The Issue of Gender in Relation to Inclusion and Exclusion - Essay Example

Essay Plan Thesis: Gender roles have played has always been strongly associated with social inclusion/exclusion triggered strongly by the digital divide created by advent of technology. a) Gender construct defined by gender roles b) Gender construct affect social inclusion/ exclusion via power mechanics c) Advent of technology triggers social inclusion/ exclusion further Concepts to define: “engendered”, power mechanisms, digital divide, agentic power Scope: Opens a ground for further investigation with respect to the way in which gender equality properly implemented might change the scenario of social inclusion/exclusion based on gender. a) Gender constructs are more or less defined b gender roles form time immemorial. While women were expected to look after the home front, men used to be the bread earners and this led to the power play everywhere with respect to gender b) The power mechanism in the society with respect to gender causes subjugation of women and propagation of patriarchy, which excludes women from certain privileges. This might be studied with respect to Australia and how topical times are seeing changes in the roles of women and hence the application of “engendered” construct have been improving to some extent though not removed completely. c) Owing to fewer women access to the Internet than men, certain inclusion/ exclusion occurs based on access to resources. The advent of technology has increased the digital divide further in terms of advantageous access over the privileges. Conclusion The dynamics of social inclusion has been active with several respects but as far as gender is concerned social inclusion/ exclusion have been at work quite strongly and technological progress have even widened the divide. How are we "engendered"(male and female) and what does this mean in relation to inclusion/exclusion in certain aspects of our society? Has technology changed the dynamics in terms of inclusion/exclusion? The issue of gender is affecting the level of social decision-making process for its wide involvement to other crosscutting social parameters. While sex is biologically constructed, gender is a social concept based on sex and hence this kind of categorization is termed to be natural. (Kirby, 2000,17) It is widely observed that the concept of gender renders its influence to crosscutting social issues emanating from the paradigms of race, class, sex, age and ethnicity. The concept of gender rises from the roles played by men and women in the society (“engendered”). From time immemorial the concept of women working in the household and men working outside the home has been followed (Important Concepts Underlying Gender Mainstreaming, 2001, 1). Social Inclusion/Exclusion owes its birth to the policies framed in France during the middle of 1970. It is found that during the period of 1980 the policy of Social Inclusion/Exclusion gained priority in the agenda for social issues in the context of the European Union. To this end, the policies concerning Social Exclusion are identified in excluding certain social groups from active participation as regards to social matters for the society in which they dwell. The gender definitions led by roles bears a strong relationship to the concept of Social Inclusion/Exclusion. The slow and gradual movement of women in the working class together with their domestic maltreatment shows the manifestation of gender issues in social inclusion. (Buvinic, Mazza, & Deutsch, 2004, 33). Moreover the advent of Internet technology also triggered the strength of Social Inclusion/Exclusion. (Warschauer, 2004, 28) Gender roles have played has always been strongly associated with social inclusion/exclusion triggered strongly by the digital divide created by advent of technology. The concepts of Social Inclusion/Exclusion are increasingly being found to have become the power mechanisms of the social structure. An analysis made on the realms of social structures show that highly powerful individuals having huge amount of resources in their hands voluntarily exclude themselves from the social strata. The groups of people who have voluntarily excluded themselves to become included in their own associations take part in forcibly excluding the poor people from the social strata. Thus the elite group of the society uses the mechanism of power in the process of personal selection of their own individual group. Power mechanisms work according to gender construct where men are essentially trained to assume positions of leadership and management and this kind of construct is referred as agentic or egoistic power. Male stereotypes focus mainly on agentic power. Based upon such structure, instances of women enjoying leadership positions are much less compared to that of men. This is a kind of exclusion found in the corporate environment. Power mechanisms are at work in case of wages where women comprise of two-thirds of the low wage earners. Such power roles are evident everywhere in the society including the structure respect such as clubs (e.g. ‘white male club’ in US) while men are more inclined to win whether on the home front or in the work environment, women give more importance to relationships. Although the gender construct has altered in some respects majority of the society succumbs to power mechanism even in topical times. (Cantu, n.d.) The feminists’ movements have given a new shape to the gender construct and hence to the impact on exclusion and inclusion of the society. The feminists’ notion has been rooted by their criticisms towards men and the male-dominated institutions, which “have excluded or marginalized women” (Kirby, 2000, 796). However, in modern times, even “men and male-dominated institutions have been slow to change their ways in response to feminists’ demands” (Kirby, 2000, 797). The feminists according to their perspectives about subordination prescribe change. Despite all the stress on social inclusion, the New Labor Law has failed to assure equal benefits to the women. In a broader context the concept of Social Inclusion/Exclusion is thus found to be the tools by which the accessibility of the social population to social, capital and technological resources is governed. Henceforth, it is also observed by social scientists that the concept of class bore fruit in the realms of social strata by gaining inclusion to a certain group in gaining the rights to earn access to the society’s wealth. In Australia, it is observed that a trend of women’s inclusion in various social aspects has been set from 1970 from when an evaluation of the conditions of the women in Australia has been carried out with regards to facts, which are taken as granted. The process of the assessment taken for studying the plight of the women class helped in changing notions and attitudes towards women. It was found that women who were previously excluded from taking part in social decisions by their husbands and fathers are now entering into the mainstream. Thus, the process of inclusion of women into the