MAN'S INHUMANITY TO WOMEN by D. Warren Livingston "Women and children first!" There are not many people alive today, over the age of twenty, who haven't heard that phrase, read about that phrase, or even uttered the phrase themselves for one reason or another. But what does it mean? Is this enduring phrase something borne of an ingrained love and respect that mankind has for women and children? This author doesn't think so; quite frankly, after researching some of the historical treatment men have had toward women, I believe the phrase has no more meaning than a desire for preservation of the species, and has nothing at all to do with love and respect for women or children. Societies, for as long as there have been societies, have shown little or no respect for women, but the fact that this inhumanity toward the female sex is so well documented may very well be the thing that helps change the trends and traditions of the past centuries. Like anything worth looking into, it is important to know where we came from to get some idea where we are going. Here's a few startling facts just to get the ball rolling: 1. In 1985, 1.7 million American women were seriously assaulted by their spouse or partner, and this is just the reported cases. It is estimated that the actual number would be closer to 15 million or more but a large number go unreported either by the women or the "system". 2. In 1984, one out of three female homicides was perpetrated by either the spouse or the lover of the victim. 3. There are more law enforcement officers killed while breaking up domestic disturbances than any other area of police work. Chasing down armed robbers ranks second. 4. There are no age, social, economic, or religious boundaries to separate the incidence of this violence against women. 5. Forty percent of all women hospitalized in this country are there due to battering. Nos.1-5; U. S. Bureau of Statistics1986 Some startling facts, no doubt, but before we take a look at what has happened since the mid-eighties, lets take a quick look at some more history for a minute; specifically, let's examine the history of the way women have been treated, not just by men, but by societies in general over the decades and centuries. Year 1395-An English woman applied for a divorce and presents evidence of frequent attacks from her husband with a knife, and details violence which included a broken arm. Her husband does not deny the violence, but refutes that it is necessary to reduce his wife's repeated mistakes. The divorce is denied. Wife Beating:Langley & Levy p.15 Year 1762-English law states: "Women must bear with cruel husbands without complaint. Wife Beating:Langley & Levy p.15 Year 1768-Lord Blackstone established "Rule of Thumb" which referred to a husband's right to chastise his wife with a whip or ratton no bigger in diameter than his thumb nor longer than his arm in order to enforce domestic discipline. Wife Beating: Langley & Levy p.35 Year 1871- An Ecclesiastical court ruled that, although a husband beating his wife was undoubetedly wrong, it still had to be endured for better or worse by the wife. Wife Beating: Langley & Levy p.37 Year1871-An Alabama court ruled that men no longer had any right to beat their wives. The decision said, "The privilege, ancient though it may be, to beat her with a stick, to pull her hair, choke her, spit in her face, or kick her about on the floor, or inflict upon her other indignities, is not now acknowledged by our law." Wife Beating: Langly & Levy p.39 Year 1882-Baltimore, MD enacted a law to punish wife beaters by giving them 40 lashes with a whip or a year in jail. This was repealed in 1953. Wife Beating:Langley & Levy p.39 Year 1910-The United States Supreme Court ruled that a wife had no cause for action on an assault and battery charge against her husband because it would open the doors of the courts to accusations of all sorts of one spouse against the other and bring into public notice, complaints for assault, slander, and libel. Wife Beating: Langley & Levy p.39 Year 1970-The first direct services for battered women were offered in St. Paul, Minnesota. The first shelter for battered women opened 2 years later. Battered Wives: Martin p.196 Year 1984-Over 700 shelters for battered women are active across the USA. California, Hawaii, and Texas have made it a felony for a husband to assault his wife, but no convictions are made yet. U.S. Bureau of Statistics: 1986 Year 1985-Twenty-seven states have enacted legislation to protect women from abusive spouses and partners, in most of these, 20% or more of the collected fees for marriage licenses go to cost of maintaining shelters, and automatic restraining orders have become the norm. U.S. Bureau of Statistics: 1986 Well, you might say, "Now we're getting somewhere!" but we are not quite through looking at the history angle of all this violence against women just yet. Let's go back a bit farther shall we? Male dominance over females goes back to the dawn of time, essentially. Early man was a hunter and gatherer, and a woman was reduced to the role of keeping the campfires burning and rearing the children. These traditions evolved into customs and laws and even religious beliefs that women were inferior beings. The great religious writings, including the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Talmud, the Koran, and the book of Morman, all place men in the position of authority over women. As the foundations to the modern-day societies were being formed, the information in these writings reflected the attitudes about women through the ages and the interpretation of passages from these works have served to help perpetuate this posture. Timothy I, 9-14; In like manner I wish women to be decently dressed, adorning themselves with modesty and dignity, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothing but with good works such as become women professing Godliness. Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. For I do not allow a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over men; but she is to keep quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and it was sin. The Holy Bible: p.202 No doubt, it has been an uphill battle all the way for women to gain even a little ground on this seriously difficult problem when even The Bible, has deferred to placing women in a position of submissiveness. It is no wonder that little has been done to try to uncover the psychology of this worldwide problem. The battle for women's dignity, equality, and self-actualization is far from over, but in the last decades, some tremendous strides have been taken. In order to fully realize the importance of emerging from the horror of century's of man's inhumanity to women, we need to take a look at the "anatomy" of a battered woman from a modern standpoint. The following scenario of the battered woman is offered only as an example: 1. Typically she comes from a dysfunctional home herself. Her emotional needs were unfulfilled, and love, trust, affection, and a stable role model were not available in her childhood. 2. Her need for nurturing is often achieved vicariously by becoming an overly affectionate person especialy with men who display a "need" for her affection. 3. Once in a relationship, she becomes terrified of abandonment and will do anything to hold things together. All too often this includes tolerating even massive amounts of mental and physical abuse. 4. Her self-esteem is low, or non-existant, she accepts more than half of the guilt, responsibility, and blame for the relationship. She is out of control but tries to mask this by being "helpful". 5. Very often, drugs and alcohol become a part of her daily existence in order to numb hersef from the abuse. Her fear of loneliness, fostered in part from the lack of early nurturing, may keep her from deciding to get out of this situation for a long time. Nos. 1-5; Women Who Love Too Much: Norwood pp.16-23 Right here would be a good place to ask the questions;"Are women truly the weaker sex? What can be done to keep from falling into this type of trap?" Very good questions but the answers don't come easy. I believe, as do many of the learned theorists in the field of psychology, that the core of human existance is our personality. It is shaped in the very early stages by our "significant adult" social contacts and the relationships we have with peers and siblings. This fact accounts for a large portion of the perpetuation of the inferiority role for women. From the beginning of recorded human existence until the present, women have been educated into the role of inferiority including their personalities. For the most part, until very recently, they have grudgingly accepted that posture. However, women like Madame Currie, Amelia Earhart, Florence Nightingale, and many others, have demonstrated to the world that women are NOT "the weaker sex" in any context other than the purely medical or biological definition of physical strength. When the "feminist" movement got underway in the 1970's, it was almost like a knee-jerk reaction amongst the male dominated scientific community to begin extensive investigative studies to determine if there were actual measurable differences in the brain functionalities of men and women. Behavioral Scientists, Anthropologists, and Psychologists have toiled with the "nature-nurture" issues for years, but the evolution of several sophisticated methods of gathering, testing, and analyzing data involving such things as the effects of hormones on the development and sexual orientation of human beings has had a profound effect on studying the human brain. Although the "jury is still out" on the results of many of these studies, most Psychology testing points to the conclusion that men and women do indeed perceive the world differently as a result of functional differences in male and female brains. How Schools Fail Girls: Gorman. Time pp. 42-51 I seriously doubt, even after all the scientific studies are in, and the findings are disected, analyzed, hypothesized, and categorized, that there will be any great solutions bubbling to the surface to help alleviate the tremendous injustices that still exist concerning the treatment of women. I feel certain that the key to overcoming all the centuries of strife lies in the education, not only of mature women of today, but of younger girls; the women of tomorrow. Gradually, women around the world are facing a very grim fact; their inequality is partially due to their own behavior and attitudes. "The status quo of sexual inequality can only be considered appropriate and natural when women accept this view as well as men." What Keeps Women "In Their Place": Layng USA May,1989. Times are changing very rapidly for women and with these changes are some great opportunities around the world. Here in the United States we have seen the opening of all military academies to women, by former President Gerald Ford, in October of 1976. The 119 brave women who entered West Point on July 7, 1976 had to endure sexual harrasment and verbal abuse, but laid the groundwork