Gender Roles Essay

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The stereotypes on gender has been around in the society for centuries. One of the stereotypes on gender is men are the primary breadwinners, while women are staying at home and taking care of the house and the children. However, there is a big shift where women start to work at male-dominated workplaces such as STEM fields for the last few decades. Some people welcome the change, but there are many other people who are not ready for it. It is the gender stereotypes that makes many people think women should stay at home rather than going to work. The unconscious stereotypes on women cause the women workers suffer through the work inequality such as earning less wage than men, having difficulty in getting promotions and advancing their skills, …show more content…

For various reasons, there is a shift where women go to work like men, and some of them work at male-dominated workplaces such as STEM and law fields. One side of the society accepts this big change, while the other side is still in shock from the sudden change because it contradicts the idea of men’s and women’s roles in the society. The mixed reactions and the stereotypes on gender role affect the work environment for both working men and women. Most of the companies make adjustments to their policies so that it will meet the needs of both male and female workers. However, the policies often put the female workers at disadvantage. Most of the working women receive less salary than the men who do the same job. Based on the American Association of University Women’s (AAUW) statistics, in average, working women earn 79% of the working men’s salary in 2014 (Hill, 2015). The percentage becomes worse when race and ethnicity are added to the calculation. The term of 77 cents to a dollar is created from this wage gap between men and women workers. Women are paid less because the biased idea of women are less likely to focus on their job because they have to maintain both work and house. This will make the employers believe that it is reasonable to pay their female workers less than their male

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