Gender Inequality

Introduction

Gender inequality refers to the unequal treatment as well as the negative perception of individuals with regards to their gender (Lorber, 2012). It usually arises from discrepancies in socially constructed gender roles and biologically through brain structure, chromosomes, and hormonal differences. In most cases, gender inequality is dichotomous and hierarchical and usually reflects the inequalities which manifest in various aspects of human life (Barker, 2010). It stems from distinctions, both empirically grounded and socially constructed. There are natural differences between male and female based on biological as well as anatomic factors. The main difference is notable when it comes to differing roles in reproduction (Lorber, 2012). In addition, there is a natural difference in the physical strength of both sexes.

In the modern world, gender inequality is common in the discrimination of women in many parts of the world. The human rights of women in Middle East as well as North Africa face denial by every country in the region, irrespective of diversity of their political systems (Barker, 2010). Most of the governments in these nations usually suppress the civil societies through restriction of freedom of press, assembly and expression (Lorber, 2012). These restrictions affect both men and women adversely.

Nevertheless, women are subject to human rights violations. For instance, penal, citizenship and family laws throughout this region downgrade women to a low status as compared to men. This gender discrimination undermines the full personhood of women as well as equal participation in society. In addition, it puts them at a potential risk of violence (Barker, 2010).

There are various ways of exercising gender inequality. Some of the most common ones include, restricting women from driving, clothing requirements, right to divorce, access to education, right to travel, victims of violence, custody rights, citizenship, sexual subjugation and female infanticide among others. Most of these usually affect women in many countries all over the world (Barker, 2010).

Income inequality

Gender income inequality or gender pay gap is the difference of income earning between male and female, expressed as a percentage of the male earning (Gender inequality, 2012). According to reliable research, it is true that the income gap in many situations is as a result of the decisions made each gender but not but not explicitly due to discrimination (Lorber, 2012). Nevertheless, there is still a continuous debate on whether the significant wage gap in many situations is as a result of explicit discrimination or not. In addition, the debate is focusing on the extent which forces men as well as women to me particular decisions as a result of social pressures.

Wage or income discrimination usually exists in a situation where workers have equal qualifications and perform the same tasks, but some get more pay than the others. Historically, it is a fact that income discrimination always favors men over women (Gender inequality, 2012). Income differences between genders comes from the processes which determine the quality of work as well as earning associated with that work. Income earnings associated with the work done causes income inequality to take the form with regard to placement of individuals into certain jobs by individual qualifications (Lorber, 2012).

Placement of women and men into a certain job categories without gender discrimination is possible through embracement of human capital theories of qualifications of workers as well as the biological disparities in men and women. On the other hand, placement of both men and women into different job categories is as a result of social status groups which aim at keeping their position by placements of those workers in lower statuses to lower their paying position (Gender inequality, 2012).

With regards to Canada, it is a fact that family income inequality is rising at a significant rate (John, 2007). The Canadian government is ambiguous when it comes to income inequality because of gender (John, 2007). The government is demonstrating a renewed interest through compensating those who are unlucky. The increase in gender income inequality in Canada is as a result of the growing gap between families. The gender income difference is part of occupational segregation, where there is a distribution of people across various occupations with respect to ascribed characteristics (John, 2007).

Gender Inequality as a Source of Poverty

Poverty is one of the one of the key, unsolved and overlooked social issue in many countries all over the world (Lorber, 2012). Evidence of the problem of poverty is every corner of the world. In almost all societies, it is evident that women have higher poverty rates than men. When trying to get the possible causes of the significant gender gap in poverty rates, it is important to understand that the measure of poverty is at family or household levels (Lorber, 2012). The main cause of poverty among women especially the single mothers is because of their lower earnings. Due to the fact that single individual in most cases do not have adult family members to transfer their income to them. Most of them rely on government transfers (Ochs, 2008).