society had started. Legislative provisions are being continuously made to render autonomous rights to the women population so that they can turn independent in taking decisions. The inclusion of women into the society had enabled them to gain further access to education and employment opportunities. They are now seen as equal to the male gender and gain easy rights to citizenship, which was previously a barred area. Though gender inequalities exist in the Australian population as regards to gaining central positions in society yet the inclusion of women have made them accessible to economic, social and political rights. (Jones, 2005,95-96) It is evidently found that there has been a distinct connection to the concepts of Social Inclusion/Exclusion with the advent of Information and Communication technology. To this extent, it is observed that the poor levels of the society if given a chance to share the social resources can actively participate in the social development process. The revolution brought about with the advent of Information and Communication technology both in the developed and as well as in the developing countries the creation of social rifts is taking place. It is found that with the advent of Internet social activities have earned a newer dimension. The use of Internet in social interaction activities through web like chatting and electronic mailing has given rise to the problem of social exclusion. Some parts of the social strata do not have proper access to Internet modes owing to economic reasons or lack of proper knowledge. Thus, this group of population fails to gain the benefit of total citizenship. Even the disabled population suffers for not being able to gain the full advantage of the Internet technology. Further, in regards to telephonic communication it is found that proper access to the communication mode needs the availability of infrastructural facilities. Moreover, the subscriber to the service must be able to sustain the ongoing service and operator charges. The government of the developed countries is taking increased measure to render telephones to different social groups to help counter the effects of poverty, unemployment and access to public commodities. In developing countries the government mechanisms are increasingly promoting telephonic devices to poorer strata of society to render collective development of the nation. (Warschauer, 2004, 9, 28, 36) Herein, it is also seen that the advancement of Internet in the realm of communication technology has also led to the effect of social exclusion. It is because the poor stratum of the society who does not have a proper access to Internet means is excluded from getting the benefit of such. Similarly, social experts are increasingly dealing with the role of women in being able to get the best of the nation’s resources. It is observed to this extent that there are cases in the global context wherein women population is found to lack technological knowledge in accessing Internet. (Cavanagh, 2007, 12-13) In conclusion we may that in countries like Australia the women were excluded from taking part in social activities like the practice in developed countries. In the previous days the women class were governed by the patriarchal society and subdued in regards to education and employment practices. However, from 1970 onwards the Australian women are increasingly taking part in economic and political activities. In regards to the above point the concepts of Social Inclusion/Exclusion have been related to the show of power. The higher stratum of the society is found to have voluntarily excluded them from the general society to form separate social groups. On the contrary, the lower stratum of the population was forcibly excluded out of the social race. The poor strata thus failed to gain access to the country’s resources and thus remained impoverished and deprived for decades left at the mercy of the rich population. The advent of technology especially in the communication mode spurred further dynamics of Social Exclusion/Inclusion. A part of the population having increased access to Internet created a different group altogether as distinct from the rest of the population, thus bringing about a digital divide and making the inclusion/exclusion strongly functional within the society and even in the virtual world. Works Cited 1. Buvinic, Marya, Mazza, Jacqueline, & Ruthanne Deutsch, Social inclusion and economic development in Latin America, Inter-American Development Bank, 2004. 2. Cantu, Ethel, Power & Gender. Accessed on November 12, 2010: 3. Cavanagh, Allison, Sociology in the age of the Internet, London: McGraw-Hill International, 2007. 4. “Important Concepts Underlying Gender Mainstreaming”, United Nations, Last Modified 2001, Accessed on November 12, 2010: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/factsheet2.pdf. 5. Kirby, Mark, Sociology in perspective, Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2000. 6. Jones, Andrew, Community and local governance in Australia, Sydney: UNSW Press, 2005. 7. Warschauer, Mark, Technology and social inclusion: rethinking the digital divide, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2004. Links to the books (for help) Buvinic, Marya, Mazza, Jacqueline, & Ruthanne Deutsch, Social inclusion and economic development in Latin America, Inter-American Development Bank, 2004. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=jL5GUhwmMmkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Social+inclusion+and+economic+development+in+Latin+America&source=bl&ots=LhTAGhqBZT&sig=mwfViIAmomfPnxd5VhVcZO0VOPw&hl=en&ei=7Y7dTMXRGszIccjN9OoL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false Cavanagh, Allison, Sociology in the age of the Internet, London: McGraw-Hill International, 2007. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=IrbL2Yxu8YoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sociology+in+the+age+of+the+Internet&hl=en&ei=AY_dTIqpA4-yceXd2JgM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Kirby, Mark, Sociology in perspective, Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2000. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=NE7fykwlOl8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sociology+in+perspective+kirby&hl=en&ei=FI_dTOqhLsmccZKI_eQL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Jones, Andrew, Community and local governance in Australia, Sydney: UNSW Press, 2005. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=30ZHbSbKzdgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Community+and+local+governance+in+Australia&hl=en&ei=KY_dTKXpHYqmcLytqYkM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Warschauer, Mark, Technology and social inclusion: rethinking the digital divide, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2004. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=nU4zz1O88mAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Technology+and+social+inclusion:+rethinking+the+digital+divide&hl=en&ei=VY_dTKn7OsGXcdDnpeML&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Read More