Alvarez 1

Women Inequalities
Garcia & Russell
Cervanda Alvarez

Thesis Prompt: According to the TNS research survey, 68 percent of women surveyed
believed gender discrimination exists in a workplace" (Gluck). Women are being treated
differently than men when it comes to work. Men do not think that women are capable of
working a job that requires being physical. Women should be given a chance to express
their interest in work genre. After reading articles that talk about the different cases of
women should being involved I that show the unfairness of them working in that
workplace. Discuss whether it is a fair thing to treat women different than men if they
want to in a job that requires physical input. Explain why it could be fair for women to be
given an opportunity to work at jobs that normally men would do.

Alvarez 2
From the beginning of time men have always been the ones that had the power
to do anything. They were the ones that always did all the labor work and were in
control of calling the shots in family situations and in workplaces. This left, the women to
just worry about cooking, cleaning, and watching over children in the family household.
It was until the nineteen twenties, women were starting to get rights and they were
being respected. Since they were not able to speak for themselves or even vote for their
rights, or even do what they wanted, due to the women rights movement, women
started to get more independence. With this being said women started looking for jobs
that did not included taking care of their children or just cooking and cleaning, women
started to look for job opportunities in anything that caught their eye, some included jobs
that normally men would do. However that did not stop women from asking if the can
apply for the job that had an open spot. This led to many conflicts, one big one was that
many people did not agree on women working jobs that were not fit for them since it
requires physical work or it just not suitable for them. Even so, Just in the past 50 years
a profound number of changes have taken place, and this led many men and women
alike to mistakenly believe that discrimination against women is something in our
collective past ( The Long History of Discrimination Against Women). Which means that
based off our past, we still have a problem showing equality to both women and men in
workplaces and in the world in general. Men are still being seen more dominant than
women, since women are meant to be less in a charge and the man is meant to do all
the work. In todays world there are more and more evidence that demonstrates the
sad but undeniable truth: even today, women across the country continue to face a
series of arbitrary and unfair barriers to equal opportunity in the workplace (Sex

Alvarez 3
Discrimination in the American Workplace: Still a fact of life). The increase of inequality
against women in the 1920' till now has forced women to act and speak for themselves,
especially in workplaces.
Across the world there have been many results of women being discriminated
because they chose to work at job that is normally meant for men. Women are not
meant to work in any type of job that requires them to get physical, or that requires high
education. Due to these expectations that society has toward, they are not to be meant
to have high standard for themselves, because of this women are often encourage to
embark on a certain career path due to their gender and discourage from attempting to
play a role that has been typically been served for man. Nursing, education, and child
care are often thought of as a good role for females, leaving women very little space in
more dominated fields like constructing, finance, and business (The Long History of
Discrimination Against Women), since women are limited to what they should have as a
career, it makes them even more curious to see what other jobs the can be meant for.
Having this being said, women are limited in applying for jobs they seem instead in
without being made fun of or targeted as the weakest link. If they do end up working at a
job that is suitable for men, women would be put into a position where they get for more
work until they cannot handle it, and soon end up quitting or getting fired. Some of
these jobs, according to the article of Sex Discrimination: Still a Fact of Life, include
being secretaries, sales women, cashiers, prison guards, stock brokers, atteronies,
factory worker, police offices, air traffic controllers, college professors. Which in todays
perceptive we as jobs that both men and women can do. Yet, women are still being
mistreated for working under these job titles. In addition to this women also get unequal

