Running Head: Gender Inequality 1

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Running Head: GENDER INEQUALITY 1

Gender Inequality

Institutional Affiliation

Date
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INTRODUCTION

Gender is seen primarily as the marker of economic and social stratification. Gender is

used to refer to social, cultural & the psychological differences that exist between men & women

whereas gender inequality is the notion and idea by the society that men & women are different

and not equal. Therefore, gender inequality is used for the reference of the unfair or unequal

treatment and perceptions against individuals based on the fact that they are male or female. The

issues of gender inequality and discrimination are deeply rooted in history, traditions, and culture

in which women are seen to be submissive to men in society. With the given socio-economic

classes in the society, there exist gender differences in terms of material well being and these

differences are not constant all over the world but they change or vary from country to another

and also over time (Jayachandran, 2015). It’s is evident that in most societies, gender inequality

has been an identifiable characteristic whereby the males are averagely better positioned in the

social, economic as well as political hierarchies. There have been steps imitated for more than

two decades now all aimed at the reduction of gender inequality through international, national

and local interventions and strategies but nothing much has been achieved. Gender inequality has

since been quoted to be a contributing factor to women’s debilitating stigma on women thus

leading to the detriments of the psychology of the worth of the women as well as dignity for the

women and the society as a whole. Gender inequality in the different societies happens in

different forms such as violence and decision & speech freedom all which work to disadvantage

the women. The forms in which gender inequality happens are associated with leading to societal

problems given the various avenues that have come out in the fight to attain gender equality.

In the process of studying the various forms of gender inequality, Feminist Theory in

gender inequalities is useful. The Feminist Theory gives a highlight of gendered social structures
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and according to feminists; gender is usually socially constructed & acts the same as a social

stratification mechanism in male-dominated society.

The Feminist Theory tries to give explanations of what really gender inequality is and set

the agendas that can be applied in the process of overcoming the identified inequalities.

Therefore, there are three main perspectives in the Feminist Theory which are applied in

detailing the issues of gender inequality (Policastro, 2015). The three perspectives include;

a) Liberal feminism

b) Radical feminism

c) Black feminism

Liberal feminism gets gender inequality explanations from cultural and social attitudes by

drawing attention from many different and separate factors which are associated with causing the

inequalities between men and women in the society. Majorly, the liberal feminism deals with

sexism as well as discrimination in the workplace, media and educational institution against

women and usually emphasize on law application in the elimination of women discrimination.

Radical feminism in a way holds men responsible for women exploitation as well as

beneficiaries of the exploitation of women that happens due to gender inequality (Kabeer, 2015).

This feminism area is focused and concerned on the domination of women by men in a

patriarchy analysis. Here, the feminists concentrate on the family as it is seen as the primary

source of women oppression in society. The radical feminism in gender inequality explanations

points out sexual harassment, rape, and domestic violence as part of all the challenges that

women go through in the society that is male-dominated.


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Black feminism majorly focuses on specific problems that Black women face. The Black

feminists argue that ethnicity and class factors, as well as gender, are important in getting an

understanding of the oppression that Black women experience (Kabeer, 2015). As Black women,

Feminists argue, that they are occasionally disadvantaged due to the color, class, and sex all of

which is influenced by the historical slavery and segregation of the rights of the Blacks.

Gender inequality in the society happens in many forms some of which the society is all aware of

and does little or nothing at all in the prevention of the inequality. Of the gender inequality forms

that happen in most cases, there is;

i. Freedom of speech and decision making in gender inequality

ii. Victimization and violence and gender inequality

Freedom of Speech And Decision Making In Gender Inequality

Women are not only economically subjective to men but also lack the right to contribute

in opinions on issues that affect how the family is operating and this happens in some societies

which can be described as poor backward societies. Such limited freedoms are however not

uncommon even for the most educated women who enjoy some power in a society that is male-

dominated. From a historical view, the situations of having women being of low economic status

continued even today (Ponthieux, & Meurs, 2015). Still, on power and decision making and

outside the family setting, there have been political decision making that has remained only in

the hands of men and this has been a great discouragement to the women. This shows that

women are underprivileged when it comes to decision making on political issues that affect

women and society as a whole. It’s notable that in many countries, even though women have
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voting rights, there is a widespread of gender inequality that the women face when it comes to

political decision making.

Victimization and Violence and Gender Inequality

Due to the unequal income sharing, property, and household benefits, women are in most

cases subjected to victimization and also physical as well as sexual violence. This is most cases

in the countries that are struggling with development where there it is reported that one out of

there women is raped or beaten in her lifetime in the world (Gressard, Swahn, & Tharp, 2015).

Violence to women is caused by so many reasons with men’s physical prowess leading, power &

injustice dynamics as well as low or no education at all for the women which add to the gender

inequality and the submissive status of the women around the world.

Women in history have been described as the “weak” gender and this has been carried

down to the present generation because there still exist stereotypes that women are weak

compared to men. The thought that women may be weak brings about the issues of gender

inequality and further leads to the limited freedom of speech by the women and decision making

and the victimization of the women as well as violence that occurs (Mendelberg, & Karpowitz,

2016). Gender inequality in these forms leads to the limited growth of women in an economic

wise and also in politics and this leads to generally slowed economic and political growth of a

nation. On the violence, gender inequality leads to severely negative effects on the health of the

victims in physical ways or psychologically and this too is usually a limiting factor in the growth

of the women in an economic manner. Every bit of negativity that happens against women is

usually resulting to a negative course in the society and this is directly or indirectly associated
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with negativity in terms of political, cultural and social outputs of the society and the country at

large (Kleven, & Landais, 2017).

CONCLUSION

Despite the fact that gender inequality has been an international concern for more than

two decades now, there has been minimal progress towards the achievement of gender equality

thus eliminating gender inequality. The international society, as well as national governments,

have put measures in place that have at least helped in increasing the political presentation of

women, laws restricting violence against women, the creation of equal chances in education and

health care so as to release the women from the traditional house-wife situation. These efforts

have however not hit the maximum expected goal of creating a society that is free of gender

inequality. Therefore, gender inequality continues to thrive in many nations except for four

nations of Sweden, Cuba, Costa Rica, and Norway which have achieved gender equality in their

nations.
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References

Jayachandran, S. (2015). The roots of gender inequality in developing countries. economics,

7(1), 63-88.

Kabeer, N. (2015). Gender, poverty, and inequality: a brief history of feminist contributions in

the field of international development. Gender & Development, 23(2), 189-205.

Policastro, C. (2015). Feminist Theory. The Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, 1-5.

Ponthieux, S., & Meurs, D. (2015). Gender inequality. In Handbook of income distribution (Vol.

2, pp. 981-1146). Elsevier.

Gressard, L. A., Swahn, M. H., & Tharp, A. T. (2015). A first look at gender inequality as a

societal risk factor for dating violence. American journal of preventive medicine, 49(3),

448-457.

Mendelberg, T., & Karpowitz, C. F. (2016). Women's authority in political decision-making

groups. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(3), 487-503.

Kleven, H., & Landais, C. (2017). Gender inequality and economic development: fertility,

education and norms. Economica, 84(334), 180-209.

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