Civic Nationalism In The United States

Introduction

Ethnic nationalism describes different ethnic groups competing to achieve political, economic, and/or social justice . Ethnic nationalism is often a topic that is controversial due to the fact that there are competing definitions for “ethnicity”. Also, group competition, although intended to be peaceful, often isn’t. There is also civic nationalism which describes that the citizens of a nation are connected by citizenship, not ethnicity. The U.S. would claim to be a country that follows civic nationalism but in reality is one that mostly follows ethnic nationalism. America follows the idea of ethnic nationalism by not treating minority groups as equals. In other words, groups are treated unfairly based on ethnicity and gender.

Statistically speaking, women are not a minority, but in terms of the power that they have and privileges that they possess, they are. Civic nationalism states that all citizens are equal regardless of ethnicity or gender. However, it is evident that women are not being seen as equals members of society. The Feminism movement goes as far back as the 1800s. The movement has been broken up into three waves. Women received many rights during this movement such as the right to vote, the right to own property, etc. Today, however, women are still being treated unequally based on their gender which is a direct contradiction to the idea of civic nationalism. In an article titled “The State of Women in America”, authors Anna Chu and Charles Posner discuss how women are still not be treated fairly in today’s society. For example, women only make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes”(Chu and Posner,2013). African American women make 64 cents for every dollar a man makes. This shows that America cannot call itself a country that has adopted the concept of civic nationalism. Women still have a hard time receiving some jobs because those jobs are seen as only to done by men, jobs such as a police officer or firefighter. If America really was a country of civic nationalism, women would have the same opportunities as everyone else, regardless of gender or race.Women are not only being treated in the workforce but in many other areas as well. For example, there is a leadership gap that exists between women and men in that men receive more management positions than