Reading Reflection
Synthesis: The two themes in this week's reading, "The Growth in Poverty and Social Inequality: Losing Faith in Social Justice" by Ann Duffy and Nancy Mandell, are the perspective society has of women in regards to working and being independent, and the vicious cycle of being born into poverty and continuing the never-ending loop. The perspective that society holds of women towards idea of working and freedom is something abstract. The reading talks about women struggling financially because of traditional gender stereotypes. The concept of women making their own living is blasphemy because she should be at home supporting her husband, who is making a living. Women are encouraged to stay at home and be good wives and mothers,
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Being an Indian, Muslim, female, my first priority was to learn how to be a good wife when I grow up. I was taught regardless of what I do in life, it was mandatory for me to learn how to be a good wife at the end of the day. Learning how to cook and clean was a necessity and was taught at a young age. By the time I was 13, I knew how to cook meals enough to feed a family. Although I was expected to do well in school, it was a given idea that I need to know how to cook and clean, not for my own needs but especially for being a good wife and mother. While writing this reflection, I was talking to my mom about the reading, she reassured me that being a good wife, and mother is seen as an end goal and regardless of what I do in school, being a good wife and mother beats it all. She told me that being born as a girl, this is what is expected from me. Along with this 'norm', it is also normal for women to stay home. I know from personal experience because when my dad lost his job, it was a horrible thing and when my mom lost her job, it was bad but not that bad because she is supposed to stay home and be a mom. That is her fulltime job. She was just working to help my dad to help the whole family. My dad got another job to help support the family. Most of the men in my family work two jobs and the women either do not work or work one job, only if their kids are over the age of 10. This reading really made me realize the role of women in our economic society and how it influences the way, we perceive the role of women in the workplace. As well as, where we place them in society. This reading made me feel like I have been living in this box, where I am told that these things are normal and to live my life according to it, not realizing that it is unfair and unjust. I realize that now that I know
REPUBLICAN Plank- Monopolies and Privilege Explanation- Republicans do not believe in monopolies and they do not agree with the trust and secret agreements to join industries together and create a monopoly. They believe the people who join together and create monopolies should be punished for their actions. They believe that every man should be given the right to work for what they have and if they happen to own multiple businesses without forming dishonest agreements with other business owners they should not be persecuted. This is beneficial to the country because they lay out guidelines for the people who want to own businesses and to help them follow what the laws say about monopolies and privileges.
Throughout the twentieth century the achievement of social justice was widely contentious. The belief in individual equality was advanced, along with philosophical ideas concerning human nature. In the year 1911, John Jay Chapman, an American poet, witnessed the lynching of an African American man in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Appalled at the reaction of the crowd, Chapman revisited the town a year later and delivered an address commemorating the event. In Chapman’s essay, “Coatesville,” he examines the cultural foundation that allowed the “honorable” citizens to believe that murder and torture bring forth justice.
In conclusion, the most compelling argument found during both articles was the willingness of women to move forward and support their families, no matter the cost or the inequalities found between their male counterparts. I have always heard said that ‘women are the backbone of society’. Now, this
According Social Inequality: Patterns and Processes by Martin Marger, life chances includes “education, physical and mental health, residence and justice;” which are opportunities that we must procure through social resources (18). Our position within society determines our life chances; for children their parent’s positions within society determines the child’s social status within society. “Life chances are acquired, then, as a result of factors that are only partially in the control of individuals…people’s initial class position and, therefore, the dimensions of their opportunities and future prospects are essentially an “accident of birth.” Certainly, people may subsequently enhance their life chances through individual effort, but those of lower social origins will need to overcome many socially imposed handicaps to do so” (Marger, 19-20). It is completely possible for someone to shape their life chances through their own efforts however; this occurrence is rare which is the reason sociologists tend to focus on the typical pattern society follow. Looking at life chance opportunities such as health, justice, and education; people’s social resources are not only shaped through individual choices but mainly by group membership.
|inequality between gender and class and also, the extent of poverty in the current British context. I will also cover causes of |
Women are more prone to live in low income circumstances than men, hence introducing the social problem of gender discrimination. Women have been discriminated in the workplace over time in that they are paid less than men in specific jobs and are not seen to be ‘suited’ to particular jobs, especially in the manufacturing and trade industries. Marxist feminist Margaret Benston believed that women were oppressed by capitalism in that they were treated almost as a back-up, or secondary option of cheap labour that enabled profits to be kept up. ‘In 1994, 6.41 million women were in low-paid jobs and on average women’s full-time gross weekly pay was 72 percent of that of men’(Kane, 2003:115).
Women roles in society have been to take care of their families, and do what is required of “ a woman”. In Jamaica Kincaid’s poem Girl, a mother is giving her daughter advice on how to be a woman; simultaneously, reminding her if she does not obey these duties, she will be considered a “slut”. The mother is explaining to her, the role women play in society, how to act around a man, take care of your spouse, and how to never act less than a woman. Reading Kincaid’s poem alongside the academic article titled, The Female Breadwinner: Phenomenological Experience and Gendered Identity in Work/ Family Spaces, I have concluded that women’s roles in society are outrageous; however, they are improving. This poem has more to do with gender roles and less to do with the pride, integrity, and self worth a woman feels internally as a result of the things she has been taught.
