The Influence of Gender on Life Chances - Report Example

The Influence of Gender on Life Chances This paper attempts to describe and evaluate the influence of gender on life chances of individuals in the context of Britain. It includes a discussion on the influence of gender in various contexts. The concept of life chances has first been introduced by a German sociologist, Max Webber. Aldridge, S suggests that “life chances refer to the opportunities open to individuals to better the quality of life of themselves and their families. Other dimensions include the absence of poverty and social inclusion” ppt3 (Aldridge, 2004). Life chances of people are influenced by various factors such as social class, education, employment and income distribution, gender, race, disability, health, housing conditions, neighborhood quality as well as generation and spatial divisions. This paper intends to focus on the influence of gender on life chances. Gender has a highly significant influence on life chances of an individual. Gender refers to ideas and practices that are socially determined concerning the significance of being male or female. This is clear from the past changes in the attitudes of both men and women, which are witnessed through the changes in roles played by them especially in relation to marriage, employment, and rearing of children. “Gender ideology was a crucial determinant of womens experiences in the early republic. Although new market imperatives made womens labor increasingly valuable to household survival (writ small) and capitalist production (writ large), older patriarchal arrangements continued to limit the opportunities of working women” (Rockman, 1816). The activities and attitudes of men and women are different and this is not natural but is taught through primary socialization when they were children. This is further contributed by secondary socialization when they grow up. The fact that gender difference is not natural can be validated from the cultural variation of different societies which determine how both genders conduct themselves within the society. In some tribal societies women are more dominant. The major factors in the socialization of a child comprise of family, school, peer group and the media. “The two most important developmental socializing agents are the family and the school. The family is an integrative and dynamic unit that can provide the foundation for one’s core values and belief systems (Haralambos and Holborn 2000)” (McQuillan & Ravanera, 2006, p 160). The family influence can be quite high during childhood days. Gender discrimination starts from early ages as boys and girls are treated differently by their parents. A girl child is often expected to do housework. Besides female children are given lesser freedom and parents usually remain protective of them. Schools also influence in increasing the discrimination between male and female children. Similarly, peer group also determines children’s behavior in certain ways. At school females are good at studies at school levels and the number of girls going to universities is higher than that of boys. But when it comes to earnings, males generally receive higher income than females. Similarly, the numbers of women who do part time jobs are higher and, again, in most cases, they receive lower salary than their counterparts, because these jobs fit their home and family commitments. It is also seen that women are heading most of the single parent families. A majority of them are widows and this is mainly because the life expectation of women is higher than men. These factors contribute to an increase in the rate of poverty and the burden of this falls on women. Thus, the power and supremacy automatically transfer to the hands of men. Patriarchy is a sexual system characterized by male superiority over power and economic privilege. “Patriarchy places limits on the achievements of women and reduces the value of the feminine by picturing women as limited human beings, the opposite of privileged and capable men. Women are the majority of the unemployed. Men are the overwhelming majority in parliament” (Staff, 2009). Unequal distribution of power is witnessed in all aspects of human life, whether are it is social, economical and political. “The concept `patriarchy, while being vital for feminist analysis, has been criticized for not being able to deal with historical and cross-cultural variation in the forms of womens subordination” (Walby, 2011). Power in the hands of men both at home and in the social world has deteriorated the position of women. Evidences show that domestic violence has increased as a result of unequal distribution of power. “One survey in 2000 found that there was an average of one call a minute to the police, social services or women’s refuges, reporting violence at home” (Social stratification, n. d). The distribution of power at government level is high for men than women and this is clear from the number of male representatives in the parliament. Evidences show that presently out of 650 members only 144 are females which are less than one third of the total representation. (Current Female Members of Parliament, 2010). The distribution of power in economical terms is also favorable to men as women are paid less or are not working. Sources reveal that even though women work for over 67% of the world’s working hours, the earnings of women range from 50-85% of men’s earnings. (Reeves & Baden, 2000). The savings of women are less when compared to men. “Most recently in the UK this has been visible in a focus on pension poverty, which many women may come to experience due to not having been able to save enough over their lifetime.” (Sylvia, 2011). The gender discrimination is also viewed in the field of employment and there by earnings. Unemployment is high among women than men and this is mainly because women are made responsible of taking care of children and doing domestic work. Employing of male candidates than women is common in all areas and the concept equality in of payment is also not followed. “Employment and social policies continue to be based upon a gender template that assumes women, especially mothers, are or should be natural carers. Invariably, policies that seek to promote womens entry to paid work do so by facilitating their management and conduct of caring work, thus reinforcing the gender template” (McKIE, et al, 2001, p 233-258). Gender discrimination also prevails in health care sector. Discrimination in career in healthcare sector is seen mainly because preference for higher-paying jobs is generally given to men and this mainly includes the job of physicians and business management. Preference for women is given when it is gynecology department and in all other departments men dominate. “For instance, careers that involve strong helping roles and dirty work such as personal care and hygiene for patients is seen as womens work, while managerial, business-oriented positions are seen as mens work” (Murnaghan, 2010). Another key observation is that women do more domestic work than men even if they are working. The work done by women at home is normally devalued or less valued in comparison with the work done by men in society. Domestic work and caring of children are not shared by men even if the female spouse is working outside. This contributes to the pressure on the women. When compared to men; women have lesser freedom to go out mainly because of the fear of harassment and rape. Discrimination prevails in areas where both men and women are engaged equally, such as sports. In areas like sports, women players are given lesser resources and support than men. “Hartmann defines patriarchy as a set of social relations between men, which have a material base, and which, though hierarchical, establish or create interdependence or solidarity among men that enable them to dominate women” (German, 1981). To conclude, gender plays a key role in the life chances of people. The life chance in the context of gender is higher for men than for women and this is clear from the social, political and economical aspects in the society. Socially men are more dominating and the roles played by them are appreciated. Social life of women is limited as they have greater roles to play at home. Political life is also dominated by men and the major decisions about the nation are being taken by them. The economic background of men is safer than women as they earn more and save more. Thus, clearly transpires that gender plays a major role to give men a dominating position in the run of life chance. Reference List Aldridge, S., 2004. Gender and Life Chances, 2011. [Online] Oppapers. Available at: http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Gender-And-Life-Chances/529954?topic [Accessed 24 May 2011]. Current Female Members of Parliament, 2010. [Online] Ukpolitical. Info. Available at: http://www.ukpolitical.info/female-members-of-parliament.htm [Accessed 24 May 2011]. German, L., 1981. Theories of Patriarchy. [Online] International Socialism. Available at: http://www.isj.org.uk/?id=240 [Accessed 24 May 2011]. McKIE, L. et al., 2001. Journal of Social Policy. [Online] Cambridge University Press. 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[Online] SAGE. Available at: http://soc.sagepub.com/content/23/2/213.abstract [Accessed 26 May 2011]. Read More