Racial Inequality And Gender Inequality

Throughout the semester, we have discussed many different social justice issues. One issue that has stuck with me is gender and racial inequality. Gender inequality is very important to me because I was raised by a single mother and surrounded by women all the time. I do not believe that anyone should be payed or treated differently due to their gender. While growing up, I saw that women are capable for doing anything and often times have to work harder than men to prove themselves. Racial inequality is an issues that is important to me because I feel that all individuals should be equal. I think Dr. King’s idea of color blindness, not today’s definition, should be something that we as a society strive for. We need to move past the idea that

Since America’s beginning, race based barriers have mired the fulfillment of our shared principles and many of these barriers still persist today. The institutionalized inequalities are detrimental on an individual basis as well a societal basis. Racism does not only affect the individuals that are being oppressed but also how society functions as a whole. Racial inequalities have manifested in American society in ways that underlies a wide range of societal domains such as housing patterns, educational opportunities, healthcare inequality, and incarceration rates. Current events and experiences demonstrate moreover that racial inequality is still adamant in the American culture. Long after slavery, the Jim Crow Era, and the civil rights movement, racial inequality has taken distinctive forms which affect many people within a racially oppressed group. Racial segregation at large is embedded within a structural matrix that not only permeates in the American culture but in our private and public institutions. Disparities in the criminal justice system and housing patterns remain a key barrier to racial equality in America. In order to eradicate racial inequality, there needs to be policy solutions that place fundamental changes to a system with profound historical origins, one that structurally disadvantages minority groups.

When it comes to healthcare racial disparities continue to be an ongoing issue. In fact racial disparities have been a topic of discussion since desegregation. The US Department of Health and Human Services, in 1984 published a report that called attention to the healthcare disparities. The report was called Heath, United States 1983(Dougher, 2015). Within the context of the report there lies a passage that describes the major disparities that are within the burden of illness and death that is experienced by African Americans and other minorities, “despite significant progress in the overall health of the nation” (Dougher, 2015). It was evident that there was a serious lack of health care minorities.

The barriers that separate men have existed for centuries. Race, class, status, these are all ideas that have created a divide among humans. This divide creates competition and tension. Throughout the history of the legal system, justice has been used to validate slavery and other forms of racial inequality. Our system now has changed, but the basic concept has remained the same. According to one study, the judicial system was invented by whites to protect whites and keep people of color at bay (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2017, p1). This idea of preserving a one superior racial system resulted in a bias still existent today.

Dating back to the 1800’s, racism and gender inequality have played a prominent role in America. Ranging from slavery to the Jim Crow laws to the war on drugs, racial inequality is present in our everyday lives. Likewise, gender inequality is also as prominent as there are many inherent barriers for women in the workplace such as sexual harassment, inability to ascend into high ranking jobs and stereotypes involving gender roles. Even with the implementation of anti-discrimination laws, racial and gender inequality would still be present in our society because many disparities between race and gender are not caused by explicit discrimination but rather implicit discrimination. Anti-discrimination laws promote equality in theory, but not so much in practice as legal reasoning isn’t exempt from ethical or political beliefs.

This article speaks on several different aspects of race and ethnicity. It touches on the subject of

This Paper was written to discuss social inequality related to race relations. By comparing two articles “Ethno-Racial Attitudes and Social Inequality” and “What happens before? A field experiment exploring how pay and representation differentially shape bias on the pathway into organizations” this paper will explore racial social injustices with the intent to showcase the thinking about race relations and social inequality.

The world has made great strides towards upholding equality in different factions of the community. However, declaring that discrimination has been eradicated from the society would be incorrect, as it can still be observed in the foundations of the modern world. A look into the history of America shows that a significant aspect of the nation was built on the notions of segregation and the oppression of various people based on race and gender. Back then, discrimination was outright and the law proudly upheld it with only few people standing up against the concept and its associated practices. Today, years after cultural evolution, any form of inequality is frowned upon. However, there still exist some fundamental forces in current systems that

1 a.) As defined by sociology, a minority group is one that is singled out and treated as lesser people, and given less say and resources than those who are of a higher station in society ((Ed.), (n.d)). The importance of having different ‘classes’ in society is that it defines who will be the one who serves those at the top and those who will be at the top. Although the separation of each class gives a clearer definition of who we are in society we should not allow that to stop us from striving to move up the stratification ladder. The poor in the U.S. begin at the door step of the single minority single White mothers, who make up the bottom thirty percent of the population (Meyer, 2014). Black women are even more of a minority than the White woman in today’s society. This is closely followed Black men and the Hispanic population coming in at 27 and 26 percent-respectively (Commerce, 2014). Women are minorities in many areas such as employment, education, and government support. Women are overlooked when it comes to being ‘allowed’ into certain jobs, neighborhoods, colleges and universities. Women are in general paid less for more work, longer hours and with less benefits. The working conditions for women are less stable than those of a man in the same position. The wages that they work for are even lower than that of their White contemparies and the conditions are even worse for them. Women earn about 77 cents for every

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

Racism, “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race” (Merriam-Webster). Racism, a broad topic that continues to be a problem in our society that affects all races regardless of class and color. Racial inequality, “a disparity in opportunity and treatment that occurs as a result of someone’s race” (Merriam-Webster). One’s identity of race should not determine an individual’s lifestyle. This problem existed in the past, and continues to be a problem in our current society. Although racial inequality continues to be a problem in our modern society, acknowledging racial inequality is important before change can take charge. In

One of the biggest struggles that our country has had to overcome is the fight for racial equality. The fight for legal, racial equality was only half the battle; achieving recognized, public equality was a very time consuming task. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The legalization of this act was the result of massive amounts of hard work. Many people had to come together in order to make a change. They fought for what they believed in, and racial equality would not have been legalized had it not been for their strength in numbers. If I could be a part of any historical event it would be the fight to legalize racial equality.

The purpose of this article according too, Jenaifer M. Denbow, is that woman of color or other ethnicity is a threat to the nation and its value when she is pregnant. She goes on to describe that black women generally viewed abortion as a blessing in disguise but black men, viewed it as the black genocide. Minorities in the Deep South, Black women especially were encouraged to be breeding machines for their slave masters and with all that they couldn’t take roles as real mothers. Which brings to attention of, PRENDA, which means prenatal nondiscrimination act of 2016, it is a bill that would subject medical professionals to up to five years imprisonment for performing an abortion on a woman who wants to abort the fetus because of its race or sex. Supporters of race-selective abortion bans believe that it is the racist views of abortion providers that cause a disproportionate number of abortions among minority communities.

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.

Gender inequality and racial prejudice are alive and well in the United States and around the world despite the strides that have been made here over the past fifty years. Over time fixed notions about gender differences have been interwoven into the fabric of society, each leading to complex interactions among people. Traditionally, most of these rigid views have supported the dominance of men and the subservience of women in most social structures. In her article entitled: Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw introduced the term “Intersectionality.” Intersectionality is the theory that different types of discriminations interact with one another. This notion goes hand in hand with Judith Butler’s ideas described her article titled “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” which uses the term “gender acts” and deciphers a probable cause of various discriminatory practices encountered in contemporary society. Since both gender inequality and racial inequality share a common thread, I believe that what intersectionality represents will help understand Judith Butler’s view on gender classification and the dynamic it has caused on our social and political formation.