Institutions And Gender Inequality

The division of gender roles is deeply rooted in society. Throughout history men have taken upon the role of independent financial providers plus of course protectors, whereas women have been portrayed as loving wives and mothers, responsible for raising the children as well as housework. Although females and males are far from being equals, the differences between genders are incredibly smaller than in the past. Unfortunately, mass media still use gender stereotypes believing they are well known to their viewers and help them understand the content of the message they are trying to get across.

According to Newman, sexism refers to “a system of beliefs that asserts the inferiority of one sex and that justifies discrimination based on gender.” This sexism has a large impact on the daily life of a women through things like social interactions, power differentials, and violence against women. Institutional sexism refers to the “subordination of “women that is part of the everyday workings of economics, law, politics, and other social institutions.” The media is one institution that communicates gender norms both directly and indirectly. Understanding gender role expectations and how they are reinforced through social institutions like the media is necessary in order to explain things such as the wage gap, segregation in the workplace, and how women are devalued on a global scale.

The first decade of this millennium witnessed a dramatic awakening concerning the role of gender which had its marked impact on gender roles. As Wharton states, “the study of gender emerged as one of the most important trends in the discipline of sociology in the twentieth century” (1). This emergence prompted many theories regarding gender issues, which in turn, “propelled the sociological study of gender from the margins to become one of the central features of the discipline” (Wharton 2). Though every group is uniquely structured in a societal set up based on categories, the colossal development of research on gender issues clearly shows that all social interactions, and the institutions of human progress, are biased in the case of

Gender inequality plays a critical role when it comes to social progress. As a woman,

One can see that gender is actually a social label that is produced from social expectations (Ore 99). These "gender norms" have led to the distinct inequality and oppression of women. Due to these norms, women are seen as incapable of being political or rational because their social duty is to stay at home and take care of the children (Glenn 23). The social creation of gender surely undermines the severe communal disadvantages that females take on. Humanity must forget these general notions that have been brainwashed into every day life.

Despite the popular belief that gender norms and inequalities are no longer an issue in today’s times, these outdated perceptions are still evident and hinder growth in societies. Many Americans are familiar with the phrase, “All men are created equal,” a phrase that may augment one’s patriotism because it can be located in The Constitution. However, this phrase unintentionally sets men higher than women in social status and should be rewritten to “All men AND women are created equal” which erases the barrier in gender inequality once created by our Founding Fathers. Gender norms are also still apparent. When one thinks of a sport such as wrestling, the thought of a female participant may cause one to question why the female in wonder

Throughout history, women's roles in society have been different than those of men's. Women’s jobs were generally connected to their traditional roles of caring for the home, raising children, making clothes, and cooking food, while men were the breadwinners in the families. Women had been brought up to become mothers (as well as nurturers) while men were brought up to become entrepreneurs and businessmen. It was not until the 1950s that women began to protest and fight for equal rights. Since then, many have claimed that the disparities between women and men have drastically decreased, almost to the point that it is minimalistic. However, in today's society, although we would

In this paper I will discuss the effects family institutions have in our society and how those family institutions enforce gender discrimination and gender inequalities. Most Americans do not recognize family structure and the family institution as being biased, because it is so common in our lives that we do not even notice it is a problem that needs to be fixed, until it has an emotional impact on us or our loved ones in some way. Struggling to overlook everything you were taught growing up concerning gender and begin to recondition your mind to now accept that the myth of the nuclear family in the United States do not actually represent what "family” really is in today’s society. The apparent truth is that family structures are no longer

When describing something that influences your gender, most people would assume that your “sex” or our biological identification given to us at birth would be the most definite source; however there are multiple factors and processes that contribute to one’s gender identity. The multitudes of institutions that assist in the socialization of an individual vary from person to person, but are all beneficial in creating a sense of gender. According to Michael Messner, there are two types of institutions, the gendered and the gendering. The gendered institution is described by Messner as “an institution constructed by gender relations. As such, its structures and values (rules, formal organizations, sex composition, etc.) reflect dominant

“We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons… but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters,” Gloria Steinem once said about the inequality between genders that exists in the world (Green). Gloria points out the fact that while female rights equality has been empowered, male inequality is ignored or taken lightly. Because of its adverse nature to all genders, the social construct of the masculine stereotype should be abolished, so both men and women can experience the freedoms to be how they want, raise their children, receive parental leave, and unreservedly express feelings to improve their psychological well being.

Built on the racial inequality discussed in the previous session, we continued to examine gender inequality and relevant social norms. It is interesting for me to see several female students, such as Teresa, Barbara, Katy, are not uncomfortable with being considered as inferior to their male counterparts in family and the external society. However, when imagining they had daughters, they unanimously said that they would love to teach their daughters to be independent and non-obedient.

Gender roles are loosely defined as societal norms set for men and women. The implication of gender roles can be seen throughout history. Traditionally, it has been the woman’s job to raise children and complete the housework while the man goes out into the workforce and pursues a career. Fifty to sixty years ago this was the reality of many families in the United States. However, in today’s age it is common for women to join the workforce, be independent, and have established careers. One researcher, Valentine M. Moghadam, the director of women’s studies from Illinois State University found that when women are primarily associated with gender roles the effect is gender based discrimination and second-class citizenship. The history of

Every human being has the right to be treated equal, regardless of their skin color, race, gender, or religious preference. The problem in our world to this day is the fact that people, mostly women, are being classified as weak and because of their gender they are being mistreated. In recent cases women have been deprived from a higher education. Also, when working, their workplace is not equal. Gender inequality is happening all over the world. It has been occurring for decades and decades. Gender equality “means an equal level of empowerment, participation and visibility of both sexes in all spheres of public and private life” (Menstruff). If men and women were the same would there be any conflict? Could it be that everyone is equal but the inequality is all in the mind? “4 out of over 135 nations have achieved gender equality including Costa Rica, Cuba, Sweden, and Norway.”(Pinto) When gender equality is brought up what is the first thought that comes to mind? Is it the discrimination towards all kinds of people, the violence brought upon them? Gender inequality has its pros and cons. With gender inequality there are boundaries and limits. The world is not a one person, one mind type of thing. Gender inequality is happening all over the world, with all kinds of consequences because of it.

Gender has always been an interesting topic to me. The cool thing about gender is that it differs so much, whether it be from country to country, or from periods of time. Gender even differs within the same country between different regions and cultures. Gender is one of those things that is never consistent, and could definitely change drastically in my lifetime. So what exactly is Gender? Often, people get the term gender confused with the term sex. Although they are associated with each other, they should not be used interchangeably. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines gender as one of the categories (masculine, feminine, and neuter) into which words (such as nouns, adjectives, and pronouns) are divided in many languages (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Simply put, sex usually refers to the biological features that define men and women, and therefore use the categories: “Male” and “Female”. (Gender, women and health). With that being said, let us explore how we come to learn gender.

Throughout the past few decades, the gender inequality discourse have became a dominant feature of international, national and local policy debate on the subject of economic development. This policy concern has emerged as an area of scholarly research which seeks to show that improving gender equity leads to economic growth.