Alvarez 4
pay [for have] equal work, and there is discrimination in hiring, firing, promotions, and
job assignments (Sex Discrimination: Still a Fact of Life). To add- on to the lack of
unfair treatment for women, they are not being given the right amount of money for
working, even when they are given the same task as men. Women being mistreated is
not the only issue they face they are also not being fair to women in general. Although
women are being discriminated for not being fit for a job that is meant for men, in
addition they are also being unequal to women.
Due to the inequality of women being treated unfair they are also being paid less
even if they have the same job criteria as a man. It has been proven that men and
women can work in the job yet there are being paid unfair, sexual discrimination
creates inequalities between men and women including vertical segregation by
occupation pay discrimination, and the unequal division of unpaid work between men
and women ( Knowledge Center). Discrimination in workplaces does not only mean
that women are being mistreated but it also means that their work ethic is being put into
jeopardy. Not in the sense that they are being taken away but they are not being
awarded with the right pay as men are. If a woman and man have the same experience,
a woman who has the same job title as a man, has the same level of seniority and
equal responsibilities, but is paid less, is being discriminated against. According to 2008
study women earn an average of 80 percent of what men earn (Female
Discrimination in the Workplace). With this said that extra twenty percent is being
awarded to the man in the business. Yet both women and men have the same job and
working experience. Being a woman and working the same job as a man and having no
differences of background or any difference in the amount of working or even working

Alvarez 5
experience, they both should be given the same earnings. Women are still being
mistreated which is obviously have an affected with working earnings, adult studies
test the existence of discrimination by planning equal qualitied male and female
candidates for jobs and comparing their success in applying for the same openings
candidates with identical work experience, background, demeanor, interviewing skill,
etc. apply separately for the same job to determine whether gender makes a difference
in how they are treated (Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace). Even before
these men and women start working the employers plan out the work earning for each
individual, even if they meant to have the best working skills, or the same years of
working in the same company. As a result of this, Women continue to be passed over
for jobs and promotions for which they are qualified; to be paid less than mean for equal
work: to be sexually harassed on the job: and to be disadvantage in numerous other
ways based not on their abilities or their qualifications but on the fact that they are
females (Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace). Due to this many women
prefer to stay in the same job position they are currently working in because they rather
not face mistreating of men or bosses that will not make a change in helping get their
right earnings. Besides there being the mistreatment of women working in jobs that are
supposedly meant for men, they are also being sexually harassed.
Women just do not face discrimination; aside from being mistreated they also are
victims for sexual harassment. Sexual discrimination is a combination of being
mistreated and sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can be a form supervisor, a
supervisor from a different department, a co-worker, a client, or costumer (Knowledge
Center). Sexual harassment can come from anyone. However many women do not say

Alvarez 6
anything about because they feel like their jobs may be in jeopardy and they can lose it.
This discrimination can come in the form of sexual harassment, withholding promotion
based on gender, giving a different job title to women and preventing women from
participating in training opportunities( Female Discrimination in Workplace). When a
woman is being offered a job opportunity of getting a high raise for being in a high
position like a manager or a super attended. Women are sometimes only offered the job
if they sleep with the boss, stereotypical views regarding gender can be cause by
supervisors to engage in the illegal practices of passing a person over a promotion due
to gender( The Effects of Gender) . This explains why someone people say the phrase
wonder who she had to sleep to get that position. In some instance, a female is the
victim of discrimination because of her clothing or physical appearance. An employer
might hire attractive women over other qualified candidate (Female Discrimination in
the Workplace). Despite having to wear clothes that show attractiveness there is no
right for a man or an employer to mistreat women or even sexually harass them in any
way. With this being said it is not the womens fault that they look flawless in something
that is meant for work. Workplaces are not the only place that is being affected by
gender discrimination, or gender inequality.
There is also gender unfairness in the military grounds. Although in the early
nineteen hundreds women were not able to be enlisted in combat, the military has
been taking gradual steps towards gender equality. In the early 1990s, Congress lifted
bans on women flying in combat and serving on combat ships, (Women in the U.S.
Military and Combat Roles: Research Roundup). Due to the women not being able to be
fit into enlisting to fight for their country, was unbearable. After all women are not these