According Social Inequality: Patterns and Processes by Martin Marger, life chances includes “education, physical and mental health, residence and justice;” which are opportunities that we must procure through social resources (18). Our position within society determines our life chances; for children, their parent’s positions within society determines the child’s social status within society. “Life chances are acquired, then, as a result of factors that are only partially in the control of individuals…people’s initial class position and, therefore, the dimensions of their opportunities and future prospects are essentially an “accident of birth.” Certainly, people may subsequently enhance their life chances through individual effort, but
One of the reasons income inequality continues to prevail in today’s society is because lawmakers disagree on the issue at hand. The New York Times (n.d)) notes that Republicans blocked a bill on equal pay presented by Democrats that was aimed at closing the pay gap between men and women. Republican lawmakers impede that bill because they believed that given existing anti-discrimination laws, the legislation was redundant and is a transparent attempt by the Democrats to distract from President Obama’s much –criticized health care law. Another reason the income equality persist is due the difference in pay between genders within the same occupations. However, some lawmakers who turn down the equal pay bill believed that the disparity remains because of difference in occupations held among male and female. An example of an occupational difference is a female social worker that makes less than a male engineer (New York Times, n.d). Finally, I believe these income disparities persist because this civilization refuse to dismantle the past sexism views of women’s role as the weaker, idle and subservient domesticator. All in all, until society as a whole embrace women’s ingenuity, strength, and eagerness to be a working productive member of society the pay gap between men and women will continue to prevail for generations to
Women and men have had certain roles in society that were understood amongst them to be specified for their particular gender. Males were known to have the leading role as head of the house hold and the bread winner while the woman’s duty was to stay at home and take care of the house and children. While many people years ago deemed this way of life and practice to be the right and ethical thing to do, times have changed and so this kind of treatment towards a woman’s equality must be questioned. Even though times have changed, this mindset of a woman’s ability to be as good as a man has not completely gone away. In today’s society a woman contributes to the economy and her family as equally as that of a man. Therefore, women should share equal rights and opportunities as their gender counterparts.
Ann Levine and Naomi Neft's article "Women in Today's World" asserts that although the status of females in developed countries has vastly improved with society's movement toward a more gender-equal condition, the majority of women remain in a dire state of oppression. Women are more impoverished, illiterate, unemployed, and more destitute than men. In spite of some women's improvements under developed countries' more progressive, gender-equal regimes, education, literacy rates, employment, civil rights, health, and public representation remain substandard for most of the world's females.
the defination of ‘feminism of poverty’ refers to situations of increasing poverty for women and the fact that more women are living in poverty than men, basically poor people are disportionately women (Townson, 2000).
In the quite hours of early morning my mother rises out of bed, as she has done every morning for the past twenty-two years. She quietly begins her long day by making tea and cooking breakfast. Before the day ends, my mother would have cooked several meals, cleaned several times and worked a full time job. My mother’s daily routine is not unique and has historically been done by women for centuries. Even today, women are supposed to do it all, have a family, and take care of the house/children and work full-time. Women who are in the workforce are unpaid and the work they do at home is viewed as inferior. They often deal with sexism and racism in the workplace. Changes in law and our thought process need to occur to create and an equitable system of work for all women.
The economics of intimate partner relationships play a role in patriarchy and the reinforcement of women abuse. Martin (1981) states that meritocracy is a discourse that everyone has equal opportunity in the workforce. It fails to recognize the barriers that prevent people from having the same opportunities as others. For instance, women face many social pressures that prevent them from working in the public sphere such as discrimination, sexism, being pushed down to apply for certain jobs because it dominated by males and may not have the physical requirement like body mass. Martin (1981) argues that capitalism supports patriarchal families and the idea that a woman's place is considered to be in the private sphere, the home, while a man is to be in the public sphere. Martin (1981) states that capitalism is about competition and succeeds when barring disadvantage or vulnerable populations including women from advancing to the top of the hierarchy so that people, predominantly white males, would remain in power. One strategy to prevent women from advancing in their career is to receive minimum wage and less income than men which therefore makes them easily replaceable in the work force. This defines women as temporary workers (p. 41). This leaves women economically dependent on men and gives a reason
The modern world has resulted in earnings, wages and salaries for the women similar to that of men, but the women are continuously facing inequalities in the work force (Andal 2002). This can be attributed to the pre-established notion that women shall not be given access to finance or communication with the world outside of the home which is highly unethical and unfair (Eisenhower, 2002). In the past, they were considered as the underprivileged ones which were not thought of having equal rights but this fact has changed now. For instance, the status of women can be explicitly defined as the equality and the freedom of the women.