dad as her husband who expected to give orders and had economic powers through being the family provider. Second, according to our Chinese culture, no woman is expected to disrespect her husband, and they are required to toe the red line by being respectful and obedient. In addition, in relation to our culture, women are not allowed to seek employment, instead, they were required to remain at home with their kids. A husband that allowed his wife to acquired formal employment was considered as a loser.

Life Experience

I can recall when I went for a long holiday back to my home country, my parents sat me down and told me that I would be getting married soon to a man whom I did not know. I tried to fight back but my father protested by threatening to withdraw all academic support that he had always offered towards my further studies. They proceeded to organize a deal with that man who was supposed to marry me, to come and take whether I am willing to go or not. After sensing danger, I decided even if it means remaining homeless, would do all possible to find my safety. Lucky enough, I found my way out and boarded a plane back to the United States to continue with my studies.

Surely, this is a true reflection that women undergo due to their gender in a society. Tens of millions of women across the world in one way or the other face such kind of life. I think this is happening due to our religions which are deeply rooted in traditional cultures. In our country, men control everything, and women worth no value. Men are using religion and culture in an unethical manner to justify their oppression against women. In Muslim countries, women are expected not to wear pairs of trousers, attend a soccer match, own property, and drive cars. This explains why the poverty rate for women is higher than for men[footnoteRef:1]. In most instances, they use law selectively to maintain their superiority. [1: Alexandra Cawthorne, “The Straight Facts on Women in Poverty,” Center For American Progress, 2008.]

This kind of oppression has really changed my perception towards men. I always feel they are bullies and oppressors who are always ready to exploit women who are considered as the weaker gender[footnoteRef:2]. This has caused me to live in fear, even here in America, where feminism has been championed for by the human right crusaders. Given that I was raised in this kind of culture where women are undermined, it has been difficult for me to change my perception. It will take time for my insight to change, but I know that one day, it will change. More importantly, I have come to realize that some cultures are still retrogressive that need to be abolished to give room equality before all genders. [2: Caroline Heldman and Danielle Dirks, “Blowing the Whistle on Campus Rape,” Ms. Magazine Blog, 2014.]

Systematic and Institutionalized Mistreatment

Some of the large social systems that create, support, and perpetuate women’s oppression include culture, norms, laws, customs and morals of the society[footnoteRef:3]. When women’s oppression is enforced by the society’s institutionalized systems, this kind of mistreatment continue to persist and become a part and parcel of community’s way of life. For instance, through culture, sexism has been depicted as female disempowerment. Actually, oppression of females interacts with other forms of harassment in a mutually reinforcing way through hindering people’s ability to think openly and act freely on their own. Taking into consideration the example of my country, women have been made to believe that they should remain inferior to men. [3: Nicky González Yuen, “Oppression and Democracy,” 2018.]

Women’s oppression is an oppressive mistreatment since it is systematic in nature. As a matter of fact, such kind of treatment does not happen with chance either does it occur occasionally. The victims of women’s oppression always expect mistreatment of different kinds in their lives on a regular basis. It is a fact as people are oppressed individually, but never by individuals who act on their own, instead, it is conditioned by the nature of their association. For example, in our case, as women, we expect men to be oppressive against us due to our gender. It interferes with an individual’s actions to control important decisions in their lives. Oppression can only be considered as undemocratic and uncouth phenomenal that threatens equality, justice, and liberty.

By being women, we believe that men are more superior than us and have powers to overrule us. We have depicted ourselves as physically helpless and passive. For example, women have always avoided certain career such as military, as it believed to belong only to men. This has really affected negatively worsening our status and role as women in society. However, women’s oppression is somehow connected to psychological factors. Human beings are believed in certain situations to suffer from a psychological disorder called ‘humania’. The women’s mistreatment is always linked to this disorder, which implies taking power from one side of society and the same time despising and brutally degrading women. The systematic nature of oppression that females undergo is regular in nature and generates a great effect in the long run.

With increasing debates regarding women’s oppression, one can consider it as a retrogressive culture that needs to be abolished in every human society. It is against God’s will and against the principles of democracy. I believe that every nation that believes in democracy should show more vigilance in agitating for gender equality. Women’s oppression may not be prevalence in other democracies but it is the fact that it exists. It may not be practiced openly like in China, but it happens in other forms such as in salary remunerations. My hope is that one time we will have a world where women are equal to men in all dimensions. As a person who has experienced women’s oppression, I have initiated programs to prevent early and forced marriages, through talking to parents and girls about the risks of getting married at a tender age. Additionally, I sensitize them the importance of acquiring education as the world is changing and women stand to get equal opportunities as men.