Do you think that it was, in Rousseau’s time, genuinely in the interest of girls to be educated in the way he proposes? What about today?
As a person reading Rousseau's ideas in 2020 it can be difficult at times to appreciate what he is saying. To me, it felt so sexist and that he was forcing gender roles onto women and men. But after going back and reading it over, along with the pages following Rousseau's ideas in a modern perspective, I do see where he was coming from. He even said that he does not see women as inferior to men, that we are "different but equal" (153). I still don't know if I can totally agree that it was in the best interest of girls to be educated in the way he proposes. He felt women should be educated to know their place in society. To be taught the ways to attract and keep a husband, think about what you say because people will think of your remarks, and learn to grow accustomed to being interrupted (152). I do understand though, at the time, why he felt this was what women needed to be educated about. Women did not have many of the freedoms then that we do now. They were taught that what they had to do in life was get a husband, have kids, and take care of the home and family. Rousseau believed the education he proposed was setting women up for success in those aspects, which, yes they would. So I do understand why he, and I'm sure many others, genuinely believed this type of education was in the best interest for girls at this time. Personally, no matter what time period, I don't think I could fully agree. I like to think that if women were granted so many of the rights and equal opportunities that men have had in the past, then there could be so much more greatness in our modern world. I like to think of the many advancements there could have been if rather than being taught to be a housewife, women were taught in the ways that men were.
Of course, I do not think that the education Rousseau proposed would be a good thing today. I think men and women deserve the same opportunities for education. I think a main aspect of feminism is choice. I think if a woman chooses to be a housewife, that she chooses to not go to college or anything like that, she should be able to. The issue I had with all of it is women not being given a choice, that they were forced into being housewives. Going back to education, I think it is extremely important and something that all people should be given. If there are different educations for different genders, then I think that contributes to the inequalities. If today women were given the education that Rousseau proposed, we would not have women in positions of power. For so long women were stripped of proper educations which led to women being "inferior" in society. I think that women and men need to be given the same opportunities for education, and from there people have the choice to do with that as they please.
Hi Bri,
ReplyDeleteYour point is spot on for lack of a better expression, I couldn’t have worded it better myself. I think that for so long women have been undermined and the thought of a woman working alongside a man has long since intimidated a lot of backward minded men. I’m sure no one doubts the intelligence of a woman, (they might think women are too soft and fragile due to physical and biological aspects) but some men could never imagine a woman taking their place in a job or being better than them at some task. But I will say that women also have many advantages over men such as being able to stay home, and let the man provide for and so on (which a lot of men think is a big deal), but then here’s the catch, as you you mentioned, if a woman wants to stay at home then she has to give up her education, even if she educated she has to not think about a job and worry about raising kids and keeping her man happy. Men are so oblivious to the dark side of these “advantages” and very few hold genuine sympathy and understanding. Men need to learn to respect women not matter what they wear or how they choose to look, because we’re the one gender that is capable of giving birth and working a job, and basically hustling both ways while dealing with ridiculous expectations and impostions from society, such as “women should be competing with each other over a man”, women should dress like this, women should do this, and so on. It’s actually crazy being a female in so many ways. Despite being one, I don’t know how we do it, and I’m shocked at how blind some men are at what a female actually goes through. It is definitely important that education equal for both sexes because women should be able to know how a man thinks, but they also shouldn’t lose their charm and feminine traits, for example, things like expecting the man to pay for dates and calling her first and little things like that, and also coming up to her first to ask her out or propose to her. I’ve noticed that a lot of men are taking advantage of woman becoming near equal these days and are expecting US to pay on dates, pay bills, have sex, cook, clean and so on while you’re either just dating them or just getting to know them,---not even in a real relationship or marriage yet. That’s plain ridiculous and disgusting.