Why were women seen as the inferior species?

Question

I've always wanted to know why women were made to stay at home and cook when men could go out and work as they pleased?

Answer 1

Women had to nurture their children, so were at the mercy of men.  They couldn't earn a living.

Answer 2

In first place any gender was "made" to do something. Sherry Ortner explains from anthropology that human tents to see nature things are primitive, and tents to appreciate culture as a symbol of evolution. Women is seen as more natural than men since their natural process are more outside than inside, u see, they have menstruation, a body more explicit, they got preigned . Since that, they are perceived as “less” human. So she proposes re evaluate the women and their processes as valuable as men's.

Answer 3

i actually dont know, even as a man, i encourage women i encourage my female mates to do whatever they want and not let guys push them around, ever heard of the sayin:

' when a boy's great masters a sport he is a pro, when the girl tries the game she is considered a hoe'

i say that saying is bullshit.

but the real answer may be because of biological reasons, men have more muscle in their bodies, men naturally have more strength, women are MORE EASILY vreeped out than men, guys are considered to be protective with all these factors, btw i am not saying men are superior to women because i dont see any men give birth to children or anything, so i believe in equal fairness, but hope this answered your question

Answer 4

Why does that make us inferior? I think that being a SAHM is a great responcibility. We are trusted enough to raise human beings! How is that inferior.

Answer 5

because men are envious of our b***s.

Answer 6

Staying at home to cook and clean are only inferior tasks to those who feel them to be. To others, they are simply different roles with equal value.

Answer 7

Unlike what feminists say, women were much more inclined to warn other women to stay home.

Answer 8

From classes that I've attended, women were viewed inferior because they were thought to have smaller brains than that of a man. Also, because women are generally smaller than a man, men were the ones hunting and gathering, while women kept the house (or cave) maintained. Also, since women to birth the children, the maternal instinct is deeper than that of the paternal instinct. Since women were already pretty sedentary with staying in the home and rearing their offspring, they were automatically pigeon-holed (if you would) as being inferior because they were not big and brawny. Since women are more level-headed and have a deeper sense of emotion and are far more methodical in their thinking, they are viewed as inferior.

That's my opion anyway... I hope this helps out a little. I think it's all stupid if you ask me. I'm smarter than any guy on this board.

Answer 9

Since when were women a different species? LOL!

Anyway, it comes from old stereotypes. Men are hunter gatherers, women stay at home and provide for the man. It's been a stereotype since the dawn of the human race.

Answer 10

They are not, don't listen to feminist propaganda.

Answer 11

cuz they were the ones that had babies duh but there are some guys that are like that too it doesnt really matter its a free countr you do want

Answer 12

Because that is what has happened throughout history.

Many were tied down to running the home (an unpaid but full time job before washing machines and vacuum cleaners)having babies and bringing them up.

More household appliances plus Birth Control Pills freed them up to pursue other things in life.

Answer 13

Historically, women have been seen as the more inferior gender, but today, that opinion is generally looked down on. Where do you live?

Edit: As for the 'stay at home' bit, does that make women inferior? Look at it this way, 'men are forced to go out and earn a wage'. Also, if men could get pregnant, men would stay at home.

Answer 14

they have shorter feet. it means they can stand nearer the cooker

Answer 15

I think its just because we generally have less muscle and are more emotional usually - it just harks back to when time began? men were always stronger in most ways and provided for us.

Answer 16

i am not aware that women are a different species from men.

Women's and men's roles developed along different lines in prehistory.  Prehistoric socieites were hunter-gatherer societies.  men hunted, women gathered plant food, nuts, roots, berries, etc, because that's a lot easier to do when you are caring for small children (which women naturally did because only women had the means to feed babies).

When agriculture developed, it was mostly women who did  the farming, since farming is a naturl extension of gathering.  It is, however, much harder work than gathering.

For most of history, the roles of men and women overlapped a lot more than they did in later times.  most people lived on farms, and the women would be responsible for the poultry and the dairy, for brewing ale (drunk instead of water fo rmost of history) and of course for spinning wool and flax into thread to make clothing.  Weaving was also done by women, though in the medieval period a lot of it began to be done by professional weavers, who at first were men and women, though later it became an exclusively masculine occupation. Women would often sell their surplus products, butter, cheese, ale etc, and thread would often be spun for home use, and for sale to weavers as well.

I know this will probably come as a shock to you, but when the American colonies were being settled, and women were advertised for to come out there (there was a severe shortage of women) one of the main selling points to get women out there was that they would be able to devote themselves exclusively to housework rather than having to toil in the fields alongside the men, which was not seen as a desirable option for most women.  Housework kept them busy enough, with the cooking and preserving of food, growing vegetables in thekitchen garden, brewing ale, making home remedies (women were generally expected to be the family doctors throuhgout most of history),and of course spinnin and weaving (cloth production was an absolutely vital job done by women,and most esepcially in the American colonies, where cloth was in very short supply).

