Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Gender Inequality as It Exists Today

Good Essays
534 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Gender Inequality as It Exists Today
The issue of gender inequality is one which has been visibly echoing through society for decades. The problem is inequality in employment being one of the most pressing issues today. In order to examine this situation one must try to get to the root of the problem and must understand the sociological factors that cause women to have a much more difficult time getting the same benefits, wages, and job opportunities as their male counterparts. The world still conforms to the conventional notion that men should be the sole breadwinners as they have been for ages. This would mean that women should be left to deal with the family and household chores while their husbands go out and conquer the world. The phenomenon of women bringing back a higher wage compared to their other half is considered bizarre. With current economic recession and inflation on the rise, the rising cost of living is beginning to take a toll on families. Stress is placed on the sole breadwinner of the family, the being the head male of the house, to earn a better income to provide for his growing family. Again, a woman has to be able to hold the family together to make sure that the family doesn’t fall apart. This means that no time is given for women to excel in their jobs, which then adds to the fact that women cannot be the sole breadwinners. As mentioned earlier, women are constantly being lauded for being able to cook well and at the same time, keep the house spic and span. Adding on to that, the widespread fact that women belong at home, especially in the kitchen, is being constantly being portrayed in TV shows, popular movies, books, and on the internet available for everyone to see. However, in egalitarian’s defense, gender inequality has greatly shown signs of improvement. For example, gender quotas have been placed in some top parliaments with great female representations. These quotas ensure that some seats in the parliament should be reserved for females. Overall, we can see that even though gender inequality is slowly improving, it has not reached the extent that it has become non-existent, as is still evidently relevant in today’s society. It is still prevailing amongst a majority of the world. Though gender inequality still exists in today’s society, we can see that it is taking a turn for the better. With Forbes Magazine dubbing Oprah Winfrey the most powerful and influential woman, Aung San Suu Kyi winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin running for President of the United States of America in 2008, we can clearly see that the common stereotype that women are not as strong as physically and mentally as strong as men is slowly fading. Hopefully in the near future, we will be able to see both genders treated more equally.

References: http://www.iamapeacekeeper.com/genderinequalityinsociety.htm http://www.trustwomenpac.org/2012/03/gender-inequality-in-the-u-s-today/ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/opinion/global/gender-equality.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2013/03/08/55750/true-sustainability-requires-gender-equality/

References: http://www.iamapeacekeeper.com/genderinequalityinsociety.htm http://www.trustwomenpac.org/2012/03/gender-inequality-in-the-u-s-today/ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/opinion/global/gender-equality.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2013/03/08/55750/true-sustainability-requires-gender-equality/

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Men are more comfortable with their wives going to work than they are willing to help out at home more. In the 1950s, women were expected to be good housewives. Women were not to go college and if they did it was only to meet their future husbands. Women were expected to stay home and do housework and take care of the children. Ferber says, “Housework and childcare continued to be viewed as the women’s responsibility whether or not she also had a paid job” (2). Mothers today are arguing back and forth over the “Mommy Wars”. The “Mommy Wars” is where working mothers are criticizing stay at home mothers for not working and in turn, non-working mothers criticize working mothers for not spending enough of family time together. Rather than debating the “Mommy Wars” some women are complaining of having to work “the second shift” once they get home from work. The second shift refers to when a mother has worked a full day and then goes home to do just about the same amount of work by cooking dinner, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and taking care of the kids. Ferber says, “Women do fifty-two hours a week in housework and child rearing while the men do eleven hours a week” (2). Men should be contributing to the housework more, regardless if the wife works or stays at home. The resource theory, proposed by Robert Blood and David Wolfe, “Focuses on the importance of accumulated resources of a spouse as the source of power within a marriage, which is likely to be used to make the other partner do more of the housework” (3, Ferber). The more control women have at work the more control they have at…

    • 1281 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example, it is considered as a women profession being maids, secretaries, nurses or teachers meanwhile, it is considered as man profession being managers, lawyers, engineers or professors. This creates the idea that women are not able to do a “man job”, we talk specifically about women due to it is where we mostly see the occupational segregation. Even though, the rate of women taking “man” jobs has increased, there exists another problem: the pay gap between men and women. As we talk before, socialization plays a key factor in this issue. Usually women are paid less for the same job that men do because of their gender. As a patriarchal society, women are considered less important than men, even if they have the same educative level as men. After 1980, the wage rate between men and women started to equalize; however, in the 2000’s women are still earning just 76% of what man do. Why have women been paying less than men when they have the same abilities? Some of the reasons are “the idea that women should be modest while men should promote themselves, women may negotiate less strongly for pay”, “women are concentrated in lower-paying occupations”, “employers often do this out of a biased perception that whatever is done by women must be easier and not as important or the company” (The Sociology Project 2.0), even if there exist some laws that protect women against…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are so many forms of gender inequality. The article “What Are You Worth?” by Jessica Hamzelou discusses about wage differences between men and women. For instance in the article Hamzelou says that in America it is a well known fact that “women are still earning…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “In 2015, only half of the world’s working-age women are in the labor force, compared to 77 percent of working-age men,” (MAKERS). Everyday, women face unequal circumstances and situations within the workplace. The average woman’s wage is significantly lower than their male colleagues. This would also mean that men have more job opportunities than women. All these disadvantages women face negatively affect their careers. The government has tried to decrease the inequality by creating laws, but they are never harshly enforced. Improvements for women are needed in the workplace because they will increase women’s career rights and the quality in the workplace overall.…

    • 1728 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inequality In America

