Gender Inequality
Inequality exists in every society, where some people get more power, respect, money, and prestige as compared to others (Brent, and Lewis).The United States is facing several issues regarding social inequality but gender inequality is the major issue in this regard, which has paved the way to many challenges situations in the country. Gender inequality represents disparity in the power, status, and prestige between men and women. The problem of the gender inequality is increasing in the United States because the workplaces are doing fair treatment with women; they do not understand the need of adapting to the whole person in case of women. It is a fact that now women are making more educational achievements as compared to men, but they are not treated according to their achievements in the organization. The gender inequality is prevailing in the United States because most of people have adopted stereotype behavior and they are not considering the contributions of women in the workplace. It is considered that most of the jobs require availability of an individual all the time, but it is not possible for a woman to remain present all the time as they have to manage household work, so it is unrealistic to look ahead to the gender inequality (Brent, and Lewis).
It is also a fact that male dominance still exists in the United States. Women are usually a diffident minority, who are subject to the discrimination, violence, and the disadvantages that are justified by the patriarchal systems. In a patriarchal system males enjoy dominance over women. It is believed that almost all the societies have patriarchal system to some extent. Though it is present in all the societies, yet different societies differ remarkably in the amount of gender inequality that is prevailing between men and women. However, in the United States, patriarchy is common in the working class families, and the egalitarian system in which there is equality of both the sexes is found in the middle class families (Brent, and Lewis).
Moreover, sexism is regarded as the justification of the patriarchy. Sexism considers superiority of one sex over the other. It favors male individuals over female individuals. Women are, however, disadvantageous as compared to men in many major aspects of the society in the United States. One major aspect is the inequality that is prevailing and is increasing continuously in the workplace. Now, the number of working women is increasing, and they are doing significant contributions in the labor force. The participation of women in the labor force has, however, increased from 1950 to 2010. In 1950, the women participation in the labor force was just 34%, which increased to about 59% in the year 2010. Now, married women are found more in the labor force, this trend was not evident before 1940, because at that time single women were there in the labor force (Brent and Lewis). Women are participating more in the labor force because of the rise of feminism and change in the attitudes that is encouraging more and more women to consider working outside the home.
Additionally, increase in the divorce rate in the United States is also compelling women to work. Violence against women such as torture, murder, and continuous harassment by their husbands is increasing, and this trend is found in most of the countries of the world. In the United States this trend is evident because majority of people are of the view that men should earn outside home and women should remain in the home in order to take care of her home and family. As a matter of fact the welfare reforms have indicated that even the modest and humblest jobs are inspirational and sustaining both morally and psychologically (Ehrenreich). But, they remain sustaining and inspirational if the gender equality is maintained and women are also given freedom for the work and fair treatment is ensured in the organizations.
Further, it is considered that gender gap exists because women prefer to do different kinds of jobs as compared to men. The nature of job of men and women are different, Men can do almost all kinds of job, The occupations in which women dominate, which are called women’s work are considered as less important. Sociologists have named the jobs dominated by women as pink-collar jobs. But, as a matter of fact the organizations are not letting women to excel in their career and occupy higher level management positions. There is a lack of the adequate policies and rules to stop the acts that do not let the women to come forward and attain higher higher ranks of management. Such acts include glass ceiling, institutional sexism, and sexual harassment.
Glass ceiling paves the way to the gender discrimination, in a way, that it represent resistance or barrier that cannot be traced easily but restrict the movement of women to the higher rank of management. Moreover, institutional sexism and sexual harassment are the common ways in the organizations due to which women are becoming victims of discrimination and gender gap is rising. The institutional sexism is, however, found in day-to-day operations, policies, and roles of the organizations discriminating against one sex. Sexual harassment comprises of unwanted and unnecessary attention that is based on sexuality, which affect the job performance of women and causes discomfort in the working environment. The sexual harassment is taking place in the organizations and institutions of the United States because men want to exercise their power in the workplace. NORC has reported in the year 2011 that about 27% women have revealed that they became a victim of the sexual harassment by their supervisors.
The gender inequality in the United States is paving way to the gender pay gaps. Though women are getting more education and they are participating more, yet they are not being paid equal to men. Women, however, get just 80 cents on the average for every dollar men are paid, as a result of which difference in the wages of men and women is increasing. In the United States, the gender pay gap is higher for older females as compared to younger females. Females having age less than 35 and work on full-time basis earn about 90 cents for every dollar a male earn, and females who are above 35 years earn about 75 cents for every dollar a male earn. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research 2011 has indicated that gender gap is mostly evident in different occupations such as in Elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers, administrative assistants, secretaries, customer services representatives, auditors, accountants, women are earning less than men in these occupations. The Unites States is, however, becoming weak to fight against the gender inequality at global level because of weak political leadership (Fairchild).
Policy Recommendations
In order to cope with the problem of the gender inequality in the United States, women representation in the politics should be ensured because poor representation of women in the politics is not letting them to come forward, the major policies are made by males and females have to suffer. The participation of women in the national parliament should be ensured so that effective policies can be formed, which support women and facilitated their empowerment. Positive actions should be introduced in order to increase the impact and number of women in the decision making process at the political level. Investment should be made for promoting leadership of women in the decision-making structures at the local level. However, capacity at the national level should be improved in order to analyze the gaps, progress, and the opportunities.
Investments should be made in the infrastructure economic stimulus programs and packages that are gender responsive and in labor-saving techniques so that work burden of women can be reduced. Moreover, policy based on the comparable worth should be formed in the organizations where the jobs that require similar education level and training should be paid at comparable level, without caring for the fact that the occupations are dominated by the males or females.
Further, women’s access to the employment opportunities should be increased, they should be provided sufficient protection at the workplace by supporting and promoting women entrepreneurs, and ensuring gender-equality benchmarking in the private as well as public sectors. Adequate measures should be taken to provide them legal and social protection. The practice of making policies, rules, and laws and representing them as impersonal and neutral should be avoided. Because in most of the case polices, rules, and laws are made and they are shown as impersonal and neutral so that no one can criticize and blame (Schwalbe).
The government and the organizations should try to develop and promote equal employment opportunities for skill development so that wage gap can be reduced between women and men. Gender-responsive labor policies and laws, social protection measures should be ensured so that most susceptible women workers can be facilitated with the legal protection.
Furthermore, necessary steps should be taken in order to strengthen and ensure the accountability for eliminating the gender discrimination and improving the rights of women by ending the inequalities that exist in the access to the property and land. Effective investments should be made for the implementation of the policies, rules, regulations, programs, and policies so that violence against women can be addressed and prevented effectually. Additionally, proper accountability regarding investment in the gender inequality should be ensured, gender-responsive budging should be institutionalized for ensuring commensuration of the financial commitments with the gender equality policy commitments. As a society, there is a need in the United States to encourage people for surpass the stereotypes and consider participation and the contribution of every person including both the males and females, so that effective relationships can be developed and both genders play their role in the progress of the organizations and ultimately in the progress of country by achieving the objective of elimination of the gender inequality.
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References
Brent, Edward E., and J. Scott Lewis. Learn Sociology. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett, 2013. Print.
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan, 2010. Print.
Fairchild, Caroline. "Why the U.S. Is Losing the Global Fight for Gender Equality." Fortune, 27 Oct. 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
http://fortune.com/2014/10/27/global-gender-gap-america/
"The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation 2013 and by Race and Ethnicity." Institute for Women's Policy Research, 1 Apr. 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
Schwalbe, Michael. The Sociologically Examined Life: Pieces of the Conversation. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print.
