Gender Assumptions In America

Gender assumptions occur in America today for both men and women. This essay will focus primarily on biases in America, since other cultures may have very different approaches. Women, although viewed by many members of society as stronger today than just 20 years ago, are still thought of as “less than” men. Today, most positions of authority and power are held by men. There are issues today, such as sexual harassment and bullying that have become more mainstream topics, both politically and socially.
Women have advanced socially and politically since the 1900’s. We have achieved many successes in the work place and on sports teams. The 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer championships became the most successful women’s sporting event ever. This caused incredible publicity for the sport, but also for women in sports. Even with this notoriety, women are historically paid much less than men performing the same skills. Men’s sports dominate media coverage, which some argue is the reason for their higher salaries. As we have
seen in recent years, women’s soccer has received as much media coverage, as well as endorsements for their top players. Women’s US soccer players make about $25,000 to $85,000 per season, while the average is about $40,000. Professional soccer salaries for men are quite different. They range from $25,000 to $300,000 per player, while the average is $60,000 (although most players earn well above this amount).
In the workplace, sexual harassment made it to the forefront of most companies in the early 1970’s. Since then, all companies have devised a Sexual Harassment Policy to which they must adhere to, legally. This does not mean that all sexual harassment claims are properly dealt with or that all victims file claims. This is one major gender difference in the workplace since men are typically the perpetrators and women are the usually the victims. In some cases, men also harass other men. Some perpetrators feel a sense of power over their victims, while others actually feel insubordinate and want their victim to feel the same way. Displays of harassment can occur in public or private; both are demeaning to the victim. Victims (typically women) have some common effects from this abuse. That may include: loss of trust in company or co-workers, decreased job performance, excessive absenteeism, loss of job, defamation of character, feeling humiliated, or having to relocate or change jobs altogether. The company may also experience some of these effects, which shows it is in the company’s best interest to deal with the perpetrators. I have worked in a few situations with three different companies in which I had to tolerate some form of harassment in the workplace. I think most women that work in companies or areas typically dominated by men (such as warehouses) also put up with this mentality. These cases rarely get reported to management.
The gender assumption of men by some members of society is they are more capable of decision-making power and physically stronger than women.
Most CEO’s and Executive Managers with most companies are men. Men have historically held top positions within sports organizations, such as owners, team managers and head coaches. Men are thought of as the stronger gender, rarely showing emotion. This may be learned behavior and attitudes from the family and culture they grew up in. This may also be caused by the division of labor set forth by society in which men are the “bread-winners” and women are the homemakers. This, of course, has changed in many households due to financial reasons and women’s liberation. There are now many household with two working parents, who both share household chores. This is the case with my family. My husband and I both work full-time and split the household chores, as well as taking care of our
kids.
Society seems to have played a major role in gender differences and our perceptions of each gender. They have made it more accepting today for women to work full-time and for some men to raise the children. This way of life would have been considered strange fifty years ago. Women have come a long way, from Roe vs Wade to a woman running for President. However, I believe we still have a ways to go. Women are as capable as men at performing on a sports team or in an office. I know a few women who are high-level Executive Managers that perform well beyond men in the same field. Women still seem to have to work harder to make this work. Many women who do assume these positions have a higher turnover rate than men. Some speculate this is due to domestic or social responsibilities.
There are many gender stereotypes that play a role in defining gender assumptions. Women are said to be more emotional, empathetic and talkative. Men are thought to be less emotional and more interested in sex, being dominate and physically stronger. Men are also perceived as showing more anger than women. Women tend to pay more attention to body language and be a more active listener than men. Gender stereotypes are also prevalent in the media today. There are assumptions based upon situations that occur and how those involved react.
The main issue I have seen is that although women can achieve as much success as men, most are still functioning as the homemaker and main childcare parent. This means more often than not, women are multi-tasking beyond what our mothers and grandmothers were expected to do. Being a full-time mother is hard work and the responsibilities are endless: carpooling kids to and from school, volunteering in the classroom, shopping, cleaning the house, doing repairs around the house, laundry, making lunches and dinner, helping with homework and dealing with any issues that may arise during the day. Being a full-time mother and a full-time worker is even harder. In addition to most of the above duties, these women must all perform a job, typically for eight hours per day for five days a week. In my case, I work forty hours per week, share child rearing responsibilities with my husband, take care of all household bills, clean the house (with the kids help), do all the grocery shopping, volunteer for PTA and Girl Scouts and attend school at San Bernardino Valley College and California State University San Bernardino. There are days, and even weeks, that are extremely hard to get through. However, I have to work to help support our family, I need to finish school in the hopes of obtaining a higher salaried job and I need to raise my kids the best way I know how (which includes volunteering for their activities). I find rewards in all of these tasks, but I take the most pride in raising three happy, healthy and well-rounded kids. The issue I have is that through our fight for women’s liberation and trying to make women equal to men, we still get paid less on average yet we are doing much more in our lives than ever before. The gender difference between men and women is still there and women are getting the short end of the stick.