The Importance Of Gender Equality In Society

Gender roles of diverse cultures have differed immensely throughout history. The evolution of gender roles first began in the Paleolithic Age and then began to transform with the transformation of the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age. Women in Mesopotamia, India, Greece, China, and Rome were not treated as equals and viewed as inferior to men. Cultures like Egypt and Persia had similar laws for women and treated them with more respect out of any of the other cultures.

Many people are often misinformed or given bad first impressions of feminism. However, feminism is equal rights for all people of different race, sex, gender, and sexuality. Many of the people that give feminism a bad name, include a self-proclaimed feminist that is running for presidency, and meninists who are satirical equal rights activists. In reality, feminism is pro-gender equality and opportunities for all types of people.

“Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.”, those are the words used to define a feminist by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The quote was later sampled by popular music artist Beyonce in her song, “Flawless”, from her self titled album. This quote and a performance of the song later caused an unforeseen backlash by some feminist. Pandemonium ensued as a result of Beyonce’s actions. Feminist debated about who can and cannot call themselves a feminist. Feminist argued Beyonce, her music, and dancing supported a misogynistic culture. They falter by proclaiming one brand of feminism is better than the other. The overall message you can’t be too risqué, or you cannot be feminist.

Equality has been a problem to be solved since the beginning of time. Equality has been a problem in not only gender, but also race. America has always had its ups and downs when government brought up the subject of equality. In the time period of 1865-1929, America opened and closed doors for the equality Native Americans, women, African Americans, and immigrants.

Many societal problems persevere by allowing ignorance from those that have the power to make change. In a society, which prides itself on its regard for equality of all persons, gender equality is problematic because the social phenomenon creates a stratified system where one gender is regarded as being superior to the other or others. Understanding Social Problems 5th ed, by Holmes et al. (2016), provides insight into how this stratified society allows scholars to identify many different perspectives from which to examine social problems.

The World is continually changing, with resources dwindling while populations continue to grow. The vision for a better world would be addressing the ever-widening gender gap, economic, educational and social inequalities, which are all global problems, with very few simple answers. The world is divided into undefined caste systems that are disproportionate for access to basic human needs, such as food, water and shelter, leaving the poor to live with virtually nothing and the prosperous thrive. Focusing on the ways to help close these major types of inequalities is not just about closing gaps, but it is also about creating better opportunities for future generations.

For many years, the fight for equality has either brought peace and unity or hatred. One of the greatest events that happened in the United States was The March on Selma better known as “Bloody Sunday”. What started as a peaceful protest, turned into turmoil. Another event was when Dr. Martin Luther King gave the “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington. This speech has been effective for many decades and is a reminder that us people should unite and strive for greatness. Though gave the Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, our nation and other parts of the world continue to bring division and hatred. When will the world know when enough is enough? I believe that society does not owe us equality due to the fact that true equality is impossible. In order to have a perfect society, we would need to have the same level of education, the exact same amount of wealth, and the exact same social status. In other words, we would an utopian society in order to be successful.

A director at the United Nations, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngeuka, has spoken on behalf of gender equality and said, “There can be no gender equality without investment and willingness to change the status quo. To make 2030 the expiry date for all forms of gender discrimination, everywhere, all businesses will need to step up essential investments in gender equality.” In many counties, including some countries that are allies of the United States, Women are deprived of basic rights like education, and are treated as the property of men. They are subject to rape and gender mutilation and enslaved against their will. Statistics show that unlike the rate of other violent crimes, the crime rate for crimes against women has not decreased. Current US foreign policy on global violence against women is set forth in The United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security (“The US Action Plan”). The US Action Plan speaks about protecting women and children from abuse and about promoting their roles in conflict prevention. The plan, however, is just a plan. For it to be effective, concrete steps must be taken toward implementation. As a global superpower, the United States has an obligation to use its economic and political influence to empower women in places where they are deprived of basic human rights. By doing so, the United States can help its own global interests by promoting more stable societies and by enabling women to become allies in the fight against terrorism.

In the modern society, social issues have arisen from every corner of the block it seems. For instance, the gay rights movement, gender discrimination, and abortion. Those are just a few of many that are on the constant firing line of the public's eyes, one thing on that line is not easily arguable against, that is the gender argument. Genders are split into two sexes, male and female, what separates them is their chromosomes traits and their genitalia. This clearly defined split as to what genders are, has lead to all of us hearing about this futile argument into expanding what society defines as the appropriate amount of genders. Despite these claims, there will only ever be two genders, no more nor no less.

Title IX was passed by congress in 1972. When discussing Title IX, most people will refer to gender equality in athletics and sports. Although this does apply to state funded athletics and sports, this is only one of the ten areas that are addressed by the law. The following ten key areas fall under the amendment: Access to higher education, athletics, career education, education for pregnant and parenting students, employment, learning environment, math and science, sexual harassment, standardized testing, and technology. The intent of the law is to allow for gender equality across the board by prohibiting any discrimination on the basis of sex. Prior to the law being passed, women in the 1970’s were excluded from many opportunities. Colleges and universities set a quota for the admission of women and access to scholarships. They needed earlier curfews, denied tenure, and had more restrictive rules overall. The response to these concerns was the development of Title IX.

Society has always been built on a construct of gender roles. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors thrived in a society in which men lived in the social realm and the women dominated the domestic sphere. While men hunted far away from the community women stayed close by to collect the nearby resources. This was the necessary way of life to keep the small communities and family units thriving. Discrimination did not play a part in these roles, it was just the best way for a community to thrive. However, as time progressed, biases did arise. The masculine role of going to war and taking part in physically dangerous activities like hunting began to be seen as superior, and thus, men were seen as superior. Though the last few centuries have seen great improvement in gender equality, there is still room to improve. This holds true in some countries far more than others. A possible way to measure gender equality is by observing the percent of women in top legislative positions. This will be the dependent variable. Two possible variables that could affect this percentage is the country’s regime type and the country’s level of economic wealth.

A social issue that continues to occur today is women fighting for gender inequality. Women have unequal rights from men at work, public affairs, in their homes, as well as many other places. I selected the black and white photograph because it conveys that in that specific moment women are protesting for equal rights, which symbolizes feminism. Furthermore, the photograph in color also incorporates with the social issue because it symbolizes that Beyoncé is a feminist and gives women empowerment and strength to continue to fight for their equal rights. I also chose this image because she posed for the photograph. Additionally, it is a recreation of Rosie the Riveter, which was an image used to promote feminism. The colored, and black and white photographs are compared and contrasted by texture, light, line, color, shape, balance, and depth of field, to incorporate with the social issue of women’s rights.

Gender inequality is a worldwide issue that has been affecting both men and women for ages. The separation of men and women has played a big role in the development of the genders which in turn, brought about a major setback for women because it created men superiority thus putting women at the lower spectrum of society. This issue has affected the way women are being paid, how much political power and voice they own and has placed restrictions upon their actions. Gender inequality is a socially constructed principle that has deprive women from having the same opportunities and rights as men. The only way this could be stopped is if the world changes the way both men and women are taught in order to change current views, but instead society chooses to continue to shrink women’s ambitions because it would be considered ‘a threat to men’, without understanding that is not only affecting the women of today, but also the women of tomorrow.

Since gender is very salient in our society, it often has effects on more than just the individual level. When analyzing the institutions of work and family, one can see the influence that gender has on levels of discrimination, particularly against women. In this essay, I will examine these gendered institutions and the resulting effects this can have on families. This discrimination is particularly evident in the gendered division of labor. While this division is considered “traditional,” the splitting of men into the public sphere, which includes work and business, and women into the private sphere, which includes the home and child-care, is actually a relatively recent phenomenon. Kimmel describes this separation as part of an “effort

According to Sustainable Development Goals, “Regardless of where you live, gender equality is a fundamental human right. Advancing gender equality is critical to all areas of a healthy society, from reducing poverty to promoting the health, education, protection and the wellbeing of girls and boys.” Although efforts have increased to promote gender equality, this is still an issue around the world. In order to become a better world, we must learn everything we can about equality and apply it to life. Gender discrimination prevents social progress because half of the world is made of girls. Providing girls the resources they need in order to be independent will increase equality among sexes. (Sustainable Development Goals).