Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Is Plato a Feminsit?
Plato, through the mouthpiece of Socrates, advocates some radical views about woman in Chapter 7 of the Republic. In particular, he argues not only that women can be guardians, but that they can have equal duties (more or less) and an identical education. The only exception he makes is for physical difference between the sexes. These views are in stark contrast to a woman's place in 5th century Athens, in which a woman was prohibited from a political life and confined to the domestic household (and had a similarly limited education). Does it make sense to call Plato a feminist (and does it depend on your notion of feminism)? Or does Plato still miss something important about women? Furthermore, have we in 21st century America realized his ideas?
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Chapter 7 of Plato’s Republic further addresses the necessary roles that enable a community to function properly. In his discussion of this topic, he makes a short, but crucial claim that is the basis of this question (“is Plato a feminist?”). The dialogue involving the role of women really is initiated starting at 453a, and on 455e, Plato comes to the conclusion that “innate qualities have been distributed equally between the two sexes, and women can join in every occupation just as much as men, although they are the weaker sex in all respects.” But before coming to this arrival, it is mentioned before that men are essentially better than women in about every aspect of life (“aside from sewing, looking after pancakes,” whatever those might’ve been back in ancient Greece, “and boiling vegetables”). It is a pretty audacious claim from Plato to say that women have the potential to take on the same roles as men, given that they have the same, if not higher of a skill level in whatever task that may be. Women have the ability to be the leaders and guards of a community. Once again, that is a pretty bold statement coming from Plato, and it surely strikes as a feminist stance. The Republic was written at around 380 BC, at a time when women were certainly not associated with ruling. Women really had no opportunities that men had during this time period, and the only role that they were assigned and were to carry out was for the care for the household. Men were clearly the superior figures, and there was no “grey area” in between this distinction. So, given the time period that this was written, isn’t it pretty convincing that Plato was a total feminist for his time? Maybe, maybe not. Overall, however, it isn’t enough to say that Plato was a true, genuine feminist. Firstly, the discussion of men and women taking on the same roles is pretty abrupt, and is followed by a comment saying that, even if a man and woman were to share the same exact role, the woman “will (would) receive the lighter duties than the man, because of the weakness of their sex” (457a). So, there is still a clear distinction between men and women, despite the abilities that a woman might have over a man. In the end, the man is still superior because of his nature. On the one hand, women, due to their innate qualities, share the same opportunities as men, yet they are limited by their nature. In a way, it seems that a woman’s nature is really quite ineffective, because no matter what, it will always be at a disadvantage in comparison to a man’s (according to Plato). Also, now that we have finished the book, aside from in this chapter, there is little-to-no reference about women used elsewhere. Almost in every other chapter of the book, the pronoun “he” is used in Plato’s dialogues. It seems that in trying to understand morality and all the others qualities associated with it, Plato is only concerned with “him” – the man. Furthermore, if Plato were a true feminist, it is only safe to think that he would bring up women more in his arguments, making it hard to truly understand what Plato believes about women. If his comment was genuine (and it could be), then I believe that we have adopted, and even expanded on his idea. In most of the world, women have the same rights as men. While there are several factors (like pay) that may indicate that women are inferior to men, it is the case, most of the time, that men and women are equal in all respects. The idea of women as rules has been a bit slower to make its way into the “norm” of the 21st century, however, it is not absent. Although not successful, Brazil’s current leader, for example, is a woman. So, the point is that Plato’s idea, whether genuine or not, has traveled throughout the (many) years, and has slowly, but surely evolved.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Plato advocates some radical views in the context of ancient Athens regarding the equality between women and men, many of these ideas are misogynistic in nature. He speaks in the issue of education, and how men and women must be taught the same things to make them usable for the same purpose, such as to be guardians, to be soldiers, etc. Originally, I thought that was Plato's way of addressing the eradication of traditional gender roles and sexist stereotypes. By receiving the same education, they are able to hold the same offices of power that men already do in Plato's society. However, he also makes blatantly sexist remarks at the idea of femininity and it's identity as a whole; "The better principle is the man masters the worse.There are in cities whole classes--women, slaves and the like" (431a). Saying that women in society should be able to do the same as men do does not mean Plato is comfortable in allowing them to act among the guardians of his society on account of their femininity. He aims to remove the "weakness" of female gender and culture from society while allowing sex to become their main identifying feature. Instead of creating a perfect world where everyone is free to pursue their roles as they see natural regardless of their gender and sex, Plato seems to want to form a world everyone is free to assume the role of a man. This seems to relate back to earlier in the book where Plato criticizes the poets for displaying heroes such as Odysseus as 'weak,' so it is safe to assume that Plato values the trait of heroic masculinity over that of the worrying wives like Penelope.
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