Gender Roles vs. Gender Equality

Overview & Synopsis

Why is a woman who fights for gender equality considered a feminist? On the contrary, if a man seeks the same equal rights between the male and the female, why does he not have an “ist” attached to him? “Ist,” like chauvinist or sexist, comes to modify him when he wants to be superior to women, that is, when he feels entitled to gender inequality with him as the prime and privileged sex. These taken-for-granted questions spark debates about the socially and culturally constructed gender hierarchy; they also ignite inquiries, critiques, and discussions about long-held but rarely challenged gender roles across cultures. This book juxtaposes gender roles with gender equality in an in-depth examination of how and why the two clash and, at the same time, re-create one another in confronting and competing ways. The chapter authors, representing a diverse range of disciplines and continents, scrutinize histories, cultures, societies, geopolitics, and ideologies that contour and configure sexism, feminism, and postmodernism. The book takes readers into a deconstructive process that deduces and distills the notion and practice of gender equality from gender roles across time and space.