Mtazamo kuhusu mwanamume na mwanamke katika Magharibi ulianza kutokana na mtazamo wa kidini wa Kikatoliki na Kiprotestanti, ambao ulimwona mwanamke, lakini si mwanamume, kuwa chanzo cha dhambi. Hata hivyo, mtazamo wa Kikristo pia ulitoa thamani kubwa kwa uhusiano kati ya mwanamume na mwanamke, uliowekwa ndani ya ndoa. Ndoa ilithaminiwa kwa lengo la kuunda familia, inayocheza nafasi ya kielimu na kimaadili katika jamii. Harakati ya Mwangaza ilipotawala jamii kwa fikra zake za kisasa za Kimagharibi katika karne ya kumi na nane Milaadi, jamii ilikubali usekula. Usekula ulitenganisha dini na maisha pamoja na uhusiano wote na jamii, huku ukiweka dhana mpya kama uhuru, usawa na haki ya kijamii. Usekula ulitoa mtazamo mpya kuhusu mwanadamu na jamii ambao ni kinyume cha Ukristo. Licha ya hayo, haukubadilisha mtazamo wa kidunia kuhusu wanawake uliokuwa umeenea katika jamii, katika fasihi ya kitheolojia na kifalsafa. Badala yake, baadhi ya wanafalsafa walijaribu kuuhalalisha mtazamo huo kifalsafa na kiakili. Wanafalsafa wengi wa uliberali na Mwangaza kama Hume, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Rousseau na Montesquieu, walibaki na mashaka kuhusu uwezo wa kiakili wa wanawake. Waliukubali mtazamo wa wanafalsafa wa Kigiriki, waliodai kwamba mwanamume, kwa asili, ni bora kiakili kuliko mwanamke. Kwa mfano, kama ilivyotajwa katika The Story of Philosophy cha Will Durant, mwanafalsafa wa Kigiriki, Aristotle, alisema, "Mwanamke kwa mwanamume ni kama mtumwa kwa bwana wake, mfanyakazi wa mikono kwa mfanyakazi wa akili, mshenzi kwa Mgiriki. Mwanamke ni mwanamume ambaye hajakamilika, aliyesimama kwenye hatua ya chini katika ngazi ya maendeleo."

The view about man and woman in the West emerged from the Catholic and Protestant religious perception that viewed woman, but not man, as the origin of sin. However, the Christian view did also give great value to the relationship between the man and the woman, which was confined to marriage. Marriage was valued in order to form a family, that plays an educational and moral role in the society. When the Enlightenment movement dominated the society with its modern Western thinking in the eighteenth century CE, the society adopted secularism. Secularism separated religion from life and all relation with the society, whilst imposing new concepts such as freedom, equality and social justice. Secularism gave a new perception about man and society that is contrary to Christianity. Despite that, it did not change the worldly view about women that was prevalent in society, both in theological and philosophical literature. Instead, some philosophers attempted to justify the view philosophically and intellectually. Many philosophers of liberalism and Enlightenment such as Hume, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Rousseau, and Montesquieu, remained skeptical about the mental faculty of women. They endorsed the view of Greek philosophers, who maintained that the male is, by nature, mentally superior to female. For instance, as mentioned in The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant, the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, said, “Woman is to man as the slave to the master, the manual to the mental worker, the barbarian to the Greek. Woman is an unfinished man, left standing on a lower step in the scale of development.”.

Wanafalsafa wachache wa Magharibi walikuwa wamependekeza suala la usawa wa kijinsia katika nusu ya pili ya karne ya kumi na tisa, isipokuwa wachache, kama John Stuart Mill katika kitabu chake, The Subjection of Women. Sheria za Ulaya Magharibi ziliathiriwa na mtazamo uliokuwepo awali, baada ya mapinduzi ya kidemokrasia na kuondolewa kwa dini katika jamii. Kuondolewa kwa dini katika jamii hakukumpa mwanamke haki mpya. Badala yake, kulimwona kuwa duni. Kwa mfano, Kanuni ya Napoleon, ambayo pia huitwa Kanuni ya Kiraia ya Wafaransa, iliyotolewa mwaka 1804, ilieleza katika kifungu cha 217, "Mke, ingawa hana mali ya pamoja au ana mali tofauti, hawezi kutoa, kuweka rehani, au kupata kwa haki ya bure au ya malipo, bila ridhaa ya mumewe katika tendo hilo, au idhini yake ya maandishi." Wanafalsafa wengi walidai kwamba wanawake walijiepusha na siasa, kwa sababu hawakufaa kwa hiyo kwa asili. Haki za kisiasa zilitolewa kwa wanawake tu katika karne ya ishirini Baada ya Kristo.

