Gender Gap : Racism, And Gender Inequality

After reading the articles assigned to us, my assumptions of feminism and feminists were questioned tremendously. I had assumed feminism was the superiority of women over men and I thought feminists were bitter women who hated men; however, I discovered feminism is simply the notion that genders should be treated equally. The three ideas of sexism, racism, and classism intersect because they were all ideas created in order to build a system of hierarchy. Historically, sexism and racism can correlate back to early America when woman were second to men and African Americans were second to women simply because of their color. From this, we can see that women of color were and still are underprivileged, which can mean fewer opportunities throughout life. Finally, taking class into account, women generally receive lower salaries than men who do similar

In recent years and in light of recent tragedies, police actions, specifically police brutality, has come into view of a large, public and rather critical eye. The power to take life rests in the final stage of the criminal justice system. However, the controversy lies where due process does not. While the use of deadly force is defined and limited by departmental policies, it remains an act guided chiefly by the judgment of individual officers in pressure situations. (Goldkamp 1976, 169). Many current studies have emphasized the racial disparities in minority deaths, primarily black Americans, killed by police through means of deadly force. The history of occurrences reveals the forlorn truth that police reforms only receive attention in wake of highly publicized episodes of police misconduct. The notorious 1992 Los Angeles riots brought the matter to mass public attention and prompted improved law enforcement policy. Significant local reforms resulted, for instance, ending the policy of lifetime terms for police chiefs. Additionally, on a broader platform, in 1994, Congress approved provisions to the Crime Control Act in effort to tackle police abuse in a more structured way.

Throughout the semester, we have discussed many different social justice issues. One issue that has stuck with me is gender and racial inequality. Gender inequality is very important to me because I was raised by a single mother and surrounded by women all the time. I do not believe that anyone should be payed or treated differently due to their gender. While growing up, I saw that women are capable for doing anything and often times have to work harder than men to prove themselves. Racial inequality is an issues that is important to me because I feel that all individuals should be equal. I think Dr. King’s idea of color blindness, not today’s definition, should be something that we as a society strive for. We need to move past the idea that

Race and gender are two important terms in society that define us. However, they lead to inequality among individuals. "Race is a socially defined category based on real or perceived biological differences between groups of people" (Ferris and Stein 216). It is based off our biological makeup that distinct us from others (Ferris and Stein). Many people do not know the actual term of race, how deeply rooted it is, or where it derived from, but it all works in one form. Race goes a long way from how you may appear to someone. Just because someone looks a certain race does not mean they will not have inevitably biological material from other races. It is very diverse between many different populations. Race does not identify who you are but what social category you are from. Gender is how you physically appear in society. "Gender is the physical, behavior, and personality traits that a group considers to be normal, natural, right, and good for its male and female members" (Ferris and Stein 243). It is the identity of masculine and feminine. Gender identifies who we are and it reflects deeply on a person's personality. They normally change over time from the assigned sex given at birth. Society has its way of discriminating between race and gender and it shows differences distributed among individuals.

Oppression thrives in America because a majority of its citizens believes forms of oppression such as racism and sexism are relics of the past. What they do not know is that instead of disappearing, racism and sexism have just become so normalized in the United States to the point where people see them as just parts of everyday life. Institution are the rules and establishments put in place to help regulate peoples’ life on a social and global scale. White, straight men have been creating these institutions since America was first being settled. These customs and administrations were forged in ways meant to keep out those who White man deemed inferior all the while making their racist and sexist views the norms. When a society’s norms are made by people who see racism and sexism as natural, then women and people of color have no chance to prosper. While over time some of the overtly racist and sexist ideals of the past are now seen in a negative light, the institutions made by the dominate group still exist and continue to work in ways that keep White men on top (Sensoy, 2012, p.80 ). A society was made in which its people are socialized into believing ideas like women do not need any more right and that anything negative people of color experience is their own fault. By examining how sexism and racism continues to oppress minorities in society, it becomes easier to see, how despite no longer being acknowledged, White male supremacy is not a thing of the past.

When it comes to healthcare racial disparities continue to be an ongoing issue. In fact racial disparities have been a topic of discussion since desegregation. The US Department of Health and Human Services, in 1984 published a report that called attention to the healthcare disparities. The report was called Heath, United States 1983(Dougher, 2015). Within the context of the report there lies a passage that describes the major disparities that are within the burden of illness and death that is experienced by African Americans and other minorities, “despite significant progress in the overall health of the nation” (Dougher, 2015). It was evident that there was a serious lack of health care minorities.

For centuries and even today, gender inequality and racial prejudice continue to exist. Throughout time these concepts have overlapped and intertwined, each other creating complex interactions and a negative influence upon society. In the 1980s, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw through her article, named Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, introduced the term “Intersectionality.” Intersectionality, is the theory of how different types of discriminations interact thus, goes hand in hand with Judith Butler, in her article titled “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” which expresses the term “gender acts” and helps decipher a probable cause of the many discriminations faced in contemporary society. Since both gender inequality and racial inequality share a common thread, I believe that what intersectionality represents will help understand Judith Butler’s view on gender classification and the dynamic it’s caused on our social and political formation.