to what has become commonplace to see women in Battle Dress Uniform throughout our military structure. Women at West Point: Hasenaur July,1991. The last obstacle for women in this area of American culture seems to be the right for women to serve in situations considered "dangerous" such as combat missions. In our government, we are seeing an increase in the number of women laying claim to Governorships, Senate seats, House of Representative seats, and many key Presidential Cabinet roles. However it is still a male dominated arena. The House Rules Committee has 1 woman out of 13, Ways and Means-2 of 36, Budget-2 of 37, Appropriations-3 of 59, and Agriculture-1 of 45. Women on the Verge of a Power Breakthrough: Finkel May 1992. Women activists around the world have begun to press for laws to have violence against women treated as a violation of basic human rights. From a religious standpoint, of the known active clergy in this country, 15% are now women.Women Finding a Place in the Pulpit: Brinson May,1992. I think it bears repeating, education may be the very best way for women to finally see the time when every female child born has a fair and equal chance to achieve her full potential in all aspects of life. In the past, there has been a serious discrepancy in the proportion of women who have achieved very high levels of education. The BA and MA levels are fairly close with men edging out women by just a few percentage points. However at the Ph.D level men capture over 70% of the degrees. Over 90% of Computer Science Doctorates are awarded to men. In the workplace only 5% of the top level executives are women. What's The Difference:Stump Ph.D,1985. None of this is by accident. In every classroom, whether taught by male or female teachers, boys call out and get the feedback 8 times more often than girls. Our textbooks show a gross lack of information on women as well. In the newest history textbooks only 2 percent of space is devoted to women. How Schools Fail Girls:Sadker. Feb 1994. After 20 years of studying this gender bias in our nations schools, Myra and David Sadker, Professors of education at the American University in Washington D.C., discovered that most girls enter school equal to or ahead of their male counterparts, but slip considerably by the time they are taking SAT and ACT exams for college entry, with the greatest shortfall in the areas of math and science. In the same report, it was revealed that when girls are educated separately from boys there is a significant increase in their self esteem and academic achievement. I agree with the Sadkers that completely segregating girls in our education system for the sake of improving percentages of qualified females at college entry level would be "sticky business" under the current legal system which discourages any kind of sex discrimination. However, if a few test cases here and there show such marked results, then I also support the idea that our educators should be required to assist in reducing the gender bias in the classroom as well. The Gender Equity in Education Act, is before Congress even as this is being written and if passed, will do much to provide gender equality training for educators. In the meantime, I believe the time is right to contribute to a new era for women where equality for women is more that just an aspiration, it will be a reality. It took many hundreds of years to arrive at this day and age and there are many hard fought battles ahead I am sure, but with todays "instant access" to information I believe also that the gruops of women who can see the merit of the strength in numbers theory will create a powerful voice that the male dominated world will just have to listen to. As for men, well, the emergence of a multitude of self- actualized women may be a bitter pill to swallow for some time to come yet, but most men realize that above all else the survival of the species is dependent upon women and, of course, the children they can bear. Perhaps keeping the men of today reminded of the grim history of man's inhumanity to women will serve to show the men of tomorrow that there is no Earthly reason for women to stand on anything but equal ground with men in all aspects of life on this planet. Women and Children First; it's about time!!! Copyright 1994 D. Warren Livingston ========================= # # # ================================= Warren is a Missouri resident and gentleman farmer, who has done a little of everything, and is even a part-time inventor. His claim to fame and highest accomplishment, however, is his son. Talk to him about horses and you will find, he has been talking for a few hours. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Battered Wives:Del Martin. San Fransisco, CA.:Glide Publ.1976 2. How Schools Fail Girls:Myra & David Sadka. Springfield NEWS LEADER Feb, 1994 3. Sizing up the Sexes:Christine Gorman. TIME Jan 20, 1992 4. The Holy Bible:p.202 5. U.S. Bureau of Statistics:1986 6. What Keeps Women in Their Place:Anthony Layng. USA May, 1989 7. What's The Difference:Jane Barr Stump, Ph.D. NY,NY.:Morrow 1985 8. Wife Beating:Roger Langley&Richard Levy.NY,NY.:E.P.Dutton 1972 9. Women at West Point:Heike Hasenaur. SOLDIERS July, 1991 10 Women Who Love Too Much:Robin Norwood. LosAngeles,CA.:J.P. Tarcher 1985 11. Women Finding a Place in The Pulpit:Claudia Smith Brinson. Columbia, SC.:STATE May 31, 1992 12. Women on the Verge of a Power Breakthrough:David Finkel WASHINGTON POST May 10,1992 =============================================================================