My View Of Gender Inequality

The main ideas that we have read in our readings covered what Women’s Studies is and Dominant Ideas About Women. Three passages that caught my attention out of the 32 passages were “A Work of Artifice” by Marge Piercy, “Gender Inequity in School: Not a Thing of the Past” by Karen Zittleman and David Sadker, and lastly, “Have you Ever Heard of Asian-American Feminists” by Stacey Yap. With these three passages, there was good information for me to interpret and to reflect upon in these readings.

In society these days there is a noticeable difference in the treatment of men and women, the most common examples would be found in the social, business and culturally convention realms. These ways of life have double standards in many different ways. There are many ways to convey the ways of discrimination towards women by men.

Gender refers to the socially constructed categories of feminine and masculine. It is one of the major factors in social difference and inequality in today’s society. Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. It arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles. Using a paragraph based approach I intend to individually analyse various aspects of gender differences referencing to the theory of socialisation and also making links to the works of Marx, Durkham and Goffman. My essay will cover different aspects of gender inequalities still present in today’s contemporary society.

This class has brought a lot of change to my views on the seemingly everlasting prevalence of sexism in America. Before taking women and writing this semester I had not realized how the stereotypes surrounding masculine identity have taken hold of much of the Greek life on college campuses, male-dominated/labor intensive jobs, as well as influencing a significant portion of the mainstream advertising and media that my peers and I consume on a daily basis. The readings that accompanied the course were clear, informative, and provided me with more insight to the challenges and inequality that women have had to confront in the past and continue to face in the present. This class taught me many things about the current

Throughout the readings, a major theme that kept reoccurring was the idea of gender inequality. Gender inequality is an issue that is still happening today, but it’s now

I realized that feminism was rooted in equality but branches into so many other issues like combating rape culture or the inclusiveness of LGBTQA+ and POC in the movement. And a campaign that supported the eradication of toxic societal norms was something I could wholeheartedly get behind. Before this discovery, however, I lived in blissful ignorance because I shared the same sentiment as most teens my age; you’re a kid, you can’t make a difference. I did not stand for anything of importance besides the occasional bandwagon belief because what did my opinions matter? Did I even have my own? Or were my words simply regurgitations of the ideologies my parents fed me? At sixteen years old, I was unsure. Give it a year, some heated conflict with my parents as well as a relearning of values and I would be. At seventeen years old, I fully understood what I chose to back those beginning days in APUSH but, more importantly, the significance of having something to stand for. I realized that a person’s beliefs characterize who they are and before I became a feminist; I didn’t have much of an identity -- I knew who I wanted to be but not who I was. So, in a way, discovering feminism and the girls at my table who first educated me helped me unearth who I am today. And I’m proud of who I am, proud that I am no longer the girl that shames, the girl who is unwarrantedly spiteful, the girl that puts others down. Not

Before this class, I was aware of feminism but also uncertain on the meaning. I knew gender inequality existed throughout history and currently. Growing up in the rural Midwest, feminism was not perceived as a positive movement. Little was taught or said about feminism in any primary education. We learned about women’s suffrage and that was it. After, taking this class, I understand that feminism is so much more than woman’s suffrage in the early 1900s.

During these last thirteen weeks, I have discovered a lot about myself, not only as a student, but as a feminist. Before taking this class, I knew that I wanted to be a feminist. I believed that women should stand up and exercise their rights to be equal to men on every level. Be that as it may, I lacked the education required to develop my own sense of feminism--my feminist manifesto, if you will. When approaching the topic of feminism, every person needs to ask themselves a list of questions: Who am I? Who do I want to be? What has influenced me as a person? How can I help? These are the beckoning questions we, as developing and purposeful human beings, ask ourselves every day, and these are the questions that will lead each and every person

I found the most enlightening thing for me was learning about heteronormativity and the tight grip that it has on our perceptions. I’ve always understand that heteronormative ideals exist, but I was surprised to learn about how deeply rooted these ideals are in our culture. In many of our lectures and materials, we learned that these ideals shape and influence almost every aspect of our lives. Everything from romantic scripts, to television shows, to sex education curriculum; all of these areas subscribe to heteronormative ideals that only lead to long term, negative consequences.

For myself in this course I was here to receive an education, after taking this class and understanding things more I now can say I’ve been here to claim my education. When I first thought about taking this, my impression was it was going to be the history of things not on current events and topics that were discussed. This course has opened my eyes and mind to another aspect of the world. Asserting myself and being heard and not just seen is something I have been working on with my counselor. Finding my inner voice and making my wishes heard, not letting others speak and decide what is best for me. This course teaches on how it was and is through several readings and with each reading I was able to have that “click” moment where I connected with the topic and it made it more real to me. Feminism is not just a word anymore it now has meaning to me.

Of course, I still want gender equality to happen, but I don’t necessarily go around telling people I’m a feminist, which kind of makes me a hypocrite. If I learned anything from the sources I've read during this project, it’s that feminism isn’t a bad thing and the world would be a better place if we would all openly support gender equality. Gender inequality is a big problem that affects everyone in one way or another. Speaking of which, a fascinating perspective I encountered while working on this assignment was Emma Watson’s view on gender equality. I like how she pushed the fact that men are also victims of gender inequality and that they should be feminists too. This assignment has been extremely insightful overall. I was able to read about the experiences different women have had and understand how they decided that they were feminists. I also read about many ideas that I had not thought of before, such as the stereotypical raising of boys affecting the roles of women in society. Plus, I also found some pretty interesting facts within the reading materials, such as when Adichie mentioned, in her book, that a hundred years ago, Igbo culture considered the birth of twins to be an evil

Gender inequality is a social problem that is widespread in society. It is referred to as the unfair treatment of individuals based on one 's gender. Historically, laws have opposed women to go to school, access certain jobs, and purchase property. Gender inequality has been experience through culture – honor-killing, sex-selective abortion, and society – occupation, gender roles, and education. The social expectations of men and women differ between cultures that are constructed socially and culturally. These expectations are displayed in roles, and behavior believed both by men and women and their interdependent relationships. Gender inequality can be further understood through the structure of sexism. Discrimination takes place in gender inequality for the reason that men and women are treated on the basis of gender alone (Amjad, R., Ashfaq, M., Kousar, R., Saghir, A., 2010).

Social status and structures have definitely shaped the construction and experience of gender inequality. Men and women are constantly analyzed, compared, and grouped together in society. The result of this yields discrepancies in how sexes are viewed by society. Throughout my examination and explanation of gender inequality, I concluded both men and women are victims to gender inequality.

III. THESIS STATEMENT: The problem is that the continuous misrepresentation of feminism and gender stereotyping in everyday life further feeds inequality, preventing society, and individuals, from moving forward.

As we are all birth equally throughout the world, there is still contingency that causes a barrier between human kinds. What barriers are we talking about that can’t be changed through our DNA? That is our gender. When each of us are born into the world, we are labeled as male or female due to our genetical DNA and different types of organs (WHO). Yet, society still isn’t as balance enough and there are still so much discrimination in gender in even today’s society.