Blog # 2

It is a system of government in society or family where the authority is a male figure.
The excerpt is an argument where Rousseau reasons why women are of lesser rank in the society, yet they play an important role in the man‘s life.
To begin, Rousseau describes the constant physiological needs that women have during and after the pregnancy. Next, he insists that women have qualities, such as caring and kindness, that are needed in raising a child. Additionally, Rousseau believes that a man love his children through the woman.

(I will put my emotions aside and will simply invalidate his argument)
Rousseau’s arguments are not valid. First, he argues that the inequality is not a “man-made” structure but it is in the nature. Most importantly, when referring to the nature he uses the pronoun “he.” Rousseau appeals to the authority of the highest power who’s laws cannot be disobeyed. However, the statement becomes invalid, for he uses a fallacy of false authority. Additionally, the idea of Nature or God is subjective and cannot be neither dogmatic nor proven. Consequently, the rest of his argument becomes invalid, for he uses the model verb “ought to” several times when referring to the female duties in life. IF there are such laws for women to obey, their origin shall not be an abstract idea. He has no verifiable source for his evidence, therefore no evidence at all. As a result, his argument is invalid.

The role of Native American women differed from group to group. However, their similarities where the economic importance in the community. Indigenous women participated in the essentials of life, such as fishing, curing the meat, dressing the skin, and exchanged fur for other goods. Additionally, they had the liberty of leaving their husbands if they weren‘t happy. Native American men practiced polygamy which was approved by their women. After the invasion of the Americas, the overpopulation of England forced many, mostly man, to settle in the ’New Land.” Besides the sexual needs, men also needed help in farms. Therefore the government arranged for many women to move to America. However, due to various factors, such as child birth and diseases, many didn’t survive. The ones who did survive, became unpaid workers or got married hoping for a better life. Indigenous, European, and later African women faced one common factor, a drastic change in their lives.

African slave traders began to abduct and sell African women to Europeans in need of workers. While crossing the ocean, these women were held on the deck of the ships, where they were susceptible to sexual attacks by the crew. In America slaves worked in the tobacco plantations. Many factors, such as the prohibition of marriage, malnutrition, and excessive labor, led to low birthrate among the slaves. Women who had children were usually a single parent, mostly because either the fathers or themselves were sold. The slaves from West Africa were accustomed for the woman and the child to live apart from her husband, with her parents. Nevertheless, in America female slaves didn’t have their families. Eventually, masters started to provide better nutrition for their slaves to have more children for their own profit. Years of slavery strongly influenced the lives of both white and black women.

While the fundamental structure of life had some similarities, there was a major difference in the quality of life between the European and the colonists woman. This difference was significantly evident when comparing the first generation of women who arrived to America. Beside the fact that America was a new land for the colonist and didn’t have established laws, the first generation of men who migrated to America were, mostly, socially misfit in Europe. Therefore, women who arrived were practically treated as slaves. They provided free labor for the men or got married and worked for their husbands. Whereas, for women in Europe life remained unchanged.