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Gender inequality issues
White privilege in today's society
Gender inequality issues
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Recommended: Gender inequality issues
The Injustice of Race and Gender Classification
Some believe that the world we live in is free of problems. That the world has no divides, and there is no longer segregation between races or genders. They ignore the modern reality of separation between races and genders. Race and gender are part of a person’s social identity, and we use them everyday to define others. Using race and gender as classification in society is wrong.
The book Difference Matters by Brenda J. Allen gives insight to how labels are formed from gender. Chapter three, Gender Matters, demonstrates how females are categorized differently compared to males in society. Allen states that, “sex is a biological classification,” and that “gender refers to cultural norms or femininity
In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh arranges a list of freedoms she gets to enjoy on a daily basis due to her race. In this list, she comments on how she can write checks without people around her questioning her financial stability because she is white. This privilege is often overlooked by white people and seen as reality rather than an advantage. She also mentions several instances where her race will be considered the “right” race if any arguments were to arise between her and another co-worker who was of a different race than her. Number twenty-eight on her list states that, “I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.” Privileges like these are almost always overlooked by white people, and they are often abused by whites in order to assert their dominance. This list of privileges is one that few white people would admit was right, and many would deny that these were even privileges to them. The fact that one race believes themselves to be superior to all others in society is wrong. All races should be treated the same, and individuals should not be chained to the color of their skin or the path of their
“White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks” (McIntosh, 172). White privilege is all around us, but society has been carefully taught
In her article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh writes about the privilege white individuals get without noticing it. McIntosh talks about how whites are taught to not recognize their privilege. McIntosh having a background in Women’s Studies, she also talks about how men have more privileges than women, yet they rarely recognize it. In the article McIntosh claims that “After I realized the extent to which men work from a base of unacknowledged privilege, I understood that much of their oppressiveness was unconscious.”
The two articles that had a profound impact to my understanding of race, class and gender in the United States was White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh and Imagine a Country by Holly Sklar. McIntosh explains the keys aspects of unearned advantage (a privilege that one group hold over another) as well as conferred dominance (the act of voluntarily giving another group power) and the relationship that these factors hold when determine power of a social group. Additionally, the purpose of McIntosh’s article was to demonstrate the privilege that certain individuals carry and how that translates to the social structures of our society. Furthermore, conferred dominance also contributes to the power of the dominant group
The clusters of social definitions used to identify persons by gender are collectively known as “femininity” and “masculinity.” Masculine characteristics are used to identify persons as males, while feminine ones are used as signifiers for femaleness. People use femininity or masculinity to claim and communicate their membership in their assigned, or chosen, sex or gender. Others recognize our sex or gender more on the basis of these characteristics than on the basis of sex characteristics, which are usually largely covered by clothing in daily life.
Doing research about the existence of white privilege, I found two articles with the opposite point of view on related information. Although both authors are Caucasians, they have completely opposing opinions about the existence of the white privilege. While Peggy McIntosh is trying to spread awareness to Caucasians in regards to their own privilege, Duke wants them to understand that they are in the same position as all other races. He explains that the awareness of “white privilege” is only a fallacy that causes feel of guilt without foundation.
In this world we are constantly being categorized by our race and ethnicity, and for many people it’s hard to look beyond that. Even though in the past many stood up for equality and to stop racism and discrimination, it still occurs. In this nation of freedom and equality, there are still many people who believe that their race is superior to others. These beliefs are the ones that destroy our nation and affect the lives of many. The people affected are not limited by their age group, sex, social status, or by their education level.
Peggy talks about racism being a part everyday life even though we ignore it. Peggy’s main idea was to inform the readers that whites are taught to ignore the fact that they enjoy social privileges that people of color do not because we live in a society of white dominance. Even though society has come a long way, it still has a longer way to go in improving social profiling. There are many things minorities will never have the opportunity to experience or understand because they are not white. It doesn't matter what we do, how much we work, how much money we have, we’ll never experience white privileges. White people are not stereotyped like other races are. They are also not looked down upon other races. The list of daily effects that McIntosh describe are perfect examples of what minorities will never get to experience. Some of her points are, “ 13. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my face on trial” she also points out that people of minority will not experience never being “ asked to speak for all the people of my social group” (McIntosh 99). No matter how one may try to analyze a situation, white people are privileged bottom line. Some are more privileged than others by way of money or reputation and others by are privileged just by skin
Read Chapter 3 Ethnicity: p. 31-47. Familiarize yourself with the vocabulary for Chapter 3 and use these words in your discussion board and in your writing.
