Gender Stratification Related to Economy - Essay Example

The social identity provides man with a distinct attribute and facilitates establishment of social status that physically represents him. Construction of social identities facilitates better understanding and access to networking with organizations and groups in order to avail the emerging opportunities for one’s personal and professional growth. A person identified as student, as American or as an artisan etc. can proclaim certain privileges that are associated with that particular identity. It is also true that throughout the ages, patriarchal society helps men to have a dominant position that also restricted the role of women in any decision making. It promotes a set of rules for their conduct and actions, both within and outside the family environment. Thus, the gender biases, enforced by the patriarchal society have not only tried to confine women’s independence but they encourage men to create social environment that smother their potential and creativity. Thus unequal distribution of wealth, power and privileges between the genders has now increasingly become a major issue in the societies. The gender equality was not an option in the olden times but the changing socio-economic processes gradually transformed the social structure and social norms. Many scholars agree that masculine norms actively excluded women from scientific careers as well as limit their contributions to scientific knowledge (Fox and Long 1995; Keller 1995; Wajcman, 1995). But the dichotomy in the roles of the males and females was reduced when women started going out to earn and contribute financially in the household expenditures. DeLamotte et al. in their book Women Imagine Change have traced women’s resistance towards their traditional role as oppressed and how they were able to gain relative power over their life. The ‘wage work’ was the most significant factor of feminist movement because it made women realize that working outside the home gave them more recognition as an individual which was denied to them when they worked long hours at home, doing various household chores. Counihan in her book Around the Tuscan Table succinctly describes the changing expectations of the women when she says, ‘A housewife never gets the recognition that a working woman gets…’ (Counihan, 2004). In the contemporary time, empowerment has become one of the most crucial issues among the women activists as it directly influences the welfare of the women and the society at large. It has greatly reduced the adverse ramifications of gender stratification. Empowerment facilitates realization of self worth, instilling self confidence in one’s ability to make independent decisions about themselves, especially with relation to their socio-economic and political decisions. Hence, an empowered woman has more options and freedom to transform those choices into concrete action plans for the betterment of self and the society at large. Thus, the feminist movement went a long way in overcoming the gender and racial prejudices primarily because it promoted empowerment of women whereby they were able to exert their choices and implemented them for their own good. The modern feminist movement is but an effort of the women to prove their caliber and a platform to showcase their intelligent approach and apply informed choices in areas that were hitherto considered male bastions! In the modern context it can be stated that ‘social value of feminism is that of equality between men and women, which in turn leads to an emphasis on the idea of social justice with regards to financial independence, citizenship rights, paid employment and social welfare’ (Fergusson, Hughes & Neal, 2004, p.136). In the contemporary times, the changing perception of gender equality has been the major element that has considerably narrowed the economic disparity and broadened the equity horizon. The reduced discrimination in job allocation and affirmative actions in workplace have encouraged gender participation at all levels and thereby reduced economic disparity in wages amongst the working population. Scholars assert that the gender segregation in occupation has become a major indicator of gender inequality (Reskin and Roos 1990, Walby 1997). Interestingly, the empowerment of women has also seen polarization of gender in occupation, some occupation like teaching, with high concentration of women and others where men dominate. While, globalization has brought in a new socio economic order, the inequity in the higher hierarchy of occupation is still a serious concern amongst the academicians and social scientists. The changing dynamics of increasing multicultural society has given us an opportunity to evolve new paradigms so as to encourage understanding of gender issues for mutual cooperation and acceptance of mutual cultures, values and division of labor. The evolving times have seen that people’s lives continue to be mainly shaped by the social structures because social identity and gender stratification would remain one of the most crucial aspects of developing societies. The changing dynamics of socio economic and political variables have emerged as the most influential factors that are increasingly impacting the role models of gender stratification. The people are deliberately moving towards the adoption of values which are more universal in nature and promote equity at all levels of human interaction. It also encouraged gender equity amongst the working population vis-à-vis wage, work distribution and consequently influencing consumption pattern of the goods produced. Thus, the changing values have ensured significant contribution of gender stratification to economy. Indeed, the work paradigms need to become the major incentive and men and women need to look at themselves as effective elements to improve and improvise the performance outcome of organizational goals and objectives. In the cutting edge competition, merit outplays the gender biases and people need to overcome their psychological barriers to compete as individuals. In the fiercely competitive world, it is essential that people are able to exercise their freedom, choose judiciously and interpret things and issues with wider perspectives. Men need to make conscientious efforts to understand the emerging new values and develop better understanding of their counterparts to overcome the socio-psychological barriers to work in harmony. One can therefore conclude that the increasing gender equity in the social production, distributed and consumption of goods and services is testament to the close relationship between the gender stratification and economy. (1007) Reference Counihan, Carole M. (2004). Around the Tuscan Table: Food, family nd Gender in twentieth century Florence. New York. Routledge. Eugnia DeLamotte, Natania Meeker and Jean OBarr. (1997) Women Imagine Change. A Global Anthology of Womens resistance from 600BCE to Present. New York. Routledge. Fergusson, Ross; Hughes, Gordon; and Neal, Sarah. (2004) Welfare: from security to responsibility? in Hughes, Gordon and Fergusson, Ross (ed.) Ordering Lives: Family, Work and Welfare, London, Routledge/The Open University. Fox, Mary Frank and Scott J. Long. (1995). Scientific Careers: Universalism and Particularism. Annual Review of Sociology, 21: 45-71. Keller, Evelyn Fox. (1995). The Origin, History, and Politics of the Subject Called ‘Gender and Science’: A First Person Account in S. Jasanoff, G. Markle, J. Peterson, and T. Pinch (eds.) Handbook of Science, Technology, and Society. Newbury Park: Sage (80-94). Reskin B.F. and Roos P.A. (1990). Job Queues, Gender Queues. Philadelphia, Temple University Press. Wajcman, Judy. (1995). Feminist Theories of Technology in S. Jasanoff, G. Markle, J. Peterson, and T. Pinch (eds.) Handbook of Science, Technology, and Society. Newbury Park: Sage (189-204). Walby S. (1997). Gender Transformations. London, Routledge. Read More