For many years, women have been the “submissive” gender and the minority, while men have been the more dominant gender. Women used to stay home to take care of the children and the house, while men were the ones who worked. Women did not have many rights back then; some could even say barely any. They could be abused by their partner and they could easily get away with it. Fortunately, things have improved gradually over time, for the better. Still, it's a very popular and important problem. The question is, what was the source of gender inequity, and if this issue persists, what will be the consequences?
Gender inequality, in my interpretation, is male-female disparity and unfair treatment. I firmly believe that the biased treatment towards women needs to stop once and for all, we live in a new era were we constantly should be bettering ourselves and leaving behind small differences, such as gender, for everyone's benefit. This is the future now and we have grown so much through the years, yet in this specific topic we are very old schooled, in the way we think that men and women should be treated. I feel identified with this issue because I have been myself a victim of this behaviors, just like a couple of my friends and family members. Some theories describe gender inequality as a result of the way both genders are linked to the social economic system. They claim that culture devalues the role of women as mother and wife and refuses access to widely valued public resources. Gender inequity is something that we regularly underestimate; it is acknowledged and appears to be normal in the public eye. It is important to look at unpaid labor and the discrimination women face before we look at gender inequality in paid jobs.
History has proved to us that they have already chosen the roles and power for both genders. There was a pattern of male supremacy in employment in the United States before WWII came along, where for the first time women received male oriented jobs while the men fought in the front line. Prior to this, men were regularly the ones who brought in the cash and this way they provided to their family. Then again, women were increasingly disposed to be associated with unpaid work, regularly as housewives who do their tasks at home and dealt with the kids. In a 2018 study it was found that on average “women spent 180 minutes per day on housework; that’s 78% more time than men who spent only 101 minutes per day.” This shows that women are still allowed to engage in unpaid labor by housework, not to be working, even in current society. The average working woman in the United States earns just 77 per cent of what the male worker does. Nevertheless, after the 1970 Equal Pay Act, women's position in society and in education has changed considerably.
Today, gender inequity is acknowledged in the public eye showing a solid injustice against women in business. People follow altogether different vocations today. Men are bound to be working in more physical related jobs than women, while women are bound to be driven into lower paid jobs, for example, cleaning. “Women tend not to put their whole bodies into engagement in a physical task with the same ease and naturalness as men”. There are a couple or organizations around the world who support women to work in more physical jobs, such as construction. Similarly, as this, they address the problem of low female depiction in said jobs. Despite the fact that there are affiliations who support women working in participation in more physical demanding jobs, the likeliness them to take part in such an occupation is still low and shows little improvement. This, again, reveals the strong predominance of men in work around the world.
Sex inequalities were enormously implemented in media yield with women being utilized in promotions to offer anything from vehicles to alcohol. Just as this, ladies were frequently depicted as 'sex toys' to the media, particularly in the 1980's the point at which men's magazines were first issued. This is yet happening today, as women are utilized for the most part for male satisfaction in the media. Women also feel nervous and compelled to mimic what they see in magazines to impress men. This occurs in the vast majority of the magazines and papers to promotions in TV, they are such incredible sources which are an extraordinary impact in the public eye. Moreover, women today are still being portrayed as more sexual objects and some men still see women as a way for pleasure. In the 1990s it was discovered that “44% of music videos contain sexual imagery. Women are far more likely than men to be portrayed in provocative or revealing clothing and sexually objectified.” This prompts female sexualization which are being mishandled to this day in the media, particularly with the quick development of the web, regularly through sexual pictures of women related to the sex business.
Gender inequality is not something that can be fixed in a matter of days or even months, and to be honest, the fight for equality is not going to be an easy one, it is going to take a lot of work and consistency from every one, the most we can do is organize and figure out some steps we could work on and only time will tell. The first thing people need to work on is basically teaching the youth to not stereotype any gender since they are small children, so they do not grow up to believe anybody is greater than other genders. This could be done by showing children how there are no differences between any genders, how there are no unfair sport towards a specific gender, there is not a single career a girl should avoid or prevent studying because it is known to be a man’s dominant field. Any of those stereotypes need to be eliminated from the new generation's minds and ideas. Another thing could be encouraging equity in the job environment, no matter the field. Some people believe women cannot do a man’s job, such as construction, so maybe those people need to be reminded that during WW2, women were the only ones doing the “men jobs” while all the men were fighting in the war. A different way to tackle the issue is through celebrities or fame. Nowadays, everyone looks up to someone, whether they are models, actors, singers, basically any celebrity. Today there are some fighting of the speaking up about the unfairness of the inequalities women face in the working field, and many more keep joining to bring these issues to light. At the end of the day gender inequality is a huge issue that could use more people with great influence in the world to help acknowledge.
Humanity requires both men and women to move forward together, and they both are equally important. There are no reasons why women should be seen as the “weaker” sex. These old habits and mentalities are implanted into our brains from the very beginning of our lives. We must teach our children equality and respect so gender equality becomes a natural way of living. We must teach our girls that they can reach as high as they want, that nothing is ever impossible for them. They can do anything a man can do; they only need to believe in themselves. There are many things that we need to work on, but we can get there if we work together as people, not rivals. Both men and women need to believe this is not right and be determined to change the old ways of life.