Essay On Gender Inequality In The Caribbean

Historically boys were top of the class. Today that is no longer the case. A recent article in The Economist discusses a 2009 study by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) that examined how 15-year-old boys and girls performed in reading, mathematics and science. They found that girls are performing better than their male classmates. This gender gap is worldwide. Girls score higher than boys on tests measuring reading ability in every country in the world (Loveless).

Historically, the concept of gender was a black and white theory. Male and female were the options, and you stayed the way you were born. If you were anything else, you were oppressed and pushed to the fringes of society. It has long been feared to be “out of the ordinary.” Recently, nonbinary and transgender people are challenging the idea of a black and white gender theory by pressing the idea that gender is a spectrum. The gender spectrum is often misunderstood. People who are transgender or nonbinary face complications every day, and these complications have long been unnoticed. Due to a recent shift in society’s views, gender is a popular topic discussed on many different media drawing attention to the issues faced daily. The article “Rethinking Gender” by Robin Marantz Henig is focused on the gender spectrum and the issue of transgender oppression. The video Moving Beyond the Binary of Sex and Gender posted by TEDxTalks clears up misconceptions about being transgender. The two pieces of evidence discuss similar topics in very different ways. Between these two sources, it is simple to understand the gender spectrum, however, “Rethinking Gender” is a stronger piece of evidence in support of the gender spectrum because it provides more personal accounts, statistics, and is more credible.

There are scholars who believe that men are being marginalised and that it is a growing issue within the Caribbean context. Men are said to be treated insignificantly in Caribbean societies and are losing their dominant roles within the educational, social, political and economic

This included the ability to vote, the ability to freely attend institutes of higher education and the right to enter the workforce. According to a 2005 to 2009 survey conducted by Migration Policy Institute, “black Caribbean women (73 percent) are more likely than black African-born females (68 percent) and all U.S. born females (68 percent) to participate in the workforce”. Though some of their demands were met, others equal pay is far from achievable. When it comes to the issue concerning women’s role outside the home of black migrants, all the informants holds no offense, they embrace the idea and feel that all women are free to make their own choices, they also feel that women should be independent. “Being a single mom with five children, I have no regrets doing what I have to for my girls. If I don’t provide for them, then no one will (Pilgrim, N)”. The migration from the West Indies has always been male dominated, this was because men, even in the Caribbean were looked upon as the bread-winners even if women contributed to the household. “In recent decades, the migration of women to Canada and the United States has been partly a response to the demand for domestic servants. Thus, a large share of Caribbean women enters the labor force in these countries at the very lowest level (Palmer,

The roles and characteristics related to males and females vary according to time and culture (Keating 2003). A concept of male breadwinner model gave important impacts on the Australian economic, politics, culture and social field in early twentieth century (Broomhill and Sharp 2005). However, in the past few decades, there has been gradual changes occurred in the Australian gender order (ibid.). Even though men are the dominant gender in the workforce, due to globalization, women gained more opportunity to have jobs in the workforce (Jones 1983). In addition, there are increasing number of women in Australian workforce after World War 2 (Broomhill and Sharp 2005). But still gender inequality has been ongoing debate in the workforce for

In a society that claims to strive for gender-equality, would it be possible to apply measures in order to put to an end the mutual exclusion created by both genders from a young age? In her book Tackling Gender Inequality Raising Pupil Achievement, Christine Forde analyzes and critiques the policy and strategies implemented to tackle gender inequality. Forde’s work is still relevant to today’s society as it deals with issues such as the ‘underachievement’ of boys making it a perfect text to study in order to further understand the underlying causes and problems left to resolve. In this book review, we will be objectively and critically looking at the main arguments within the text, the positive and negative aspects of Forde’s critique as

In 2003 the same study in Brazil done an experiment with adolescent boys and girls in a physics lab about learning behaviors. According to Teixeria (2002) in Brazil there are definite roles for both males and females. In this country the males are dominant and females are subservient. In schools students are generally separated by gender and the people give the faculty great authority; that is they are seen of great value. However, this study found that girls were better at answering questions, taking notes and generally answered for the boys, whereas, boys were defiant and less like to take notes and stay on task. At times boys have shown authority over a female teacher claiming that the teachers haven’t taught him anything. What is also interesting about this culture is that women usually have more education than men yet their statuses is lower, have less pay in jobs, and is not seen as equal. According to Teixira, Villani and Nascimento in their study boys and girls behavior in the school expresses the socialization roles given to them by society (2008, pages 387-398). Clearly, learning can go on and succeed within the context social oppression in gender stereotyping. Unfortunately, those that are learning do not reap in the benefits that a good education can bring such as social status, wages and high position in the job market. With the comparison of the countries of

Gender inequality throughout the world will not start to improve unless we start at the source of the issue. Overall there are many gender inequalities that are geared towards women that will not start to change unless they are corrected at a young age. Girls and women are proven to be disadvantaged in education systems in most parts of the world (“UNESCO Joins Partners…”). Some people argue that gender equality is not the biggest issue in the world because boys also can be disadvantaged. For example, of the boys that are out of school in South and West Asia, 16% of them are unlikely to ever start school (“Girls’ Education and…”). While there are cases in some parts of the

Gender inequalities in the workplace have been an ongoing issue for many years, which has mainly been central to women in the workplace, as senior management has prioritised men over women. This has made it very difficult for women to work their way up to management as women are considered to be incompetent compared to the men in the workplace. The wage gap between men and women has raised much debate, as men are generally more likely to get paid more than women.

Male dominance was also the practice in the white society; men exercised power over their women, and this was filtered down to the slaves as well. Male dominance is more pronounced in the Caribbean than anywhere else in the world. In the United States of America, men are treated as kings and the women are treated as queens. In contrast, if there is a shortage of food in the Caribbean, men would get their full amount, and what is left would be divided up (Barrow, 1996). In today’s society, males dominate some fields such as technology, engineering, and medicine. The lack of success for women in these fields is a result of gender equality. According to O’Conner (2014), the division of labour in the Caribbean has also forced women into the lower

When looking at the data, it shows us that the percentage of female students with a learning achievement in mathematics in primary school is 80% (UN). According the Figure C this same level of learning achievement for male students in primary school is 78% (UN). Girls actually have a lead over the boys. However, this lead that girls have actually made an interesting turn as time moves on. When looking at Figure D, the learning achievement in mathematics for female students in secondary school is at 75% and for male students is at 81% (UN). Not only does the number flip, but the gap between male and female students widens by 8%! The gap widens more into the tertiary level of education. Data coming from the OECD show that 920 graduates in science related majors were female compared to 2,137 graduates that were male. According to Figure E this amounts to 30.1% of graduates in science related majors being female (OECD). There is a vast decrease in females graduating with science related degrees than male students. When looking at female students in health-related majors, we see that the number goes up and is at 8,370 graduates compared to the 4,008 male students in health-related majors. According to Figure F this amounts to 67.6% of

Gender can also have an impact on attainment. On average, the gap in academic achievement between girls and boys is about ten percent, with girls leading. According to statistics, women are higher achievers than men in school. Studies in secondary schools on gender and stereotyping were done in Trinidad + Tobago. In one of the schools, there was a larger female proportion of teachers. They tried many methods of teaching the males but they came to the conclusion that females, “do not know how to approach the male of the species,” they couldn’t deal with boys. (Exploring the Bias, Page, E.) It could be suggested from this study, that boys do not learn well from female teachers and therefore do not do as well as females in exams.

As the issue of the gender gap is so wide I selected literature to review which covered a wide range of theorists and existing studies. Specifically I wanted to identify some of the suggested causes for the underachievement of boys and any already proposed effective strategies which I could execute in my own study.

Gender equity in terms of education is about the socialization of men and women and the results of this process on the life outcomes of the two genders (Husen & Postlethwaite, 1994). In the United States, the education system is required to treat males and females equally. There has been much research done to compare the genders in all areas. In the past, research has found that women fall far behind men in many areas such as math, and science, but men lag behind women in certain areas as well. Over the years, many provisions have been made with the goal of equalizing the treatment of girls and boys in public education. These improvements are proven successful as women, as well as men, are advancing in areas where they tend to lag

In the field of comparative education, studies surrounding girl’s schooling in the developing world, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa, raises questions about the relevant of gender parity as a means to obtain educational equality. The number of out-of-school children consisted of disproportionately of girls in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, comparativists often use quantitative data to analyse the female-to-male ratios on enrollment, access, and educational achievement. The Millennium Development Goals (2000) also focused on increasing access to primary school (Goal 2), and eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary schooling (Goal 3). Yet, such quantitative data does not reveal whether gains in enrollment translate into gains to the social status and livelihood of women in developing countries.