Beena
Gender inequality refers to the obvious or hidden disparity
between individuals due to gender. Gender is constructed both socially through
social interactions as well as biologically through chromosomes, brain
structure, and hormonal differences. Gender
inequality, in my definition, is the unequal and biased treatment between the
two sexes. I strongly believe that the unequal treatment of women is something
that should have stayed in primitive times. Materialist theories define gender
inequality as a result of how men and women are tied to the economic structure
of society. They believe that women’s role as a mother and wife are devalued by
society and deny access to highly respected public opportunities.
Concept of Gender Inequality:- The question on how gender inequality
shapes peoples' life chances is one that has been echoing widely through minds
of modern society in the recent decades. Historically sociologists have
suggested, amongst various other reasons that biological differences between
men and women constitute as one of the main reasons for males having better job
opportunities. Thus males were always branded the breadwinners of the family
whilst a female's place was at home (Joanne Naiman 1997: 250-51).
However, during the latter
half of the 20th century these views began to slowly change but still stained
with the ideologies from the past they still exist at the brink of the 21st
century. Nevertheless, this is in a more subtle form and it is culturally
reasoned to be normal and acceptable. This paper will discuss from a
sociologists point of view how gender has come to determine ones future due to
ideas instilled into society some time ago intervened with that of the present.
Examining
this from the root one can see that historically males have shaped the society
in which we live. The policy-makers have almost always been male and therefore
it is not surprising that our society mirrors those ideas, which exist as a
result of this male-domination. For example in Joanne Newman’s book, there is
an excerpt from Gustavo Le Bonne, a Parisian in 1879, in which he openly compared most of the female brains with that
of gorillas and stated " the inferiority (of women) is so obvious that no one can
contest it for the moment; only its degree is worth discussing." (Quoted in Joanne Newman 1997: 250)
Another
instance closer to recent time is from Carol Travis' book titled "The
Mismeasurement of Woman". She states that in the beginning the left
hemisphere of the brain was considered to deal with intellect and reason, while
the right side dealt with passion, sex, irrationality and similar concepts --
thus males were considered to have a superior left brain. However in the 1960's &70's scientists found that right brain was
intellectually superior and was the source of genius, inspiration, creativity,
imagination, mysticism and mathematical brilliance hence conveniently males now
had a more developed right brain
Both
these citations clearly show historically how society regarded for the females
as a species and how they were not considered smart enough to do jobs that
entailed thinking or decision making. Furthermore, they were always under the
supervision of their male counter parts.
Ergo,
even in more recent times, when the line between job opportunities amongst the
genders is ever fading, a secretary or nurse or most of any other job which
required supervision is still engraved into society as a female’s role. An
example of this is from the "case story" (Mustapha Koc 1999) where Mary was given the responsibility of being the secretary,
accountant and packaging department of the family business while her husband
was the boss. This showed that even though they were husband and wife and could
have shared all responsibilities equally, Mary was content to play the role
society had outlined for her. Mary also became a housewife and quit her job at
the bank without much debate when her children were born. This is because of
the norms society had laid down.
A
female is expected to take care of the household and look after the children.
This is clearly seen in everyday life. Even at an early stage in life girls
tend play with dolls- nursing and looking after them as if they were their
children. In schools girls are given extracurricular activities like home-sciences
and cheerleading, where they learn about cooking and household activities. And
even most household products advertised are geared towards a female audience.
Thus
delicately dictating the gender roles in life. Society has made it such that
even if a woman wanted to against the norms and get a job in the work force she
would not get very far. About 75% of
the jobs in the well paying professions are held by men and even if women are
able to get equal jobs as men they still get paid considerably less (David Bender and Bruno Leone 1989: 75). So it has just become more practical for
the man in the household to work and allow the woman to do the household
chores. A recent instant of differences in salaries between the genders is when
the Canadian Telephone Employer Association were sued by their respective
unions because of the pay difference determined by the employee’s sex. The
Unionist wanted their companies to ratify this and have a pay equity (Toronto Star: 29\10\ 1999.
Another
example of how women are manipulated into getting only jobs of a certain
caliber is when companies do not give maternal leave or subsidized child care
for working mothers. 60% of working mothers in the United Sates
have no rights for maternal leave (David Bender and Bruno Leone 1989: 74). And if a mother were to leave the
workforce to bear her child and come back after, she faced the risk of falling
behind and being deprived of perks such as bonuses and promotions. This makes
it hard for a woman to get back up in the job ladder. This again was described
in the "case story" when
Mary wanted to return to work after her youngest child was five.
Many
movements are trying to get rid of gender inequality and the nineties have
progressed drastically compared to the beginning of the century. Today there
are an increasing number of women in the army and similar jobs that used to
primarily consist of men. But society has shown us the downfall of such
happenings-- by the increase in rapes, sexual assault and sexual harassment in
the work force. This once more makes women think twice before wanting to join
these gender- secluded jobs.
