As human beings, women should have human rights. However in history, women's rights have not been considered to be one part of human rights for such a long period. After the victory of American war of independence in 1776, Declaration of Independence was passed. At that time, in the concept of human rights, the word "man" was used for human beings. Thus, western feminists called it Declaration of Men's Rights.
Therefore, American women have been looked down upon for so long a period, and they are treated with bias in many fields. Women are facing the problems of human rights.
Women are discriminated by traditional culture.
Since the entry of civilized society, the discrimination upon women has been the common feature of the world's main traditional culture. It has been lasting such a long time in western culture. Although the famous ancient Greek philosopher Plato put forward the idea of equality between men and women, yet he could not get rid of bias against women. He insisted that superior race was called "man", but the stupid and evil ones would be published, and they would be reborn women. Thus, women were the products of evil men, so women were inferior to men. In the pray to God, he appreciated that he was not a woman. Another famous philosopher, Aristotle, held that women were the human beings with four strong limbs but simple brains. The classical western religious book, Bible, considered women to be the roots of all evils and proved the inequality between men and women to be quite normal.
Languages, as products of culture, typically show American women's subordinate status. In English, the same word "man" is used for both human and man. The word "woman" means women are just accessories to men; the word "chairman" means politics is just for men1.
It is the real reflect of American women's status in society that women are belittled in culture. Although great changes have taken place in human society, those old cultural conceptions have not disappeared completely.