Not many Western philosophers had proposed the issue of gender equality in the second half of the nineteenth century, except for a few, such as John Stuart Mill in his book, The Subjection of Women. The Western European laws were influenced by the pre-existing view, after the democratic revolution and secularization of the society. Secularization did not give new rights to women. Instead, it deemed her inferior. For example, the Napoleonic Code, also called the Civil Code of the French, issued in 1804, stipulated in article 217, “A wife, although noncommunicant or separate in property, cannot give, pledge, or acquire by free or chargeable title, without the concurrence of her husband in the act, or his consent in writing.” Many of the philosophers asserted that women stayed away from politics, because they were not suitable for it by nature. Political rights were given to women only in the twentieth century CE.

Kwa mfano, Ufaransa ilimpa wanawake haki ya kupiga kura mwaka 1945, ikiwa ni miaka mia moja na hamsini baada ya Mapinduzi ya Ufaransa. Ni Mapinduzi ya Ufaransa yaliyodai uhuru, usawa, udugu na akili, na yakamwakilisha mwanamke aitwaye Marianne kama alama muhimu ya kijamhuri na ikoni ya kitaifa. Kwa kifupi, harakati ya kisasa ya Mwangaza haikubadilisha mtazamo wa kidunia kuhusu wanawake. Uhuru, usawa, udugu na akili vinavyodaiwa nayo vilielekezwa hasa kwa wanaume peke yao, bila kuwajumuisha wanawake. Ushahidi wa hili ni kushindwa kwa marekebisho yaliyopendekezwa na John Stuart Mill katika Mswada wa Pili wa Marekebisho wa mwaka 1867. Marekebisho hayo yaliwasilishwa katika Baraza la Wawakilishi la Uingereza ili neno ‘mwanaume’ libadilishwe kuwa neno ‘mtu’ katika sheria za uchaguzi. Hata hivyo, wabunge 73 pekee walipiga kura ya kuunga mkono, huku wengi wa wabunge 194 wakipiga kura ya kupinga.

For example, France granted women the right to vote in 1945, a full century and a half after the French Revolution. It is the French Revolution that called for liberty, equality, fraternity and reason and was personified in the form of the woman, Marianne, as a significant republican symbol and national icon. In summary, the modern Enlightenment movement did not change the worldly view about women. Its so-called liberty, equality, fraternity and reason were all basically directed to men alone, excluding women. An evidence for this is the failure of the amendment proposed by John Stuart Mill to the Second Reform Bill of 1867. The amendment was tabled in the British House of Commons to change the term ‘man’ to the term ‘person,’ in election laws. However, only 73 members voted in favor, whilst a majority of 194 members voted against.

Ingawa harakati ya Mwangaza ya Magharibi ya kisasa ilidumisha mtazamo uliokuwepo awali kuhusu hadhi husika za wanaume na wanawake katika jamii, ilibadilisha mtazamo kuhusu mahusiano baina yao na matokeo yake. Usekula ulifanya hivyo kupitia kukubali wazo la uhuru na ufafanuzi wake wa furaha na starehe. Ulipunguza mtazamo kuhusu mahusiano baina ya mwanamume na mwanamke kuwa uhusiano wa kimapenzi. Ulipinga dhana ya heshima, utu na usafi wa mwili, kinyume na Kanisa la Kikristo. Kanisa la Kikristo lilizingatia kutafuta starehe kuwa dhambi. Augustine wa Hippo (alifariki 430) alifundisha kwamba tendo la ndoa lilipaswa kutumika kwa ajili ya kuzaa tu, na kwamba tendo la ndoa kwa ajili ya burudani, au kwa tamaa, lilipaswa kuepukwa. Mtazamo huu ulirudiwa karibu miaka elfu moja baadaye na Thomas Aquinas (alifariki 1274). Hivyo, Ukristo ulilichukulia tendo la ndoa kuwa kitendo cha kimwili, cha kidunia, cha kishetani, ambacho kiliruhusiwa tu ndani ya mfumo wa ndoa, kwa ajili ya kuzaa watoto pekee, na kikiwa kimezuiliwa kwa msimamo mmoja unaoruhusiwa, katika siku maalum.

