'Women will never enjoy the same rights as men.' Do you agree? (Cam, Nov '06)

In my opinion, I agree to a large extent that women will never enjoy the same rights as men. Women can enjoy the same rights as men if only more can be done to improve the status of women today. Although much has been done since the past to demolish the traditional thinking that women should remain at home as only mothers and wives, and though today, some women do enjoy the same rights as men, this is only seen in some areas and in special circumstances.

Women do not always enjoy the same rights as men. As stated by Diane Siesly in Article 3, women’s contributions are being devalued as notion of men being the full-time breadwinner and his need to provide a family remains entrenched, as such, women’s achievements and efforts are not being recognized. This is supported by http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/WomensRights.asp#WomenWorkMoreThanMenButArePaidLess, where it is mentioned that "According to Inter Press Service, “On a global scale, women cultivate more than half of all the food that is grown. In sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, they produce up to 80 percent of basic foodstuffs. In Asia, they account for around 50 percent of food production. In Latin America, they are mainly engaged in subsistence farming, horticulture, poultry and raising small livestock.” Yet women often get little recognition for that. In fact, many go unpaid. It is very difficult for these women to get the financial resources required to buy equipment etc, as many societies still do not accept, or realize, that there is a change in the “traditional” roles."

Although conditions are improving, many women are still disadvantaged and discriminated against. As shown from a report done on the gender equality and discrimination in Singapore, http://www.warrenssingapore.com/un_report.htm, there are still fewer women in positions of power and there is still quite a significant difference between wages of the different genders. Even though the government has done much to improve the economic and social status of Singapore as a whole by raising employment rates and GDP, men have benefited more as compared to women.

Hence, I feel that much more can still be done for women to improve their status, especially through the media, to break down stereotypes of women.