Gender Inequality

Among a number of different social issues existing in contemporary world, gender inequality can be regarded as one of the most controversial and debatable. Being a significant factor that affects both men and women, gender has a profound role when discussing various social problems experienced by the sexes in the community. Indeed, speaking of discrimination or unequal treatment either at home or in the workplace, gender roles form the attitudes and behaviors of men and women. Nevertheless, females are subjected to this urgent problem much more often than males. Historically, experiencing a situation of inequality and discrimination, women have become treated as the ones who primarily take care of the house and children. Moreover, women face gender inequality at the workplace accomplishing similar tasks as well as performing the same amount of working hours as men do in addition to family responsibilities and motherhood. At the same time, women face gender inequality regarding educational opportunities. Although the portrait of a modern woman differs from the historically established one, the question of gender discrimination remains crucial when speaking of female position within various social spheres. Therefore, gender inequality makes women experience unfair treatment at home, in the workplace, and education because of historical prejudices, stereotypes, family responsibilities, social status, and ethnic background.

Women have always been exposed to a discrimination. This has affected a society to decide which job is more appropriate for females. Since the beginning of the history of mankind, women have been considered the weak sex compared to men. This misconception has formed the model for men to treat women as less equal. Although the particular approach is no longer practiced nowadays, those ideals influenced the society causing gender inequality in different realms starting from home. Indeed, the stereotypes about women as housekeepers and men as breadwinners were defined by the society many years ago. Unfortunately, gender gap concerning domestic work and children nurturing remains topical until the present day. Despite the profound technological progress and wide use of labor-saving devices, women are still those who are in charge of household chores. For instance, women are expected to cook for the family, clean the dwelling, take care of the household, purchase goods and groceries, and look after children. All these duties are performed in addition to working hours modern women spend in employment. Compared to working women, full-time working men spend nearly 15 hours for household affairs per week that is ten hours less than women do. Hence, the existing large gender gap between domestic duties performed by men and women show that the latter do more housework than the former. The gender imbalance remains a crucial question in many developed countries including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, and Finland. In this regard, both men and women should respect each other as equals rejecting conventional stereotypes, as well as becoming more flexible in order to share responsibilities for children caring and household duties.

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Although both men and women have equal rights and opportunities concerning employment, there are still incidences of gender inequality, especially discrimination against females. Indeed, there are many professions where women face workplace gender inequality when applying for the position or are less paid compared to men. For example, the U. S. Census Bureau study reveals that women are paid 80% of money that men receive. The question of unequal pay remains crucial nowadays men are paid more than women performing the same job. If women accomplish the same tasks as men do and put in the same working hours, they are expected to receive equal payment. At the same time, applying for a job, women may be refused a position because the company or clients are more comfortable cooperating with men. Another example of gender inequality is when a less skillful male employee fills the position the woman has applied for promotion. Furthermore, the problem of gender inequality raises when men and women attempt to manage work and family, and women become the ones who perform nearly all household duties. While workplaces usually require women to be available all the time, it is unreasonable to expect gender equality. Putting much more time to household activities than men do, female position at workplace is greatly disadvantaged. In this respect, when the woman tells the employer that after the childbirth she will not be able to put in many overtime hours, she is suddenly changed to a lower position. Thereby, gender discrimination at the workplace is a general practice that violates female rights and opportunities.

At the same time, women suffer gender inequality in education because of their social status or ethnic background. Being an important tool, education can be regarded a key component of a person’s growth. Although in the past women had fewer chances than men to get higher education, contemporary young women have similar educational opportunities as males do. Speaking of progressive countries such as the United States or Great Britain, women have higher chances to go to college or enter a university. As for the African or Asian countries, the situation differs. Hence, in almost all poor countries, for example Bolivia or Pakistan, females are less likely to obtain higher education as they are influenced by gender inequality. In such countries as Bolivia, womens and girls ability to realize their educational rights is affected by violence. Experiencing insufficient protection by government, women undergo physical, psychological or sexual abuse. In this respect, indigenous women are constantly subjected to gender discrimination when they attempt to get their university degree. According to the report conducted by Global Campaign for Education, the pervasive denial of the human right to education experienced by women and girls across the globe as shown, for example, by the fact that two thirds of the worlds non-literate adults are women is a striking example of gender discrimination. Thus, gender inequality caused by a number of factors affects women’s accessibility to education.

Gender inequality is a significant impediment to numerous opportunities in different realms. While opportunities of the females are limited by gender roles at home, in the workplace, and education, women experience unequal treatment that violates their human rights. Being subjected to stereotypical thinking and prejudices, women have been and continue to be treated as housekeepers. This particular bias also greatly impacts female position at the workplace because performing specific family responsibilities, women have less time for the career. At the same time, gender gap exists when speaking of payments and promotions. The difference between male and female salaries shows that gender inequality is a critical reality. In addition, female rights to education may be also violated, especially in poor countries, where young women are subjected to different forms of violence because of the gender or ethnic background. Thus, discrimination based on gender is a serious social issue that remains a topical problem today. The question of gender equality is of crucial importance because without obvious progress in this sphere the stability in economics, politics, and humanity at large will be hard to achieve. In this respect, real gender equality can only be attained when none of the sexes feels that their rights or opportunities are challenged.

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