by Xiang Xiang Liew

Created on: June 24, 2009   Last Updated: July 11, 2009

Despite vast advances from the days back when women existed only to provide sexual relief for men and to pop out children by the dozens, there are still many ways in which women are discriminated against today. I will list only three of the many areas in which women are discriminated against in terms of social norms and conventions.

1. Cheating Spouses

According to some versions of Islamic law, men are allowed to have four wives while women are expected to be faithful to one husband. Even without with this extreme example in which cheating on the part of men is legalized, there seems to be a pervasive attitude in various societies in which cheating on the part of men is more acceptable than it is for women. For instance, a guy sleeping around is okay and admirable, but a girl sleeping around is a slut and should be shunned.

2. Expectations in Relation to Childbearing

Okay, so in many cultures nowadays women are appreciated for other things that are unrelated to reproductive prowess. A lot of us can even actually go to work and not depend on a husband's salary if we want to. The problem is, society still expects women to bear children, and so the consequences are, a lot of women are expected to go to work and have children and take care of them properly and if we don't do it we are monstrous evil uncaring creatures who deserve to rot in hell. It's like having two full time jobs and being expected to excel at both of them.

Okay, so husbands in general are helping out more at home now. Some companies even allow husbands to have pregnancy leave when their wives are having a baby. Trouble is, the duration is nowhere as long as that of women and men have reported being traumatized because of not being able to be there for the baby. In short, women, not men, are supposed to be the main people having and taking care of children, in many cultures.

There's also a pervasive attitude that women are supposed to love their children, naturally, and put their children's needs above their own needs, and if we don't do this, it's unnatural, we lack motherly instinct, we are incomplete and flawed as women, in short we suck. There's a lot more leeway for fathers in this matter, because fathers are stereotypically less loving and more focused on providing for the family instead of doing the actual lovey-dovey stuff, which is not true in many cases.

In short, that is why we are so shocked when mothers kill their children (as opposed to a 'normal' killing, like a burglar killing

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