How American Culture Defines Females versus Males
What is the woman's role in society? Men and women are by no means equal. There are always going to be certain attributes of each gender that the other gender cannot duplicate. This does mean that the one is better than the other. Even though we are seeing more and more women succeeding in life than men, American culture still defines a women as unequal.
Society has set men and women apart by labeling them. It is common for men to be seen as strong and women to be seen as weak. The culture thinks that women cannot do jobs like men do; such as firefighters or policemen etc and if they do these jobs, the culture looks at these women in a negative side because these jobs are masculine and women are not supposed to do these jobs. Furthermore, culture defines a woman as a sensitive person; however in order to obtain these jobs, you have to be aggressive and tough and a woman is not like that.
The female-male wage gap is a very objective representation of an accepted form of male dominance, whether it is fair or not. In business, men have always been in control. Now, women are fighting for equality in the workplace. However, American culture wants a woman to be a house wife, to just stay home and take care of children. Why should they? They have the right to make their own decisions. If a woman is interested in a job and meets the qualifications that employer requires, she should be considered eligible for that job. The point is that men have treated women as subordinates throughout history because that is what they have been taught by the culture: that women are not equal to men.
When it comes to sexuality, the culture still does not defines women as equal. For instance, the same girl who is pressured into having sex on Saturday, might be called "slut" and "whore" on Monday morning, but the man who forced her into sex at the party will be called something like "macho man" or "you are the man". Why is this different?
Women still get paid 77 cents to every dollar that a man makes. This not only perpetuates sexism in an extremely obvious way, it is also one of the most harmful. While being catcalled, or subtly put down can be a detriment to women’s psyche, the wage gap is harmful to a women’s physical and emotional well being. Most people say that in order to make a big career change, the person changing jobs should have enough money saved to live on for a full year. This is a pretty logical idea, however, this is something that is much easier for men to accomplish, given that they are paid a higher wage. They have the ability to put money away, whereas it is more likely that a women is going to have to spend all her wages just on living. She won’t be able to leave a job, even if she hates it, simply because she can not afford to. A man with her same qualifications may not have to worry about this due to the fact that he has on average 23 more cents per every dollar, than she does. This to me seems like the root of sexism, and one of the first things we as a society needs to fix in order to help woman feel more equal in the world.
Gender has played specific roles in societies all over the place. Men are usually seen as the dominant gender and therefore appear to be more important to society but women still have an important role. It was not that long ago that women did not have many rights or play an important role at all. In America, laws were put in place to make men and women equal and today many women have filled jobs thought of as a man’s job but there is still a common thought of women being less important in society than men. Before deciding if a woman’s role in society is complimentary or not, the role of all humans must be examined. A woman could appear to have a terrible role but maybe that’s because everybody has a terrible role in that type of society. Same
In today’s contemporary American culture, gender roles are despised by the younger generation because of the distinctions placed on them. This is the era of open-mindedness and self-expression and because of this individuals feel they should not be told what they can and cannot do based on their sex. There are now material things such as, clothes, shoes and perfumes that are considered unisex, males and females can now fight in wars and men are no longer fully needed to be the providers of their families. Though the American culture has attempted to make a leap forward when it comes to breaking down the barriers of gender roles, it is still being held back. Being a culture that was first influenced by the Christian religion, there are still traces of these gender roles present. From areas of
There is a lot of debate whether or not the gender pay gap exist or not. I'm here to say for a fact that it does. In every job that I've ever had, some of the women were paid more then the some of the men. Then again, these women have worked these jobs longer. Other than that, men and women were paid equalling. The gender pay gap is often referred to as a glass ceiling. For decades, feminists have tried to break that glass ceiling. So I'm here to give you some tips on how to break that glass ceiling.
If I were to ask you why there is a pay gap, the most common answer I would get is this, “More women take time off to care for their families than men, and this explains their shortcomings in pay”. So then why, when comparing both men and women who have not taken time off, is there still a difference in pay? Like I said before, gender differences and industry choice can explain up to 50% of the gap. The “Study Counters Usual Explanations for Pay Gaps” article states that, “There is a greater concentration of women working within a particular industry that tends to pay less”. For example, women make up only 9% of workers in the high-paying legal and management occupations according to the article “The Complex Causes of the Gender Wage Gap” written by Barbara Wagner. (TALK ABOUT MOM) Nationally, women make less than men because there aren’t as many of us in as high paying of jobs as them. What I found was that the discrimination doesn’t lie in the amount of money women and men are being payed, the bias against women is in the occupation and the job market before she even applies for the position. Barbara Wagner wrote in the article “The Complex Causes of the Gender Wage Gap” that women are less likely to be accepted into education and training programs in non-traditional fields like agriculture, architecture, and engineering. She also wrote that
Under the Equal Pay Act of 1863, the gender wage gap supposedly no longer exists, but the facts are that “as of 2012 women in the U.S. earn 77 cents to a man's dollar” (ProQuest Staff). Men try to justify this unjust statistic by saying that “wage gap isn't necessarily the result of discrimination” (ProQuest Staff). Although, there is no logical reasoning behind it. When women are actually given the same jobs as men they may be paid the same but typically, they are not able to reach the higher positions in the company that men do. Even with their 77 cents to a man’s dollar, “women still tend to bear a larger responsibility for child care and other household matters within families” (Mazorelle). Women are not given the opportunity to earn as much as men and then they still have to take on a majority of the responsib...