With reference to Canada, it is true that the Canadian women are at a higher risk of landing into poverty than men (Ann & Nancy, 2001). The reasons behind the impoverishment of women in Canada are complex. However, these problems have a significant relationship with traditional gender ideology, family law issues, inequalities in labor force and the ways that people respond to marriage breakdown (Barker, 2010). In the past, it is evident that there is an expectation from women to dedicate their lives to unpaid duties as mothers and wives (Ann & Nancy, 2001).

Despite the fact that many women work for pay, rules enacted against employments of married women, stigmatization, and peripheralization reinforces the idea the proper place of women is actually home. This idea came up in with a great force in the early 20th century (Ann & Nancy, 2001). The movement of women increased chances for higher education (Barker, 2010). This led to reduction in the family size due to the legalization of contraception which helped in undermining the traditional sexual division of labor (Ann & Nancy, 2001).

Substantial gender differences in work as well as in family life continue to persist in various parts of the world. Many mothers across the globe continue to take their time away from paid employment during the time when their children are young (Barker, 2010). This is contributing greatly to the increasing rate of poverty among many women all over the world.

The effect of Gender inequality on Self Esteem

Self esteem reflects the overall evaluation of the worth of a person with regards to his or her overall emotions. Self esteem is the discretion as well as the attitude towards oneself (Gender inequality, 2012). It is usually encompass beliefs as well as emotions including triumph, pride, shame and despair. Self esteem involves disposition of what one has that represents his or her judgment of his or her own worthiness (Julie & John, n.d). Gender inequality takes a very significant part in lowering the self esteem of individual (Barker, 2010).

According to current research, the findings indicate that women have lower self esteem as compared to men. Despite the fact that both boys and girls have almost the same level of self esteem, they diverge gradually during the teenage years and end even in adulthood (Gender inequality, 2012). Boys usually gain a sense of positive self worth. One the other hand, girls lose this sense of self worth.

In many societies, women and girls are more socially judged than men and boys on the basis their physical appearance (Lorber, 2012). In addition, girls as well as women usually take part in various process of social comparison where they compare their physical beauty to that of others. If a woman or a girl feels that she is less beautiful than other women or girls surrounding her, there is a great negative effect on her self esteem (Gender inequality, 2012). This is not the case when it boys and men. This inequality usually lowers the self esteem of women which may results to others social problems such suicide (Lorber, 2012).

Income gender discrimination may also take a significant part in affecting the self esteem in of an individual (Gender inequality, 2012). This mostly applies to women who are victims of discrimination in various parts of the world. This occurs when men get higher pay than women despite having the same workload in their jobs. This gender discrimination makes women feel undermine and being of less worth (Barker, 2010). This in turn results to low self esteem, which greatly affect their productivity in their line of production. In addition, denial of employments because they have small children also affect their self esteem besides leading to living a miserable life dominated by poverty.

Conclusion

Gender inequality is prevalent in many cultures all over the world. In most cases, gender inequality involves discrimination of women in the society in many aspects. Gender income inequality arises in a situation where one person gets higher pay than another despite the fact that they are performing the same tasks.

Gender discrimination on the side of the women usually results to increase in poverty levels within the society. This is because various forms of discrimination including income inequality as well as total denial of employment opportunity makes the women fail to meet their financial requirements. This in turn leads to increase in poverty levels.

It is a fact from above that gender inequality usually results to low self esteem of individuals. This is because this discrimination makes the individuals feel alienated as hence losing self worthiness. This lowers their self esteem significantly which can further fuel emergence of other social problems associated with low self esteem.

Taking the above into proper consideration, it is evident that gender inequality causes a lot of harm to the involved people especially women. With regards to this, people should take the responsibility of eradicating gender inequality in various aspects of life ranging from employment to other social responsibilities. Different organizations should campaign against gender inequality, while empowering women to take part equally in various responsibilities in the society including leadership. Through this, gender inequality will be a theme of the past and women will have equal opportunities as men.

References

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Ochs, V. (2008, Gender inequalities. Tikkun, 23, 62-62. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/212216860?accountid=35812

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