Alvarez 7
typical house mothers, that stay home and cook. They are fighters. Fighters who are
willing to get down and dirty to fight in line with other man and woman for the country
they were born in. Though it may seem as if women have it easier in the military
workplace than women in a typical workplace, they do not. After watching Call Me
Crazy, films that describes lives of five different people that suffer some type of mental
illness. There was a woman, a war veteran that is suffering from PTSD (posttraumatic
stress disorder). She was not suffering from PTSD due to war, but because of gender
discrimination. She was being mistreated because she was the one only woman in the
unit that was in training, and her commander officer took advantage of her. Advantage in
the way that she was being raped, because she was told that she would not pass the
training if she did not sleep with the commander officer. There are many cases similar to
the women in the film, however many of those rape cases are never heard of. They are
not heard of because the women do not want to tell anyone what they have been
through to be where they are in the line of duty. Sometimes that is not the case; women
are brutally mistreated when it comes to training or when they are in combat. According
to Hector Correa, a sergeant first class soldier that has been serving this country for
fifteen years. In his first few years he recalls seeing women being pushed to their limit to
prove to their commanders that they are capable of fighting in line with the brave men.
They were being pushed in the sense that they would have to do more physical work
than men, when it came to physical training, women had to run an extra mile, do more
curl ups, and more push-ups. In spite of this when women get retired for the service
they said that they would go back and thank their commander for pushing them. Not
because they prove that they are capable to deal with anything that is thrown at them,

Alvarez 8
but they are capable of, but because they are strong mentally. Even though this is a
positive and negative aspect. Women should always be respected in any condition.
Respect plays an intensive role when it comes to gender discrimination.
Yet it is something that people do not give to everyone. Especially when it comes to
students in schools. Some students suffer gender discrimination when it comes to
teachers in colleges. There are times when students are offered extra credit for a class
but that extra credit involves getting into their teachers pants. Although they are not
aware of it until it is too late. When they do try to speak out, there is hardly any justice
made, students and faculty members that are found to have committed sexual assault
are rarely expelled. Instead the men receive punishments like a semester suspension
(The New York). Due to schools not wanting to get involved and not wanting to lose a
teacher or students. Anyhow these victims do not stop there. They still look for help, the
students also content that campus counseling service pressure student not to report
sexual assault (The New York: Student File). What students do not know is that they
just walk into a dead-end. These guidance counselors are supposed to help out with
students problems but they too do not take action in protecting these women. When it
does come to making a difference and actually being able to get some justice these
women that are victims of gender discrimination, the court is involved. However the
court is not always able to close the case, perpetrators are allowed to reschedule the
hearing multiple, multiple times, and survivors are not (The New York : Student File).
Even though there are many cases that are never solved or closed. They are brought
up to discuss the discrimination women go through.

Alvarez 9
Having our past be the start of gender discrimination, still in todays society it is
an extreme problem towards women. Not only because women are being mistreated in
workplaces where men typically work in. Women are also being paid less than men
even when they have the same work experience and the same job title however they
are being paid only three quarters of what men get paid. In spite of this women are also
being sexual harassed when they work. It is safe to say that women have a morbid
working place when they are being discriminated. However it does not stop there, there
are also women being mistreated in the military and in college campuses. In spite of all
there is a lack of respect. In the other hand many women are able to live from this and
they become stronger mentally, and they are able to manage to get by there daily life.
Although it should not be the right way but that is the only way they are to cope with it.
Even if it means that they will not be able to get the justice they need.

Alvarez 10
Resources

Prez-pea, Richard. "Students File Complaints on Sexual Assaults at Columbia

University." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 16
Oct. 2014.

"Fighting for Gender Equality on the Battlefield." At War Fighting for Gender
Equality on the Battlefield Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

Greenhouse, Steven. "Wal-Mart Faces Lawsuit Over Sex Discrimination."The

New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Feb. 2003. Web. 16

"The Effects of Gender Discrimination in the Workplace." Small Business. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.

"Workplace Fairness." Sex / Gender Discrimination -. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct.

2014.

"Female Discrimination in the Workplace." Everyday Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct.
2014

"Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace: Still a Fact of Life."National

Women's Law Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.

"Knowledge Center." Catalyst. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

"The Long History of Discrimination Against Women." No BullyingExpert Advice

On Cyber Bullying School Bullying. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct.