Gender Inequality

Whereas in recent decades major strides toward gender equality have been made, sociologists are quick to point out that much remains to be done if inequalities in the United States are ever to be eliminated. Behind much of the inequalities seen in education, the workplace, and politics is sexism, or prejudice and discrimination because of gender. Fundamental to sexism is the assumption that men are superior to women.

Equality “for both sexes is still somewhat elusive at home” (146). In the United States, “women make up more than 50 percent of the population” but there are only “20 women in the Senate [out of 100 Senators] and 79 women in the House of Representatives [out of 435 Representatives]” with no female President and only one “vice presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro, in 1984” (146-147). Though

We must ask ourselves how this all came to be? Why are men deemed to be effective leaders and outstanding policymakers? Why don’t females’ legislators receive the same acknowledgment? The answers to these pressing questions lie in hidden societal structures. According to Renzetti, the glass ceiling constitutes “the invisible barriers that limit women workers’ and minority workers’ upward occupational mobility”: (Renzetti, Curran, Maier 2012: 422). As women ascend up the career ladder, the glass ceiling effect restrains their job

Throughout the course of history, the roles of men and women have always been directed by gender. In American culture, the male stereotypic role has long been associated with authority, strength, aggression, competitiveness, and dominance. In contrast, female stereotypic roles have been associated with being loving, compassionate, nurturing, and sympathetic. Traditionally, men have worked outside the home and functioned as the sole breadwinner for the family. They held some of the most important jobs in society, such as military men, doctors, lawyers and politicians. Women, on the other hand, were long considered naturally weaker than men and incapable to perform work requiring muscular or intellectual ability. For this reason, throughout most of history, women generally had fewer legal rights and occupational opportunities than men. Motherhood and wifehood were considered a woman’s most important profession and they were expected to stay home and run the household sphere, while working to improve society by raising moral children. It wasn’t until the 20th century that women in America became more “equal” to men. Since then, they have progressed considerably in all aspects of public life – politics, occupation, education, etc. Despite women’s indisputable gains,

Gender inequality has become a more pronounced global dispute among the media in 2016. We can trace the inequality of genders back to the beginning of time, but one major aspect that was discussed in class is coverture. Coverture was a legal doctrine in the early 19th century United States that essentially defined wives to be the legal property of her husband. Women restricted by coverture has no existence outside of their marriage. They had no right to vote, could not own property, or do any business under their own name. Coverture did not come to an end until the mid 20th century, which was a long and torturous fight for women. The Women’s Suffrage movement in the 1920s could be cause for the extinction of coverture altogether.

“Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it”, spoke Hillary Clinton, filling women around the world with the hope and knowledge that the path to greatness will become easier. The glass ceiling is a metaphor, inferring the invisible, informal barriers that keep women from getting promotions, pay raises and further opportunities in life. Seen in the past 2016 election, women were extremely confident that Hillary Clinton was about to shatter the highest and hardest glass ceiling by achieving the topmost position in the world, the first female president. Donald Trump winning the election evidently proved to millions of women that they are faced with inequality

Throughout the decades, women in the United States and all around the world have struggled to be considered equivalent to men, both at home and in the workplace. Women have struggled with voting rights, less pay, lower positions in the workplace, and responsibility of maintaining household chores. Though women have gained voting rights in the United States, women still struggle with the other gender inequalities. In today’s society, women are fighting with more diligence than before to end gender division. Women have made significant leaps and bounds of progress and are fighting to gain full equality. Society, however, still looks down on women and hands men power even with all the amount of progress women have made over the generations. Gender division is an issue that is important in our everyday lives and has momentous effects on the United States. Gender division can be seen through gender roles both in the home and positions and pay in the workplace.

“I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday someone will and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.” This was one of the most memorable lines from Hillary Clinton’s concession speech to Donald Trump. It highlights the state of women in society today, as they are somehow still viewed as incapable of handling such a high position of leadership. But this problem goes beyond simply politics; it boils down to everyday circumstances of gender stereotyping and underrepresentation. With women being denied opportunities every day and young girls growing up believing they don’t have a place in society as a leader or anything more than a supporting character to a man, this is particularly reflected

In the workforce today many people still believe that woman are subjected to certain jobs. Such jobs include: secretaries, nurses, and cashiers. These jobs aren’t exactly corporate or high paying positions. A “glass ceiling” is encompassing woman, and preventing them from attaining promotions beyond a certain position. According to “Understanding Psychology” by Robert S. Feldman, women make up 29% of the science and engineering jobs in the United States educational institutions, however they occupy only 15% of the positions at the top 50 research

Despite the fact that the inequality has been principally reduced and women have gained their rights through protesting, the ongoing imbalance between genders regrettably still exists in the political world. According to the statistics gathered by the Center of American Women Politics , female politicians are the minority in both legislative institutions. Firstly, we should examine The House of Representatives. In 2013, men accounted for 82.1% while their female colleagues accounted for 17.95, which accentuates the previously stated disproportion. Furthermore, the male senators additionally dominated the halls of the Senate. As stated by Center of American Women , 80% male dominated the American Senate. Cherise Charleswell, a feminist journalist

As our first female presidential candidate, it was controversial towards her ability be competent to manage a country. Although many people are pursuing gender equality in America, they still hold prejudices and discrimination towards women because of their “vulnerable” image. It is not surprising that more than half of white men choose to vote for Trump instead of Clinton by Christine Williams 's concept of Glass ceiling & glass escalator. Williams argued that women in the United States face the predicament of Glass Ceiling, “invisible barriers” that restrains their promotion in male-dominated jobs. On contrary, men are considered to be Glass Escalators in which they are push up in their professions by invisible pressures. (Williams ) Under this situation, an occupational segregation exists: women and men hold the same job title at an individual establishment or company, but actually do different jobs. People generally

Women in American society have endured numerous struggles to fight for equality throughout history. Today American women have come a long way by narrowing gender gaps and becoming successful in aspects of life that are prominently male dominated. Although American women are living a better life than they were years ago, they still deal with inequality when it comes to the workforce, income, politics, domestic duties, and sex. The reason women are not equal to men in these aspects of life are because men hold most of the jobs in the STEM fields of work, make higher incomes than women in the same level of employment, dominate congress and the government, not looked upon to take care of the house duties, and are praised for sex rather than shamed like women are. Living as an American woman today is far from difficult but in contrast, living as an American man is still substantially better.

Social status and structures have definitely shaped the construction and experience of gender inequality. Men and women are constantly analyzed, compared, and grouped together in society. The result of this yields discrepancies in how sexes are viewed by society. Throughout my examination and explanation of gender inequality, I concluded both men and women are victims to gender inequality.

The issue of gender inequality towards women in male-dominated fields still occurs today despite an equality law implanted over 50 years ago. The purpose of this collected research is to address the issues of sex-discrimination in traditional male careers such as segregated stereotypes, unfair career advancements and the gender based wage gap. Throughout the research process, discoveries revealed that women are viewed by males as incapable of completing work in male-based fields such as construction and engineering, are rarely eligible for management positions in careers (based on their gender, not skill level) and only make 73-85% income as compared to their male colleagues.

Gender inequality is a topic that has manifested the news in the recent years. Stories of women being sexually harassed, the expanding wage gap, and women fighting for their rights is a topic that has no problem making the news every night. As both gender can experience gender inequality, women often are the oppressed gender in society. As a society, Americans have failed to minimize the amount of inequality that takes place in everyday interactions. How many times as a woman heard, “That is a man’s job. You should not be doing that,” in life decisions or tasks. Americans should combat gender inequality because it hurts both genders. Women lack political and economic power, experience more sexual harassment and workplace discrimination, and are susceptible to gender roles and stereotypes.