Dialectics: Feminism and Industrialization

The idea of feminism is one I have not done much thinking about until recently. I had heard the word before, and I understood a little bit about what it meant. But until I began learning about industrialization and the development of more complex societies, I never realized how important feminism was to my life.

Industrialization began with inventions that allowed people to do things quicker and easier. People made more money, we could get around and communicate faster, and the world became connected in a way it never had been. Within the 17-20th centuries, each society became more and more industrialized. Women began working more. It was no longer the men that just had to do all the hard work.

If industrialization around the world had not developed as much as it did, I'm willing to bet that I would not have the rights I do today. After the World Wars, women were needed way more than before. They had to take up the jobs the men had left behind. I can't imagine living in a world where women were so subordinate to men. Today, I live to make a good future for myself and a family. Back then, it was a woman's job to get married and take care of the kids.

It is interesting to think that the more complex we developed as societies, the more rights women won. It took thousands of years for women to get equal rights as men. What is even more interesting to think is that some women still do not have these rights. The countries that developed slower than others seem to (generally) be the ones where women have smaller amounts of rights. Take Africa or South East Asia for example. Their culture doesn't completely circulate around new technology the way ours does. The women living in these societies have very few rights: the men inherit the land, the men control the family, the men decide what they want to do with the wife. I'm so lucky that I don't need a man to do this for me.