THESIS

rough_draft_1.docx

Guobadia 1

Rough Draft

“I am a woman, I do not belong in the kitchen, nursery room nor the bedroom. There is more to me than that”. For some couple of months, women have been promoting this movement about how the media portray the image of women. Everything in the world has its own use, which create a perfect balance, therefore the importance of women in the world and society cannot be over emphasized. According to the saying “for every successful man, there is a woman behind him”. The modern day society that is mostly ruled by men; however, it wouldn’t be handled successfully without the impact of women. A woman is subtle in nature, this can account for a lot of positive and peaceful decisions in the society. A woman’s nature is disciplined; women are usually the ones involved in the home management which includes raising kids, house chores and marital responsibilities. This discipline is also transferred to their dealings in the society which has accounted for less corruption and effective timely completion of tasks in the society. With respect to the above reasons, women should be given equal rights to partake actively in the society and shouldn’t be seen as a weaker sex and sidelined in major duties. Importance of a woman’s image, how the society treats women, limited rights and mythology of Women’s are some of the nature and treatments of women.

A woman’s image is the most valuable asset she possessed. A woman’s image also considered her body. Back the 18th century in reference to “Changing Times: History of the female “Image ideal” by Kendall, 1899 quoted that “our culture saw a shift from this plump, voluptuous female form to a thinner frame with less curves”. This explains the consciousness of a woman’s physical looks, and can be attributed to the depiction of beautiful woman as a slim, tall model like figure by the media. In Comparison, years ago, women were made to believe that their relevance was in maintaining a healthy body and taking care of the home for the man and that they do not belong in managing the society at large. “Body image is a complicated aspect of the self-concept that concerns an individual's perceptions and feelings about their body and physical appearance (Cash & Pruzinsky, 2002). Also this can be related to The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Before society treats women the way they want to be treated, their home and environment has to treat them with respect first. Speaking from a woman’s point of view, the way my family treats me at home will determine how I will interact with the society; however, There are social norms, which has to be followed in order not to be labeled as the bad apple, therefore this all relates to the Image of women that the society wants to shape us to. The nature of women is to be loving and caring to other people’s needs, while the treatment refers to as what the women gets in return for being that figure. Most times we see relationship or marriage being destroyed before it even started, most women cannot handle the pressure of been wife, a mother and also their individual selves.

A proverb from the western part of Africa states that “A woman is a flower in a garden; her husband is the fence around it <Ifi Amadiume>”. The roles of women according to most African religion, focuses on mythology and the existence of women. When it comes to religion in Africa, the dealings are quite different from other parts of the world. There would always be societal rules that women have to abide to one way or the other.