Being a feminist today has altered from a political position to a more general position. Contemporary feminist is shaped by the past, but now is integrated in popular culture by popular figures. The definition of feminism is the belief of social, political, and economic rights, especially with regards of equality of the sexes. There are many dimensions to being a feminist and we have a tremendous number of people supporting the feminist movement. The need for feminist movements is because gender inequality still exist. Gender inequality is very broad and complex topic. Both men and women are unequal in various ways. However, the big question is why? The purpose of this paper is to understand gender inequality in the sociological framework of …show more content…
Inequality was now present more in the schools and workplace. Teachers expected boys to be better at math and girls better at reading. In school stories, boys were shown to have more adventures and activity than girls. On the contrary, girls were show as passive, dependent, and bored. College enrollment study by the U.S. bureau showed about 20 percent more men than women went to college in 1960 through 1970s. Then by 2010, men enrollment was around 43 percent, while women’s was 55 percent (Conley 2013). In the workplace, 31.5 million women entering the labor force in compared to 70 million in 2008. Now there is about an equal number of men and women in the workforce. However, there is inequality in wages based on gender. Women earnings are about 81 cents to every dollars that men makes. Feminized and male-dominated jobs started become prominent by the 1970s. Feminized jobs included low-paid secretarial or service industrial jobs” (2013). Some jobs were reserved for women, such as, real estates clerical work, pharmacy, public relations, and bank telling. In contemporary magazines women were portrayed subordinate to men in advertisements,such as, kissing a man’s shoe. From a content analysis, women are portrayed as sexual objects 70 percent of the time in fashion magazines. In home goods magazines women are portrayed to have domestic roles such as cooking and baking(Conley …show more content…
By the 1980s, Marxism, the economics forces define the political and cultural realities in society, mixed with feminism claimed “that gender is not class but a driving force of history.” This created the notion that “when women are subordinate men benefit” and that women had a disadvantage to men in the workforce (Conley 2013). Marxist feminist would called this gender conflict. The nuclear family has gender roles which are “set of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as a male or female.Gender roles is more general term,but Parson’s sex roles is more of an ambiguous term. Sex roles theory states that men are work oriented, while women are domestic oriented to form the ideal nuclear family. “Sex roles created by society was formed for structuralism functionalism, which is the theoretical tradition claiming that every society has certain structures that exist in order to fulfill some set of necessary functions(2013). Even though functionalist supported this theory in the 1960s, it was flawed. Sex role theory only provided one way of how a family could function. Essentialist would describe Parson’s theory as the social phenomena of the nuclear family based on the biological factor of sex. R.W. Connell described the condition in which men are dominant and privileged and that it is invisible, which is Hegemonic masculinity. Even though hegemonic masculinity is what some theorist impose, it clarifies
A woman’s only job is to stay at home, take care of her family, and pleasure her man. What is a man’s job? “Men, they do everything,” quoted a fellow male classmate, “Men get the real money.” But it is the twenty-first century! Women are no longer expected to stay at home; they have taken roles as teachers, doctors, C.E.O.s, part of the military, and the list goes on. As for men, it is now acceptable for them to stay at home, take care of their families or even become nannies and nurses. Will Meek, creator of website “Psychology of Men”, defined gender role as a set of attitudes, behaviors, and self-presentation methods ascribed to members of a certain biological sex. Gender roles have changed throughout the course of American history; both sexes have come so far from sexist stereotypes that resulted from societal expectations that existed in the past.
Feminism is the idea of economic, communal, and political equality between genders. Women longed for the same opportunities as men obtain. They wanted to be able to change the world. In the 19th century, educators, psychologists, sociologists and mass media had a part in making women believe that living as housewives and mothers will be the only life that will bring contentment. Women had very restricted opportunities to express feelings or skills. As many may think, women are treated equally in the present because of the feminist movement. Actually, there are women in third-world countries that are denied access to education and schooling because of their gender. Feminism, over the years, has become socially known with the publishing of more than thirty national feminist news and opinion magazines.
The characteristics and behaviors associated with men and women are called gender roles. Gender can also be interpreted as the social, psychological, and cultural interpretation of biological sex. Gender as a social construct has been a term throughout history that explains the social distinction between men and women and is reinforced in social interactions. The crisis of the global economy brings about gender dimensions and different meanings for men and women in society. Men and women have been hierarchy organized and valued. Throughout the 19th century, women’s contributions to society were regarded as less significant than those of men. Stereotypes were put on genders, which included assertive, strong, and competitive for masculinity and submissive, weak, and emotional for femininity. Gender inequality arose as economic crisis took place throughout the 19th century. The changing conditions of work in the global state impacted the roles for men and women and many feminists started to challenge the idea that “biology is destiny”. With post-Fordism, a new gender order emerged, and Women occupied a broader place in the work force. However, sexism is still prevalent in society to some extent whether it’s unconscious or conscious and affects the lives of many women.
Feminist Theory is an aspect of considering feminism as having been based on socio-phenomenon issues rather than biological or scientific. It appreciates gender inequality, analyzes the societal roles played by feminists in a bid to promote the interests, issues and rights of women in the society. It is also based on the assumption that women play subsidiary roles in the society. The whole idea of feminism has however experienced hurdles in the form of stereotyping by the wider society. This paper tries to examine some of the effects of stereotypes that feminism goes through, what other philosophers say and the way forward towards ending stereotyping.
Gender Inequality is something that happens abundantly more often than we think within our everyday society. These events that take place we might not even be noticing them until someone points them out to us or we’re put into the position where we need to, due to our society has been taught to work and what we look for in these situations when they appear to be happening. This is something that our society really needs to work on to fix as a whole. The problem with gender inequality is that it often affects females more than males from having completely equal rights or fair opportunities within our society to do the things they’re passionate about within our everyday lives and work areas across America. Some of the places where gender inequality might be over looked at, is the sporting aspect of our population.
Gender is based on cultural beliefs that classify on what job positions should be held based on biological sex. Therefore, gender inequality affects people in the workforce because of the gender wage gap in institutions. For example, jobs are sex segregated based on gender roles and status. The gender wage gap is based on the differences of income between women and this causes for males and women to earn different wages because society classifies men to be superior to women, Even if they have the same positions, males are looked as authority. Men are favored because of the concept of being dominant. Ridgeway says “Not only the existing sex composition of the job, but also the stereotypical gendered nature of the work or the status
The theory of feminism encompasses the fields of sociology, economics, anthropology, and philosophy. The theory focuses on the study of gender inequality and the understanding of power relations, sexuality, and gender politics. With this we can further explain the differences in economic standings of men and women in the workplace and overall net worth. We can also further delve into sociological impacts of feminism and how it shines light on social problems, issues and trends that can be overlooked or misidentified by the generally male dominated perspective. The problem with the feminist theory is that many people believe that it focuses on promoting women superiority which is incorrect. The feminist theory at its core is equality of women. This can mean economically and socially. What the theory wants is a way to illuminate the forces that create and support inequality, injustice, and oppression. Promotion of the pursuit of equality and
Feminism has tackled gender inequality in the workforce, within politics, education and various institutes. Within the 20th century some of these issues faced in western culture have been completely reformed due to certain feminist movements that have encouraged women to fight for equal rights. (Crofton: 2011: 272-273) The first and second waves of feminism have proven to be successful by increasing equal rights between men and women. (Kaplan: 1992: 7) Despite these successes which include allowing there is still the fact of the matter remains that women are still objectified by their gender. ()The generalization of gender roles, have proven to be challenging within the feminist movement, this is often due to the objectification of women in the media. Also as feminism, is an ideology it has various schools of which have conflicting ideas of the ‘empowerment of women’ making it difficult to clarify on what is not acceptable in establishing women’s rights. (Fraser: 2014)
Feminism is a perspective that views gender as one of the most important bases of the structure and organization of the social world. Feminists argue that in most known societies this structure has granted women lower status and value, more limited access to valuable resources, and less autonomy and opportunity to make choices over their lives than it has granted men. (Sapiro 441)
It is undeniable that women have more rights and freedoms than they did less than a century ago. Many women have the right to vote- Japanese women were given this freedom seventy one years ago. Girls all over the world are given an education equal to those given to boys. Some women have even achieved a feat that would have been considered impossible decades ago: world leadership. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, American Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye have proven that women are just as capable of leadership as men are. However, gender disparity is still a problem around the world. Women and girls are still being exploited and oppressed financially and physically, a result of lack of education. Therefore, one of the biggest issues of the 21st
Gender inequality has been an issue since long before the 1840s, when feminists finally brought the problem to light. Most ancient cultures were societies based on gender inequality, skewed towards male-dominance. Most societies are still mostly patriarchal, in fact. Patriarchy is the root of discrimination between sexes and genders and has been for a very long time.