Although the modern Western Enlightenment movement maintained the pre-existing view related to the respective statuses of men and women in society, it changed the view towards the relations between them and their outcome. Secularism did so through its adoption of the idea of freedom and its definition of happiness and pleasure. It reduced the view about the relations between male and female to a sexual relationship. It challenged the concept of honor, dignity and chastity, in contradiction to the Christian Church. The Christian Church considered seeking pleasure as sin. Augustine of Hippo (died 430) taught that sex was only to be used for procreation, and that recreational, or lustful, sex was to be avoided. This view which was echoed nearly a thousand years later by Thomas Aquinas (died 1274). So, Christianity considered sex as a physical, carnal, satanic act, which was allowed only within the framework of marriage, for the sake of childbearing alone and limited to a single permissible position, on particular days.

Kwa upande mwingine, kupitishwa kwa mtazamo wa kisasa wa Magharibi kuhusu mahusiano ya kingono kuliungwa mkono na kuibuka kwa sosholojia na saikolojia, zilizojengwa juu ya msingi wa fikra za kidunia na mbinu ya kimaada. Kwa hivyo mtazamo wa kisasa wa Magharibi ulipunguza umuhimu wa familia, ingawa haukuifuta kabisa. Kisha ukapanua na kukuza kupita kiasi nafasi ya jamii na dola katika malezi, jambo lililojidhihirisha katika kazi ya Emile Durkheim, kwa mfano. Mtazamo wa kisasa wa Magharibi ulisisitiza uhusiano wa tabia ya binadamu na misukumo ya kingono, ukionya juu ya nafasi ya ukandamizaji katika tija ya kijamii na magonjwa ya akili, huku ukikuza ukombozi wa kingono, kama ilivyodhihirishwa katika kazi za Sigmund Freud. Ujamaa wa Kimarx, ulioibuka katikati ya karne ya kumi na tisa Kristo, ulifuata mwelekeo huu. Ujamaa wa Kimarx ulitetea ukombozi wa kingono na aina yake ya mahusiano ya kingono, ukifanya kufutwa kwa ndoa na familia kuwa mojawapo ya malengo dhahiri ya ukomunisti. Ulijadili ufeministi na ukashikilia kwamba ndoa ni udhihirisho wa mali binafsi. Katika kitabu chake, *Asili ya Familia, Mali Binafsi na Dola*, Friedrich Engels alisema kwamba ndoa ni utiifu wa jinsia moja kwa nyingine, na kwamba ni aina ya mapambano ya kitabaka katika historia. Kwa mujibu wa mtazamo wa Kimarx, ndoa inamtenga mwanamke pembezoni mwa jamii, ikimfanya awe chini ya ukuu wa kiuchumi wa mwanaume, na hivyo kuendelea kudumu, ilhali mfumo wa familia ni taasisi ya kibepari.

In contrast, the adoption of the modern Western view of sexual relationships was supported by the emergence of sociology and psychology, founded on the basis of the secular intellectual basis and materialist methodology. So the modern Western view diminished the importance of family, although it did not abolish it as a whole. It then expanded and exaggerated the role of society and state in upbringing, as manifest in the work of Emile Durkheim, for example. The modern Western view asserted the link of human behavior with sexual motives, warning of the role of repression in social productivity and mental illness, whilst promoting sexual liberation, as exemplified in the works of Sigmund Freud. Marxist socialism, that emerged in the mid of the nineteenth century CE, proceeded in this direction. Marxist socialism defended sexual liberation and its type of sexual relationships, making the abolition of marriage and family as one of the express objectives of communism. It discussed feminism and maintained that marriage is a manifestation of private property. In his book, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Friedrich Engels maintained that marriage is the submission of one gender to another and that it is a form of class struggle within history. According to the Marxist view, marriage marginalizes the role of a woman in the society, making her subservient to the economic supremacy of man, thereby persisting, whilst the family system is a capitalist institution.