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Although the American society that we live in today prides itself on equal job opportunity and progression, it is easy to see behind the deceiving façade. Women have always been viewed as the less dominant gender due to the patriarchy that is provided by society. In fact, women are still making a measly seventy-seven cents for every dollar that a man makes, and the gap is even worse for African-American or Latina women working (Huffington). Even with women having a greater entry into the workforce in recent years, their pay is still considerably less than a man’s (Conley 312). Due to this suffering pay disparity, the women in the workplace are forced to suffer through many barriers that are not thought…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    (Elizabeth 2nd, 1952)“No employee shall employ a female employee for any work at a rate of pay that is less than the rate of pay at which a male employee is employed by that employer for identical or substantially identical work” Although it is law in all of North America, gender inequality has been profoundly observed within the government and areas such as companies and industries where the female gender continues to experience unequal gender concentrations in different job positions, unequal gender pay, as well as being discriminated against when employment comes into question. Although it has been suppressed to some extent, it is still a problem in the labor force. It is especially evident when examining employment issues.…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A shocking quote to demonstrate this inequality is: “A woman earns only 80 cents for every dollar a man earns.” (Hsu 2011) Despite the fact that “Women are performing better in school than men are, and women definitely have equal qualifications, if not higher.” (Hsu, 2011). Some employers may argue this lower pay for women to be fair, due to the fact that they are entitled to career breaks, including maternity or parental leave, however fathers are now entitled to parental and even maternity leave, so there is a clear injustice if women are paid less for equal jobs when they are equally educated.…

    • 630 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gender Inequality

    • 1675 Words
    • 7 Pages

    and wages. It will also tackle what is being done to solve this problem and what…

    • 1675 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gender Inequality

    • 2220 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In exploring the essay title, it would seem wise to explain the terms “Gender” and “Inequality”. Within this essay, “gender” refers to the socially defined differences between men and women. As the word suggests, “inequality” means unequal rewards/opportunities for different individuals within a group or groups within a society.…

    • 2220 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gender inequality

    • 1337 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In today’s global society, it is apparent that gender inequality is still in existence in contemporary America. Helen Clark once said, “Any serious shift towards more sustainable societies has to include gender equality.” Societies have come a long way when it comes to women’s rights. In Countries like Sweden, Finland and Norway gender equality has emerged. While, countries in the Middle East and Asia still need to close as much as 50% of their gender gaps. Despite many national and international commitments, progress has been patchy in many large parts of the world. It has grown to have differences between men and women with greater emphasis of inequality on women. There is one set of standards that apply to men, and another set of standards that apply to women. This is evident in the home, workplace, and society in general. Throughout society gender equality and female empowerment can appear a distant mirage in contemporary America.…

    • 1337 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender Inequality

    • 1602 Words
    • 7 Pages

    This semester we have studied Namibia and Botswana through different analytical lenses such as colonialism, gender, race, ethnicity, and religion. All of the information we studied was used to thoroughly understand the history of this country and all the events that happened that led to each country’s independence. Out of all the information we learned, gender is what interested me the most. For my final essay, I want to pursue the topic of gender, specifically gender inequality, throughout Namibia and Botswana. In books we read, including Histories of Namibia by Colin Levs and Susan Brown, The Other Side of Silence by Andre Brink, Maru by Bessie Head, and Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman by Majorie Shostak, I noticed that women were always degraded in society. In my final paper, I will have analyzed these readings and further support my topic with outside sources.…

    • 1602 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Back in the 70’s, most married women were housewives. Many wives stayed home to care for their housework, children, and husband. Their duties revolved around those three ideas. But as time passed, traditions have changed. Most women have jobs and hardly considered housewives. Sure, they will tend to their kids and spouse but many of them now have lives. Instead of being of the housework being a priority, the real work replaces it. Another weighing factor would be women’s rights. Instead of the husband viewed as the main bread maker, some wives have stepped up to plate with a higher salary. Back then, the male worked and the wife stayed home, therefore the male would earn the income. The last contributing factor to the change in modern day wife roles is the later marriage. People are marrying later leading to having children at an older age. By this point, the females would have had time to peak at their jobs and remain a steady pace when the child is brought into the world. Not as many sacrifices has to be made for the child oppose to giving birth at a younger age.…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gender Inequality

    • 769 Words
    • 3 Pages

    By reason of family impact on gender roles, gender inequality plays a big part in the workplace. These problems are the lead factors that separate the males from the females. Gender inequality is mainly noticed in the workplace. These include sex segregation, differences in authority, and inequalities in promotions and pay. According to Reskin and Padavic, there are three dimensions involved in gender inequality: sexual division of labor, devaluation of jobs labeled as women’s jobs, and social construction of gender on the job. Many factors contribute to the inequality experienced by men and women, such as sex differences in preferences and productivity, cultural beliefs, men efforts and employers actions.…

    • 769 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since prehistoric times, men have always been the ones who have been the breadwinners of the family. Cavemen would go out to hunt for food, while their wives would stay at home and look after the children. However, in our modern day, gone are the times when women were only good for cooking and child-bearing. Education has allowed women to surge to greater heights, not only in the working world but at home as well. Most men can no longer claim superiority over women based on being the sole breadwinner, and now, women play an equally important role as men in providing family income.…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    gender inequality

    • 852 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. It arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles as well as biologically through chromosomes, brain structure, and hormonal differences”. Even though it is believed that gender equality exists around the world it is far from the truth. To what extent will people go to assume equality or inequality in the world? To this day, gender inequality exists in work places, in society as well as in different cultures. What may seem normal to some may seem abnormal to others and vice-versa.…

    • 852 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays