Essay Gender versus Racial Differences in American Culture

"CHINK!!!! Yeah..that's right…look at us with those chinky eyes! Go back to where you belong!" Those words will forever ring in my ears. I was standing in line for lunch while talking to a friend while a couple of boys, fourth and fifth graders, were making fun of the only Asian girl in the school, me, a lonely kindergartener. I will never forget that moment when I realized that I was different.

Over the past few decades, great strides have been made by women in the workplace. This increased number in women in the workplace does not mean equality however. Even with equal qualifications and achievements, women are still not given all the opportunities that men have. The chapter in the textbook, “Gender at Work”, shows us more of these inequalities in the workplace. Such inequalities cause gender segregation of jobs and can be linked with the pay inequality in the labor force. Even in jobs that are predominantly filled by women, men earn more than women. Women are often stereotyped as being family focused and not as able to travel, therefore they tend to get passed up for promotions (Garson p.353). This invisible barrier that keeps women from moving up the executive ladder is referred to as the “glass ceiling” (Baxter and Wright p. 346). Women also tend to do more domestic work, or unpaid labor and caregiving. This extra unpaid work is referred to as “the third shift” and is largely rested on the shoulders of women (Gersel p. 352). Consequently, this seems to be one of the biggest things holding women back from taking on jobs that are normally considered male

“Well, it’s a bit of a foreign idea to me, really. The town I’m from, my school was 99% white. Literally, we had two black girls and a half-Peruvian guy in my class of 140. So the emphasis on diversity is interesting to me, more than anything. Because I can’t relate to it. I’ve never seen it in action, as it were.

America is greatly influenced and enhanced by the many versatile cultures which inhabit it. Cultural diversity has added to our economy in such a way that it brings innovated ideas and contact structures throughout the world. International cuisines have come to America through subcultures, have expanded the food industry, and have allowed English Americans to try new foods and flavors. Immigrants have brought with them religious values that greatly differ and vary from those at which were natural in the main stream American culture. The educational development through foreign nationals has led America, as a nation, to excel and be deemed one of the most intelligent nations in the world! Consequently, the subcultures have kept our

Date: Thursday February 8, 2001 Work Place Roles Of Men and Women Compared in Today’s Society

Anthropologists have always had their discrepancies with the word culture and its background significance. There have been numerous definitions that have filtered through the field, yet not one that everyone can accept or agree with. Franz Boas, an anthropologist in the early 20th Century, and his students, had a difficult time figuring out the objective of what culture is. Culture is about learning and shared ideas about behaviour. Although Boas and his students had a slightly different idea in mind. They ultimately reached a conclusion, a definition of culture in their view that is a contradiction in terms. Boas sates that, “ culture was expressed through the medium of language but was not reducible to it;

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.

The film Ethnic Notions examines the various caricatures of African Americans in popular culture and the consequences of these representations from the 1800s to the 1980s. The film showed how America went through a face of injustice for a period of time. The internet defines stereotype as qualities assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality and sexual orientation, to name a few. (Kemick) Throughout American history, African Americans have been victims of stereotypes in many ways. White majority use violence caricatures, stereotypes, dominance, subordination and the media as ways to overpower African Americans.

“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

Race, Class and Gender issues are commonly brought up. Throughout history many groups have been stigmatized not just for their race, but for their sex, and class as well. People of lower class incomes get slandered for where they live and for not having the economical means to purchase most common goods. Women have been considered the weaker sex for centuries, and currently, some of the old fashioned and ignorant theories on women being subordinate to men prevail.

Gender, ethnicity, and race inequalities and the issues surrounding them in the workplace have been on the forefront of society’s mind for decades. The problem of inequality in the workplace has become one of the most important and vital issues in our society today. In order to understand fully the reasons for these inequalities, one must try to understand the factors that cause gender, ethnicity, and racial issues within the workplace, yet in this case, we will tend to focus mostly towards gender inequality in the workplace. One typically thinks locally

Fostering cultural awareness in children has many benefits that contribute to the overall development of children. Educators encounter challenges that may include academic pressure, collaborating with diverse families, and meeting the needs of the students. This paper examines theoretical perspectives using a longitudinal study. The study examined the experiences of children ages 3.5 to 5.5, by using their everyday experiences of race and ethnic diversity in their classroom setting.

The generation now has made it easier to equalize men and women but there is still a substantial amount of places where gender inequality is still happening in the workplace and where females still face discrimination. Women are often discriminated in the workplace and are usually not promoted as quickly as men are and they also receive less pay. History shows that women have not always been defined as property and thought of as second class citizens. But in the 21st century many have seen a drastic change in the so called “traditional” family ways where women are suppose to stay home and take care of the household chores, food, and children and men are suppose to work to support their family and provide financial stability. Many assume that in the workplace women are more vulnerable and less competent than men because women 's instincts are to put their family before work or anything else. Whereas men are the ones who will usually stay the late hours to work. People on both sides of the political spectrum and everywhere in between seem to be fearful of what is to come and more fearful of others than they are often willing to admit.

The concept of gender denotes the distinction between culturally driven and created roles of masculinity and femininity. These specific and normalized attitudes and behaviors transcend and effect how differently men and women live their lives. Based on society’s continual re-enforcement of such gender stereotypes, we see an on-going dilemma of gender inequality. Though some may argue that men experience gender inequality, this seems to exist on a much more invasive level for women. As of recently, the awareness of gender inequality in the workplace has increased. With the fight for equal pay and equal respect, society is already making strides towards the equality of women. With that being said, one aspect of gender inequality that seems

There are two major cultural divisions, Hispanic and Caucasian, to further complicate the work environment the ratio of Male to female workers is 20 to 1. No effort from either group of being sensitive to the others existence is apparent. (DuBrin, 2004, p. 67). Management’s main concern is for “ethnic diversity” to the point of not having issues with the equal employment opportunity act.