Introduction
Gender disparity is a common element in any society coupled with controversy and extensive debate due to the biological differences between men and women (Ridgeway, 2011, p.62). Are men and women equal despite these obvious differences? This is the major question posed by society in relation to gender equality. However, the dimensions of gender inequality offer valuable information in understanding this issue and identifying areas that require urgent attention. Social inequality is apparent in almost every society. Throughout many decades, women have been struggling to be equal to men. The purpose of this paper is to explore the inequalities found between men and women, referred to as gender inequalities. Gender inequality refers to the variances in status, power and prestige women and men have in societies. Gender roles are very imperative in our society, as the society in which we live in has been formed historically by males. Determining the root of the problem one must understand the sociological factors that cause women to have a much more difficult time getting the same equality as males. Integrating perspectives such as liberal feminism, Marxism and radical feminism, this paper will be highlighting how women continue to face inequality through the different dimensions of life and the differences in social mobility during history.
Traditional Gender Roles
Traditions dictate the aspects of feminism and masculinity through setting aside certain roles for women and others for men. This automatically develops a notion that men and women are not equal and that the society recognizes these differences since time immemorial. Gender inequality, therefore, begins in families, which are the basic social units of the society (Lareau, 2015, p.11). At home, girls receive certain roles such as doing the dishes, cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry among other ‘feminine’ roles while the boys spend their time playing outside. Girls do most of the household chores while the boys sit and wait for things to happen.
Parents allocate chores depending on traditional gender roles that guide the proper methods of parenting. This is, therefore, a notion passed on across generations hence inherent among members of the society. Once the family teaches men that they should wait for women to undertake certain chores for them, they carry this mentality to other settings of life. The society, therefore, begins looking down on women and viewing them as slaves to men at the initial stages of upbringing.
Bringing up men with the mentality that women belong in the kitchen makes it difficult to convince them that the same women can handle as much challenging tasks as them. It is difficult to convince a man that they can hold the same position with the wife and accord equal treatment when she cleans up after him at home. Traditional gender roles, therefore, play a major role to the observable gender inequality in the society through the brands of feminism and masculinity.
Discrimination at the Workplace
Discrimination is a term used in referring to unfair treatment due to one’s sex, race, appearance or any other attribute. Women in employment are far too familiar with this term since most cases of discrimination in the workplace involve women. Wage discrimination is one such issue that places discrimination against women at the workplace on the spotlight. Women receive 76% of the pay received by men for the performance of similar jobs (Ridgeway, 2011, p.87). This indicates that the society views men’s input more valuable than that of women despite working under similar conditions. This discourages women in employment since it promotes the notion that their efforts are inferior to those of men.
The pay gap is also attributable to the fact that women engage in lower paid industries than men are. Traditionally, some jobs are for men while women best undertake others. Jobs requiring physical and mental strength such as masonry and engineering receive association with masculinity since men appear stronger than women do. Women, on the other hand, receive jobs in the service sector such as servers, nurses, teachers thought as female jobs. The ‘masculine jobs’ receive higher pay the ‘female jobs’ hence the widening pay gap between men and women in employment.
The men also have the ability to work overtime in these high paying jobs than women who devote these hours to undertaking family chores. Sexual harassment is another unfair treatment accorded to women in the workplace mostly by men (Ridgeway, 2011, p.87). Women are reduced to sexual objects rather than receiving the same level of respect as men in the same working environment. Sexual harassment is a serious offense that receives maximum punishment by the law although some cases go unnoticed. This is due to the high level of intimidation imposed on women upon reporting cases of harassment. Intimidation prevents women from speaking up, and most of them suffer in silence and put up with the toxic situation. Sexual harassment is an element of oppression that has existed in the society since the early days and will require extra effort from all members of the society for complete eradication.
Glass ceiling is another aspect that indicates inequality at the workplace. Glass ceiling is a phenomenon whereby women cannot go beyond a certain point in their careers (Purcell, MacArthur & Samblanet, 2010, p.705). Glass ceiling takes place irrespective of one’s profession, achievement and qualification. Glass ceiling is majorly maintained by stereotypes about gender. Other factors contributing to glass ceiling include discrimination based on one’s gender (Purcell, MacArthur & Samblanet, 2010, p.705).
Occupational segregation is also another indicator of gender inequalities at the workplace. Occupational segregation takes place when jobs are distributed according to one’s gender. Consequently, many women end up working in some female-dominated fields. When that happens, the pay is usually less than the pay given to men in male-dominated fields. The female-dominated fields are also less valued, and that is another factor that leads to reduced wages (Bakar, 2014, p.75). As a consequence, issues of gender pay equity arise.
Leadership
Leadership is a position of decision-making upon which policies that govern the lives of people emerge. A leader can be male or female, but the term is mostly associated with the male gender. Women underrepresentation, especially in the public sector, is evident in both developed and developing nations making is a global issue (Iversen & Rosenbluth, 2010 p.76). The business sector also experiences women underrepresentation since few women are part of the board of directors of many large corporations. This translates into lower interest in issues that affect women due to lack of women in leadership to assist in pushing the agenda. Their low numbers render their voice weaker, and once an issue relating to women emerges, it becomes difficult for them to attract the deserved attention.
Various restrictions exist for women who wish to pursue leadership positions and eventually lock out women from leadership. The public sector is male-dominated featuring a few women whose impact remains minimal. Politics is an aggressive field coupled with intimidation, which discourages the participation of women. Men who can keep up with the rough game compete for positions of power and end up being the sole determinants of the country’s direction. Financial constraints also lock out women from positions that require campaign funds, therefore, leaving the race for men with the financial capacity to fund the extensive campaigns. Societal stereotypes exist in every society and hold a bias towards women through viewing them as the weaker gender. Traditionally, women had no voice and men were the leaders who led troops into battle or defended territories. This made leadership appear as a role meant for men rather than women who appeared weaker in stature.
The presence of few women in leadership positions reduces the likelihood of addressing of issues relating to women. This means that there is no one to push the gender inequality motion for women since men in position view other issues as more important. Having more men in leadership also translates into the formation of policies and laws that are gender insensitive in every aspect. It, therefore, becomes a vicious circle of gender inequality where women are on the losing end.
Education
Gender disparity exists in the education sector where a wide gap exists between the number of literate men and women. In less developed nations, only 86 girls out of 100 boys are likely to get an education in their lifetime (Ridgeway, 2011, p.123). This means that men in these countries are more educated compared to women in the same age bracket. Women in these countries, therefore, tend to be dependent on their male counterparts and assume less challenging tasks. This lowers their level of production by denying them a chance to expand their knowledge and develop their skills (Ridgeway, 2011 p.123).
In developed nations, however, the situation has overturned, and more women acquire degree level education compared to men. Sexual discrimination is evident in schools where girls and boys receive different treatment in relation to their abilities. During learning, the girls undertake activities considered ‘feminine’ to assist them with the learning process. Generally, boys still receive preferential treatment with the notion of having more abilities to tackle difficult tasks.
In choosing subjects, teachers encourage boys to pick challenging subjects while girls choose easier subjects such as home science. This becomes the basis of career disparity observed later in their lives where the men get into better-paying careers. These careers such as technology, engineering, and medicine require a high level of mental ability. Women, on the other hand, settle for careers such as nursing and teaching that do not require a lot of mental effort. This disparity in choosing subjects further contributes to gender inequality both in the short run and in the long term.
Religion
Religion is a sensitive matter that often raises controversy since its practice relies more on faith than on facts. The world experiences the vastness of religions with the major ones being Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They all have a large number of followers across the world and have scriptures through which they preach certain practices to the congregation. Gender is straightforward in religion, which depicts the man as a superior being while the woman is the lesser being (Lareau, 2015, p.20).
Religion outlines roles meant for each gender and teaches the need of observing order by every party playing their God-given role. These roles extend into marriage where a man takes the role of providing, protecting while the woman takes the role of looking after the household. The man becomes the decision maker while the wife only implements the decisions made by the husband. Religion is, however, subject to misinterpretation to suit certain members of the society in a given society.
The scripture on wife submission taught in Christianity, for example, may be misinterpreted to depict slavery of the wife or any other form of mistreatment. It may depict that a woman should have no voice and should instead take mistreatment in silence. Religion has a strong relationship with culture since it guides the behavior of people and offers counsel on issues facing households on a daily basis. People, therefore, practice their religion in their daily duties hence the aspect of gender inequality continues to haunt the society.
Religion is rigid since it does not change with times, but maintains its historical teachings over centuries. Some members of the society, therefore, feel that religion does not speak about their current issues hence irrelevant when dealing with issues of the 21st century. Some religious figures however have come out to clarify that gender roles featured in the Bible refer to a marriage situation rather than the society in general. They, therefore, discourage the use of scriptures to define gender roles in other situations such as the workplace. Despite the controversy, religion holds a strong influence on people’s attitudes and perspectives regarding social issues. Its stand on gender inequality is, therefore, crucial to the society’s perception of gender and its implications.
Economic Status
Gender equality is the key to attaining economic development since it ensures the productivity of both men and women in the society. Less developed nations have larger disparities in economic development participation in a nation. Gender inequality indicates a lack of maximum utilization of human capital hence lowering the expected capacity of production (Andrews & Leigh, 2009, p.1490). Women get less employment opportunities since employers view men as a more productive population.
Locking out women from employment lowers their economic status making men a step ahead. Jobs requiring higher mental and physical effort often attract higher pay than jobs requiring less effort. Men acquire more of these jobs compared to women hence their access to higher paying jobs. Getting into higher paying jobs, men gain a higher economic status hence a higher social status. Economic status directly relates to social status since the society favors the rich over the poor population.
Men, therefore, continue gaining more respect from the society while women remain in second position. Economic status also relates power where men gain more power due to their status and influence the direction of the society. In protecting their own interests, women continue struggling to keep up with men who continue gaining preferential treatment in every aspect.
Conclusion
Gender inequality continues to spur conversation across the globe with women often being on the losing end. Inequality occurs in various social aspects such as education, religion, families, leadership, and the overall society (Lareau, 2015, p.2). Dealing with this problem would require addressing inequality issues in these segments would require major societal changes. Gender disparity is a historical problem that has deep roots within the society hence difficult to eradicate. Changing society however demands a second look on these traditional stereotypes. Several obstacles exist that prevent women from accessing similar opportunities as men and acquire similar treatment. The journey to addressing gender inequality is a tough battle but possible with the participation of other members of the society.
References
Andrews, D. & Leigh, A. (2009). More Inequality, Less Social Mobility. Applied Economics Letters, 16(15), 1489-1492.
Bakar, N. (2014). Factors Influencing Occupational Segregation by Gender in Malaysia. International Journal of Social Science Studies, 2(4), 75-81.
Iversen, Torben, Rosenbluth, F. M., (2010). Women, Work, and Politics: The Political Economy of Gender Inequality. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Lareau, A. (2015). Cultural Knowledge and Social Inequality. American Sociological Review, 80(1), 1-27.
Purcell, D., MacArthur, K., & Samblanet, S. (2010). Gender and the Glass Ceiling at Work. Sociology Compass, 4(9), 705-717. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00304.x
Ridgeway, C., (2011). Framed By Gender: How Gender Inequality Persists In The Modern World. New York: Oxford University Press.
