The issue of social inequality is basic in sociology and extremely common throughout the world. Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society. One of the aspects of social inequality in the U.S today is Gender Inequality. Why do men, rather than women, seem to hold the majority of power positions in all societies? (Marger, 2014) We look briefly at some aspects of social inequality: what it is, what causes it, and some of its consequences. In so doing, we shall be using the concepts of structure, culture, relationships and categories of people, and further exploring some of the theoretical perspectives of Gender inequality and its effect on the world. …show more content…
This process doesn’t take place within certain areas only. Gender inequality could be demonstrated in the workplace, at home, in school etc. Unfortunately, both genders experience this type of discrimination at some point in their lives. It is a process that has been occurring for generations. As to why this has been occurring for generation are still unknown to us all. It is quite evident that they are not evaluated or rewarded equally; in virtually all societies, women are subordinate to men (Brown, 1991; Chafetz, 1978; Friedl, 1978),(Marger,2014). Which in fact in many ways plays a part in Gender Hierarchy same as it is in class hierarchy in which one party is more superior to that of the other. So why be it women more inferior to men?
Well, that leads all the way back to biology. Anthropologist Lionel Tiger (1969), for example, explains that human gender roles evolved naturally as males were physically equipped to be hunters and women were the bearer of children. Biology and culture are inextricably linked in determining male and females’ roles and behavior (Marger,
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From personal experience, I once applied to an organization that required a lot of physical labor, perseverance, long nights and organization. With my resume handy, dressed professionally, and over four years of stock and heavy machinery experience, I was interviewed alongside another young male as well as a middle aged gentleman. The middle aged gentle man hasn’t worked in over five years and had a terrible health history. The younger gentleman was nervous because he’s never been employed before. With no experience at such a prestigious place, nervousness couldn’t even describe his reactions. Long story short, two people got hired that day. The middle aged man and the younger gentleman. I was told “I didn’t fit the requirement that they were looking for”. And when asked in detail, what did they mean by that, they stated that “I didn’t fit the criteria”. So I immediately assumed, since I am a woman, makeup, hair done, professionally dressed and all as I am supposed to be… a woman like me couldn’t do the job? I later discovered a friend of mine got hired at that same facility, except she has a very masculine built and that has to do with her sexual orientation and
Throughout history, women have been mistreated as the weaker gender. It has been evident throughout the epic of Sunjata, the history of Greek society as well as Indian society. It is evident today with the social classes we have formed that there are predominant gender roles in our society; history as we know tends to repeat itself.
Gender inequality is prevalent in all major societies. The way that I would describe gender inequality is the unequal and unfair treatment between the two sexes. Sex makes up the biological differences of male or female. While gender is learned through social interactions and behaviors applied to the sexes. As a result, from a very early age, we are taught to follow certain gender expectations. For this reason, I agree with the statement that inequality is the result of gendered systems in which we live. I will evaluate certain chapters by Michael Kimmel in his book Gendered Society, to help show how we use certain concepts learned from society to run our lives. In today’s society children are raised to be a certain gender and they are expected to perform certain gender roles.
Short Answers: define and give an example in two or three sentences (5 points each).
Gender inequality is often a broad, abstract, and vague idea. This is one of the great puzzles of modern society and explaining gender inequality has proven to be a challenging task to say the least. After all the years spend on this subject, we have not been able to discover why the blooming of equality has failed. While some argue that it was wrong to ever challenge the practices that oppress women, others add that the mistake was to believe that women and men are inherently the same and we are simply collecting the inescapable sequence of nature. How much true is in these arguments? Could there be another answer?
Gender inequality has proven to be a large obstacle in many aspects of women’s lives. America has made large progress over several decades, providing mostly equal pay, mostly equal rights, and mostly equal opportunities. However, in a first world society like America, mostly equal does not mean enough. Women and men are inherently different creatures, but does that mean that inequality will always exist in one way or another? Are there some forms of inequality that are acceptable? According to the Encyclopedia of Governance, “answers depend on the degree to which one thinks women's and men's capacities differ, what should be equalized, and by what means” (ENCYCLOPEDIA). One thing is certain though; there is still progress to be made towards true gender equality.
Gender discrimination is the action of being treated worse than others, simply because of your gender. It can occur once or continually over time, by the opposite or same sex. It is an illegal practice here in the United States, based on laws enacted in 1963-4.
We’d all like to believe that we are equals within our society, but democracy doesn’t necessarily ensure equality. We all must work for a living, and the constitution would have you believe that racial minorities and women would have equal opportunities and equal wages as white men. But this is not the case. For many years people, mainly girls and women, have fought to equalize genders with some success, specifically in the work force. Gender inequality is not only a historic issue but one that still exists today in the form of the gendered pay gap.
Women have been discriminated against since the beginning of time, as early as the first people, Adam and Eve. Eve was called the evil one, who ate fruit from the tree of knowledge. Once she had the knowledge to know right from wrong, she chose to do wrong and give the fruit to Adam. Examples like these can be shown all over history books, in stories, tales and legends across the entire world. Women have been subordinate to men in virtually all societies throughout history.
The issue of gender inequality will never truly be solved in the United States. This arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles as well as biologically through hormonal differences, chromosomes, and brain structures. Gender inequality is defined as unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on gender. One of the reasons for gender inequality is income disparities. Another reason is because of the positions in the workplace. Thirdly, the reason is because of beliefs that one another has. For these reasons is why these situations should be examined to get to the root of the problem.
experience of being fired on the basis of her looks and her age. I realized
When you think of a CEO of a company or of world political leaders, do you think of a man or of a woman? Many, if not most of us, see these positions as being held by men. In this essay, I will explain why women are still not equal to men. In the first paragraph I will discuss inequalities that happen in the workplace. The second section will show the differences that occur within the athletic world. Thirdly, I will explain the differences in education and home life. Even though we are approaching the twenty-first century, women in our society are still not equal to men.
Gender order according to our text is labeled as “hierarchal” (2008), stating that “Men dominate women in terms of wealth, power, and social position, but not all men dominate all women” (2008). While this may be true, it is creating a divide between the two genders. This divide is apparent by looking at the pay scales between men and women, and even how the genders are looked at in terms of jobs or college admissions. Looking at today’s society however, women are slowly rising to compete with their male counterparts, in many ways, from education, government, and even television, for example Oprah Winfrey.
Women have fought through torture, blood, sweat, and tears to help women stand strong in our
Women are not seen as equals to men because gender is a matter of dominance. Men and women are equal in differences, but not equal in power. Men have much more power than women, so much in fact that men are seen as superior to women. At womens expense, men’s freedom by definition is incompatible with the equality for women. To understand the gender inequality, recognizing the social representation, class, and race inconsistency, while race and class correlate with gender. In all aspects of life, women are told what to do. They are told what to identify as, what to be loyal to, which community to belong to, and who to be accountable
To understand the concept of social inequality, one needs to explore how it occurs or functions. According to Charles Walker, “Social inequality refers to the ways in which socially-defined categories of persons are differentially positioned with regard to access to a variety of social ‘goods”. Social inequality, therefore, is an umbrella term. It is expansive in nature, as social inequality encompasses a variety of different inequalities; for example, gender, race, and structural inequality are all social inequalities, but they can differ widely in manifestation. The definition of social inequality can also change based on the perception of the individual who is defining the term.