Gender And Gender Equality

Same Difference: How Gender Myths Are Hurting Our Relationships, Our Children, and Our Jobs is relevant to what we have learned in class. We have discussed whether gender inequality is inevitable or not and the unequal treatment or perceptions people face based on their gender. Gender inequality remains a major obstacle to human development. The drawbacks facing women and girls are a major foundation of inequality. All too often, women and girls are victimized in health, education, political representation, and labor market. There are

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” Due to the community and the circumstances of a girl’s birth, development and opportunities are drastically limited for young girls all across the world. In many continents, such as Africa and Asia, women strive for the ability to learn, develop, and obtain the same opportunities as men despite the consequences of sexual abuse, beatings, and other troubling events that lie ahead. In many places, men are entitled to rights and opportunities that society often denies women. Society also discourages women from receiving an education, while at the same time, promoting education for males.

Today most children in the United States attend classes where gender equality exists. Students have classes in which both boys and girls are treated equally and are friends with one another and that is all that they have ever known. However, this is not always the case in every country. As of 2015, 53% of the children who are not attending school throughout the world are female ("11 Facts About..."). Gender inequality is an important issue that needs to be focused on and fixed throughout the world, especially within the education systems. Although many people are aware of this issue, most people do not see it as a priority in the world right now. The gender gap in education systems throughout the world needs to be closed because gender equality is a necessity in the world and this is where it all starts.

Educating women is a catalyst to many other major social justice issues. It is the ultimate solution to sustainable living and development. In many countries women with so much potential remains unrecognized because of lack of education. The reasons for selecting the issue are all interconnected.

There have been many studies that show that inequality towards women in education exists and is making a large impact. One such study that was conducted by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund) shows that girls in West and South Asia are facing some of the worst inequality in the world: “South and West Asia has the widest gender gap in its out-of-school population- 80 percent of its out-of-school girls are unlikely to ever start school compared to 16 percent of its out-of-

Gender is based on cultural assumptions that classifies on what positions should be held based on gender. 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 gap is based on wages and job positions. This causes for males and women to earn different because of gender. Even if they have the same positions males are look 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 stereotypically gendered nature of the work or the status of the establishment that the job incumbent is expected to connote can implicitly activate gender beliefs and the color of image of the preferred worker”(Ridgeway, 101).This quote helps explain that employer are hired based on gender and racial background. Also, this shows the inequality of gender because gender belief is based on hiring males for authority.

Gender has always been an interesting topic to me. The cool thing about gender is that it differs so much, whether it be from country to country, or from periods of time. Gender even differs within the same country between different regions and cultures. Gender is one of those things that is never consistent, and could definitely change drastically in my lifetime. So what exactly is Gender? Often, people get the term gender confused with the term sex. Although they are associated with each other, they should not be used interchangeably. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines gender as one of the categories (masculine, feminine, and neuter) into which words (such as nouns, adjectives, and pronouns) are divided in many languages (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Simply put, sex usually refers to the biological features that define men and women, and therefore use the categories: “Male” and “Female”. (Gender, women and health). With that being said, let us explore how we come to learn gender.

Throughout the past few decades, the gender inequality discourse have became a dominant feature of international, national and local policy debate on the subject of economic development. This policy concern has emerged as an area of scholarly research which seeks to show that improving gender equity leads to economic growth.

Although some countries are more gender-equal than others, gender inequality can, and usually does, occur in relationships, households, and the workplace.

Gender equality means that men and women enjoy the same rights as everyone. Then why are woman’s own body sometimes not even there’s. Everyone should believe in gender equality, doesn’t matter what race, gender, etc. I myself is a strong believer in gender equality I do believe that women should have every right to do anything with their body without being judged or harmed. Historically, there is three important facts underlined a woman’s ability to make choices with regards to her body’s authority of birth control, freedom of social expression, and personal security have shaped a woman’s global perspective.

The social, political, and economical equality of all people regardless of sex, race, or class; this concept has been at the core of the feminist effort since its beginning, although particularly in this current third wave of feminism. In this time of working to create an environment acceptance and equality for all people has caused the current generation of feminists to create new distinctions and boxes into which people can identify. One of the newest, most controversial, and arguably most important is the difference between sex, which is determined on a biological basis, and gender, a socially constructed idea. In a society where masculinity and heterosexuality are not only the norm but expected when it comes to positions of power and success it is imperative that the expression of gender can be viewed separately from the person’s biological sex. In doing this, the idea of the “one woman and one man” archetype is dismantled and a position of power, opportunity, and equality can be give be given to all people not just those who fit into the narrow boxes of the heteropatriarchy. This idealistic way of life can only be achieved if we are able to understand the nuances of what gender is and its infinite forms of expression.

Women have struggled to achieve gender equal rights. Feminist solidarity raises awareness of women’s issues and it gives empowerment to women to continue to fight from inequality and race discrimination. Maia Kotrosits states, “It was not just that we were different . . . it was that we each had a tremendous stake in our difference,” which indicates that women of different races have united to address the problems that they have experienced (Kotrosits 134). Consequently, they will continue to fight for their own equal rights because they deserve to be treated the same as men. The image by Dan Wynn conveys feminist solidarity against discrimination and violence against women, by displaying two women of different races with matching outfits, body language, and expression.

Firstly,This should not be seen as offensive, but to purely make a statement that men and women are still not equal, even in the 21st century, is unacceptable. Respect should be given to both sexes, and women should be given the same privileges men have and the same chances, vice-versa.

Centuries after another and now the present, the twenty-first century still faces a huge issue towards the acceptance on gender equality. Nonetheless, women are unappreciated in today’s society’s workforce. But for Sheryl Sandberg who wrote the article “Lean In”, believes that any women in the world could be whoever they want to be. Sandberg inspires many girls of today’s generation for being a successful woman who followed her dreams and not let inequalities and gender roles affect her. Through Sandberg’s hard work, she became the COO of Facebook and eventually became a billionaire. Her successful story was shared on her essay where she stated encouraging aspects of how women should be. Such as, leaning in to their careers instead of stepping back to focus on family. In addition, Sandberg concludes that women shouldn’t be afraid of pursuing their ambition because of the negative views that they may receive or even the fear of failing. In other hand, the author of “Beyond Lean In”, Bell Hooks argues that leaning in is maybe not for everyone. Hooks criticizes Sandberg about her views of how women should be because Hooks thinks that Sandberg did not consider the women with different backgrounds. Furthermore, Hooks did not ignore the fact that some women struggles to succeed on the workforce due to their race and social class. Hooks points out a very legitimate fact because she actually look at different types of women while Sandberg might not be able to relate to that

Promoting gender and empowering women goes much farther than simply eliminating discrepancy in education. Addressing that matter will then open up an infinite amount of opportunities to provide the solution to each of the eight Millennium Development Goals. For example, providing women with a more enhanced education will lead to more women pursuing more education and more distinguished careers and as a trend more women will put off marriage and childbearing. This immediately affects Millennium Development Goals four and five— reducing child mortality and improving maternal health. In a lot of developing countries, women are typically married off and having children at very young ages when their bodies are still developing. Carrying a developing child is dangerous when the mother’s body is not even fully developed and many times this leads to child mortality and maternal mortality. Therefore, women putting off childbearing and establishing a career first will increase the health of both the mother and the child. According to the 2015 MDG Report, equality has been achieved in primary education between boys and girls which fulfills Millennium Development Goals two and three, achieving universal primary education and promoting gender equality. As a result, maternal mortality has fallen by forty-five percent and child mortality has been more than halved.