Equal Gender Opportunities - Essay Example

Running Head: Equal Opportunities in relation to Gender Equal Opportunities in relation to Gender [Institute’s Equal Opportunities in relation to Gender Famous sociologist Winifred Poster conducted a case regarding the social statuses of gender in two somewhat similar organizations working in United States and India. Poster was able to conclude that there was somewhat rigid division of labor in terms of gender at the Indian company. Not only the organizational structures, hierarchal structure, job description, job autonomy and bureaucracy but also the social structure, social interactions informal interactions proved the same (Ridgeway, pp. 29-33, 1992). Not only in India but also in many countries of the world there is a traditional social perception and norm that women are a symbol of purity and family honor. Therefore, they should be sheltered and protected under all circumstances. Moreover, the best way to protect them is to keep them away from the social life, locked inside the walls of the house for the rest of her lifetime (Brückner, pp. 44-46, 2004). There are so many examples all over the world and throughout the history that indicate the gender disparity, gender inequality, sexism, or stratification of genders. Despite the fact that over the past decades, the situation has improved a bit but still there is a long way to travel. It is very difficult to talk about a world where there would be equal opportunities in relation to gender (Pasero, pp. 219-228, 2003). In fact, this is virtually impossible to implement all around the globe. There are several reasons for this strong but bitter assumption. We live in a world where, consciously or unconsciously, we have created some strong and irrevocable social perception and outlook of gender. In fact, gender is not just a symbol of any one’s reproductive role but it has become a symbol and determinant of one’s behavior, attitudes, and role expectations (Tomm, Hamilton, Mackie & Calgary Institute for the Humanities, pp. 159-167, 1998). For example, a female school teacher, if announces that she would be late for a class or would not be able to make an appearance the next day; this statement from her would not get so much of attention if the same statement is put forward by a male teacher. Actually, after hearing the same from the father we would start thinking about different things and would make various assumptions in out minds. That he would be a single father, or may be he is too nice or may be his wife is too busy with other stuff. This happens because as individuals grow up in human societies they quickly learn about their roles and expected behaviors (Chaneles, pp. 85-92, 1984). For example, both men and women mostly know how to cook, do the dishes, and sew but women are the ones who usually take care of these activities (Huber, pp. 89-94, 2007). On the other side, both women and men are capable of flying planes and lead people from political platforms but usually men are the ones who come forward to take these responsibilities (Nelson & Bridges, pp. 3-7, 1999). Therefore, the way in which the society treats and identifies these two genders ion their early years lay the foundation of the rest of their life. People who find it difficult to absorb or digest any male or female in so-called feminine or masculine roles would always find it difficult to advocate the equal opportunity view for both of the gender since they belong to that group of people who hold the functionalist view. These people believe that it is better for the smooth functioning and lesser conflict that both the gender stick to their roles and do not interfere. As mentioned above, most of the women just do not get the equal rights and opportunities. The most dangerous of these disparities occurs in the field of education. There are many under developed and developed countries of Africa and Asia that has societies, which still oppose women education (Kelly, pp. 58-62, 1993). Extremists are constantly destroying various Girls’ schools in Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan (Blau, Brinton & Grusky, pp. 149-157, 2009). Moreover, the areas where these schools are safe, parents do not allow their female children to leave home for this “useless” activity (Tomm, Hamilton, Mackie & Calgary Institute for the Humanities, pp. 159-167, 1998). Rather they believe that girls should spend more time in learning tips and tricks of being a homemaker from their mothers. Even, if some of these girls make to school somehow, they leave their schools due to early marriage and pregnancies (Rives & Yousefi, pp. 69-74, 1997). Low or no education for girls marks the beginning of an unequal dawn for women. Uneducated, unskilled, and untrained women cannot prove to economically productive to their families since they cannot earn (World Bank, pp. 74-79, 2001). Moreover, you cannot expect good training and teaching from an illiterate mother to their child. In addition, illiterate mothers are least likely to support their daughters for education. Experts believe that low literacy rate amongst women is the underlying cause of increased domestic violence over women (Rhode, pp. 105-116, 1999). Quite understandably, men are the ones who subject women to violence and they are able to do this because of this earning nature, which helps them earn a dominant and superior position. Moreover, women due to unemployed and illiterate nature do not know how to react and end up bearing all the violence silently (Rothenberg, pp. 13-14, 2006). This is why it is so important to provide equal opportunity to both genders, at least in this field because literate, skillful, and employed women are least likely to bear all