Gabriela Arredondo

Jennifer Rodrick

English 115

12/7/17

Women and Conformity

At least one time in a womens life, they have heard the phrase, Youre a woman so start

acting like one. What this phrase and many other phrases imply is that society has these specific

standards of how a woman should look, act, and think, essentially wanting to control every

aspect of a woman. Women are dehumanized and are reduced to being an object owned by a

male-dominated society. Their opinions are often times not considered relevant and they are

forced to conform to societys rules if they want to be able to have a decent life. Womens

opinions are not relevant in todays society because society is controlled by men and they force

women conform to a perfect body shape, behavior, certain clothing, and inequality in the work

force; through it all, women follow these expectations without question.

Society constantly advertises the perfect body shape for women, ultimately body

shaming females who do not have the advertised body shape and suggests that for women to be

considered beautiful or even just be noticeable, they must have specific physical characteristics.

It is because of our need to be accepted that many women do in fact change their bodies to be

perfect. As seen on the image to the side, it is a magazine article promoting women getting

breast implants to fulfill their obsession of being perfect in the physical aspect. Advertisements

such as this heavily influence the female mind and manipulate them into thinking they are not
good enough and will not have as many opportunities with their original bodies, forcing them to

comply and change their physical identity. It also objectifies them and insinuates that women are

judged by the physical aspect.

It is also no surprise that women are both not treated and paid the same as men in many

professions. Why are men able to do certain jobs that women are not allowed to do? It is because

society has implanted many of us with the perception that women are delicate little flowers that

can be destroyed at any given moment and that they are not capable of handling such vigorous

work. Society conceptualizes that women in the workplace should, show cleavage (and wear)

skirts, with heels to accentuate (their) legs, have their hair in a ponytail, and wear pearls

around their necks, essentially vindicating the perception of women being delicate. (Dowdy,

Women Forced into Subsistence to Male Controlled Society) This is what society deems as

professional clothing for women. I find this statement to be true because when attending a

professional event, the required attire for women will always be a pencil skirt, with a nice blouse,

paired with high heels and their hair must be away from their face. Many women would argue

against this professional attire but they cannot do anything about it. They must once again

comply to societys rules and dress professionally to even be considered for a possible job

offer. Another issue that women face in the workplace is that many of them do not have high

ranking positions because it is not ideal according to society. The reasoning behind such an

absurd idea is that women do not have the qualifications for high positions, fundamentally

implying that women are deemed as unfit and not worthy, earning the identity of being the

unqualified, weaker gender. Nevertheless, many women do not do anything about it because if
they were to go against the male-dominated society, their lives will be flipped around and they

will become miserable.

Society expects women also to be compliant and not talk back to others because it is

unlady-like and improper. From a young age, females are taught how they should behave and

quickly learn that they will be brutally judged and treated if they do not follow societys rules.

The acceptable behavior for women is similar to a well-trained animal in the sense that women

must comply to the commands given by society; the male-dominated society. It is an appalling

similarity but it is the truth. To avoid the vicious and unpleasant judgement from society and to

be successful with their life and not have any bumps in the road, women are forced to conform.

Because of the strict and unruly standards and expectations society has placed on women, their

identities are profoundly affected. They are not able to truly be themselves because society will

shun them for not complying with their rules; for being different and out of the ordinary.

The expectations for women tend also follow to home life. Women have the

roles/identities of being the mother, wife, chef, and maid in society. They are expected to cook,

clean, care for their children and keep their husband satisfied with no thought concerning

themselves. It is their duty as a wife and mother to put their husbands and childrens needs

before their own, sacrificing their freedom to please their family. As displayed on the image to

the side, the woman has made a cake and you can see that her husband and children are very

happy. She has her own smile on her face because she is happy that her family is pleased. With

this image we can apply that woman find happiness among others, but forget about their own.

This mindset influences the way women are treated because men believe they are making their
happy by giving these working roles among the household. This image also suggests that the

most important and only job for a woman is to make her family happy and this results with

becoming compliant and reduces their confidence levels because they become dependent on

others being satisfied. Once again, this concept is idealized by society and can be extremely

misogynistic and insensitive to the woman. In the past, womens role in society was to stay home

and just cook and clean the house. Their entire life revolved around pleasing their husband and

children. Although it was more common and emphasized back then, there are still people now

who strongly support this concept regardless of the fact that it is a different era with slightly

different ideas. Those few that still do believe in women staying home and being completely

dependent on the man are greatly influenced by the previous, less-free society that held those

strong beliefs and expectations. As Michael Kinsman stated in his article, Societal Expectations

Tend to Work Against Women, it (was) traditional in our country that women go where

their husbands find jobs Kinsman points out how it is a perfect example of how acceptable it

was for women to willingly and blindly follow their husbands because that was expected by

women in society.

Nevertheless, society has promoted that if a woman is to be proper and decent she will be

able to obtain jobs, essentially leading to them being successful in life. Society gives women the

persona of being the mature gender because of how they are expected to be classy and

professional. Women develop a proper and professional identity, giving them the advantage of

opening more opportunities in life. It is a simple truth that if you want to have a decent outcome,

you must follow the rules given. This undoubtedly applies to having a decent life. To have an

adequate life, one must follow the social norms and expectations placed upon them.
 In conclusion, societal expectations heavily affect a womans identity. Women are

unfairly given strict standards that they must follow in order to have a decent life with the

possibility having a husband, children, a house, and a well-paying job. If you look back in

history, you will come to realize that, women have always been controlled by society,

(Dowdy). Fortunately for women now, society is not as overbearing and barbarous as it was in

the past. Many women still do question why society does not treat them the same as men and

why they are not allowed to obtain more freedom to be themselves. This problem ultimately

boils down to how women are viewed in society. (Ward) Take a look at Afghan women for

example. Afghanistans society controls everything about a woman, down to how she thinks and

behaves both in public and in private. If women want more freedom and rights to being who they

want to be, how they are viewed in society must change.

 Works Cited

Dowdy, Brenn. "Women Forced into Subsistence to Male Controlled Society. University Wire,

Sep 24, 2014, Global News stream, Libproxy.Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.

Kinsman, Michael. "Societal Expectations Tend to Work Against Women." Star Tribune, May

24, 1992, pp. 01J, Global Newsstream, Libproxy.Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.

Ward, Olivia. "Afghan Women Gain Rights Slowly; there are no Quick Fixes, Canadian Expert

Warns." Toronto Star, Oct 05, 2009, Global Newsstream, Libproxy.Accessed 24 Oct.

2017.

Preferred physical identity of women. Digital image. Roosh V forum. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.

Web. 26 Jan. 2014.

Expectations for women at home. Digital image. Rants from Mommyland. Accessed 24 Oct.

2017. Web.