Robert Burns World Federation Essay Competition " A man's a man for a that"
творческая работа учащихся по английскому языку (11 класс)

Robert Burns is known as one of the most famous Scottish  poets of the 18th century. He is one of the representatives of the Enlightenment. One should note here that literature of that period became very instructive: the problems of good and evil were set forth. Writers discussed  it in their works and tried to teach their readers what was good and what was bad from their point of view. So did Robert Burns, too. His songs and poems reflect the best features of the Enlightenment:  humanism, belief in  good qualities of human nature. Robert Burns dreamed of political justice, social equality and liberty so all  his verses are imbued with democratic sympathies. 

It is undeniable that  Robert Burns’ poetry is a treasure of Scottish culture. As he was born and grew up in a peasant family, he deeply felt all the social problems. One of them concerning the position of a woman in the social system of his time is raised in his poem “The Rights of Women”. 

In this poem Robert Burns expresses his point of view about the rights of women in the contemporary  to him society. While the society is busy solving the problems of  politics, wars, and government affairs and  even children know the rights of man since their birth,  women are restricted in their rights. The poet notices the main aspects of this problem. 

Robert Burns thinks inequality  to be the main problem.  Nowadays, although male and female are equal in their rights in most of  the countries, the gender problems still  remain. One of the vital problems is the problem of male violence. Although the whole society tries to fight against it, the incidents of violence take place regularly. 

What is the reason of that? In my opinion, whatever the modern laws are, the physical difference between male and female cannot be eliminated, so, unfortunately, some men take the advantage of this. 

Even though the modern society is highly developed, there are some countries in the world, where male and female are not equal due to the law. In these countries the status of  women  leaves  much  to be desired. 

First and foremost,  Arabian women form the most discriminated class in Arabian society because of the cultural and religious convictions. That discrimination is frequently stated in laws of Arabian countries, including criminal justice, economics, education and public health care. One of the most striking features of this problem is that if a  woman  is suspected of some illegal actions,  she is considered to deserve a punishment.

I cannot ignore the fact that in Arabian society (mostly in poor and unstable countries) the culture of violence is quite common. Moreover, the victim of violence is often accused of crime because she is said  “to seduce” a man with her presence. As sharia courts generally punish women, the victims do not inform the courts about any violence. I also should mention that several years ago the statistical analysis showed that every third woman was regularly beaten by her husband.  Nowadays there is no anti-violence program which would protect women in Arabian countries. 

It would be unfair not to mention the situation in some countries of Central Africa. In these countries we can still see the patriarchal principles of the society. Women have to spend most of the time in everyday affairs: collecting, splitting  and treating  wood... They live without any modern conveniences and  help on  men’s side. Such kind of a discrimination is quite  normal due to the law.

To draw the conclusion one can say that in  most of  the developed countries the rights of man and woman are equal according to the law. But in the developing countries the situation is different: women are very much restricted in their rights. 

So, what to do? Keep out and be indifferent? Women’s rights organizations should cooperate in their efforts to improve their living conditions and  have to go on repeating the words of the great Scottish poet :

 Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,

The Rights of Woman merit some attention.