Gender Inequality

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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. The term ‘gender’ was coined by John Money in 1955: “Gender is used to signify all those things that a person says or does to disclose himself/herself as having the status of a boy or man, girl or woman, respectively” (Coleman and Money, 1991, 13). In sociological terms, gender is a division between men and women which is clear in society throughout the past - for example, in Ancient Egypt with the idea that there was little point in teaching women to read and write. Gender inequalities can be seen throughout many different aspects of our daily lives – from the gender pay gap, to gender discrimination in television adverts. These inequalities are accepted readily in today’s society and most fail to see that direct gender discrimination is still very much a problem in society today. In 1988, Bretl and Cantor conducted a study into gender representation in television programs and advertisements. It was found that women were more likely to be filmed in a domestic situation and portrayed as being unemployed, working part-time or in low paying jobs such as catering and sales. It was also found that 90% of the time a narrator would be male, and women were more likely than men to be seen advertising household goods (Furnham, A. Mak, T. 1999, 414). It... ... middle of paper ... ...eadmin/DU/Academics/course_material/hrge_04.pdf (Accessed 19/10/11) Wright, O (2011). ‘Princesses to be given equality of succession’, I newspaper. OECD (2002) ‘Women at work: who are they and how are they faring?’ http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/28/58/18960381.pdf (Accessed 18/10/11) Arnst, C. (2007) ‘Women and the Pay Gap’ Bloomberg Businessweek http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2007/04/working_women_a.html (Accessed 17/10/11) Carmen, D. (2007) ‘Why do men earn more? Just because’ Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_5735341 (Accessed 17/10/11) Barclay, A. Clarke, G. Drew, A. Morrison, I. (2007) Higher Modern Studies Course Notes. Leckie and Leckie. Allen, K. (2010) ‘Equal pay for women not likely till 2067, says research’ The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/19/equal-pay-women-2057 (Accessed 23/10/11)

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