The epistemological construction of Gender Inequality

Abstract

This article contends that much of the knowledge on gender that we have inherited from the past is largely false and full of deliberate distortions, bias and misconceptions. It is argued that in the construction of this knowledge,philosophers, who are supposed to be seekers of the truths, were active participants. Eminent philosophers such as pythagoras, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas and Jean Jacques Rousseau, among others, were active participants in the construction of a false episteme on gender. Yet, the influence of these philosophers on the global thought systems has been enormours, and, therefore, the entrenchment of a false gender episteme in the world. The article further argues that such a false episteme forces women to distort their true selves so as to fit into the description of this episteme as a survival tactic. This, in turn, has served to 'validate' past distortions presented as accurate and profound account of gender. In order to get out of this epistemological conspiracy and trap, the article concludes that there is need for a fresh start; a rigorous doubt and reexamination of inherited epistemologies in order to usher in a new and objective gender epistemology.