In society, people are classified by a variety of features or criteria, which dictates what they can and cannot do. “A minority is any category of people distinguished by physical or cultural difference that a society sets apart and subordinates” (Macionis, 2013, p. 373). People can be classified by their wealth, income, race, ethnicity, appearance, and other categories. The most common examples of classification are racial or ethnic but a category that is occasionally used is gender. Even though, a majority of the Earth’s population are women, they can still be considered a minority by society. “Patriarchy, a form of social organization in which males dominate females, makes women dependent on men for their social standing” (Macionis, 2013, …show more content…
They cannot change the current society they dwell in because they are lacking political power to do so. “Women, minorities and minority women remain substantiality underrepresented in high-level political positions worldwide” (Hughes, 2011, p. 604). Men are speaking, acting, and representing women when in reality they are representing themselves and their needs as men. “Advocacy designed to promote the interests of minority groups tends to prioritize advantaged members, for example, male rather than female minorities” (Hughes, 2011, p. 606). Women can’t possibly be able to promote change when they are a minority in all the major political offices. “18 percent of the House of Representatives members, 20 percent of the Senate members, and 5 percent of state governors are women” (Macionis, 2013, p. 372). In order for women to get a greater political voice they must depend on men to side with them when legislations are being discussed. Minority women are at the bottom of the waiting list when it comes to privileges, rights, and other entitlements. According to Hughes (2011), minority men are elected, soon after the majority women are elected and lastly minority women are elected, which can take decades to reach (Hughes, 2011, p.
No country in the world can yet say they have achieved gender equality (Eitzen, Zinn, and Smith 2012). Every society treats women and men differently. Research shows that sex and gender are entirely separate concepts, yet, society lumps them together and the terms oftentimes are used interchangeably. We can distinguish that sex indicates biological differences between males and females, and gender assigns cultural and social behavior based on sex. However, everything in society is needlessly gendered; advertising, occupations, institutions. Society makes gender a huge factor that determines what roles children and adults alike fulfill. This fosters a culture where roles are pre-fabricated for us, somewhat eliminating free choice, and limiting
Every society forms different cultures and social norms how people behave and constructs stereotypes and expectations of people based on how they were seen throughout history and cultural backgrounds. Once set, norms are unlikely to be changed over time. This social construction decides which group will have benefits and privileges and which won’t. One example of these social constructed norms is gender. Gender, regardless of how different cultures define it, is generally and mostly made up of masculinity, femininity.
Why isn’t that women have a say in anything, why aren’t they able to voice their opinions and vote for what they want as well? Women can do everything a man can do and even though a male is physically stronger than a female, a women makes up for that with her intelligence and ideas. A woman’s perspective on politics can shed a whole new light on government and politics. She can think of something a man would have never thought of in a million years. Afterall, a woman knows best! It was proven that women actual brought on more positive changes, rather than negative ones. The four states that had granted women’s suffrage in the 1900s, was proven to be the best decision that was ever made. Although some may have not wanted the right to vote, it was better for the future of all women to unite on women’s suffrage because in the end females finally got the equality that they
Thinking about diversity and all it encompasses can be overwhelming, to put it simply it is the differences between people. Often we see diversity as a skin color or gender but there is so much more to it. While those things are part of diverse people, it can also include religion, age, income, sexual orientation, disability, appearance, ect. All of the diverse traits can influence how the world treats a person. We see diversity as an important and valuable aspect of society, but not all people agree with us. There is prejudice, stereotypes, bigotry, oppression, and privilege in our world. Prejudices and stereotypes are closely linked. Stereotypes are generally believed concepts about a group of people. Prejudices are one person’s or group’s opinion about a person based on the group they belong to. Both of these can negatively impact people in often sexist, racist, or homophobic ways.
