DOUBLE STANDARD

A double standard is a code or policy that favors one group or person over
another. Double standards are unfair. If a teacher lets all the boys bring candy for lunch
but not the girls, that’s a double standard.

A standard is a way of evaluating someone, and a double standard is two-faced. It’s like
having a rule that applies to some people one way and another way to others. Men
getting paid more for the same work than women is a double standard. Anytime some
are held to a higher standard than others, there's a double standard because everyone
isn't being treated fairly.

A doule standard exist when an action, moral, or standard is considere appropriate and
pariseworthy for one group but considered wrong and deplorabe for another. Double
standards between men and women can potentially exist with regards to dating,
cohabitation, virginity, marriage/remarriage, sexual abuse/assault/harassment, domestic
violence, and singleness.

The Philippines ranks among the top 10 countries in the world for gender equality and is
listed as among the best countries to be a woman. There are many facts that support
that: we have had two female presidents (while some developed countries have yet to
elect even one), more girls go to school than boys, many women occupy the workforce
and even the coveted corner office.There are numerous other double standards and in
most cases they serve a grand purpose for society. Men and women are not on equal
grounds. The same rules do not apply to men and women because women and men
are made different by way of nature, no matter what our laws say. It is easy to see what
happens when laws are gender-neutralized and double standards are forgotten. How
will we survive when our women are maimed and come home in body-bags from war?
How are the campaigns attempting to stop violence against women going to be
successful when we teach men to treat women, the weaker sex, as just “one of the
boys?” We either have to lower standards and change the rules so that women can
participate in a man’s world or we have to train men to just run over women and treat
them without any special consideration. Both of these options are bad. And what about
children? Does anybody care about this apparently forgotten group of humans who are
helpless to care for themselves for many years? Wouldn’t it just make more sense to
have double standards of what a man’s duties and a woman’s duties are? How else will
we keep society running if we fail to discriminate and just send both men and women
equally to war? And who will keep things running at home if we ship both young men
and women off to war?

Ever since the end of World War II, human rights have become more and more of an
active concern for the world, partly because of issues like the double standard. Men can
vote, while women cannot. It is acceptable for people from one religion to live in a
neighborhood but not others. People of one ethnicity have to pay extra taxes, while
others pay less. These are all examples of double standards that have been used to
enforce serious discrimination around the world.

What really makes the people in each group different? Prejudice - that's it. So, the
decision to give more rights or freedoms to one group over another is arbitrary and
therefore unethical.

This is where the idea of human rights really comes in. The foundational belief about
human rights is that certain rights apply to all people and cannot be removed. The
double standard certainly violates that belief by assuming that some people deserve
more rights than others. So, what are the basic rights that all people deserve?

Well, after WWII, the newly-created United Nations set up a commission to answer that
question, and in 1948, they published the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a
document to define the rights of every person in the world. Article 1, at the very
beginning, states that 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.'
So, from the get-go, what do we see? Double standards, whether they are applied on a
national scale or something more local, inherently violate the most fundamental human
rights.

Double Standard Judging two situations by different standards when, in fact, you should
be using the same standard. This is used in argumentation to unfairly support or reject
an argument.

Logical Form:

Person 1 makes claim X and gives reason Y.

Person 2 makes claim Z and gives reason Y.

Person 1 unfairly rejects reason Y, but only for claim Z and not claim X.

Example #1:

Husband: I forbid you to go to that male strip club! That is a completely inappropriate
thing for a wife to do!

Wife: What about when you went to the female strip club last year?
Husband: That was just for fun, and besides, that's different.

Explanation: The husband is holding his wife to a different standard without articulating
the standard. Most people would also agree that the standard is unfair.

Example #2:

Catholic: I know St. Peter answers prayers because when I pray to him, my prayers are
sometimes answered. When they are not, it is because St. Peter knows what is best for
me.

Protestant: Do you realize how foolish that sounds? You can say the same thing about
praying to a mailbox.

Catholic: How do you know God answers prayers?

Protestant: Well I had faith on him.

It often occurs within religion where the standards applied to one religion or
denomination to claim "truth" don't apply to arguments from other religions or
denominations. In this example, the Protestant is demanding stronger "