Why do women have to bear the brunt of double standards and men don’t?
Being a woman is not as fun as it looks. They have to deal with society’s constant pressure to look beautiful, bleed from the womb for a week every month, bear children, and being seen as the inferior sex. That and they have to deal with the monster called double standards, which is a rule that is applied differently to one group of people more than the other. (Double standard | definition of double standard, n.d.) For instance, if a man has more than one sexual partner, he’ll get praised to the high heavens for it and in many cases, if he is a celebrity, many people will pull the “he’s rich and famous, he can have any woman he wants” excuse. But if a woman has more than one partner, she will only get “slut-shamed” for as long as she lives, due to the notion that “proper” women must always be pure, devoted, and virtuous. This is not to say that men never face double standards (Ex. They are not allowed to exhibit typically feminine behaviors such as crying, worrying about their appearance, or wearing pink because it will destroy their “manliness.”), but women have it harder due to the ridiculous amount of restrictions that society often foists on them. Why is it that women have to have it harder than men simply because they’re seen as weaker? Let’s take a deeper look at why the fair sex isn’t treated so fairly.
Women will often get criticized for expressing themselves in ways that men can. If they exhibit characteristics such as dominance, frankness, and arguing their opinion, they will often get pushed to the bottom of the pile when it comes to authority. They are usually trained to never voice their opinions, and that being quiet and docile is always the way to go (Bates, 2016). Not only that, but they are also given the notion that their looks are their most valuable asset and that they will have to use their physical appearance to get where they are, even evoking suspicions from people that they “slept their way to the top,” whereas men will only have to rely on hard work and talent, having the looks or not. Not all women can look like Victoria’s Secret models, so if some of them have all the hard work and talent but not so much the looks, will all that ambition go to waste? The more you think about it, it really doesn’t make any sense.
There shouldn’t be a problem with women being powerful and likeable at the same time. Why should women’s personalities be judged by the amount of power and authority that they hold? Studies have shown that women with ambition are seen as unlikeable while ambitious men don’t get that same treatment, according to both genders. Companies should focus more on zeroing in on how well women can perform the job instead of gender-based assumptions, which is less likely to boost their morale (Beheshti, 2019). Even in modern times, women still get judged for showing strong personality traits, even if that’s what will get them where they are, logically speaking.
Although women have it ingrained into them since birth that looks are more important, they have it harder either way. If they dress too provocatively, they are accused of “asking for” unwanted male attention. If they do not, they risk being called prude and undesirable. If they choose to be stay-at-home moms, they do not have any ambitions. If they choose to be career women, family is not their priority. If they are not feminists, they believe that women should always “stay in the kitchen.” If they are feminists, then they are psychotic misandrists (Campoamor, 2015). Something is clearly amiss here…
So in short, why is it so hard to be a woman? Yes, they are physically and mentally different from men and while there is beauty in that, unfortunately too many people are telling them they cannot do certain things simply because of their gender. This is not to sound like an overly crazed feminist but if women were only limited to just staying in the kitchen for most of their lives, how would they be able to do the things they are passionate about if they did? Logically, it does not make any sense. This is not to bash women who are simply content with just being housewives if that is what really makes them happy, that is okay too. It all has to do with choices. Besides, there are more important things to worry about rather than zeroing in on their differences. And since we now live in a time where women, feminists or not, are more outspoken about matters such as sexual harassment and equal pay, it is high time we respect their decisions and stop criticizing them over things that really do not matter.
References:
Double standard | Definition of Double standard at Dictionary.com. Retrieved from
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/double-standard
Girl Up (2016) by Laura Bates
Women And Likability: How Double Standard Leads to Unequal Pay and Affects the Presidential Race. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nazbeheshti/2019/03/08/international-womens-day/#7ff59d9d6f21
Why Being a Woman is Difficult. Retrieved from
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-being-a-woman-is-difficult_b_7457032
