Introduction
Women are important individuals in our societies since they contribute in promoting the execution of social and economic activities. Their roles cannot be ignored in any setting since their input in various facets of operation is significant towards performance enhancement. Indeed, any nation that aspires to record exemplary performance should consider investing in women without racial or any form of discrimination. As such, nations should develop favorable policies that can enable women to venture into various activities such as business ventures because they have proved to be successful in various things that they undertake. Despite their promising nature in various fields of operation such as business and corporate setting, they have been facing several challenges. The challenges that are instigated socially, economically and culturally, compromise their performance ability. They also affect them psychologically, morally, and mentally (Verklan 1). These challenges influence women’s productivity since they impede their self-confidence and esteem that are important in achieving meaningful development. Some of the challenges that they have been facing include stigmatization, gender identity complications, and discrimination based on race and class. They have also fallen key victims of negative perception in various settings especially those that have deep-rooted cultural practices.
Thesis statement
There has been lack of proper information about the major causes of gender violence especially among women and such violence affects their performance levels. Similarly, there has been lack of adequate information pertaining to how women’s experiences in regard to race, class, and sexual orientation issues affect their lives (Verklan 1). This explains the imperativeness of the study that focuses on creating awareness between key stakeholders about the effects of violence among women in various societies. The study is to deliver on how women’s experiences affect their decisions and performance. It also focuses on establishing the responsibility of men in ensuring holistic mitigation of violence against women that is in the increasing end.
Relevance and purpose of the study
This study provides credible information that appertains to how women’s lives depend on their experiences. It stresses how various factors like race, class, gender identity, and discrimination affect women’s productivity levels. This is essential in creating awareness on how the factors affect their ability to integrate and record high performance socially and economically. It also focuses on key issues that relate to women and violence including the role and responsibility of men in ensuring that violence against women is eradicated. Further, it covers self-reflection on the effects of violence in a family setting. It is purposely set with an aim of enabling various stakeholders to understand the effects of violence and its impact on women’s performance. In addition, it is also aimed at equipping various stakeholders with the modalities that can be used to mitigate gender violence in diverse settings. Clearly, this study seeks to benefit both men and women who are highly affected with gender related issues by enabling them to find lasting solutions to emerging complications.
How women’s experiences of race, class, sexuality and other axes of identity impact their lives
Despite women’s capacity to facilitate good performance in various areas of operation, they have been facing diverse challenges that affect their lives among which discrimination, racism, class, and identity issues could be named (DeSouza 1). In particular, the experiences erode their self-confidence thereby reduce their chances of exploring various opportunities. The experiences also influence their esteem levels compared to men. This fact exposes them to inferiority complexities that are detrimental in fostering social and economic integration. Notably, women have been forced to feel inferior through discriminatory actions and sentiments that they receive from various individuals especially male chauvinists. This is evident since in most settings women have been blocked by cultural connotations from making or participating in decision-making. The cultural connotations and inferior perception of women have blocked them from participating actively in various activities. Even though the situation is currently changing, most societies still believe that women’s responsibility is only limited to undertaking house duties.
Individuals in the societies have not come to terms with the idea of elevating women through gender equality programs. They cite that women should never be perceived at the same level as men since men have many responsibilities as compared to women. Although the reasoning is relevant for some people, authorities in most nations are keen in ensuring that women are given their rights and that they are subjected to fair treatment (DeSouza 1). The authorities seek to ensure that women are treated equally to men and enable them to explore their full potential. They affirm that times have changed and the days of oppression when individuals were discriminated are over. Their actions are informed with the need to foster fairness and gender equality in all areas of activity such as employment, management, and supervision of duties. Race, class and sexual orientation also form key factors that impact on women’s lifestyle.
Particularly, categorization of individuals based on social and economic status or class differences make most women feel inferior to others who are well established. Indeed, women who hold low profile and status in the society in terms of academic levels, financial capability, and physical outlook always perform dismally when they are among colleagues who boost of great achievements in life. Such women end up without exploring their full potential and without full actualization of their dreams (Brenner 1). They also fail to meet their heart desires that require psychological and mental stability.
