The Issues of and Solutions to Gender Inequality in Modern Day Society

In present times, democracy, equality and justice are integral elements that define and govern progressive societies across the world. Just 50 years ago, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. Today, there are various laws that prohibit racism or any manifestation of discrimination based on an individuals race. Likewise, gender equality is an issue that faced similar problems, such as discrimination, stereotyping, bias and was, alongside race, protested and campaigned for in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, which subsequently led to the rise of feminism and a number of anti-sex discrimination bills being passed. Regardless, both race and gender remain controversial topics that still face, albeit to a lesser extent, the same, ageold problems of previous centuries. As the topic of this essay is gender equality/inequality, I will be addressing the gender-related problems that men and women encounter today, their origins and what form have these prejudices adopted in todays social context. In order to understand what types of gender discrimination is prevalent today, one must first address their origins. An essential aspect that gave rise to social perception and constructs, such as gender roles, is the inherent biological differences between males and females. The presence of the 23rd Y chromosome is what defines all the resulting genetic differences between men and women, most notably the reproductive system. Sexual roles are thus assigned by default: the males role is to fertilize, while the females role is to conceive and give birth. This must not, however, be confused with gender roles, which are sets of behaviours and attitudes that are socially expected from men and women. Yet one can argue that sexual differences are what gave to the creation of gender roles. To argue the point from an evolutionary perspective, prehistoric females who were carrying a child were not able to take care of themselves in a wild, threatening environment, therefore they depended on males to provide for the family unit. Likewise, the females would subsequently be the ones to take care of 1

the offspring while the males hunted for food. One could thus argue that the socially acceptable roles of a maternal, housekeeping wife and a working, family supporting husband were thus integrated into the so-called nuclear family standards. Of course, in present times the acceptable standards have been altered: with worldwide modernization, industrialization and high education levels, women are able to pursue the same careers that men do and apply themselves outside the household. Yet even though gender roles change over time, prejudice does not. According to an official research report conducted in April 2005 in Great Britain, women who uphold full-time jobs earn 17.2% less than men in the same employment situations1. This is 30 years after the legal pay legislation had been introduced. Although the statistics are quite shocking, not only women experience discrimination at the workplace. A man named Carl Sassaman, who worked in Board of Elections for Dutchess County in New York was accused of sexual harassment by his boss, Michelle Brant, after they had a set of personal, non-work related disputes. David Gamache, the board commissioner, did not refer the case to internal investigation, telling Sassaman that because hes male, nobody would believe him anyway.2 This Sassaman v. Gamache case shows that men can be discriminated by female employers as much as the other way around. Nonetheless, most societies throughout history have been patriarchal. For example, Socrates thought that being born a woman is divine punishment, since a woman is somewhere inbetween man and animal.3 These statements are quite reflective of the Ancient Greek regime, as women had to conform to their gender roles in accordance to the notion that men are natural leaders. In modern times, only in the late 19th century were women first granted suffrage rights in New Zealand, while the first female leader was elected in the 1940s. It would thus not be far-fetched to assume that todays society, regardless of newly established and implemented values of justice and equality, is built upon the image of the male-dominated social system from the centuries that followed.

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Religion is an important factor that promotes and encourages gender roles. The most widely spread religions today such as Catholicism and Islam are not only male dominant, but follow misogynist doctrines. A verse from the Bible, for example, demands: Wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting to the Lord." (Colossians 3:18). The Quran, in turn, states that men are protectors of women because Allah hath made one excel the other (Qur'an 004.034). As organized religion has had a profound impact on the socio-economic development of most non-secular countries, it is not unfathomable that it also reinforced sexism within societies. This is still true in modern times, as many Islamic countries follow the Islamic Law, which denies women many basic civil rights. Another agent that contributes to the problem of gender inequality is media. Media is everywhere in the newspapers, magazines, in songs, on television, the internet, on the billboards - we are surrounded by a constant flow of information that, to an extent, alters our perception on things, including gender stereotypes. For example, movies, such the James Bond franchise, perpetuates the stereotype of a strong, heroic male who drives fast, luxurious cars, is weapon savvy and drinks hard liquor. This defines the stereotype of masculinity that is dominant in media. Likewise, the male lead is surrounded by seductive, beautiful, yet manipulative women (known as Bond girls), which are ultimately vapid and as easily manipulated by the male lead. This objectifies women and their sexuality and is as well a widely used media stereotype seen in advertisements for clothes, cars, alcohol, etc. The gender stereotypes seen in media greatly influence the youth and limit peoples behaviour in accordance to what is socially expected from each gender. Men are thus expected to be strong and physically fit, while females are required to flaunt their physical attractiveness. As sexism and gender arise from agents of socialization, language is a key element of this. Some might argue that it is over-sensitive to search for roots of sexism in something as basic as language, however all communication, including communication of certain messages arises from the innate human property. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, or the Principle of Linguistic Relativity proposes that our behaviour and perceptions are influenced by concepts inherent in different languages. Therefore, if a language were to possess certain pro or anti traits

