Gender Inequality Essay Research Paper Gender inequality

Gender Inequality Essay, Research Paper

Gender inequality is amongst us all in any given society. Although gender is not as simple as may seem. Gender comes into play along with a number of different aspects such as sex, gender and gender roles. Each of these aspects play a significant part when speaking of the different social problems encountered by men and women. Sex makes up the biological differences; of male or female. Gender is the socially learned behaviors that are attached to the sexes (Henslin, p. 322), which create Gender Roles.

Gender roles constitute the attitudes and behaviors that are expected of males and females in a given culture of society. It is these gender roles that give the impact of gender inequality amongst the male and the female sex.

Gender roles are not given at birth, as ones biological sex, they are to be learned and taught amongst those surrounding one at an early age, and the society and culture one lives in. Gender roles are mainly learned and taught by those who have raised them, namely their family. Ones family has the biggest impact on how to perceive their gender. This is because a family institution passes on values and beliefs that are taught and learned to accept at an early age. Although it is not those who raise one whom are to blame for gender inequality. Gender inequality begins during the history of how evolution caused us to be segregated of the two groups of male and female. As an outcome of these gender roles came the affect of gender inequalities, in Family households and in the Workplace. As my research hopes to show, that I believe gender inequalities are learned through ones family and are reflected in the workplace.

History of how evolution taught us to have Gender roles

The history of how we came to be starts in the early ages of the Homo erectus. It is the age of evolution that we see significant changes in the male and female body. At this age we see that the bodies of males and females differed slightly, due to bone structures. Trends in the division of labor were established early in evolution and became amplified with the emergence of the big brained Homo erectus. A bigger brain necessitated a size increase in the birth canal and female pelvis. These and other physical changes exaggerated sex differences in the division of labor relative to the hunting vs. gathering stages (Joseph, p. 35). This era of the evolution of humans, shows how the female is the nurturing, due to her birth canal and reproductive organs, and the male is the hunter due to his difference of body from the female. So with the assumption in mind that the female has the ability to reproduce, we assume that she is the gatherer because of her lack of physical strength, and that the male is the hunter due to his inability to reproduce, gives him more advantage of physical strength. In these Hunter-Gatherer societies, pregnant women stayed permanently in certain areas taking care of children, and collecting and preparing food. Men were in charge of hunting and defense. Given the scarcities of resources in these societies it might have been possible that the effects of biological difference were most extreme, determining the sort of activities of men and women. A study conducted by R. Joseph Ph. D, found that female primates produce more social and emotional vocalizations and engaged in more tool use and gathering activities, whereas males tend to hunt and kill (Joseph, Ph. D, p. 35). With this division of labor amongst those of the relative primate family, which has the closest representation to humans, reflects how both male and female grow to have their own set of roles, dating back to the time of Homo erectus hunter gatherers.

Working with the aspect of growing roles, the mere fact that male and females distinctively have their own set of roles, will reflect on their reproduction of children. Gender role theories noted by leading sociologist and psychologist suggest, That an individuals attention and behavior are guided by an internal motivation to confirm to gender-biased sociocultural standards and stereotypes ( Halonen and Stantrock, p. 184). This occurs in children as young as one year of age, in which boys wear blue and are offered masculine toys, and girls are dressed in pink, and are adorned with feminine toys. Which is believed that aggressive behavior is socially accepted with males, and a more passive approach is use with females. These roles of masculinity and femininity are a factor of sex-role learning that begins during early childhood (Davidson and Neale, p. 237). A survey conducted by the graduate students of the sociology and gender class found that 70% of those surveyed listed their parents as a primary source for learning about sex and gender. This concludes how there is no doubt why male and female gender roles are learned at such an early age.

Gender Inequality in the Household

Since gender roles are learned at a young age, women and men find themselves fitting into where they should be in a family institution. In a family women hold most of the responsibility in keeping it together and the men are known to be the financial breadwinners of the family. Women take the role of the mother, the nurturer, the caretaker, the cook, the cleaner and the lover. This is an overwhelming amount of work that she must take on, but in the long run the male takes the credit in his natur