Religiously
and culturally also female roles have been defined to be different to that of
men, and mankind has been taught that men are superior to women (Babara
Kantowitz 1986) this is shown in various religious scriptures. Hence teaching
gender differences to the masses at a very early stage It has also lead people
to believe that males are better than females and so deserve much better job
opportunities.
There
clearly is a gender inequality and right throughout life it has been able to
dictate our life chances. The degree to which it enables us to determine this
has however has broadened over the years and given females a wider range of job
opportunities. Nevertheless such boundaries will always exist; it will only get
lighter and further apart as years go on.
TYPES OF
GENDER INEQUALITY- Seven Types of
Inequality: The afflicted world in which we live is characterized by deeply
unequal sharing of the burden of adversities between women and men. Gender
inequality exists in most parts of the world, from Japan to Morocco, from
Uzbekistan to the United States of America. However, inequality between women
and men can take very many different forms. Indeed, gender inequality is not
one homogeneous phenomenon, but a collection of disparate and interlinked
problems. Let me illustrate with examples of different kinds of disparity.
(1) Mortality inequality: In some regions in the world, inequality
between women and men directly involves matters of life and death, and takes
the brutal form of unusually high mortality rates of women and a consequent
preponderance of men in the total population, as opposed to the preponderance
of women found in societies with little or no gender bias in health care and
nutrition. Mortality inequality has been observed extensively in North Africa
and in Asia, including China and S. Asia.
(2) Natality inequality: Given a preference for boys over girls
that many male-dominated societies have, gender inequality can manifest itself
in the form of the parents wanting the newborn to be a boy rather than a girl.
There was a time when this could be no more than a wish (a daydream or a nightmare,
depending on one's perspective), but with the availability of modern techniques
to determine the gender of the fetus, sex-selective abortion has become common
in many countries.
(3) Basic facility inequality: Even when demographic
characteristics do not show much or any anti-female bias, there are other ways
in which women can have less than a square deal. Afghanistan may be the only
country in the world the government of which is keen on actively excluding
girls from schooling (it combines this with other features of massive gender
inequality), but there are many countries in Asia and Africa, and also in Latin
America, where girls have far less opportunity of schooling than boys do. There
are other deficiencies in basic facilities available to women, varying from
encouragement to cultivate one's natural talents to fair participation in
rewarding social functions of the community.
(4) Special opportunity inequality: Even when there
is relatively little difference in basic facilities including schooling, the
opportunities of higher education may be far fewer for young women than for
young men. Indeed, gender bias in higher education and professional training
can be observed even in some of the richest countries in the world, in Europe
and North America. Sometimes this type
of division has been based on the superficially innocuous idea that the
respective "provinces" of men and women are just different.
(5) Professional inequality: In terms of employment as well
as promotion in work and occupation, women often face greater handicap than
men. A country like Japan may be quite egalitarian in matters of demography or
basic facilities, and even, to a great extent, in higher education, and yet
progress to elevated levels of employment and occupation seems to be much more
problematic for women than for men.
(6) Ownership inequality: In many societies
the ownership of property can also be very unequal. Even basic assets such as
homes and land may be very asymmetrically shared. The absence of claims to
property can not only reduce the voice of women, but also make it harder for
women to enter and flourish in commercial, economic and even some social
activities. This type of inequality has existed in most parts of the world,
though there are also local variations. For example, even though traditional
property rights have favoured men in the bulk of India, in what is now the
State of Kerala, there has been, for a long time, matrilineal inheritance for
an influential part of the community namely the Nair’s.
(7) Household inequality: There are
often enough, basic inequalities in gender relations within the family or the
household, which can take many different forms. Even in cases in which there
are no overt signs of anti-female bias in, say, survival or son-preference or
education, or even in promotion to higher executive positions, the family
arrangements can be quite unequal in terms of sharing the burden of housework
and child care. It is, for example, quite common in many societies to take it
for granted that while men will naturally work outside the home, women could do
it if and only if they could combine it with various inescapable and unequally
shared household duties. This is sometimes called "division of
labour," though women could be forgiven for seeing it as
"accumulation of labour."
aswal.b.s, 2010, women &human rights, cyber tech publications,
New Delhi
Carol Tavris 1992: The Mismeasurement of Women. New York. Simon
and Schuster
Joanne Naiman 1997: How Societies Work. Class power and change in Canadian context.
David Bender and Bruno Leone, Male/Female roles, Toronto Star October29th,1999
Joanne Naiman 1997: How Societies Work. Class power and change in Canadian context.
David Bender and Bruno Leone, Male/Female roles, Toronto Star October29th,1999
Beena
Research Schola, Bansthali University, Rajasthan
