Gender and Society :: essays research papers

Gender is one of the universal dimensions on which status differences are based. Gender is a social construct specifying the socially and culturally prescribed roles that men and women are to follow. Men have subordinated women. All other discriminations are insipid by construct. Why does society segregate the workforce by gender? Women have been single out against in the workforce as minorities, not as women, because they are relatively powerless. Men see women as less profitable. Society stereotype that women are less capable, less productive, and less dedicated to their employers. Women therefore are assigned jobs that are more mind numbing and are paid less. Women are place in the underpaid and underutilized pool of marginal labor works. Women have always had a lower status than men have, but the extent of the gap between genders varies across cultures and time. American women in 1999 earned approximately 77% of what men made, in 2000, according to the Department of Labor. Societies do not consistently define most tasks as either feminine or masculine. With industrialization the importance of muscle power is declining, thus leaving more options and gender differences to further condensed (Nolan & Lenski, 1999). Women do confront barriers in the marketplace, and in some industries, marginal pools of labor are profitable. Gender stratification is unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women. Women were denied the right to vote because many believe that women lacked sufficient intelligence and political interest. (1848) Most people in 1925, doubted that the best women runners could ever finish a marathon anywhere near the time men could. Only ten minutes separate the current world marathon records for women (set in 2003) and for men (set in 2002). This shows most differences between men and women or gender turn out to be socially created. Even the military has an issue with gender. At the outset of World War II, 1940, only two percent of armed forces personnel were women. The War in Iraq by 2003, women represented seven percent of all deployed U.S. troops. Out of that seven percent eight were casualties leaving 452 male casualties. The Coast Guard is the only branch that all assignments are open to women, whereas, the Marines denies women access to two-thirds of their jobs.