Gender Inequality In Society

In the 1900’s, women began to fight the battle that would eventually be the win of a lifetime: the right to vote. The 19th amendment finally granted them their wishes. In 1920, women wanted the same rights and equality as men. Women during this time were treated as minorities because they were immigrants, or people of color, but all were unable to vote. These strong and encouraging women put together large groups and organizations to fight for what they wanted. They were fearless and ready for anything that came their way.

Living in peace needs equality of men and women because humans don’t fight if all humans have equality. Everyone has a chance to get peace and happiness, but some people cannot because of custom. For example, in the past, women had to work for men, and there was a gender discrimination. From 19th to early 20th century, women fought against women’s issues such as education, economic, violence, and abortion because women’s position is very low and weak, so they couldn’t have decision rights. However, the society became better as the years went by. The comparison between past and present history shows the current situation of gender issues in the workplace and in education, and results shows how gender equality is important for peace.

For decades, women struggled to gain their suffrage, or right to vote. The women’s suffrage movement started in the decades before the Civil War, and eventually accomplished its goal in the year of 1920 when the 19th Amendment was ratified into the U.S. Constitution. After the U.S. Civil War, the women’s suffrage movement gained popularity and challenged traditional values and sexism in the country; the increase of progressive social values benefited the women suffragists by allowing them to succeed in passing the 19th Amendment which changed the role of women in society, guaranteed them a voice in politics, and encouraged future generations to struggle for women’s equal rights.

Women in America never felt equally to the men. They never felt as if they had the same potential or freedoms the men had. Women, like men, felt they were entitled these rights. This lead to many campaigns, protests, etc. Women fought for these rights for years with little to show for it. But, on August 26th, 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment was passed giving women the right to vote. In the 1920’s women wanted equality, which fueled the suffrage movement that allowed key women to lead the charge and fight for reforms.

In the world, there is inequality in everything. But there is a ton of inequality in the work force. The tension that this inequality causes is brought home to the family. The resentment that is felt toward male workers is brought into the house and causes unnecessary arguments among married couples. Now if there is inequality in the home as well as at work, the probability for fighting is more likely to increase. These fights maybe just verbal fights, but it may lead to physical violence. I’m going to use my personal experience to explain inequality and marriage.

In an ideal world, America is the land of opportunity, promise, and freedom, but in reality, American society is dominated by a materialistic, prejudiced, isolated, and consumerist culture. The atmosphere surrounding the nation promotes a social hierarchy, separates individuals into collective identities such as gender, race, religion, and wealth, and distorts our national identity. In essence, the privileged status of being an American entitles us to a false sense of superiority resulting in animosity, distrust, fear of foreigners, and egocentricity.

Gender inequality is the difference in the way someone is treated perceive depending if they are a male or female. Throughout the years, it was common to see a great inequality in the way women were treated. It is not just that males and females are biologically and anatomically different rather that society has created stereotypes as a way to assign roles for both, making a gap between them. There has been a long battle in the women’s community as a way to try to achieve equality. One of the greatest accomplishments on equality happened in 1920 with the 19th amendment. The 19th amendment is accountable of providing women with the right to vote. Even after the battles it is still common to find gender inequality in today’s society. Society has created a setting in which men uphold roles that make sure to prove their power and superiority. We can find that gender inequality still exist in settings such as families, workforce, sports or politics.

Both women and men are consumers, exploiters and managers of natural resources. In rural areas, it is common that women are the managers of natural resources such as forest, water and land. Women live in rural area are often less educated, and do not have as stable job. Therefore, they are usually housewives. But these women are the main power of rural micro-economic activities. According to the lecture notes, Women play important role in such communities because their traditions and knowledge bring them in closer with these natural resources, and they need to harvest , collect, process and grow those natural resources especially in agricultural for their families to survive. In places that suffer from desertification, issues related to water management and conservation is extremely important. Concerns of influences especially on provision of clean water are increasing. Women play roles as collectors and users of water in desertification areas. They get to decide where to collect water, how to draw, transport and store it, how much water to draw, how many sources of water to exploit and for what purposes. These types of activities put them as the center of their family. In fishery, women engage in a wide range of activities in the fishery industry. Situations vary individually, however, women participant in fishing as a worker to do some pre or post activities including seafood processing or some women even play as the main fisher.