Women and violence
Most empirical studies depict women as violent characters who stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Violence is one of the feminine features that they hold. Really, finding a non-violent woman is very difficult in most settings under normal circumstances. This is apparent since over 90% of women are categorized as violent characters that are very hostile when exposed to extreme circumstances (Brenner 1). Notably, women become violent when they are provoked or underestimated. They use it as a weapon to fight back in case of any attack from strong personalities especially men. That is violence is their weapon for survival.
Secondly, they use violence when they are offended, abused or beaten by anybody including their spouses. This has been a major issue especially in the family settings where women always engage their spouses in continuous fights over petty things of life. Conversely, women use violence to express their hunger on certain phenomena in life and disappointment. On the other hand, some women use violence to achieve their goals. For instance, a woman may turn extremely violent when she feels that she is facing gross discrimination at work especially when she is overworked or not promoted as required. They also use violence at times to compel their spouses to give in to their demands, i.e. they use violence as a tool of influencing decisions in their homes.
Men’s roles and responsibilities in ending violence against women
According to Holvino (1), men play a critical role in shaping women’s lifestyle. This is evident since women tend to listen to men more than their pears or fellow women. They also tend to take in advices from men on diverse issues that contribute in their wellbeing. Firstly, they play a critical role in determining their cause of action hence they have a responsibility to ensure that violence against them is eradicated. They can achieve this through systematic approaches that include execution of effective sensitization programs on the effects of gender violence. They can promote eradication of violence against women by educating or creating awareness on women’s weaknesses and how they should be treated in various settings (Holvino 1).
They can make people understand a varying mood of women and times when they are likely to be more violent. This is important in ensuring that gender violence against them is reduced. Secondly, men can contribute in eradicating violence against women by promoting gender equality. They need to create a favorable environment and recognize women as equal partners or individuals whose rights must be respected. Thus, they should desist from discriminating women, abusing them, harassing them and hindering them from participating in decision-making based on cultural ideals (Cheng 1). Variably, men can promote eradication of violence against women by promoting peaceful coexistence in homes and fulfilling their home duties promptly.
Self-reflection on how violence affected my family
Violence in any setting does not foster social integration and economic progress because it leads to acute disagreements including gross mistrust between individuals, thus hinders them from sharing quality ideas and engaging in meaningful activities. As cited by Cheng (1), home violence has been a major cause of family break-ups since it leads to misunderstanding between couples. It creates an atmosphere that does not foster peace and unity. Notably, violence has greatly affected my family socially and economically. Firstly, it has made my family lose out greatly on key economic activities that my parents have been running. The reason for that was that the emerging cultural and social differences have made their relationship detrimental and in turn has diminished their ability to focus on economic activities. Variably, violence nearly disintegrated my family. It almost led to the separation of my parents. However, the intervention measures that were adopted by their peers helped in averting the hostility or negative perception between them. Indeed, violence of any nature is detrimental since it cannot allow any development to take place. This calls for every individual to promote peace.
Conclusion
Indeed, women are individuals who resort to violence to protect their interest and dignity against any person who provokes them. They use it as a weapon to fight back insults from various individuals including men. However, their violent nature can be mitigated if proper modalities that contribute in building social and cultural cohesion are put in place. Such modalities are important in promoting sanity and understanding among family members or in the society. They should be embraced by individuals of both genders especially men who hold the capacity of influencing women to stop violence.
Works Cited
Brenner, Johanna. Women and the Politics of Class. 1998. Web.
Cheng, Ada. Teaching Resources on Racecism, Ehite Privileges and Anti-White Supremacy. 2003. Web.
DeSouza, Daphne. Gender, Class and Generation: A Comparative Study of Working and Middle Class Indian Women’s Household and Work Experiences in Ekurhuleni. 2001. Web.
Holvino, Edy. Complicating Gender: The Simultaneity of Race, Gender, and Class in Organization Change. 1997. Web.
Verklan, Lendy. Gender and Women’s Studies. 2000. Web.
