Balance of Power (Paper 1)

 People not being treated equally based on their gender is called gender inequality. Gender inequality can happen both ways for both men and gender, but it is more common with women because there has always been a thought that men were the dominant gender, and they are more dominant than women. Even in history men have always been seen as the upper dominant figure, and even till this day there are people who believe men is dominant and women should listen to men. Compared to how things used to be in the past, things have gotten much better. There has been a lot of progress made on gender equality with a lot of laws being passed. It is a good thing that gender equality is starting to get better because if one gender group is getting better opportunities to succeed in life and is given more priority than the other group then society will never achieve true peace and success. Women have always been considered more of the family caregivers and men have always been given the harder and tougher tasks. This stereotype has always been there since the old times, and because of this stereotype women have always been considered to be inferior to men, because of this discrimination women have been treated differently than men. Women are being paid less at work as well compared to men. At workplaces, there is always some form of discrimination towards women whether it is during the recruitment process or during the employment. For recruitment process, if a job opportunity came up whether as a mechanic, or a construction job the recruiters would always lean towards the men because they would consider it to be a masculine job. Women are far more educated and hold more degrees and possess higher level of education than men but when the job opportunities arise men are given the position. There is a common phrase “that’s not a woman’s job, it’s a man’s job”. This phrase puts the stereotype in people’s mind where women are inferior to men. In the play Antigone, male dominance is very huge. Creon the king is denying burial rights to Antigone’s brother Polynices because he was a traitor and tried to attack his own city but was stopped by his sibling Thebes who died while defending the city. Antigone is upset with king Creon for only burying Thebes’s body with military honors but leaving Polynices’s body to be unburied. Creon has also stated that anyone who tries to bury Polynices’s body will be put to death (Sophocles, 331). To Antigone her family is more important than Creon’s law and Polynice’s betrayal. Even though Polynices betrayed the family and tried to attack his own city, Antigone believes he still deserves a proper burial. The problem is that back in those days, the king’s decree is final and anyone who goes against it would be punished accordingly. Creon’s law is where he is in full control of everything, he does not listen to anyone and especially not if it is a woman. Women has no rights and no equality when it comes to under Creon’s law. Antigone plans to retaliate even if she may lose her life for burying her brother. Antigone is also engaged to Creon’s son Haemon. Haemon loves Antigone a lot and because of the dispute between Antigone and his dad, he is stuck in the middle and is trying hard to be the mediator and is begging his dad to show some sympathy and to listen to others and not be so selfish. Antigone then tries to get Ismene to help bury their brother, but Ismene is afraid of Creon’s decree. It is the law of the land and Ismene is too scared to go against it and face the consequences. Antigone believes in the law of the gods more than Creon’s law of the land and because of her rage she is doing everything and anything to go against Creon’s laws and get punished. Antigone completes the funeral for her brother but then is now faced with Creon’s decree. Creon asked Antigone why she went against his laws, and she states that she is not going to break the laws of the gods just so she can please a man and his laws (Sophocles, 254). She knows she is going to die now because she insulted a king, and his pride will not let him let Antigone get away without any punishment because it will show that he is a weak king and that anyone can get away with insulting the king. Creon is a prideful king; he does not think, nor does he listen or try to handle situations in a calm way. He is very stubborn and believes that only he is right and nobody else is. He will not listen to his son who is pleading for Antigone’s release. Antigone will not let Ismene die because of her as well because she had nothing to do with the burial of Polynices. Creon must punish Antigone because she went against him, Creon is not going to make an exception just cause his son is in love with Antigone. To Creon a traitor to his laws and the laws of the state is betrayal and must be punished accordingly. Creon shows no sympathy to Antigone or Haemon and tells Haemon that the laws is more important than loyalties because if they are a traitor to the state they need to be punished. Creon then kills Antigone and then sees Haemon kill himself because of the actions of his dad. He is upset that his dad killed the love of his life no matter how many times he pleaded with his dad to show some sympathy. Creon claims to be a fair king and he does everything for the people and the state but if he was a fair king, he would have listened to how the people felt about Antigone’s punishment and then acted. In the play A Streetcar named Desire, Male dominance is very present, the story starts off with Blanche a woman with a shady past and a lot of secrets move to New Orleans to live with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley. Blanche has a terrible past because she caught her husband in a homosexual affair and then her husband killed himself, so Blanche has been blaming herself for the death of her husband and she has a drinking problem. She believes that she is higher than everyone else and is living in a false reality where everything is okay. She does not want to tell anyone about her history, so she lies a lot and keeps a lot of secrets. Blanche tries to portray herself to Stella as a normal lady who does not drink a lot, but she does have a terrible drinking habit. Blanche fears Stanley because he holds all the power in the house and Stella does anything he wants. Stella is also pregnant with Stanley’s baby. Stanley is like the exact opposite of Blanche, and he holds all the power over the women because of his presence as a dominant figure. Stanley is not worried the least bit about Blanche, he knows Blanche has a little control over his wife and he does not like that because he wants full control of his wife. Blanche is seeking male attention because she is haunted by her husband's death, so she tries flirting a lot with Stanley. Stanley continues to assert his male physical dominance. Stanley wants to control Stella fully and he does not let Blanche get away with her past and confronts her. At the end of the play Stanley rapes Blanche he uses his power and overpowers Blanche and rapes her. Blanche was a broken piece; she had a lot of issues and after being raped by Stanley, she loses full control and ends up at a mental hospital. Stella believes she is at fault for what is happening to Blanche because she knows Blanche is a liar and she does not believe that Stanley raped her because Stanley holds the power and is also the father of her baby (Williams,). Stanley is brash and strong and very aggressive; he does not listen and does things the way he wants to do. If he wants something he will get it. Male dominance has always played a part dating back from the old times, there are there are numerous cases and stories where a man overpowers a woman in almost everything forces them to do things that they do not want to or blackmail them. There is a lot of this happening in smaller countries and villages like India, and Thailand and many other places. In places like India, women follow a culture there of being dependent on the husband. That type of culture you do not see it in America because America has always been an independent nation where everyone is free for themselves; you really do not have to be dependent on one another to survive. In other smaller places like Thailand and other minor countries, there is a lot of poverty so women go to unorthodox methods like prostitution or selling themself to men with money to survive. Men are naturally seen as the dominant gender and thus have got the leadership positions and the higher-ranking positions in society (Caine, 23). Comparing the gender inequality from the plays to this timeline, there are a lot of news articles where there are a lot of rape happening or harassment. Women are still not safe nowadays, they were not safe back then because of the male dominance and now it is becoming little better. Women are getting equal rights; they are getting better job opportunities but there are still a lot of rape cases happening a lot of unfair treatment at workplaces, and a lot of not enough opportunities or rights for women in small countries and nations. Things are getting a little better but there is still a lot to go before we can say that there is no unfair treatment in the world and everyone is treated fairly because there are still people in the world who think that men are more dominant than women and that’s how it should be. In more recent case, is when men are deciding on what a women should do with their bodies, more specifically about abortion. Women cannot get an abortion because they don’t want to kill the baby is what the laws are stating but if the woman was wrongfully raped or why is a man deciding about a woman’s body is the question the women wants to know. 

 Works Cited Antigone by Sophocles A Streetcar named Desire by Tennesse Williams T. Allen Caine, Christy A.H. Caine Dialectical Anthropology, Vol. 4, No. 1 (MARCH 1979), pp. 21-31 (11 pages