The idea of separate sexes has been around since humans began constructing civilizations and has progressively worsened over time. The world has mostly consisted of patriarchal institutions since then, and has oppressed women in the sense that they are less than men in status and civility. Because of this women are forced to take on specific [often times inferior]roles in society, many of those roles being; taking care of the homestead, child care, and maintaining a kosher dwelling while men assume the more prestigious occupations. “A son in all sorts of trouble finally seeks out his father for advice during a particularly bad crisis. But when he finds his father wearing an apron while washing dishes in the kitchen, the son recoils in disgust… The parents of an 18-year-old girl describe their fear that their daughter will be an old maid because she is so terribly bright and independent. They decide that the mother will have a “talk with her” (“Changing Gender Norms” Eliman-Taggart)” An analogous philosophy is introduced in the novel A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. In the series, Arya, daughter of Lord Eddard Stark has grown up along with her brothers who trained in the art of swordplay and her sister who was training to become a lady. Despite constant reprimanding, Arya dejected the concept of evolving into a lady and aspired to become a knight alongside her brothers. She is mocked throughout the story for her “boyish” manner. She is surprisingly encouraged by her father to pursue what she wants regardless of what is seen as socially acceptable behaviour for a girl.
While all sociological perspectives offer new and unique understanding into the problems of society, Feminist perspectives optimally illustrate the complexities of gender inequality. Structural Functionalist perspectives see gender inequality as functional for society. There is an oversight in this viewpoint in that there is a focus on the function from a male centric mindset. Conflict perspectives focus on the stratification of gender, also from the view of men in society, without examining the different levels of discrimination for different ethnicities or classes of women.
Which gender is more privileged in today’s society men or women? This question has There seems to be inequality when it comes to both genders being granted their privileges. Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. Numerous individuals today face different kinds of privileges due to their gender. Many find themselves struggling in today’s society for several reasons such as gender differences or how society views each gender as a whole. This has been a conflict that has affected many generations.
When the subject of gender issues is brought up, people generally split into two sides to argue about either women or men and the inequalities they face. While these arguments are all perfectly valid, a lot is left out that most people wouldn’t notice. Many of the issues that are rarely discussed involve people who lie outside the binary labels of ‘male’ and ‘female’. These people have many issues involving gender inequality, but the only time they’re ever discussed is when something tragic happens to them. As Sydette Harry, a writer, puts it, “I’d like to wake up one morning see a picture of a beautiful black trans woman without a murder headline next to it” (Devereaux). Men and women’s failures, issues, and successes within the realm of gender are broadcasted daily, but where is everyone else? These people shouldn’t have to be murdered in order for their voices to be heard. Transgender women, transgender men, and nonbinary individuals are victims to issues and inequalities that are real, prominent, and just as important as those of binary genders.