towards any of the genders, it would have an effect on our cognition and outlook on those genders. In English, for example, there are many words that would suggest the superiority of men: mankind, man-made, manpower, etc. It is argued that this marginalizes women and perpetuates male supremacy, thus fostering gender inequality. It can be argued, however, that the theory treats the issue of gender-differences in an overly sensitive way and that the causes of gender based inequality should be sought in social attitudes rather than linguistic expressions. In regard to how gender roles are adopted by children, it is not only the observation and imitation of parental figures that play a role in the development of girls and boys, but external factors, such peer influence, media, and, to a very large extent, education. Perhaps because in earlier times education was a luxury only available to males and was, in general, male-centric, it has been observed that there is more focus on female academic and sports achievement in schools today. While this is a step forwards towards gender equality, sexism still exists in schools. The results of research conducted on sexism in schools shows that there is a considerable amount of gender bias, ranging from stereotypes in textbooks to female underperformance in sciences and maths and finally teachers paying more attention to male students rather than female ones. In addition, it has been noted that school career counsellors tend to steer girls towards sex-typed professions. Research on gender differences in school performance carried out in Montreal, however, reveals the other side of the gender gap. The results show that while girls are behind in sciences, boys are falling behind in general, especially regarding languages classes. Because of this, they are more likely to drop out of school. In addition, behavioural, social and learning difficulties have been observed in boys more often so than girls. Due to the presence of gender discrimination within the layers of todays society, a number of modern civil rights movements have formed, most notably feminism. Feminism, a movement that seeks to eliminate gender bias and protect womens rights incorporates not only political and social ideologies, but a perspective of philosophy as well. Feminism as well teaches a number of disciplines, such as geography, history, etc. from the womens perspective as

feminists consider mainstream versions of the subjects to be male-orientated, thus trivializing the role of women. Although the Feminist movement, which rose in the mid-20th century, has made many positive contributions regarding female rights such as abortion, bodily integrity, reproductive rights, etc. it has, in some cases, taken forms that exclude the male sex and, ironically, promote gender inequality. A wave of feminism, known as radical feminism, considers society to be governed by a patriarchal system and calls for a reconstruction of society and social norms. Some variations of this motto include the total exclusion of men from womens lives and renunciation of heterosexual relationships. Later into the 20th century, a male version of feminism originated known as Masculism. Like Feminism, it seeks to address and spread awareness regarding the discrimination and difficulties that men face. For example, women are often favoured from the legal perspective regarding matters such as custody (women are generally more likely to receive child custody than men; also, men may be subject to unwanted parental responsibilities and financial expectations without having a choice). Other issues include violence (conscription to armies, the poorly addressed issue of prison rape, less concern about violence against men), work place discrimination (harder to receive paternal leave, higher physical ability is demanded in jobs such as the police force), etc. Masculism is generally viewed as a complimentary movement to Feminism, sometime working in unisons towards universal equality. Governments have subsequently taken the initiative to eliminate sexism and gender inequality on a global scale, especially so in Third World Countries. The United Nations latest project is called Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which are 8 goals that UN member countries have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. One of the goals in UN agenda is called Achieving gender equality and empowering women. The means through which to achieve this goal is to improve and make female primary education more widely available, including sex education, guaranteeing sexual and reproductive health rights, reducing gender inequality in employment, increasing womens participation in politics, as well as improving other aspects.

The issue of gender and equality is a complex topic that has been a subject of controversy throughout recent decades. Biological, sociological differences between males and females have been studied and reviewed in order to attempt to understand and explain, perhaps even justify then gender gap and the bias, prejudice and discrimination that lie in-between. From a historical point of view, the 20th century represents a huge paradigm shift, which, instead of allowing age-old stereotypes to thrive, challenges gender roles and calls for equal rights. While todays progressive societies boast about complete liberalism without any (noticeable) segregation regarding gender, stereotyping and prejudice still exist, whether it be in the workplace, the media or schools and not only against women. Men and women, boys and girls are still expected and pressured into conforming to certain social expectations, although some of them are quite twisted and distorted notions of femininity and masculinity to begin with. A great deal of progress has certainly been made, however one should hope that in the feature, any form of segregation based on ones gender will be abolished, without the leering judgement of society, the government or religious institutions.

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