Gender is not about the biological differences between men and women but rather the behavioral, cultural and psychological traits typically associated with one sex. Gender is socially constructed meaning it 's culturally specific, it 's learned and shared through gender socialization. What it means to be a woman or man is going to differ based on the culture, geographical location, and time. What it meant to be a woman in the US in the 19th century is different than what it means to be a woman in the 21st century. As cultures evolve over time so are the ideals of what it means to be man or woman.
Many people will argue that she is correct, while some others will explain why this is not the case. The main point that McIntosh is pushing forward is that both whites and males have certain advantages. McIntosh says that “white privilege is an invisible package of unearned assets” (605). White privilege are the advantages that white people receive just for being white. They didn’t earn any of the privileges other than being born with the right skin tone.
In this article, Shaw and Lee describe how the action of labels on being “feminine” or “masculine” affect society. Shaw and Lee describe how gender is, “the social organization of sexual difference” (124). In biology gender is what sex a person is and in culture gender is how a person should act and portray themselves. They mention how gender is what we were taught to do in our daily lives from a young age so that it can become natural(Shaw, Lee 126). They speak on the process of gender socialization that teaches us how to act and think in accordance to what sex a person is. Shaw and Lee state that many people identify themselves as being transgendered, which involves a person, “resisting the social construction of gender into two distinct, categories, masculinity and femininity and working to break down these constraining and polarized categories” ( 129). They write about how in mainstream America masculinity and femininity are described with the masculine trait being the more dominant of the two. They define how this contributes to putting a higher value of one gender over the other gender called gender ranking (Shaw, Lee 137). They also speak about how in order for femininity to be viewed that other systems of inequality also need to be looked at first(Shaw,Lee 139).
Reflecting directly on the cultural attitudes and sociocultural messages explained throughout this course, it is clear that race, gender, and sexuality are all socially constructed in one way or another. Contrary to popular belief, race is actually almost completely socially constructed, it is not biological. Further, a human’s DNA does not differentiate at all to create any specific race. However, society has categorized certain things, such as skin color, to determine the race of individuals. In simpler terms, there are not specific genes that parents pass on to their offspring that determine their race; society categorizes people into specific races when they are born based on their
Here it should be kept in mind that Neither class nor gender or race place unaccompanied as managing main beliefs of civilization, instead they profoundly interconnect, overlie, entwine, concurrently arranged, and knit fabric of all people’s understandings and beliefs i.e. man and woman, gay and straight, white and black, rich and poor and so onwards. Even as any sole of these cluster individuality may be additional significant at a specified instant in the life of one individual (like, gender in case of rape of a woman; race in case of an African American man or Latino if in case outlined by police force), collectively they outline the total understanding and expertise of all groups ().
Race and ethnicity are two terms that are constantly used in today’s society. Understanding these terms can help people to recognize that color of skin or color of hair does not define a person. These terms connect with history, social interaction, and the overall make up of a person. However America is constantly obsessed with labeling people by the way that they look or the way that they act. America seems to encourage the terms race and ethnicity and continue to divide people into categories. It is interesting to comprehend these terms because they are not going to disappear any time soon. Race and ethnicity are apart of America’s history and will be a part of the future.
When we say that we “do gender”, we are referring to accepted role taken by both females and males in a society that comes to play in their everyday lives. West and Zimmerman stated that doing gender involves, “complex socially guided perceptual, interactional, and micro political activities that cast particular pursuits as expressions of masculine and feminine natures,” (West & Zimmerman, 2014, pg. 121). That had lead to individuals conforming to what society deemed as appropriate for their gender and the implications that follow. By characterizing sex, we are doing gender, which creates societal norms that influence both female and male behaviors. By classifying people as either male and female, we are solidifying the culturally agreed upon