When specialised crafts and trades developed, businesses tended to be family affairs, with wives and children joining in.  many women ran businesses after their husbands died, and some were in business on their own account.  Many medieval women were succesful businesswomen.

The seperation between home and workplace that we consider normal really began in the 18th century, with the Industrial Revolution.  Men went out to work, while married women stayed at home, if they could afford to.  Plenty of poor married women still had to go out to work, in factories, or doing domestic work, or taking in sewing or washing at home.  Single women of course have always had to work for a living, and they continued to do so.

Wome who could afford to stay at home and look after the children and the house rather than having to work generally regarded themselves as fortunate.  What I find strange about your qeustion is, why do you assume that going out to work is better than staying at home?  Most jobs people have done since the Industrial Revolution have been hard work, and not particularly pleasant.  why would a woman not consider herself fortunate to be at home with the children rather than being in  a factory or down a mine all day?  or, if a farmer's wife, staying in the house rather than out in the fields in all weathers?

I've always been in agreement with what Alice Thomas Ellis wrote, talking about her own childhood in the 1930s-40, she said that she used to feel sorry for the men going off to work, when the women and children could go for a picnic if they wanted to.  

do you really believe that most men work "as they please" rather than because they have to?  why?  Why would you think that women were 'made' to stay at home, rather than seeing that as a pleasanter option than toiling outside the home all day?  do you really think that all jobs are thrilling and wonderful and so much better than being at home?  Is toiling all day on a farm or in a factory (what most men did as work for most of the past couple of hundred years) really better than being at home with the kids?  Why?

it's strange that we seem to have come to a place where the assumption that being at home is a fate worse than death, and that what all women must want is to be toiling in the workplace all day, rather than being int he comfort of their own homes.  it's a mystery to me how people like you get these ideas, it really is.

Answer 17

I also want to know:-)

Answer 18

We weren't made that way society dictated that.  I don't see women as the inferior species and I think anyone who does see it that way has some real personal issues.

Answer 19

Before mass education boys did the same jobs their fathers did so they didn't excatly have a great deal of choice and the same with girls who would learn work from their mother

Answer 20

women are usually punier than the male, and also when they are pregnant, they need a lot more care in that time. so sending them hunting is not ideal.

Personally I hate going out to work, or indeed, I loathe the modern understanding of 'work'.

if it was gathering wild foods and so on, I could quite enjoy that, but standing in a factory.. or sitting in an office for 8 hours everyday...

it becomes pointless and kills ones spirit. ;-(

Answer 21

it comes from stone age man who used to drag his woman around by her hair, its a man-gene, its always baffled me, the big strong ape beating his chest has to be waited on hand and foot, clicking his fingers for wifey to come running, the sad thing is some of them still think women were created to serve and be doormats. Women are mentally stronger than any man, they can cope with most things and they can be self sufficient, whereas men are physically strong (all brawn and no brain) find it hard to cope with anything and need a woman to nurture them as though they are one of her children, aw luv em!

i went to college this morning and was running late, i came home at 5pm and HE didn't hang the washing out to dry because wait for it "i couldn't open the washing machine and i didn't wash my breakfast dishes because i didn't know what washing up to use or how much to put in" he's going to pay for being bone idle and bloody stupid I'm taking him shopping tomorrow with his sacred little piece of plastic!

Answer 22

I like eddybear's answer but I'm gonna post my own:

Evolutionary-speaking women are the nuturing half of the species (nursing babies and children) whereas men are the out-going half of the species (protectors and hunters).

You will generally find now men are attracted more to the feminine and nuturing women more than the serious out-going business like women.

Women on the other hand are more attracted to the outgoing, confident men than the sissy nuturing men.

This is also true on a cellular level; men behave like sperm racing for the female egg (men do all the outgoing work and run around all the place and women just sit there and expect the men to come home).

I think women started about thinking changing roles when they really wanted to seek for a higher social status than men. This became significant after the world wars but I think it started when women put on make up and thought it gives them a kick from all the attention they get from men rather the men getting all the attention from the women.

My last point can be justified by looking into how animals mate - men attract, women chase; not the other way around (western culture influences us to do that; they don't do that in any native tribes anywhere around the world). In case you thinkk this is overwhealming, I just had to get it out of my system; if it's nothing you want to hear I'm sorry for its irrelevance.

Answer 23

Women aren't a species you silly thing!  (pats on head)

They are a gender!!!  And a jolly pretty one too!