A Major Struggle against Gender Discrimination - Essay Example

Introduction

There was a major struggle against gender discrimination in the 1900s. In today's society, especially in the United States, gender discrimination was a thing of the past. However, it is shocking that women face severe discrimination in today's society. Although all women are discriminated against in the United States, black women are considered to be extremists. Black women in the United States suffer from various forms of oppression, including job loss, insurance, health care, and politics.

It is shocking that, despite their academic success, many women face barriers to employment. The promotion of equal pay in the United States has intensified in recent decades. This led to a significant decrease in wage disparities. While this is true for white women, black women still suffer a lot from the wage gap. The average weekly income of white women in the United States is estimated at $ 703; those of black women are considered relatively less valuable at $ 595 (Calder-Dawe & Gavey, 2016).

It is also said that the female employment rate in the country has increased. It can be moving to note that 33% of employees are Hispanic and black. However, women who find work find work in service industries, which often offer low wages. The jobs offered to them are mostly below their qualifications, but they have nothing left to accept

due to difficult times.

Also, black women are seen as underrepresented in politics. Although many issues, such as health, discrimination, and insurance, directly affect women of color, it is ironic that their representation on these issues is minimal. Black women are seen as less represented in politics. McLemore et al. (2018) conclude that of the 2,061 women elected in the United States, only 286 are women of color.

In addition, black women have limited access to health care and health insurance due to their financial situation. Almost 55% of the country's uninsured women consider themselves to be black women. The lack of insurance coverage has contributed to the growing number of preventable diseases diagnosed in black women. This is due to their limited access to medical care. It is very shocking to know that more than 1,700 black women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year and that 25% die from it. It is also reported that the mortality rate among African American women is higher than that of white women. These problems are due to differences in health insurance coverage that limit access to health care.

It is crazy to know that even today, there is discrimination in society. It is necessary to limit the various forms of discrimination against women of the same color. The level of discrimination in society is problematic. It is irritating that, despite their degrees, African American women continue to struggle to find work. Where they can find work, the pay gap between them and white women is alarming. In addition, African American women have limited access to health care. This is mainly because fewer black women have health insurance, which contributes to their precarious financial situation.

Feminism started as a belief that men and women should have equal social, political, and economic opportunities. Though with time, feminism has shifted its main agenda, and it now portrays as if it is a war between the two genders. This has derailed the fight against inequality as both parties see as if one gender is trying to take away their opportunities.

Feminist theory is founded on three main principles. The first principle is that women are valuable and have something they can contribute to the world. The second principle is that in the past years, ' women have not been able to receive awards or gain in participation in society. The third principle is that feminism should be not only critical but also be transformational.

Problem Description of how poverty affects the following:

Poverty is a very critical issue among women of color. First, they cannot get proper education, meaning that women of different color are much ahead of them. Lack of proper education means that they have a very low chance of getting better jobs and also being able to afford good living standards for their children. This forces them to work in odd jobs for them to be able to meet their daily needs. This means that they would be living from hand to mouth. Policies on the role of feminism need to be revised to cater to the needs of black women.

Poverty has led to them being displaced. Since they cannot afford to get a job, most of them cannot rent a house. This is because of the high cost of living. This forces them to work extra hard or become homeless. Those who become homeless subject their children to mental torture. They do not see the need for why they should live, yet they are suffering. So it is best if they were accorded the best opportunities.

How Social Justice and Human Rights Intersect with the Social Problem

Feminism, a champion of women's rights to ensure gender equality in society, also seeks to achieve economic, social, political, and even personal gender equality. The role of women in society is to recognize the need for equality for all women and work for their education. Women began to adopt social identities with women in a movement to claim their rights. Some feminist theories have also sought to reduce the power balance between the sexes in different cultures and social contexts.

Population Affected by this Social Problem

The people who are greatly affected by poverty are women of color. They lack opportunities for them to live a better life. Most of them have families who depend on them—being unemployed means that they cannot cater to needs such as proper housing to their children. It also means that they cannot be able to cater to good medication. This means that their poverty status would continue since they will continue to face such discrimination (Edwards, 2006 ). The advantage of feminism is that it has given them a platform to air out their issues. They can now lobby for equal opportunities. They can showcase their problem and how they feel the government is doing. Feminism has been looking for ways it can assist black women against some of the discrimination. They have even vouched for them to get employed and has also revised some of the rights that they had been denied. They have also formed a support group for them to be successful.

Developmental Phase in Life and Implication

Human beings have different developmental stages. The most common one is the adolescence stage. This stage is the time one moves from childhood to adulthood. During this stage, a person develops both emotionally, physically, and mentally. It is during this stage that the women are affected by feminism. They are taught their rights. Most of them are told that they deserve equal opportunities. Feminism is not a bad idea, but the way they are being instilled in young women raises many questions. It seems as if they are being told to fight against the opposite gender. This makes the men feel threatened and thus becomes hard for them to champion for their fair equality.

According to Klonoff and Landrine, 2000, "Even infrequent or minor occurrences of racial discrimination may result in diminished psychological wellbeing." So this means women of the color face this challenge when growing up since they know people would always discriminate against them based on their color. This affects psychological wellbeing because they would not be able to able to view any issue logically. They would always think that they are being discriminated against even if the decision taken is rational. So racial discrimination has a huge impact on the developmental stage of a person.

It is believed that positive feminism had an impact in the past. However, in the current society has radicalized feminism. It is a tool used to create a war between both sexes. Each gender feels that they are superior to the other. So a lot of issues need to be solved on what feminism is trying to fight for. First, it should address the poverty level that women of color are facing. Then later address how women can get equal opportunities in all positions (Popa, 2017). This will have a positive impact on society.

According to Erickson's developmental stage, a human being has a different stage that he or she takes before he is fully developed mentally. In this case, stage 4 is industry vs. inferiority (Syed & McLean, 2017). This means that the interaction of a child and his or her peers has a great impact. When young women of color feel that society discriminates against them or views them as inferior, this affects their self-esteem and mental health (Schriver, 2015). At this stage, a child starts to try winning by seeking validation from his or her peers. He or she wants to be appreciated. Some of them might fall to bad behaviors such as drug abuse or even depression to escape reality. This stage is critical to a teacher since he or she should know how to balance when teaching the children not to portray any discrimination.

The 5th stage, according to Erickson, is the Identity vs. role confusion. This is the adolescence stage. The child starts to learn very small things, such as cooking. He or she is starting to be independent. He starts to know his or her role in society. When issues such as toxic feminism are introduced to them, that would greatly change the way they view society. They would feel discriminated against by the other gender. This would create a chaotic society since there would be a continued fight. So children should be taught positive feminism. They should know that they are equal.

Social Worker Advocacy

The main agenda of feminism was to fight for equal rights for both women and men. In this case, women should vouch for positive feminism (Schriver, 2015). This would be the only way that women of color can be able to advance in their life. This means that you, as a woman, have a chance of getting an opportunity (Klonoff, Landrine, & Campbell, 2000). Women should be empowered because there is the backbone of society.

Positive feminism would create a platform where their views can be heard more constructively. Social work advocacy is very important in ending the most common stereotypes that are present in society. Most women of color cannot afford the basic needs despite them being educated. They are always turned down because of their race. No one wants to fight for them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a lot needs to be done to address poverty's issue on women of color. It is time to restate how poverty affects women of color by denying them the ability to advance in society. Freire's theory was very evident that what people are taught academically and discrimination that a person's faces are two different things. This is true because education teaches that there would be equal opportunities when educated, but life gives a different experience. The women of color might have the right qualifications, but they are turned down. This discourages others who have a goal of making a change to their life. When the idea of discrimination is restated, people would be psychologically prepared from their early childhood on how they would fight.

The advancement of women of color would be beneficial to both the women and the family. First, the women would have an opportunity to get equal employment opportunities meaning they can cater to their daily needs. This means that their family would be able to access proper nutrition, the best education for their children, and proper medication. This advancement would reduce the gap between women of color and white women. They would not feel discriminated against. A lot of women of color have been forced to do work that makes them sink to depression. Some of the work includes prostitution. This can be achieved through social justices such as feminist lobby groups to assist women of color in pushing their agenda for equality.

Feminism started as a belief that men and women should have equal social, political, and economic opportunities. Though with time, feminism has shifted its main agenda, and it now portrays as if it is a war between the two genders. This has derailed the fight against inequality as both parties see as if one gender is trying to take away their opportunities.

Feminist theory is founded on three main principles. The first principle is that women are valuable and have something they can contribute to the world. The second principle is that in the past years, ' women have not been able to receive awards or gain in participation in society. The third principle is that feminism should be not only critical but also be transformational.

Problem Description of how poverty affects the following:

Poverty is a very critical issue among women of color. First, they cannot get proper education, meaning that women of different color are much ahead of them. Lack of proper education means that they have a very low chance of getting better jobs and also being able to afford good living standards for their children. This forces them to work in odd jobs for them to be able to meet their daily needs. This means that they would be living from hand to mouth. Policies on the role of feminism need to be revised to cater to the needs of black women.

Poverty has led to them being displaced. Since they cannot afford to get a job, most of them cannot rent a house. This is because of the high cost of living. This forces them to work extra hard or become homeless. Those who become homeless subject their children to mental torture. They do not see the need for why they should live, yet they are suffering. So it is best if they were accorded the best opportunities.

How Social Justice and Human Rights Intersect with the Social Problem

Feminism, a champion of women's rights to ensure gender equality in society, also seeks to achieve economic, social, political, and even personal gender equality. The role of women in society is to recognize the need for equality for all women and work for their education. Women began to adopt social identities with women in a movement to claim their rights. Some feminist theories have also sought to reduce the power balance between the sexes in different cultures and social contexts.

Population Affected by this Social Problem

The people who are greatly affected by poverty are women of color. They lack opportunities for them to live a better life. Most of them have families who depend on them—being unemployed means that they cannot cater to needs such as proper housing to their children. It also means that they cannot be able to cater to good medication. This means that their poverty status would continue since they will continue to face such discrimination (Edwards, 2006 ). The advantage of feminism is that it has given them a platform to air out their issues. They can now lobby for equal opportunities. They can showcase their problem and how they feel the government is doing. Feminism has been looking for ways it can assist black women against some of the discrimination. They have even vouched for them to get employed and has also revised some of the rights that they had been denied. They have also formed a support group for them to be successful.

Developmental Phase in Life and Implication

Human beings have different developmental stages. The most common one is the adolescence stage. This stage is the time one moves from childhood to adulthood. During this stage, a person develops both emotionally, physically, and mentally. Read More