the violence, but they would certainly take some action against it, since they would be aware of their duties, rights, responsibilities, and the law (Rives & Yousefi, pp. 69-74, 1997). The situation further compounds with unequal health facilities for women in various countries. As mentioned above that many people assume women as a symbol of purity and thus shelter them from the men coming from outside (Nelson & Bridges, pp. 3-7, 1999). This further compounds the problem. This way these women cannot visit any male doctors for their treatment (Bharati & Pal, pp. 15-26, 2006). More importantly, no male gynecologists are allowed to see these women, no matter how complicated the delivery is. These people rely on traditional illiterate nurses. This explains why there are so many women dying each year in these countries and why there are so high infant mortality rates. In fact, statistics show women have the lowest life expectancy in many under developed countries (Lorber, pp. 11-19, 2009). However, there is another side of this picture. The situation is unequal for men when it comes for employment opportunities in health care system in most of the developed countries. Statistics show that more women are employed in this sector than men are. Quite understandably, this disparity even continues when we come to employment stage. Despite the fact that more women are a part of our labor force but still these figures are not satisfactory. According to the recent survey, only 15.7 CEO’s of fortune 500 companies are women (Jacobs & Gerson, pp. 39-47, 2004). Moreover, women who work more than 60 hours a week fund themselves with pay, which is less than 78.3 percent of what males working more than same numbers of hours get (Ghose Majid & Ernst, pp. 55-58, 2008). The situation even gets worse when women of color are taken into consideration. Latin American women only end up getting 60 cents for the same, which men do and “African American women make 72 dollars for the jobs that give 1 dollar to men” (Jacobs & Gerson, pp. 39-47, 2004). Moreover, more men than women end up working in low-status jobs (Ramegowda, pp. 25-27, 1997). Many countries have responded quite well to this issue by coming up with legislations and laws and making sure about their enforcement. According to the news of March 10, 2010, Pakistan that is low-income group and low literacy rate country, known for its women rights violation has approved a law for the protection of working women. According to this law, men who bf found guilt of harassing women would end up getting a fine of 0.5 mil rupees and 3 years of imprisonment. The same trend remains there in the field of leadership and politics as well. Only a few countries in the world have women as their head of the state. In fact, even United States does not have a female president in their long history (Omonubi-McDonnell, pp. 5-8, 2003). However, as mentioned above that the situation is improving and more and more women are trying to become a part of the political system. Nevertheless, recently, there was a survey for finding out that which can be a better politician either male or females (Ghose, Majid & Ernst, pp. 55-58, 2008). Surprisingly, only 6 percent of the respondents answered that females can be a better politician than men can. However, around 21 percent of the respondents were in favor of male politicians and the rest of them were of the view that both men and women are equally good politicians (Ghose, Majid & Ernst, pp. 55-58, 2008). References Bharati, Premananda, & Pal, Manoranjan. (2006). Gender disparity: manifestations, causes, and implications. Anmol. Blau, Francine D., Brinton, Mary C., & Grusky, David B. (2009). The Declining Significance of Gender? Russell Sage Foundation. Brückner, Hannah. (2004). Gender inequality in the life course: social change and stability in West Germany, 1975-1995. Aldine Transaction. Chaneles, Sol. (1984). Gender issues, sex offenses, and criminal justice: current trends. Routledge. Ghose, Ajit K., Majid, Nomann, & Ernst, Christoph. (2008). The Global Employment Challenge. Academic Foundation. Huber, Joan. (2007). On the origins of gender inequality. Paradigm Publishers. Jacobs, Jerry A., & Gerson, Kathleen. (2004). The time divide: work, family, and gender inequality. Harvard University Press. Kelly, Raymond Case. (1993). Constructing inequality: the fabrication of a hierarchy of virtue among the Etoro. University of Michigan Press. Lorber, Judith. (2009). Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics. Oxford University Press. Nelson, Robert L., & Bridges, William P. (1999). Legalizing gender inequality: courts, markets, and unequal pay for women in America. Cambridge University Press. Omonubi-McDonnell, Morolake. (2003). Gender inequality in Nigeria. Spectrum Books. Pasero, Ursula. (2003). Gender--from costs to benefits. VS Verlag. Ramegowda, A. (1997). Gender inequality: power, privilege, and poverty in plantations. Rawat Publications. Rhode, Deborah L. (1999). Speaking of Sex: The Denial of Gender Inequality. Harvard University Press. Ridgeway, Cecilia L. (1992). Gender, interaction, and inequality. Springer. Rives, Janet M., & Yousefi, Mahmood. (1997). Economic dimensions of gender inequality: a global perspective. Greenwood Publishing Group. Rothenberg, Paula S. (2006). Race, class, and gender in the United States: an integrated study. Worth Publishers. Tomm, Winnie, Hamilton, Gordon, Mackie, Marlene, & Calgary Institute for the Humanities. (1998). Gender bias in scholarship: the pervasive prejudice. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. World Bank. (2001). Engendering development: through gender equality in rights, resources, and voice. World Bank Publications. Read More