Blog 1

Gender equality is a problem in today’s society because even though men and women can complete the same task, men are chosen over women. Men also tend to get paid more than women in the same position because they are seen as more intelligent and authoritative than women. Millions of people are affected by gender inequality throughout the whole world. This issue not only resides within the nation but also globally. This inequality could cost a victim thousands of dollars, but it could also cost the system even more than that if a victim were to sue the company based off a policy that states they do not discriminate against sex or gender. According to Miller, “women in U.S. worker cooperatives appear to encounter many gender inequalities, including occupational segregation, lower job tenure, fewer hours worked at their co-op, and lower incomes.” (Miller, 2011) Not only does gender inequality cost a person money but it also affects their emotional well being. It all starts with money but when an individual is not acknowledged for his/her knowledge and talent, it in effect has a negative impact on their family and emotional well being. Gender inequality is a societal problem with men as the leading cause.

Males benefit the most from gender inequality. They benefit from this because they are more likely to get higher up jobs that pay more money or get paid more for the same job a women may be working at the same time or previously. Businesses think that they are benefiting from it because they think they are hiring a more intelligent person, but they are also paying that person more than they would be paying a women to do the same job. So, in other words they are benefiting psychologically but not financially.

Society as a whole contributes to this problem because many people’s attitudes and values are based off past traditional lifestyles, which shine on the idea that men are meant to be the bread winner and women should tend to the house and daily chores. Of course different cultures vary from others as shown in an article titled Culture and Gender Inequality where it states, “that women in Western cultural contexts may see gender inequality as more unjustified than do women in East Asian cultural contexts.” (Kinias, 2011) People’s expectations of one another play a role in this problem but those expectations vary across the globe. For example, in East Asia it is expected that women are treated as a lesser, but in America it isn’t as cut and dry.

Much of the change to help solve gender inequality has been done through the feminist movement. Females have been standing up for themselves and fighting to show society that they are just has intelligent, hard working, and educated as men are. I would say that this movement has been somewhat successful. Today, many women hold high, important positions and continue to work their way out of the household and into the work world. Although, I believe that gender inequality is still a major issue globally, but over time will continue to improve.

In the future gender inequality will slowly dissipate. Things have already come a long way but a lot of work is still needed.  Some of the still needed changes include, “gendered changes in education, flexible well regulated working practices to combine employment and caring, fairer labour markets that have removed discrimination all have the potential to feed a virtuous circle of increasing employment and increasing quality of employment. This simultaneously delivers decreased gender inequality and increased productivity of the economy.” (Walby, 2007) Decreasing gender inequality could strength the economy worldwide. Women continue to show their strengths and assets to society and, hopefully, society will accept and acknowledge that women are just as important and intelligent as men are. According to Walby she has project that the future will look much better for women in the UK and the drivers for this include, “increased education for women, a less discriminatory working environment, and policies to enable the combination of work and caring.” (Walby, 2007) In a perfect picture both men and women will participate in the work world and will be treated completely as equals.

Government does not have a large role in this problem (besides making laws and policy prohibiting discrimination based on gender) mainly because it’s a societal issue and how people portray each other. I believe that companies play the biggest role in influencing and changing people’s ideas about gender inequality. Also, as the younger generations learn about gender equality they will be able to bring that with them into the work world as the older traditional generations phase out. This will make society more gender equal.

Kinias, Zoe. "Culture and Gender Inequality: Psychological Consequences of Perceiving Gender Inequality." Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 15 (2011): 89-103. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.

Miller, Genna R. ""Gender Trouble" : Investigating Gender and Economic Democracy in Worker Cooperatives in the Unites States." Review of Radical Political Economics 44 (2011): 8-22. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Feb. 212.

Walby, Sylvia. "Gender (In)Equality and The Future of Work." Lancaster University. Equal Opportunities Commission, Winter 2007. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. <http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/papers/Walby-Gender(in)equalityandthefutureofwork.pdf>.