Gender Roles in Developing Countries and Wealthy Western Countries

In the age of woman power it is easy to think that women are now equal to men. But have all women achieved full equality in the world society today?
A recent report reveals that in many countries around the world, women are still discriminated against, abused and treated as second-class citizens - just because they are women.
In some developing countries, women play their roles precisely at home. The stereotypes of women in those countries usually say that women are stalwart of household, succumbing to the authority of their husband, and sacrificing everything for their children.
The culture in those countries also forbid women to take a role in the society. Nearly everywhere, the gender ideology of those countries emphasizes men as community leader and decision makers. Men predominate at all levels in the society. In a poor developing country like Cameroon for example, the young boy is privileged to have a good education, while the girls go to fetch water from streams.
Those facts are really different from the situation of the women in wealthy western countries today. In contrast to women's life in poor developing countries, a lot of women in wealthy western countries pursue their career outside home to fulfill their individual desires and to gain success.
In a wealthy country like England, women in position of power are something that English don't have problem with accepting. England had a queen who had political influence. And the election of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister displayed England's desire to have people in leadership role according to ability not the gender. In the USA, women also play important role in the government, like Hillary Rodham Clinton. It shows us that women can be a huge influence for a nation.
When it comes to equalization to get equal education with men, western countries have no problem with it. In Norway, boys and girls have the same right to go to school. Norway is also so-called equal status country where workers at all levels are considered equally important and take part in decision making.
These two different facts are actually concerning me as a woman. We're now living in the 21st century, where modernization and globalization are happening. The modernization means to increase educational opportunities for men and women. Women should be redefined to deal with the new challenges in this global world.
I believe that the culture "men on top" in some developing country will adjust according to modernization. There are a lot of possibilities for the concerned women in developing countries to pursue their career and catch their dreams. The women should keep their spirits and they should not give up and comply with the authorities which forbid them from gaining success.




I wrote this essay for my final assessment while I was studying in Norway.