Throughout life every man and woman fits into a specific gender role. We are told what is expected of men and women from birth until death. Many people influence our view of how we should act and what we should say such as our parents, friends, and even the media. Males and females play very different roles and these differences are apparent in our every day lives. These differences are not the same as they used to be. Society has changed the way it treats men and women over time.
Women today hold many roles in society. We are mother, care givers, daughters, wives, bosses, employees, educators, arbitrators and the list can go on and on. In my view we are the glue that can hold a family together and the ethical back bone in a still very male dominated society. Males have been the force behind most of the ethical and moral decisions that dominate our world. Women for much of our known history been subservient, dominated, and treated as second class citizens. We have been told that we are too sensitive and not as smart as men. It was believed and debated for many centuries that a women could only be virtues if she was a mother and a wife. This was her role because of her gender. With all the negativity towards women we
In American culture many people expect those within our society to strictly follow gender roles that have been set in place and anyone who does not follow these roles are often judged harshly. Recently, a friend of mine had a son; her and her husband decided that he would take on the responsibility of being a stay at home father. When I first heard about this I was perplexed by the situation because fathers are “bread winners” for their family, not nurturers. The idea that men cannot be nurturing and mothers cannot be the sole financial support system of the family is deeply ingrained in our culture. Due to society’s idea of masculine and feminine roles, many people struggle with the idea of men and women behaving in ways that do not fit our
The issue of equal pay between genders is still a problem in today’s society. Not to mention the argument of equal pay between genders of different ethnicities and minorities. A white man no matter his age, is unfairly paid more than a black or Mexican man. As well as a white woman can be paid more than both a black or Mexican man, and her ethnic female colleagues. Women of color are paid less than their male counterpart, not to mention the gaping wide wage gap between women of color and a white man. The many factors leading into why the wage gap exists or still exists is that men are stronger, and deserve bigger salaries. This is the main idea of sexism, and that women should earn less than men. When in some
The pay for women who do the same amount of work annually as men is thousands of dollars less. This is an issue that I feel strongly about because I have a lot of women in my family that I believe should be given the same respect and appreciation for their hard work. I think it is because men see that women have changed over the years. They see that women do just as much work as they do. But they do not believe that they should get equal pay. The initial argument is that women are needed in this world just as much as men are which is very true. Like in the article “The Gender Pay Gap Industry” by Catherine Rampell, it sh...
Suggested roles of all types set the stage for how human beings perceive their life should be. Gender roles are one of the most dangerous roles that society faces today. With all of the controversy applied to male vs. female dominance in households, and in the workplace, there seems to be an argument either way. In the essay, “Men as Success Objects”, the author Warren Farrell explains this threat of society as a whole. Farrell explains the difference of men and women growing up and how they believe their role in society to be. He justifies that it doesn’t just appear in marriage, but in the earliest stages of life. Similarly, in the essay “Roles of Sexes”, real life applications are explored in two different novels. The synthesis between these two essays proves how prevalent roles are in even the smallest part of a concept and how it is relatively an inevitable subject.
For many years in United States, equal salary pay for women has been a major issue that women have been fighting for decades. This began back in World War II, when the National Labor Board urged equalize the salary rates for women with the same rates that males were getting of the same professions. (Rowen) Although, traditionally most women do not work to provide for there family and there are not so many independent women during World War II. After World War II more women lost their jobs to veterans returning to the workforce. Women in the workforce after the war have been discriminated ever since. The idea of women as weak and cannot perform there jobs
The ideology that one sex is superior to the other is called sexism. The presumption of male sexism led to patterns of prejudice and discrimination against women. These prejudices and discriminations have led to many beliefs or ideas of why women are inferior to men. They range from brain size to sexual differences, including personalities based on genitalia. Cross-cultural studies demonstrate how the socialization process and societal expectations of men and women produce variances in sex-role norms and behavior.
The sexism and inequality intertwined with the work force is still a big problem today. Unlike in the early 1900’s, there is closer to an equal ratio of men to women in the work force. But women are still more present in typical jobs such as secretaries, nurses, and waitresses, whereas men are more present in jobs such as construction, CEO’s, and politicians. I experienced something similar at my place of work. I’m a barista at my local coffee shop, and all of my coworkers are female. Any time my boss is hiring, there are very few male resumes that come in. But if there are any mechanical problems, the first person she calls is her husband or father to come and fix it. This clear division between men and women is one of the causes of the gender gap. The gender gap is the difference in pay between men and women who work the same job. Unless something changes soon, the chances that I will be paid less than a male doing the same job in my future