Currently, 63 percent of female college students identify as feminist (Zimmerman). Despite the growing popularity of this term, society is oblivious to what feminism truly is. Many people have a negative connotation of feminists, and would never consider themselves to be one because they don’t know that feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights.  Additionally, society has become brainwashed to the sexism both men and women face on a day to day basis. Therefore, feminist beliefs should be integrated into each man and woman’s life because gender inequality negatively affects all members of society.

The United States is constantly facing inequality issues in gender, race, education and social class. Overall, inequality has increased substantially, with the overall level approaching the Great Depression. (Inequality). Any person with less than a college degree has a significant lower median wage than someone that has a college degree. Additionally, a female does not have as high of a wage as a male worker has. Unfortunately, in society today, these inequality problems have grown worse and worse because the use of technology. Technology is becoming more involved in a person’s life everyday. Current increased use of technology has led to more inequality among society.

Inequality is the lack of equality to certain people based on numerous things (Sternheimer 136). In this paper, I intend to discuss inequality and how it affects gender, race, disabilities, and social classes. Many people in the United States struggle with inequality on a daily basis, whether it be not being able to find a job due to skin color or socioeconomic status or not given the same opportunity as others due to a disability. A perfect example of inequality is portrayed in the medical drama “The Good Doctor” in the drama we see a surgeon with autism who struggles to get a residence as a surgeon in a hospital because of his mental disability. They label his disability as a liability and all except one of the hospital board members do not want to give him a job.

“Glass Ceiling” is a metaphor that describes an invisible barrier that prevents women from achieving success. This is a metaphor widely used in the 1900s and is still used today. In the past, a woman’s role was perceived to be only for reproduction. They are seen as the housewives, or the fragile, weak person. Hence, laws on equality were ratified. Even with laws created to improve gender equality, women are still suffering from the lost opportunities and disrespect of society. Politics, workforce, and childhood upbringing are elements that prove how inequality in females still exist today in the United States.

Gender inequality lives amongst both men and women around the world. As gender separation has played a big part in the evolution of genders, this has brought about a major setback for women, because it has created men superiority, which evidently put women on the lower spectrum of society. This issue has affected the way women are being paid, how much political power and voice they own, and restrictions placed upon their actions. The only way this could be stopped is if the world changes the way both men and women are taught in order to change current views, but instead choose to continue to shrink womens’ ambitions because it would be considered ‘a threat to men’, without understanding that is not only affecting the women of today, but also the women of tomorrow.

Malala Yousafzai once stated, “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.” The concept that women are inferior to men has been around since the dawn of time. If the human race cannot be proactive in altering this ridiculous ideology nothing will ever change. Gender inequality as stated by the Oxford Dictionary is “ A social process by which people are treated differently and disadvantageously, under similar circumstances, on the basis of gender.” This can include unequal career opportunities, unequal wages for the same occupation, unequal education opportunities, etc. The list could extend for miles. Today more than ever our country needs equality for all to ensure the timely advancement of our society. Ultimately, gender inequality is one of the most pressing issues in our nation as well as the world today; women are constantly being targeted in violent manners, denied basic freedoms and a plethora of opportunities because of the sex they were born with or chose to become.

As we are all birth equally throughout the world, there is still contingency that causes a barrier between human kinds. What barriers are we talking about that can’t be changed through our DNA? That is our gender. When each of us are born into the world, we are labeled as male or female due to our genetical DNA and different types of organs (WHO). Yet, society still isn’t as balance enough and there are still so much discrimination in gender in even today’s society.