Gender roles are a staple construct of human civilization, designating the behaviors and lifestyles that society expects out of its participants, with gender as the defining characteristic. Historically, females have been at the forefront of the conversation, with feminism regarded as the principal solution to the well-established issue of gender inequality. However, this is foolish. To truly mend the gender inequalities forged by thousands of years of human interaction, both genders have to be acknowledged. Both males and females are equally constrained by gender roles, however the effects of this constraint are in differing fields. There are studies showing that females are at a disadvantage economically, in the workplace, while other studies
For centuries now, males and females have never been viewed as equals. Males receive better wages, more opportunities, and greater praise compared to women. Equality is a goal throughout society, yet we are very far from achieving it. It is evident throughout society that women are not yet equal to men, when women are constantly objectified by people in our society. Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment and perceptions of individuals based on their gender (Trevino). The state of the problem plays a large role in how women are treated throughout our society. It is seen throughout countries all over the world. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) report, the 2013 Global Gender Gap Report measured the disparities between men and
In all societies around the world, women are treated as if they are a minority group, just like any racial or ethnic group that is out of the norm. The justification for considering women as a minority group and the existence of sexism becomes clear through the examination of social indicators, including education, employment, and income.
In a world where society is mostly driven by our faults, family can be a relative term that brings it all back down to earth. Since societies can be extremely divided at times, it is important to have a back bone and a community that understand your own values, customs, and practices. It has been said that “minority group” families, which in Canada or the United States, could be considered anyone who isn’t Caucasian, are less stable in form and function than families who are a part of the general societal “majority”. Throughout this essay, I would like to discuss how untrue this statement is. From racial and cultural differences, to relying on each other and to growing as a unit, it is evident that minorities can have an even stronger relationship than those from the majority.
Gender difference as inequality is all shaped by economic, political, social and cultural factors. In the global context these division of the world formed radical difference between economic zones characterized by extremes of wealth and poverty. Yet, these in equal relationships are often reproduced within under developed societies where non-white women often find themselves at the bottom of the hyracial division. Hence the factors which produce different form of oppression consist of class, ethnocentric and racist practices, and heterosexism.
This paper will focus on three of these concepts- economic inequality or the separation of the rich and the poor which is defined as the different life chances that a wealthy person may have than an impoverished person (Dykstra, 2014). The next concept that will be discussed is feminism, which is defined as the advocacy of the rights of women to be equal to men in all spheres of life (Applebaum, Carr, Duneier, Giddens, 2011). The last concept that will be discussed in this paper is gender roles, which are the ‘social definition’ of women and men. They vary among different societies and cultures, classes, ages and during different periods in history. Gender-specific roles and responsibilities are often conditioned by household structure, access to resources, specific impacts of the global economy, and other locally relevant factors such as ecological conditions (FAO, 1997).
The words ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are commonly confused with each other in regular, everyday conversations when the two have very different meanings. The term ‘sex’ refers to the biological and physiological characteristics of a person, such as male or female; ‘gender’ is a social construction that refers to masculine or feminine roles in society ( Nordqvist). For example, women are seen in commercials doing all of the cooking and cleaning and men are seen working and playing sports. The term ‘gender inequality’ in this case is confusing as it means the inequality of both biological differences and social role differences.
Society has set limits on gender roles with ideals such as male privilege and patriarchy. Patriarchy is the political structure to control womenbs thoughts on their sexuality, laboring, and place in society so...
Taking the case of men and women, their separate gender classifications (male and female) is an example of a difference in a group. Being male or female is given by nature. An inequality between the groups can be found in the socially constructed roles ascribed to each gender. In many traditional societies, men are said to be the heads while women are their subordinates. The women are supposed to be submissive to the men in such societies and have no say on whether they are comfortable with such an arrangement. Such is a case of inequality between the two groups where the female gender is not given an equal and fair chance to exist as men. Gender inequality provides an example of inequality and difference between two groups. Gender is a
Throughout history, there have been constant power struggles between men and women, placing the male population at a higher position than the female. Therefore, in this patriarchal system women have always been discriminated against simply due to the fact that they are women. Their rights to vote, to be educated and essentially being treated equally with men was taken away from them and they were viewed as weak members of society whose successes depend on men. However, this has not prevented them from fighting for what they believe in and the rights they are entitled to. On the contrary, it has motivated them to try even harder and gain these basic societal rights through determination and unity.