How Inequality Affects A Woman 's Social Class Essay

As individuals, we are all given assigned aspects that define us. Race, gender, and social class are just a few of the characteristics that make us who we are. We also choose to take on certain aspects that reflect our own interests such as careers, fashion, and fandom. When our chosen and assigned aspects come together, our own identity is formed. These parts eventually impact and affect each other with the idea of intersection. The interconnection of being a woman and belonging to a certain career cross and act on each other in ways that are mostly negative. Many women find being successful in their careers very difficult especially women who are based into a male dominated industry.

A college education is proven to increase an individual 's earnings, however, women’s earnings are still not as much as men’s, even when they have the same degree (Patten, 2015).

Gender inequality has engulfed the United States and placed copious varying roles onto the male and female sexes. According to Leila Aboulela, Minaret, “All through life there were distinctions - toilets for men, toilets for women; clothes for men, clothes for women - then, at the end, the graves are identical.” Discrimination places women into different roles and takes away numerous privileges. However in America today after more than a century of struggles by dedicated activists who fought to alter these ideals and gain further rights, the perception of women in society and their contributions to society have been greatly transformed.

Income inequality is a big ongoing problem in the United States. It has a big effect on what America was all about, the American dream. The American dream that everyone is equal and has equal opportunities. Although a big part of what goes on in the Untied States that just doesn’t fit the American dream; women are unequal in the work place. They are put under what is known as the “Glass Ceiling”. Women do not get promoted in the work place and aren’t getting equal pay as men. This also leads to wag gap between the men and women. Both create income inequality for women and affect their American Dream. There is a long history of women having to deal with the “Glass Ceiling”. Over time woman have made progress but more progress is

In this paper I will be discussing class, race, gender, sex, and how they relate to feminism. The first theme that I will be looking into is the role that social class and gender play in how others view us. The second theme that I will be delving into is the role that social class and gender play in how we view ourselves, and how this affects our role in society. Finally, the third theme that I will be looking at is the harmful nature of letting our differences divide us. I will use A Question of Class by Dorothy Allison to discuss the effects that class can have on how people view you, and on how you view yourself. I will use the reading Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference by Audre Lorde to show how we let our difference divide us and how we can work to change that. Both of these readings will be used to show the damaging effects that letting our difference come between us can have. This paper will show that our class, our gender, and other defining factors of who we are play a large role in how society views us and how we view ourselves.

From reading the selection entitled “The Second Shift” Women have pushed forward in the struggle for equality in society. Whether it be in the work field or at home today women are front runners in the professional world. More women are going to college than men as proved in recent studies. Women have outnumbered men on college campuses since 1979, and on graduate school campuses since 1984. More American women than men have received bachelor 's degrees every year since 1982. Even on most campus, the Admissions Offices have received more applications from women for early decision candidacy than men for the eighth straight year. The wage gap is slowly decreasing and the fight for proper day care services along with insurance are passionate issues for women across America. From the outside, it seems we have come a long way. But step closer. Stop looking at the fights we have won and are continuing to fight as measures of our success in both aspects. Look deeper. Look into the everyday life of a working woman today in the United States. What you will find there tells a very different story of a woman 's world today. I know I have as a working mother and coming home to do homework and other household duties as well.

Freedom and equality are ideas this country has had for centuries that have evolved over time. In 1776, what Thomas Jefferson meant by “all men are created equal”, is that white males are dominant in society. Women are treated worse than men and slaves treated worse than women. People that weren’t of the “superior” race/gender of a white male were typically treated as if they were less. Women and African-Americans aren’t being treated as bad today, but they’re still being treated worse than the white males of society. Even today, when white males are typically the leaders of society, it’s not always race and gender that creates inequality; sometimes it’s money that creates the issue. Not just from past evidence, but from present

The idea of social inequality dates back since the time of our founding fathers. The mistreatment and unlawful equality and opportunity that these foreigners received became embedded into our history—this endless list includes, just to name a few, the Irish, Chinese, Jews, and most notably the African Americans (Blacks), who became slaves to the American people. Here in the United States, the current social class system is known as the class system, where families are distributed and placed into three different existing class—the upper class (wealthy), middle class (working), and lower class (poor). Since then, improvisations have been worked on into the class system, establishing now roughly six social classes: upper class, new money, middle class, working class, working poor, and poverty level. Social stratification is a widely common topic of debate because there have since been many arguments and debates on this controversial situation of social inequality and how it relates to social class and social mobility. According to Economist Robert Reich, he states that "The probability that a poor child in America will become a poor adult is higher now than it was 30 years ago..." (Reich, par. 5), meaning the given amount of equality, opportunity, and support that these struggle families obtain have gone mainly unnoticed by the government that it has gotten worst. The constant uproar of social inequality and injustice that these middle and lower working class families stem

Women have pushed forward in the struggle for equality. Today women are staples in the professional world. More women are attending college than men as proved in recent studies. Women have outnumbered men on college campuses since 1979, and on graduate school campuses since 1984. More American women than men have received bachelor's degrees every year since 1982. Even here on Haverford's campus, the Admissions Office received more applications from women for early decision candidacy than men for the eighth straight year. The wage gap is slowly decreasing and the fight for proper day care services along with insurance coverage for birth control pills are passionate issues for women across America.

The 21-st century is characterized by the continuous economic downfall. The relationship between race, class and gender should be evaluated to identify the life chances of people to improve their relative position in our socially stratified world. The increased rates of unemployment, homelessness and poverty show that our society requires implementing a transformative approach to reduce social stratification. The term social stratification is applied to identify and asses different forms of inequality that exist in the US society. Patricia H Collins suggests, “while a piece of the oppressor may be planted deep within each of us, we each have the choice of accepting that piece or challenging it as part of the 'true focus of revolutionary change'” (p. 680). Inequality has become a universal feature of our society; therefore, it exists everywhere and concerns race, class, and gender as the key categories of society.

In the 1800’s a women was suppose to have four things Piety, Purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. These principles shaped the “Cult of True Womanhood” an idea that women were to be seen but not heard. Women had no say when it came to politics, they couldn’t own property, they were not allowed to do many jobs, and they couldn’t even speak in front of men. They had the duty to be a mother and raise their children but even thought they had this responsibility it was the husband who had the complete control and guardianship of the children. Because of these ideas it was very difficult for change to happen. When women started to receive more education they began to ask questions about why they were being denied these rights, which began the

In the 21st century, many people believe that we have overcome the obstacle of gender inequality and evolved into a society of fairness and righteousness. As many know, females can be just as proficient and qualified as males at any task. Though some efforts to off-set this gender imbalance is in place, it is still commonly acknowledged that many careers are stated to be a male job such as lawyers, and female jobs such as secretaries. Gender inequality is a visible fact in our society and in this essay, I hypothesize that gender inequality still exists as a result of factors such as post-secondary education differences of the two genders, role of females in families, female objectification, career choice differences of the two genders, and

Throughout history, countless acts of gender inequality can be identified; the causes of these discriminating accounts can be traced back to different causes. The general morality of the inequity relies on a belief that men are superior to women; because of this idea, women have spent generations suffering under their counterparts. Also, a common expectation is that men tend to be more assertive and absolute because of their biological hormones or instinctive intellect. Another huge origin is sexual discrimination; even in the world today, many women are viewed by men as just sex objects rather than a real human being with

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

It is only recently that sociology has begun to explore the topic of gender. Before this, inequalities within society were based primarily on factors such as social class and status. This paper will discuss gender itself: what makes us who we are and how we are represented. It will also explore discrimination towards women throughout history, focusing mainly on women and the right to vote, inequalities between males and females in the work place and how gender is represented in the media.