Gender Inequality

Gender relations and gender identities are critical aspects of culture because they shape the way daily life is lived in the family, but also in the larger community and within the workplace. Gender (like race or ethnicity) functions as an organizing principle for society because of the cultural meanings given to being male or female. This is apparent in the overall understanding of gender. In most societies, there are obvious patterns of “women’s work” and “men’s work,” both in the household and in the wider community, and cultural explanations support this. The patterns and explanations vary among societies and change over time.

For centuries, there have been many societies with stereotypical gender roles that usually involve the men holding the positions of power and the women doing the domestic chores. Historically, men are usually considered to be the stronger of the two sexes and in most societies, it is up to the men to take care of the family. During the twentieth century, women in America began breaking boundaries when they earned the right to vote. More recently, there has been a breakthrough with gender roles as women are beginning to take charge in the workplace. Now, gender roles are not as defined and clear.

Throughout every society’s history, there has been a prevalent inequality between the females and males of that population. Women have been considered slaves or property belonging to men; thus they have been viewed as second-class citizens and intellectual inferior. Most prominent is the idea that a women’s purpose in life was to remain in the domestic sphere. This meant their interactions and occupations within the public sphere was severely limited. This preconceived bias towards women’s only job to be a wife remained constant through centuries although the degrees of pressure on women varied. As decades progressed into the late 1800s to present time, a women’s occupational world had a chance grow outside their domestic sphere. Although

Gender inequality plays a critical role when it comes to social progress. As a woman,

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.

To understand gender roles, one must study what it is and how it affected society. Before the 1900’s gender roles affected education for women, “Higher education for women was virtually non-existent in 1820s America” (Beecher). In the 1800’s it was unlikely for women to continue their education at a university since it was ideal for women to stay at home. In contrast to women, men were expected to continue their educations and start a career to support their families. Once women were allowed to attend university they were still limited in their professions. Gender roles made it difficult for women to be in a certain career, “…they restrict the choices of women and men both by prescribing attitudes regarding social relations toward being a parent and choices in one 's professional

Gender roles is a very controversial topic in today’s society, especially when it comes to working. 100 years ago, in Europe, women were working long hours in factories. Women also worked as nurses, cleaned wealthy people 's homes, worked the fields, and were craftswomen. In other areas, women have been working the fields, handicrafts, and workshops. Meanwhile, 100 years ago in the United States women were expected to stay home and take care of the family/home, while the men went out and worked an average of ten hours a day for six days a week, compared to the traditional five day weeks and 8 hour days.

The Industrial Revolution of the end of the nineteenth century marked the first massive entry of women in the industrial workforce. Indeed, they provided “an inexpensive supply of unskilled labor” (Lapidus 1978). Women primarily worked in the industry, with an emphasis on textile and garments which were respectively 68% and 80% women dominated fields in 1932, (Heitlinger 1979). Women also represented the majority of “education, sciences and scientifical services” employees, representing between 54% and 58% of the labor force between 1929 and 1940 (Sacks 1977). World War I by draining young able-bodied men emptied factories and gave the opportunity to women to access male dominated fields (“from 26.6 percent of the workforce in 1914, the proportion of women in the industry as a whole rose to 43.2% by 1917” (Engel 2004)).

Around the world, women are forced to operate through a patriarchal filter created by their societies. Women that coexist in this world are organized into groups: age, class, ethnic, and gender (11). The roles of each groups are viewed as being "set", having been learned, practiced, and reinforced by every agent within the society. However, the roles are a fabrication of our society and can easily be redefined and learned, become fluid. A once "static" gender norm of women being able to make wage labor, have shifted with many women around the world getting paid to work in factories, fields, and offices. Addressing these "static" gender roles will take some understanding of the society: culture, history, language and some analysis of their

Gender inequality in the sports world is unfair to women on how they can not play a male dominated sport. If there is a women 's sport it is less participated than a male sport would be. Women in sports are underpaid. Women who play sports are paid more attention if they wear provocative clothes. Men get the most attention and money from people who involve their self with sports. The sports world is very sexist and give males more opportunities to do bigger and better things.

Gender roles are social constructs that determine how men and women are viewed, categorized, and stereotyped. In theory, gender roles seem benign: they are, after all, simply relics of cultural tradition; in practice however, they have proved malignant, and are the root of many obstacles women and men face in the United States today, confining individuals through archaic, sexist assumptions and stereotypes. At the heart of this stereotyping is the idea that true women are sensitive, nurturing, and submissive to the more aggressive, dominant men (Carlton). Gender roles and associated sexism are the glue that binds gender to societal expectations about personality characteristics, jobs, and colors. Despite the astounding progress women have made, equality between men and women has yet to be achieved, and it is no question that gender roles are present in today’s society, contributing to the inequality women face. The impacts of gender roles are not limited to restrictive societal roles and pressures, but also contribute to health-related, economic and political inequality. Gender roles encourage the dominance of men and restrict the freedom of women. Awareness of gender roles and their detrimental effects is absolutely necessary in order for women to achieve true social and political equality in the United States.

The Industrial Revolution of the end of the nineteenth century marked the first massive entry of women in the industrial workforce. Indeed, they provided “an inexpensive supply of unskilled labor” (Lapidus 1978). Women primarily worked in the industry, with an emphasis on textile and garments which were respectively 68% and 80% women dominated fields in 1932, (Heitlinger 1979). Women also represented the majority of “education, sciences and scientifical services” employees, representing between 54% and 58% of the labor force between 1929 and 1940 (Sacks 1977). World War I by draining young able-bodied men emptied factories and gave the opportunity to women to access male dominated fields (“from 26.6 percent of the workforce in 1914, the proportion of women in the industry as a whole rose to 43.2% by 1917” (Engel 2004)).

Industrialization presented women with small amounts of free time they had not previously been accustomed to. With factories doing what women had usually been left to do at home, they now had

Women are one-half of the world population they deserve equal opportunity as men because at the end gender equality is part of humanity progress. Many women around the world are treated less favoured than men not only in countries that have traditional gender role but even in societies that believe in equal right for both male and female. Gender inequality means unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. It results from differences in socially constructed gender roles. Inequality is an issue that has a negative effect on both the individual and society. This essay will outline some of the issues that women face in different societies devoted and devolving like inequality in education, work and violence and it will also highlight some of women rights that able the women to have more power (world Economic Forum, 2014).

In the ancient era, when the mankind sustained their lives through agricultural means, females were mainly given roles to stay in the house and execute domestic work because in an agricultural society, it was effective to use male workers who had strong physical features than female. Even after the mankind discard traditional agricultural society, female employees were considered to be a taboo in communities. The scale of female labor participation expanded dramatically in the beginning of industrial revolution, when massive amounts of labor forces were required for textile and iron industries. Female workers were preferred by the companies because they had “swift fingers” that male workers did not have, and they were paid lower wage compared to male workers (Butschek, p.17). When the World War II broke out, male workers had to forfeit their job because they were drafted. Therefore, female workers automatically replaced the seats of male workers to run the economy (Farmer, 2014).