The black/white racial gap dates back about fifty years to the Civil War. This gap is an ongoing problem. As stated in a previous discussion, the best way to look at this is to place a white and black student in a race. Not only does the white student have a head start but they have less obstacles to overcome. While through no fault of their own, these black students could have obstacles such as: their parents not graduating high school or college themselves which in fact contributes to a lower success rate for them, improper education where the teachers shorten the curriculum or even outside factors such as family or neighborhood interfere with the quality of education they receive or even being unable to attend school all together to take

Racism is not only shown to the different cultures and races; women in America are also faced with racism. Over half the population in America is women, yet they are still fighting for equality. Women have waged an ongoing battle for equality in much the same way as other racial minorities. Women are constantly harassed on the choices they make, whether it concerns their personal life or their careers. If a woman is sexually active, she is open to censure and punishment; being called names such as loose, a tramp or a whore. Men are not

Racism and inequalities have existed, exists now, and will be here long after we are gone. However, racism in this country has been diminished greatly, and though it will never be fully eradicated, it is to the point where all races and ethnicities can achieve great things. All aspects of life, such as income levels, success in the arts, and even college entrance are not beholden to systemic racism. It is a person's own drive, personal life choices, and willingness to work hard that determine their level of achievement. Of the many cultures in this country, some are more goal driven and can better thrive in a capitalist society. Then there are some cultures that don’t do so well. So, even though racism does exist in the united states, it is not to the point where it grants benefits to white people.

The last hundred years have brought the world many valuable things; computers, better sanitation conditions, understandings of diseases, vaccines, surgery, education, and so much more. But there are so many social constructs that have made little progress such as racism, sexism, and homophobia. In reality vaccines and sexism are manmade, a vaccine is a manmade invention and sexism is a manmade idea. Neither would exist without human beings backing the idea that they are necessary. Racism is “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior (Oxford Dictionary).” Racism over the last hundred years has been directed towards Blacks, Hispanics, and Asian’s. Looking at the past in relation to racism in the United States, reveals that racism is still alive and well in 2015 just as it was in 1915.

“In New York City, where colored people are about half of the population, 80% of the NYPD stops were of blacks and Latinos.”(Quigley 1) Racism is like a barricade holding colored people back from becoming as successful as they want to be. Racism affects people in the workplace by limiting their chances to seize a job or promotion they are qualified for and should get. As an example, it has been proven that people who have white names have double the chance to be interviewed for a job than a person with an African American name. Racism is not the only persecution that affects people, sexism also is still a big problem in America. Sexism demeans and is unfair to women all around the globe, these women deserve to be treated as equal to men. In terms of women in leadership positions, the number of women with managerial positions is substantially lower than men. “In 2009, less than a quarter of CEOs were women in the US, and they earned significantly less than their male colleagues made.” (Gender Inequality and Women in the US Labor Force) Women are treated differently, even in places where gender has absolutely no importance towards the job. As an example, most people interview women and men differently, many questions women have to answer have zero importance to their qualification for the job. For example, interviewers ask women about children, which has

The movie industry has developed tremendously with movies made that are not afraid to address the current social issues in the world. There is also a trend today where more books are made into movies with the list being endless such as the popular hunger games and Harry Potter books. This caters to those who prefer watching the aspects of the book rather than reading and those who have read the book and what their imagination of scenes in the book fulfilled. The Help (2011) is an adaptation from the book with the same title by Kathryn Stockett. The movie is about African American maids and the hardships they had to endure working for white families during the civil rights

Fundamentally, gender, racism and class are three controversial social issues that have for a long period triggered heated debate in the American society. In essence, this issues concern the daily lives of American citizen and immigrants disregarding their class, social status, educational level or the position they hold in the society. Therefore, it is imperative that these issues are analyzed comprehensively in order to take an informed stand about the impact they have to the society. This paper, seeks to critically examine how gender, racism and class are addressed in the two movies “Bread and Roses “and ”Hammering it”.

The 21-st century is characterized by the continuous economic downfall. The relationship between race, class and gender should be evaluated to identify the life chances of people to improve their relative position in our socially stratified world. The increased rates of unemployment, homelessness and poverty show that our society requires implementing a transformative approach to reduce social stratification. The term social stratification is applied to identify and asses different forms of inequality that exist in the US society. Patricia H Collins suggests, “while a piece of the oppressor may be planted deep within each of us, we each have the choice of accepting that piece or challenging it as part of the 'true focus of revolutionary change'” (p. 680). Inequality has become a universal feature of our society; therefore, it exists everywhere and concerns race, class, and gender as the key categories of society.