Of course, it is common knowledge that throughout American historyworld history, in factwomen were “treated as second-class citizens”, as columnist Ellen Goodman put it. Gender roles were enforced in many civilizations; women were to do housework, have children …show more content…
First, the pay that women receive is still unequal to that of their male counterparts. On average, white women are paid 78 cents to the white man’s dollar, and it is worse for women of color; for instance, to the white man’s dollar, black women are only paid 64 cents, Hispanic women are paid 54 cents, and Native American women are paid 59 cents. This is ridiculous, without a doubt. Gender and race should not have anything to do with it. Furthermore, besides the wage gap, many women in work are needlessly sexualized. In an article by Beth Elise Schneider from the University of Massachusetts, she explains the results of a study done on sexuality in the workplace. The issues that women have experienced, according to this study, include sexual harassment and objectification. In some cases, women are even let go because men find their bodies “distracting’, when they should not be staring at women in a professional environment at all. This directly connects to my third point: men do not take women seriously in the labor force. Many men see women as less than human or view them as not capable of performing “a man’s job”. I find these stereotypes incredibly demeaning to a woman’s