Gender inequality refers to unfair or unequal treatment of people based on their femininity or masculinity. This is often in reference to roles that society has stipulated by default for each gender type. Sexual inequality refers to bias treatment of people based on their male or female sexual traits. Awareness and sensitivity to gender and sexual inequity are vital in the functioning of a society; every society member ought to have equal status, voice and opportunities irrespective of their gender. In every day-to-day activity, gender and sexual insensitivity exhibits in peoples’ speech, behavior and delegation of duties. Insensitivity is often unintentional, thus the need to create awareness among people on what is insensitive and be enthusiastic to begin the change that society needs to be able to give equal chances to all its members and give them a sense of belonging despite their gender (Jackson, 1998).
Recently, I received an e-mail from my friend regarding his opinion on Valentine’s Day. In this email message, my friend, Rob presented women in a negative way by using derogatory language and casting aspersions. Rob claimed that women were the cause of men’s sorrow and global warming (Personal communication, February 13, 2014). Upon further reading, I realized Rob insinuated that Valentine’s Day was a creation of women and that the intention was to coerce men into buying presents. His assertion was that women were opportunistic, materialistic and always plotting to get something out of men. I found this demeaning as the generalizations and stereotyping presented in the email were offensive. He also used the word ladies, which he spelt in capital letters, which I felt offensive and unwarranted.
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Vance, C. M., Ensher, E. A., Hendricks, F. M., & Harris, C. (2004). Gender-based vicarious sensitivity to disempowering behavior in organizations: Exploring an expanded concept of hostile working environment. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 16(3), 135-147.
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The following paper explores two different theories, gender schema theory and Psychoanalytic theory, which seek to explain sex and/or gender. Both theories that will be depicted throughout this paper has its own orientation towards what gender is, where it is located, and what this means for every day.
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.
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Sexism can have many negative impacts on the way women view themselves, research was conducted and it showed that when exposed to modern sexism, women expressed negative self-directed emotions. Modern sexism exposure also resulted in stereotypical self-presentation, where in contrast, women who were exposed to old-fashioned sexism displayed less self-defeating behavior. This research concluded that women were more likely to stand up and defend themselves against the old-fashioned gender stereotypes, but let the modern day expectations defeat them (Ellemers & Barreto, 2009).
Watzlawik, M. (2009). When a Man Thinks He Has Female Traits Constructing Femininity and Masculinity: Methodological Potentials and Limitations. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 43(2), 126-137. doi: 10.1007/s12124-008-9085-4
Socio-cultural and parental influences are significant factors that encourage biases based on gender stereotype. Both men and women internalize their perspective gender stereotype roles as a part of their identity (Firestone, Firestone, & Catlett, 2006). Due to changes in the social structure and gender role in the US, people are not as restricted by the stereotype today (Gardiner & Kosmitzki, 2010; Tucker, 2005). However, such changes raised issues that are also challenging to overcome. Gaining awareness of more implicit forms of discrimination and making changes in message vulnerable people receive would help reduce negative effects of discrimination and stereotype (Steel, 1997; Sue, et al., 2007). Furthermore, in the individual level, people can benefit from self-reflection to increase awareness of their own values, beliefs, and desires. Such awareness would likely to lead to mutuality between men and women, and establishing a healthy relationship (Firestone, Firestone, & Catlett,
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.
Gender inequality refers to the inequality between men and women, or the unequal treatment or perception of a person based on his or her gender. Gender inequality is almost always prominent towards a female rather than towards a male. Women are seen as inferior to men in every country in the world. This form of society is called patriarchal and is one of this biggest issues in American society today. Patriarchy means that the country has a primarily male dominated society. Does anyone realize what gender inequality is doing to our country as a whole? Not everyone may think it has a great impact on our society, but gender inequality creates many of our problems today including wealth, income, and status discriminations. I chose to write about this topic because I believe that this is one of the biggest problems that all societies face, not just the United States. Fixing the gender inequality issues in our country could have a bigger impact than what many people may think. Changing something that most consider to be so minuscule could play a very important part of a much bigger picture in our country. If we could close the gap created by the inequality between men and women than maybe we could help influence the way America thinks about many other issues as well.
Gender inequality is “the unfair treatment of an applicant or employee because of the person’s sex”. Gender inequality or gender discrimination is illegal. Gender inequality did not only start in the workplace. It began before that. In history women were always expected to be the ones at home taking care of children, while the men were the breadwinners of the family.
Sexologist are indecisive between gender explanations based on nature and culture. John Money’s he claimed, to divide pre- ad postnatal influences and attribute them to biology and culture respectively, since social influence enter the brain and are therefore also physiology.
A negative work environment can make employees feel irritable, anxious and defensive. This can cause poor productivity, lack of motivation and poor communication in the workplace which in turn can cause problems for the company. An employer’s abuse of power can cause mental or emotional distress on employees and also disrupt the workplace. Examples of employers abusing their position include humiliation, undermining, disrespectful language, discriminatory comments, yelling and intimidation. When employees are surrounded by this on a daily basis it can affect their self-worth. Employers can resolve these issues by allowing open lines of communication and by not giving employees the impression that it is acceptable to act negatively and disrespect fellow employees.
The words ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are commonly confused with each other in regular, everyday conversations when the two have very different meanings. The term ‘sex’ refers to the biological and physiological characteristics of a person, such as male or female; ‘gender’ is a social construction that refers to masculine or feminine roles in society ( Nordqvist). For example, women are seen in commercials doing all of the cooking and cleaning and men are seen working and playing sports. The term ‘gender inequality’ in this case is confusing as it means the inequality of both biological differences and social role differences.
In any culture, ideas of masculinity and femininity influence societal expectations. While these expectations are not inescapable, the new generation takes its cues from older generations, and thus, any change in them is slow. Few would argue that some differences do exist between men and women. However, are these differences significant enough to perpetuate male and female stereotypes? More importantly, do such stereotypes serve any benefit to an individual or culture?