Gender Inequality Still Exists

Gender Inequality still exists

"Is there any difference between the education acquired by men and women in college?" My answer to that question would be that although the "brick wall" ( Forum 1) in education has been broken, we still have another, invisible barrier called the "glass ceiling." ( Forum 1) Most people would say that education has changed a great deal since women began to attend institutions of higher learning. Is this completely true?

Women have undoubtedly made "Substantial educational progress." ( Women 3) We should not forget that the large gaps between the education levels of women and men in the early 1970's essentially disappeared for the younger generation. Females on average outperform males in reading and writing, and take more credits in academic subjects. They are more likely than males to attend college after high school, and are as likely to graduate with a post-secondary degree. All of these accomplishments have accumulated with time and effort from women that have made a difference. It has taken years to get to where we are, but how far have we really come?.

. Seventy percent of illiterate people throughout the world are females. That is a shockingly large amount of women that suffer the consequences of social stratification. Why are women given the role of the caretaker and not the scholar? Why are only ten percent of women in the world holding some type of legislative seat? Throughout history women have been brought up to be mothers and have been forced to practice staying home taking care of their children. According to history, women have only begun their battle with sexism.

About one hundred years ago women were still claimed as a man's property. They had no right to vote, they could not be part of a jury and had no rights to property. Not too long ago in the nineteen fifties women could not even own a credit card in their name. Where are we today? Has it really improved very much? I don't think it has, women still can't vote in some Arabic countries. Sexism affected the development and socioeconomic improvement of women in the past. Today it is holding back bright futures for many young women everywhere.

"The first women to enter this male-ordered campus were venturing into unmapped terrain." (Sadker 229) Not only does gender inequality li...

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...discussions. Another reason for this is that there are more male professors in colleges and universities and it is even more difficult to find women professors at the most prestigious universities.

Throughout these silent scenarios of sexism in the classroom, more and more women today are being robbed of "knowledge and self-esteem." ( Sadker 234) These young women slowly lose their confidence to respond to the professors during class discussions. Only because they feel that they are not as intelligent as their male counterparts. Why must a woman answer a question with a phrase like: "This probably isn't right but" and "I'm not sure if this is what you want, but"? (Sadker 235)

The truth is that not much has changed, although today there are more women than men in college, inequality in educational opportunities still stagnates the growth of intellectual youth. The biggest problem that we face in a college or university is being a woman. Today there are more women that have acquired degrees in the "hard sciences",

( Forum 4) but statistics still show the gap between the sexes has endured until the present time.