Victorian Gender Inequality and Contemporary Racial Inequality

Although the history of sexuality may appear to be a niche area of historical study, the study of how sex and sexuality have changed throughout time can be applied to a larger framework that describes the history of social movements. Social movements seem to be dominating contemporary western culture, and while many of these social movements seem attempt to establish an individual identity, they are still heavily influence by other contemporary and historical social movements. A social issue that has continually dominated public and political debate is the ongoing controversy of racial tension and inequality within the United States. While the contemporary racial equality movements are usually linked to the influence of the Civil Rights Movement, current arguments to promote racial equality are similar to arguments made during gender equality movements during the Victorian Era.

Gender equality movements throughout history are usually motivated by the similar ideal that men and women should be treated as equals. Inequality typically stems from the idea that groups that are different from the majority, and this difference is what makes outlying groups inferior to the majority. This not only applies to gender inequality, but racial inequality as well. It would seem that the logical argument against inequality, therefore, is to eliminate the perception of difference and to instead highlight similarities between the groups. This is not the reasoning that connects contemporary racial equality movements with Victorian gender equality movements; instead, the argument that equality is achieved through the differences between social groups is what links these movements.

            The push for gender equality during the Victorian Era did not try to focus on the similarities of men and women to invalidate prejudice against women. Instead, it utilized the idea of gendered citizenship to highlight the fundamental differences between men and women. Due to the differences between men and women, it did not make sense for only men to hold positions of authority and political power, as they would not be able to empathize with the needs of women. While highlighting differences between social groups seems to be a counter-intuitive approach to equality, it proved to have success not only in the Victorian gender equality movement, but the contemporary racial equality movements as well. The fight for racial equality initially argued that racial prejudice is invalid due to the fact that race does not fundamentally change one person from another. The need to fight inequality through the highlight of similarities lead to the seemingly progressive mindset of learning “not to see color.” A more recent argument for racial equality, however, is not to eliminate the perception of difference, but instead to embrace and celebrate diversity between racial and ethnic groups. It is in this way that contemporary racial and Victorian gender equality movements are linked: they both strive to use diversity between social groups in order to promote the need for tolerance and equality. Both movements highlight the overall theme that being equal does not mean being similar, but instead means being able to recognize and embrace the differences between social groups and individuals.