Causes and Effects of Gender Inequality - Essay

We live in a society where men and women are not see the same nor are treated equally. Gender inequalities have always been an issue in our society. Women have always gain less respect than men based on their sex. The society has developed certain images and roles for males and females. Men are seen to have masculine traits such stability, independence, and confidence; whereas, women have more feminine traits such as nurturing, affection, and patience. As well, the society has developed the division of occupations for genders. Females are expected to work in caring professions such as: a nurse, sectary, or teacher. While men are expected to be: doctors, lawyers, and construction workers. These stereotypes of gender should not state what a woman can do. A woman should have the same opportunities as men when is come to issues such as paying rate and job positions. This paper will address gender inequalities that women face in their occupations.

One can agree that for many generations women were victims of sexism. Even though sexism was unfair, it later taught women to stand up for themselves. One reason why sexism existed was because men were looked upon as superior. Because men had the role of being strong, aggressive and the sole provider. Unfortunately, men were to become the masters of most women. For the duration, women were

Women have been downgraded and mistreated because of their gender. From birth, Women and Men grew up with very different rules to follow. Men were raised to be the head of the house and do work for a living. Growing up as little girls, women were taught to raise their kids and make food for their families. “Strong family structures were necessary because the family was the basis for all other institutions. The government, church, and community all worked through the nuclear family unit.”(“Gender and

Stereotypes, whether about a race, gender, or ethnicity, have continuously been created and destroyed with the evolution of society’s thoughts. Movements of all kind have fought tirelessly to break down barriers that confine certain groups of people. The Women’s Rights Movement forged against immense repression to acquire the right to vote, work and have true independence. While they achieved their goals, women are still treated as an inferior to a more “dominant” male. Women are classified as lesser, more emotional and weaker than men.

There's certain norm that are set for women in the world based on men’s perception, a culture, a religion, and others. For example, women is often referred as an instrument to produce life regardless of how she feels about how her body is being used.This often plays a part as man being view as inferior to other sex due to a set notion of their physic and capability to do better than what is perceived for women — how judgmental and prejudiced society indulged themselves to be.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” Due to the community and the circumstances of a girl’s birth, development and opportunities are drastically limited for young girls all across the world. In many continents, such as Africa and Asia, women strive for the ability to learn, develop, and obtain the same opportunities as men despite the consequences of sexual abuse, beatings, and other troubling events that lie ahead. In many places, men are entitled to rights and opportunities that society often denies women. Society also discourages women from receiving an education, while at the same time, promoting education for males.

Social inequality is defined as the set of unequal opportunities for different social classes or statuses for various individuals within a group or society. It usually refers to people of distinct genders, ages, and ethnicities. Many American’s have experienced some type of social inequality throughout their lifetime. America’s gaping inequality is seen everywhere from education to the workforce. Society tends to oversee inequality based on race, gender, and other social characteristics . Americans believe that racial discrimination no longer hinders or affects the advancement of minorities. Racial and ethnic actions are still being taken towards minorities in education, employment, housing, arrests, and many other issues of society. Social inequality and discrimination towards minorities is clear in everyday society. This can be seen by the way inequality is still persistent among the social classes. Among these classes formed by society, minorities tend to be one of the most affected. This is noticed by the way education remains segregated, the wage inequality, and the constant cycle of poverty. Many have used their voice to shine light on these issues, articles and authors such as “Social Inequality and Educational Disadvantage” by the Russel Sage Foundation argue the lack of equal assortment of resources between the rich and the poor is leaving them with the disparity of proper resources, and Jean Anyon’s “From Social Class and The Hidden Curriculum of Work” in her

Social status and structures have definitely shaped the construction and experience of gender inequality. Men and women are constantly analyzed, compared, and grouped together in society. The result of this yields discrepancies in how sexes are viewed by society. Throughout my examination and explanation of gender inequality, I concluded both men and women are victims to gender inequality.

In class, the topic of gender inequality was brought up constantly. The book “ A People's History Of The United States” by Howard Zinn mentions a chapter on the Intimately Oppressed. In the chapter, there are examples of gender inequality such as the wife serving the husband, how the wife is the homemaker, women having no rights, different norms about sex, girls not allowed into schools and are not allowed to own property. Women were denied property, right to vote, wage inequality, education and careers. There are many social inequalities that occur between men and women, such as denying of education for women. Also in work areas women get paid less than man. There are many crimes against women that are not taken seriously. Men prevent women from getting higher paying jobs and keep them for themselves. In many countries women get paid less for doing the same exact job as men. Gender stratification theory of child bearing is discussed in the book as well in class. Many women are raised in other countries with the mindset to have as many babies possible and not concentrate on education. The conflict theory illustrates that men maintain position of power over women was discussed in class as well as in the book. The book highlights many different situations where women feel vulnerable because men have all the power. We also discussed about the ideology of control that women face.

It is only recently that sociology has begun to explore the topic of gender. Before this, inequalities within society were based primarily on factors such as social class and status. This paper will discuss gender itself: what makes us who we are and how we are represented. It will also explore discrimination towards women throughout history, focusing mainly on women and the right to vote, inequalities between males and females in the work place and how gender is represented in the media.

Gender inequality has been an issue since long before the 1840s, when feminists finally brought the problem to light. Most ancient cultures were societies based on gender inequality, skewed towards male-dominance. Most societies are still mostly patriarchal, in fact. Patriarchy is the root of discrimination between sexes and genders and has been for a very long time.

For centuries and even today, gender inequality and racial prejudice continue to exist. Throughout time these concepts have overlapped and intertwined, each other creating complex interactions and a negative influence upon society. In the 1980s, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw through her article, named Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, introduced the term “Intersectionality.” Intersectionality, is the theory of how different types of discriminations interact thus, goes hand in hand with Judith Butler, in her article titled “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” which expresses the term “gender acts” and helps decipher a probable cause of the many discriminations faced in contemporary society. Since both gender inequality and racial inequality share a common thread, I believe that what intersectionality represents will help understand Judith Butler’s view on gender classification and the dynamic it’s caused on our social and political formation.

Freedom and equality are ideas this country has had for centuries that have evolved over time. In 1776, what Thomas Jefferson meant by “all men are created equal”, is that white males are dominant in society. Women are treated worse than men and slaves treated worse than women. People that weren’t of the “superior” race/gender of a white male were typically treated as if they were less. Women and African-Americans aren’t being treated as bad today, but they’re still being treated worse than the white males of society. Even today, when white males are typically the leaders of society, it’s not always race and gender that creates inequality; sometimes it’s money that creates the issue. Not just from past evidence, but from present

Gender performance and gender inequalities can be viewed often throughout public settings, particularly throughout television shows, commercials, and print advertisements. They often display the dominance that males have over females by portraying day-to-day activities, by making crude and inappropriate comments concerning women, or by portraying women as having the “perfect” body and being “easy”, and men as athletic and “buff”. These images have created an unreal expectation of society, gender norms, and how someone should perform gender.

Now more than ever, gender equality is an arising issue that is coming to surface throughout the world. In the United States, the gender equality gap is closing, in sectors like women in the workplace, and their pay wage when compared to men. Luckily enough, in the United States, women do not and have not had to worry about being arrested for driving a vehicle, eating at a non-gender segregated restaurant, or getting a job without prior permission from their male counterpart, or male guardian. In Saudi Arabia, these laws that are seen as absurd in the United States were and in some cases, still are, an everyday routine for the women living in the Middle East country. Although there are extreme cases of gender equality oppressing females in Saudi Arabia, the city of Riyadh is making serious changes to progressing women's rights, and narrowing the gender gap between men and women in Saudi Arabia.