Karne ya kumi na tisa CE iliisha pamoja na migogoro yake ya kiitikadi, ikiambatana na mageuzi ya kisiasa na kiuchumi yaliyotokana nayo. Hata hivyo, haya hayakubadilisha hali ya wanawake. Kisha jamii za Magharibi zilipokaribisha karne ya ishirini CE, kuanzia mwanzo wake hadi katikati yake, zilikumbwa na kuzuka kwa vita viwili vya dunia vilivyowatumbukiza wanawake katika uwanja wa uzalishaji na huduma. Kwa hiyo jamii za Magharibi ziliunda hali mpya iliyozilazimu kutambua baadhi ya haki za kisiasa, kiuchumi na kijamii za wanawake. Hali hii mpya ilitengeneza njia kwa ajili ya kuongezeka kwa kile kinachoitwa harakati ya ufeministi katika shughuli zake na katika kutoa madai yake. Zaidi ya hayo, harakati hiyo ilibadilisha malengo na mikakati yake. Kinachoitwa wimbi la pili la ufeministi kilianza miaka ya sitini ya karne ya ishirini CE, kikilenga mfumo mzima wa kijamii uliokuwepo Magharibi kwa mtazamo mpya uliojikita katika ujinsia (genderism), yaani kuondoa ubaguzi wa kijinsia unaotokana na uwili wa mwanamume na mwanamke, ukijumuisha dhana potofu za kijinsia (gender stereotyping), majukumu ya kijinsia (gender roles), kuamua jinsia (gender determination) na uelewa wa kijinsia (gender awareness). Lengo la ufeministi wa wimbi la pili la kuondoa ubaguzi wa kijinsia liliongozwa na falsafa za uliberali, uhuru, Umarx, uwepo (existentialism) na uondoaji miundo wa baada ya usasa (post-modernist deconstructionism). Harakati hiyo iliungwa mkono na harakati za ukombozi wa kingono na mashirika ya mashoga. Hivyo, lengo halikuwa tena kwa ajili ya usawa kati ya wanaume na wanawake pekee, bali pia kwa ajili ya kuondoa ubaguzi wote kati ya jinsia. Baada ya miongo kadhaa, suala la ubaguzi wa kijinsia lilipitishwa na mashirika ya kimataifa, yakiwemo Umoja wa Mataifa, ambao uliliweka kama dhana katika Mkataba wa Kuondoa Aina Zote za Ubaguzi Dhidi ya Wanawake (CEDAW) wa mwaka 1979. Kisha ubaguzi wa kijinsia ulibainishwa kama istilahi na dhana katika nyaraka za Mkutano wa Kimataifa wa Idadi ya Watu na Maendeleo (ICPD) mjini Cairo, Misri, mwaka 1994, ukifuatiwa na Mkutano wa Dunia wa Wanawake mjini Beijing mwaka 1995. Mataifa mengi ya Magharibi yamekubali polepole mtazamo wa uanaharakati wa kijinsia (genderism), kwa ujumla au kwa sehemu.

The nineteenth century CE ended with its ideological conflicts, accompanied by resultant political and economic reforms. However, these did not change the condition of women. Then Western societies welcomed the twentieth century CE, from its beginning to its middle, with the outbreak of two world wars that plunged women into the arena of production and service. Western societies thereby created a new situation that forced them to recognize some of the political, economic and social rights of women. This new situation paved way for the intensification of what is called the feminist movement in its activities and raising of demands. Moreover, the movement changed its objectives and strategies. What is called the second-wave of feminism began in the sixties of the twentieth century CE, targeting the entire social system pre-existing in the West with a new vision focused on genderism, which is eliminating gender discrimination based on male-female duality, encompassing gender stereotyping, gender roles, gender determination and gender awareness. Second-wave feminism’s focus on eliminating gender discrimination was inspired by the philosophies of liberalism, freedom, Marxism, existentialism and the post-modernist deconstructionism. The movement was supported by sexual liberation movements and gay organizations. Thus, the objective had become not just for the sake of equality between men and women, but also for the sake of abolition of all discrimination between genders. After decades, the subject of gender discrimination was adopted by the international organizations including the United Nations, which adopted it as a concept in the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of 1979. Then gender discrimination was stipulated as a term and concept in the documents of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt, of 1994, followed by the World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Many Western nations have gradually endorsed the view of genderism, as a whole or partially.

Kwa muhtasari, Magharibi ilibadilisha mtazamo wake kuhusu wanaume, wanawake, na asili ya mahusiano baina yao kutokana na sababu nyingi zinazohusu mambo ya kiuchumi, kitamaduni, kisiasa na kijamii, ambazo zilitokea kwa miongo mingi. Inaweza kusemwa kwamba mfumo wa kijamii wa Magharibi wa kisasa ni mfumo unaopanga kukutana kwa watu wawili wa jinsia tofauti au wa jinsia moja, yaani uhusiano unaoundwa baina yao kwa kukutana kwao na yale yanayotokana nao au kutokea kutoka kwake. Ni mfumo batili unaopingana na akili na fitra (asili ya kibinadamu). Ubatili wake uko wazi katika misingi ambayo umejengwa juu yake:

In summary, the West changed its view about men, women and the nature of relationships between them as a consequence of many factors pertaining to economic, cultural, political and social matters, that occurred over many decades. It can be said that the modern Western social system is the system that organizes the meeting of two heterosexuals or homosexuals, that means the relationship created between them by their meeting and what branches out or results from it. It is an invalid system contradicting the intellect and fitra (human nature). Its invalidity is evident in the foundations upon which it is built: