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How Women Penetrate into Denied Spaces

            Women have been placed in a relatively disadvantaged position compared to men due to the longstanding inequalities of the gender distribution of resources. Thus, women’s participation in, benefiting from, and contributing to the broader development process remains incapacitated. Despite the considerable progress in the empowerment of women through paid work and educational attainment, the change progress is uneven and slow across regions due to discriminatory practices and norms that continue entrenching inequality deeply (Stamarski and Son Hing 4). Women’s engagement in decision-making forums remains minimal hence their contribution to the allocation of opportunities and resources is not felt leading to more gender inequality perpetuation. Due to the existing economic crisis, there is an increase in deduction risk on women empowerment and gender equality allocation (Stamarski and Son Hing 1). Denied spaces describe the oppression women go through under masculine power accorded by traditional practices. Although it is common in the whole world, literature shows that it is more rampant in African traditions as portrayed by Walker (1982) in the Color Purple. Although modern women experience more freedom, there is still more to do to achieve equality. Besides, denied spaces for women in most cases represent trampling on their fundamental human rights. This paper evaluates how women have continued rising to take action against being denied a platform for leadership and decision making by finding their ways into these positions. Once they have gained knowledge of the positions, they seek to deliver exemplary performance and empower other women to take up such positions without fear.

Concept of Denied Spaces

            Women’s rights are abused in various ways creating denied spaces that curtail their rights. One of the denied space results from harmful traditional practices. Traditionally, women were perceived as invalids and were denied to the house chores. This implies that the women could not engage in economic work and other activities that were perceived to be manly. Women were perceived as subjects that aroused all types of passions and prejudices creating a sense of guilt and worthlessness (Woolf and Press 5). One of the harmful traditional practices is early marriages. Traditionally, women were subjected to marriage at a tender age. Violence is also a harmful traditional practice commonly meted towards women. For instance, Harry gets mad and loses his temper on Sybylla just because he supposedly loves her (Franklin 36). Cellie is also raped by her stepfather from a very tender age until she gets married to a husband who continues to molest her sexually (Walker 3).

            The other denied space is a lack of fair representation and political participation. Effective and full participation of women in politics is sustainable development, inclusive growth, and human rights matter (Beebeejaun 325). However, across the world, women find themselves under-represented in every social-political level and removed from levels of decision making. The public commitments of African governments towards women protection and victim support have hit a snag leaving women out of the political ground. Women’s concerns are often ignored due to the use of self-centered means to acquire power and abuse of office. As a result, women continue to be politically under-represented hence a barrier is created that hinders the assumption of leadership roles and exercise of political power. Due to the ambition gap, women also were less likely to have political professionals encouraging them to run for elective positions or consider seeking public office (Beebeejaun 327). Women were also prevented from acquiring education. Traditionally, education was a reserve for men as they were deemed the major economic drivers. Male children would be sent to formal education schools to train and work in white-collar jobs. However, the female children would stay at home with their mothers to be trained on proper housekeeping. Even those who were sent to school pursued informal education such as weaving and sewing. Traditional family arrangements limited the career choices women had because resources were pumped towards educating the male child and the remainder was what would support the females (Woolf and Press 55).

            According to Stamarski and Son Hing (1), the workplace presents multiple gender inequality forms making it an inhospitable environment for women. Workplace discrimination such as the gender wage gap affects the opportunities available and the earnings offered to women. Besides, women take longer to advance in a career than men due to the dearth of women in leadership. As a result, workplace discrimination creates a low social-economic status environment for women hence a source of stigma (Stamarski and Son Hing 2). Women were faced with denial to own property and land. Traditionally, men were perceived as the ones to carry on an individual’s lineage. This implies that they were custodians of land and property which was passed down from one generation to the other. Therefore, women were not entitled to own any land or permanent assets in their names. Property acquired by women would also automatically be in their husband’s custody to be passed down to their male offsprings. This created an overdependence of women on men either as fathers or husbands. The woman would be tied down in an abusive marriage to ensure her male children acquired their birthrights in terms of property and land (Woolf and Press 20).

How Women Gain Access to Denied Spaces

            Globally, women in power have increased and although men are still dominant decision-makers, education, formal employment, police forces, judiciary, cabinets, and parliaments accommodate more female occupants. One of the ways women have managed to enter the denied spaces is through an identity shift. Women have traditionally been made to believe that their identity must be tied to a male figure. For instance, in My Brilliant Career, when Sybylla states that she wants to be herself and not part of anyone, her aunt Gussie reminds her that she is not the only female with the notion. However, she implores her not to throw away reality while chasing an impossible dream of paying the price for independence with loneliness (Franklin 36). This means that without a man in the picture the woman has no identity. Women have continually overcome the negative attitudes which enable them to achieve intellectual progress. As advised by Walker, the brains are often crippled by hatred and feat of the body. As a result, brilliant women still struggle to focus their thoughts outside the female bodies leading to the reproduction of old intellection forms (284). For women to overcome penetrate the denied spaces, they must accept their bodies which sometimes is a painful experience.

            The other strategy is through defining their value. The modern woman has delineated from the traditional phenomena where the woman was sexualized and was viewed as a tool of pleasure for the man. For instance, Celie was constantly molested by her stepfather and told to never tell anyone which left her merely existing without identity or self (Walker 3.). As a result, she perceived herself as a tool of pleasure such that even when she got married, her husband continued abusing her sexually. To overcome in the male-dominated society, women confront the body by dealing with their abuse as well as the abuse of women’s bodies historically. The repeated beatings and rapes one would otherwise ignore and instead annihilate the body are turned into a symbol of the enslavement of women and a representation of the abuse to constantly remind them of the degradation and consignment to the lower status (Woolf and Press 25). For empowered women, crying is not an option but instead, they face their challenges (Woolf and Press  77). Instead of allowing the husband to beat them as children and just cry, the women have found strength in their scars and arose beyond the normal bleeding every month to not bleed anymore (Walker 15). Through the help of Shug, her husband’s lover, Celie begins the journey to discover her body to feel the pleasure of sexual love without guilt. As a result, she discovers the freedom from masculine brutality and speech which is a powerful tool to enjoy sexual pleasure which is denied by women.

Once women have known their identity and value, they break free from prohibition to join women communities and speech (Beebeejaun 323). As a result, they are freed from subjection to male brutality and dependence. Described as the mirror stage, the women get an understanding of the external world. The individual gets an illusion of the whole selfhood and finds an optimistic perception of the external environment. Such illusions act as positive accommodations to enable women to find the true meaning of life and their relation to society (Walker 173). The mirror stage teaches individual self-love and helps the woman gain a new appreciation of their body and individuality (Walker 79).

            Women also use the strategy of enduring oppression and then rising to denounce it. This means that women submit themselves to the oppression of masculine power to get what they want. For instance, in The Color Purple, Mary Agnes sacrifices to resist male domination pressure by submitting to be raped by a prison warden to gain the power of guilt and expedite Sofia’s release. As a result, Sophia can demand to be called by her real name although she leaves the prison with a missing shoe heel, torn dress, and a limp (Walker 95). Mary Agnes also gains the courage to sing although her voice was not pleasing for the role (Walker 96). Aggressive indulgence also enables women to penetrate the denied spaces (Beebeejaun 324). Women must create a unique brand to penetrate male-dominated spaces. For instance, Celie adopts a unique sewing art form as a sublimation source. To seal her separation from masculine world violence, she adopts a traditionally feminine art form but narrows the sex gap by making both male and female pants. She was linked to the primordial power of women that predates patriarchy and emphasizes the transformative power of women (Walker 101). Similarly, for women to indulge in transformative power, they must develop strategies that bind together the pieces so that both men and women can fit into the ‘pants’.

How Knowledge Gained in Denied Spaces is Used

            Knowledge gained has helped women understand the relevant quarters to air their challenges and seek support for the women empowerment agenda. Once women penetrate the denied spaces, they strive to create an impact and bring in more women. Women empowerment programs have dominated the modern era was bridging a gap is the key sustainable development agenda (Stamarski and Son Hing 2). Empowered women have engaged in community sensitization programs on the importance of equality for both male and female children in all quarters. More policies continue to be enacted and adopted to foster equal rights for both genders in land ownership, education, and access to healthcare facilities. Also, women who have gained formal education have joined activist and feminine groups to advocate on the rights of the girl child. According to Beebeejaun, as more women get into leadership positions, they push for policies that offer equal opportunities for women to compete with their male counterparts (324). Women have also strived to perform better than their male counterparts when they gain knowledge of the denied spaces. They work extra hard to ensure they are not deemed incompetent based on their gender.

Conclusion

            In conclusion, overcoming denied spaced obstacles requires the exchange of developed resources and materials in women and development areas. Due to traditional subjudice, women were used as doormats for men to manipulate, oppress, and control. However, women have developed strategies to enable them to overcome masculine oppression and gain a sense of self-identity to facilitate their ambitions to enter denied spaces. Consequently, women have come together in coalitions and networks to raise awareness of violence, inequality, and discrimination problems. Women who have gained access and knowledge of the denied spaces have used the framework of human rights to fights tor the rights of women in political, economic, social, and family arenas. They have taken concrete actions to ensure the lives of women are improved and that they fight for the freedom to endure and thrive.