Yana Popkostova

Definition
In order to understand what is the role of gender in the belief systems of the post-industrial society one needs to be clear about two issues:
1. What is gender?
2. What is a “belief system”?
By answering to these two questions one will be more able to analyze how the significance of gender issues within the society has changed across time, and what stage has it reached in today’s societies. Moreover, it will be useful to define these terms so that it will be easier to compare the role of gender in people’s values and morale in different periods of history development.
Gender is a term generally defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as "classification of sex.” When mentioning this word the first thing that most of the time occurs to one’s mind is prejudice. Even today we are witnesses to situations in which one sex is preferred or favored over the other for particular job or responsibility. This inclination or preference refers to our belief systems, and presents a complex and constantly debatable issue. The belief system of a particular society is basically the way in which this society looks at the world around it. It is an organized way of trying to explain the world around us. It is something that distinguishes human beings and becomes an integral part of culture.1
1. http://hsc.csu.edu.au/society_culture/belief_systems/nature/2500/BSNatureofbeliefSystems.html___##0##___ Historical analysis
The role of gender in traditional belief systems is a topic that has gained importance in the last century. With the advance of technology, with the destructions caused by the wars, with the design of the modern welfare state the importance of the gender, or more correctly the importance of the equality between males and females gained priority in everyday social and political discourse. Moreover, the emergence of feminism as a leading belief system in the 20th century made the importance of gender even more central for the cultural development of the nations.
1. Pre-Industrial societies
In the pre-industrial societies there was a strict separation of the occupations and activities allowed for male and female persons. It was considered that the women are incapable of exercising certain activities. Those activities though were not only part of the physical domain, but also of the mental and psychological one. Most of
the societies were patriarchically organized and the place of the woman was far away
from political and economic matters. The education was not widely accessible for women, the suffrage rights were limited (if existent), the employment of women in factories was scarce: all of these serves as an argument for the belief that there was inequality between the sexes. It was enshrined into the belief system of the people at this period of time that the women were below the man both in physical and mental abilities. This belief was further supported by the religion. In the pre-industrial societies the two dominant world religions: Christianity and Islam did not place women at the same level as men, did not allow women to take high positions within the church, and preach that the sole responsibility in woman’s life is to serve the man. In these societies there was almost no separation between the church and the state, and the religion was of central importance within people’s everyday life. Thus, the belief that there is an inequality among the sexes was widespread and deeply embedded in people’s values and worldviews. With the advent of the 20th century though this general belief has started to blur away thanks to some new developments.
2. The achievements of the 20th century as a precondition for abandoning the old beliefs
At the end of the 19th century the rapid development of new technologies, opening up of modern industries, increased use of machines and modern equipment and the importance of economic efficiency displaced the old beliefs, and arranged the society according to new priorities. The labor-intensive production gave rise to increased employment of women, as well as increased training and education allowed to female workers. Moreover, in this time of economic centrality when the material became more important than the spiritual the religion was pushed aside of everyday life. In the West the secular state started governing the society according to new rules: less spiritual and more directed towards democratic rights and economic efficiency. With the diminished importance of religion in everyday’s life people started forgetting the principles of inequality embedded within the Christian tradition. In respect to the Islamic countries, unfortunately there the emancipation development has been slower than in the western world. The widespread belief that the women should be obedient to the men is still valid in the East even today. Despite this belief though, in some Asian countries (Turkey as a valid example), the desire to catch up with the West politically, socially, and economically gave rise to respect towards women’s rights and increased opportunities for women’s education and career advancement. Thus, it will not be wrong to assume that even in the Asiatic and predominantly Muslim communities the feminist development is gaining momentum and soon there will be reached approximate equality between the sexes.
With the rise of the 20th century came the catastrophes of the two world wars. What happened during the wars was an increased need of women. Most of the men were at the fronts so the only labor force left was female. Women were working at factories, women were producing weapons, and women alone were taking care of their reduced in size families. This trend continued after the wars as well. Millions have died during the two world wars and most of them were men, whose absence had profound and devastating consequences for those who remained in the post-war world2. During the fighting gender roles has changed dramatically, as women and children fended for themselves without fathers and husbands.3 With the separation of the world into two competing ideologies there was clear distinction in the belief systems in the eastern and the western world spheres. But one identical belief were noticed in the two competing ideologies. Both the capitalist and the communist proponents recognized the equality between the genders. In the communist east the opportunities for women employment increased radically. The fulfillment of the economic plans and the forced industrialization based on labor-intensive production needed the use of any human resources possible. Moreover, the educational institutions opened their gates for female students who start
2. Mark Mazower, The Dark Continent, Health Bodies, Sick bodies, pp.233-245
3. Mazower, Mark, The Dark Continent, Health Bodies, Sick Bodies, pp.243

performing even better in the academic spheres than male ones. The majors reserved only for men like engineering, management, business administration start being overflowed by female students and future practitioners.
In the capitalist west a similar development has taken place. Women start recognizing their importance for society. They began establishing unions and create initiatives for enhancing their own role in political and economic matters. The rise of feminism was the most powerful development after the Second World War. Women emancipation and fight for equality was decisive for the creation of the new welfare state. The traditional authority of the male has been denounced, even threatened. The new constitutions were as already mentioned away from the morality preached by the Church, putting an emphasis on the equal roles in the new society played by the male and female citizens. Moreover, the rise of individualism above collectivism put a strong underline upon women’s selfishness, ambition, and fierce competition with men for career advancement and realization.
After the end of the cold war and respectively the end of the clear separation between East and West the feminist emancipation trend continued with even more ardent decisiveness. It has become increasingly difficult for the state to make women abandon their careers and produce babies. The woman-housewife was a forgotten model already. Moreover, with the invention of the baby pill and the widespread abortion (already legal in most countries) the role of the women has changed even more dramatically. They can control the nature and escape from their reserved role as baby producers and house-servants.
Today what is clearly evident is almost full equality between the sexes in almost every sphere of life. Issues which were taboos a century ago like women’s sexuality, women’s leadership, women’s political stand and economic importance today are part of our belief systems, and are accepted without even the smallest surprise or thought of inappropriateness. Today women smoke, display their bodies, play box or karate, and at the working place men are under their supervision or control.
Conclusions
With the advent of the industrial era came a profound transformation of widespread societal values. The traditional way of living and thinking was transformed. The role of state became more central within people’s lives versus the strongly decreased role of the church and religion. The two world catastrophes in the middle of the 20th century further changed the traditional beliefs within the societies. Along with the devastating consequences after the wars came the true realization of the need of democracy and equality between the sexes. Except this idealistic vision came the more practical concept connected with the aims of the cold war. The two competing blocks in their desire to subdue the other and become the world’s hyper power desperately needed both resources and mind potential, which gave way to increased opportunities for women. This trend continues almost 16 years after the official end of the Cold war. The mentality of today’s nations, respectively the belief system of the individual today accepts increased equality between genders and absolute equal opportunities and rights allowed t them. What is the most important thing for today’s societies is economic development and competition for if not global at least continental leadership in production levels, technological development and stable political environment. Thus, the belief system of the post-industrial societies is strictly based upon these targets. For achievement of better living conditions and consumer satisfaction what is needed both politically (stable democratic environment) and economically (use of any possible potential) is respect toward the Individual – no matter what gender he/she is. Thus, the role of gender in the belief systems of the post-industrial society even historically investigated is strictly connected to the pursuit of stable political environment and higher economic efficiency. The absolute equality between the genders will assure both conditions to be eventually fulfilled.