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Introduction
Gender inequality remains to be a serious issue in the United States and is an entity in each particular society. However, even with an overall consensus that women need to be on the same level as men, various countries across the globe still observe gender inequalities continue in their nation. It is through occupation, households, commercial, and education. Gender is the social position and personal traits that society members attach to being male or female. It operates as a social dimension determining the way we think about ourselves and interacts with others. More significantly, it encompasses a hierarchy, classifying women and men differ in terms of status, wealth, and power. As a result, gender inequality is the behaviors that arise due to the diverse position women and men employ and not gender differences. For instance, almost 100 years back, women were denied the opportunity to participate in voting since most people presumed that women lacked the interest and or intelligence in politics. These behaviors and attitudes had no relation to biology but somewhat replicated the cultural patterns during that time. This paper will discuss the gender and inequality within the United States as well as the roles that sexism and patriarchy play, not forgetting the different sexual orientation and its significance. Gender is also relevant in different areas, including the workplace (women to be specific), political system, education system, and economic system.
Body
Role Played by Patriarchy and Sexism
Patriarchy and sexism play a key role in enhancing gender inequality, even though their consequences run deeper compared to gender inequality. Patriarchy is the pattern mostly found in the world and a social organization form where males dominate over the females. According to the United Nations, African nations such as Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Sierra Leone give women the lowest standing. In contrast, nations like Australia, Iceland, and Norway give women the highest social standing compared to men. The United Nations ranked the United States in the 8th position when it comes to gender equality. On the other hand, sexism is the justification for patriarchy as it brings the conviction that one gender is distinctively greater than the other. For example, people believe that men are superior to women. However, sexism is not all about individual attitudes and behaviors. Still, it is constructed in the social institutions, and hence institutional sexism is all over the economy, where women mostly participate in low-earning jobs.
Women in the Workforce, Education, Political, and Economic System
The traditional perception that generating an income is the role of a man no longer exists. Long ago, in the 1900s, only 20 percent of the women in the United States were found in the workforce. Currently, the figure has moved to 59 percent, with 72 percent of those women employed as full-time employees. The women are nearly half the United States paid working force. In terms of occupation, most women in the workforce highly concentrate on “pink collar” jobs, which tend to be among the low paid ones in the pay scale with restricted prospects for development. The occupations include nursing, secretaries, cashiers, food services, maid and customer representative, and much more. In terms of income and wealth, men still have more median earnings as compared to women. When it comes to education, the colleges and universities have opened to women and the discrepancies in the majors by men and women a turning out to be minor. Lastly, 100n years ago, men virtually held all elected offices in the United States. But today, thousands of women are serving as towns and cities mayors all over the United States while tens of thousands hold other administrative and office posts.
Feminism Perception and their Principles
Feminism views men’s and women’s experiences via the gender lens. The gender identity, roles, as well as stratification, are all entrenched in the daily actions of the society. Even though they disagree on particular things in society, they believe that certain principles will provide a solution to such situations. Feminists are advocating for transformation concerning social equality among men and women. Feminists also recommend a “restoration of humanity” where everyone can build all human personalities. At the same time, they have, for so long, supported the passage of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) to the United States Constitution, which first came into existence in 1923 in the congress. They also pursue to eradicate sexual violence as they believe that patriarchy interferes with the relation between women and men.
Different Sexual Orientation and Their Significances
Furthermore, recent public opinion concerning sexual orientation has indicated a significant change. The custom in most societies is heterosexuality– sexual attraction to another person of the opposite sex. Yet, society has those that experience homosexuality (sexual attraction to a person of the same sex) and are considered a minority. Consequently, heterosexuality is the norm across the globe, even though homosexuality is endured and, in fact, celebrated in other societies. The sexual orientation idea is not usually straightforward, as it is in the case of bisexuality, where some people are similarly attracted to females and males. In contrast, others get attracted to one compared to the other.
Gay Rights Movement
The public attitude about homosexuality has been on the rise towards greater acceptance. All these were brought about by the gay rights movement that began in the mid of the 20th century. It was even not surprising that the gay men and lesbians continued to covertly guard their sexual orientation secret until the 1960s when the gay rights movement gained strength. One milestone happened in the year 1973 when the APA (American Psychiatric Association) affirmed that homosexuality is a form of sexual orientation and was not an illness. The Gay Rights Movement is similar to the Civil Rights Movement based on the fact that both movements are not comparable to slavery but allow people to deny rights to other people on their beliefs and morals. With people beginning to accept gay rights in society, it is clear that more years to come to homosexuality will become a norm in society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Gender inequality is essentially the unequal handling or slightly the individual perception partly or even wholly because of the gender. The practice mostly ascends from changes in the gender roles that are socially constructed. This is usually the standard procedure by which people get treated differently based on their gender. They are handled detrimentally under the same situation based on gender. This poor treatment is fundamentally observed in society today.