The Political Economy Of Gender

For the longest time, women’s role in society was very narrow and set in stone. Women weren’t given the chance to decide life for their own, and there was a very sharp distinction of gender roles. Women were viewed as inferior, weak, and dependant. They were expected to be responsible for the family and maintainance of the house. But as the 19th century began, so did a drastic change in society. Women started voicing their opinions and seeking change. Trying to break away from this ideology called “cult of domesticity” was a lengthy, burdensome, and demanding struggle.

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

In the national General Social Survey (GSS), more than one-third of the public agree with this statement: “It is much better for everyone involved if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and family.” Thus, the cultural belief of Woman’s Rights is (and is still) being used today. Though with it’s positive actions also comes with its strained bias and social issues. Women are often treated by men as “pure” and should be “protected”

As part of the larger movement for equal rights, this feminist mobilization focused on a broad spectrum of economic, political, and cultural dimensions of the distribution of power that entailed the discrimination of women. Political struggles targeted the stigmatization of women as caregivers and the devalorization of this role in relation to that of the male breadwinner, a mainstream culture of sexism permeating all spheres of life and cutting across income and educational levels, as well as women’s unequal access to and unequal positioning within the labor market. (Azmanova 751)

Women have historically had a rocky relationship with governmental, cultural, religious, and social rights. The Women’s Rights movement has been in effect since approximately 1792, with the publication of the first feminist work, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, by British writer Mary Wollstonecraft” (“Women’s Rights Movement”). While social changes have occurred and more progressive laws have been put into place throughout the years, there is still not equality between the sexes. Additionally, gender roles in different countries differ greatly. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the major causes and concerns of the Women’s Rights movements throughout the decades, as well as denote the differences between more progressive societies and their less accepting counterparts.

In closing, overtime gender roles have changed since 1881 in the areas of employment and marriage; thus, the sources demonstrate that gender roles have changed because the needs and outlooks on women have changed over time. The world is far from perfect, but the gap of “power” between men and women is closing slightly with new movements starting and through educating

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

In the article “The End of Men,” Hanna Rosin offers several examples of women overpowering men. The inequality between men and women has become a critical issue in today’s society. According to Rosin, women are slowly surging ahead in the workforce and family life while men are left behind struggling to meet expectations. Rosin argues that this role reversal is taking place because women are simply better suited for postindustrial society.

In addition to defining gender, Padavic and Reskin coin the term “gendering” to describes circumstances or outcomes that, like gender, are socially constructed and tend to give males certain advantages over females. Three key components—the assignment of tasks based on workers’ sex, a higher value placed on men’s work than on women’s work, and employers’ and workers’ social constructions of gender on the job—make up gendering. (Padavic and Reskin, 6). It allows males to maintains certain advantages over females, thus maintaining the force and coercion dimension of inequality. Sex and gender differentiation have existed since the beginning of the labor force, and have paved the way for the assignment of different tasks to men and women throughout the years. When the labor force first emerged following the Industrial Revolution, it was comprised of people who either worked for pay or were actively seeking paid work. The labor force split working people into three different groups—wage workers, unemployed, and nonemployed. This distinction between paid work in the labor market and unpaid domestic work by the “nonemployed” has had important consequences for gender inequality. Since then, men have been more likely than women to belong to the labor force, and women have been more likely than

For the past couple of centuries, from since the moment that educated and informed women stood up for their human rights in the 1840’s to the modern day where women are more liberated than ever before, female persons generally have gained more and more independence from the United States of America’s male-dominated society and the pressures of being seen as a minority, despite being over roughly half of the entire population. Women have more choices in how to live now in the twenty-first century than they have had ever before because women particularly have more civil rights and more of an opportunity to choose what to do on their own terms without needing permission from anyone in any capacity. Women of any age may be intellectuals, businesspersons,

In the fall of 2009, Alison Jaggar wrote a paper detailing the struggles that females face in society titled “Transitional Cycles of Gendered Vulnerability; A Prologue to a Theory of Gendered Global Justice.” After reading and analyzing her work, I would like to counter-argue against her denial that the effects that typical family roles play in society, specifically in regards to the upper and middle class; that men should be the breadwinners and women should be the caregivers. We live in a world where all different types of people face injustice and receive less opportunity in the workforce because of the way that society is set up. Since before we even immigrated to the New World, men have been the workers, whereas women have been domesticated. Today, if a wife were to be divorced from her spouse, she would not have as much working experience as her husband, because she had played the domestic role at home; taking care of children, cleaning, keeping bills on track, etc. It’s due to this that women rarely get a taste of what it’s like to work in some of the higher paying jobs. Furthermore, in a typical family role, men go on to make the money of the house, the children are educated and told to pursue their careers. However, when discussing children’s family roles, the son typically goes on to be the scholar and to seek the higher paying job that could be offered to him, whereas the woman is encouraged to pursue

Over the span of many centuries, women have been undermined and ridiculed by the reality of a bitter society. A female’s sex generally predetermined the uneventful course she would be expected to take throughout her life. Promising opportunities were rare and for ages, ladies were confined to the home with little more than a puppet role to play. Common household chores were a part of the daily agenda, and unfailing devotion to a husband was anticipated (Cruea). The initiative push by The National Woman Suffrage Association provided a source of encouragement for women searching for impartial justice in basic aspects of everyday life. The women’s rights movement-though a long, rocky road-essentially led from bigotry to equality.

The idea that men make more than women at the same jobs simply because they are a different gender has been an active point of discussion over the past five decades. The issue has spread to almost everything that has any connection to the working world. Even the United States government feels the need to acknowledge this issue by putting things such as “she earned seventy seven cents for every dollar that he earned” on the White House website. This seventy seven cent statistic is what the corporate world today refers to as the wage gap. The wage gap compares all of the full time men’s earnings and all full time women's earnings averaged together. This idea of unequal pay had not really gathered steam until the early nineteen sixties when the Equal Pay Act of nineteen sixty three was passed (Understand). Even though the Equal Pay Act required that all workplaces give equal pay for equal work, men were, and still are, making a larger average earning than women. This is one of the most repeatedly talked about topics in the business world, and because of the controversy that comes along with it. There are many good points and suggestions that have been made over the past decades to fix or forget the issue all together, but none have successfully put both sides to rest. The truth is that the wage gap simply

Before the conflict erupted, females were considered housewives, dutiful to husbands and the upkeep of the house, like cleaning, cooking, and taking care of children. However, the factories and assembly lines needed a workforce, and with most able men departing for Europe and the Pacific, women received the chance to contribute to their nation’s cause. After men returned from abroad, the ladies found it difficult to relinquish their newfound freedom—earning their own paychecks, spending money as they like, calling their own hours—and the reformations following World War II spanned decades, debatably continuing on to this day. Now women’s niches have changed considerably since the 1940’s: women make up half of the workforce, receive salaries, hold office positions, and are independent of the kitchen and house. Their influence on society has expanded

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.