Gender based inequality are where individuals are not treated equally in society due to race, class, and gender. Furthermore, society has constructed specific norms that deter many individuals who do not have many opportunities. One particular gender based inequality is the wage gap between men and women. This issue in the wage gap between men and women has significant difference in men receiving much more money than women. Mainly, the wage gap between men and women should be more equal and be based on skills and techniques rather than appearance or gender.
Gender in the wage gap has played a significant impact in the roles of men and women. For example, Lorber writes, “In the social construction of gender, it does not matter what men and women actually do; does it even matter if they do exactly the same thing. The social institution of gender insists only that what they do is perceived as different” (p. 279). This supports that no matter what skills an individual posses gender roles will play a vital role on whether the individual will benefit or not. In the workplace, sex segregated jobs play a significant impact on the wage gap between men and women. For example, men who work in a woman’s based career undergo the glass escalator effect, which determines whether they move up to higher positions within these fields (Wingfield, 2009). Additionally, men either move up or down in a woman’s based career due to the aspects of interactions, norms, and expectations. In turn, Acker highlights, “The structure of the labor market , relations in the workplace, the control of the work process, and the underlying wage relation are always affected by symbols of gender, processes of gender identity, and material inequalities between men and women” (p. 145-146). Ultimately, women are seen to be filled in lower class careers and men are seen to be predominantly in higher ranking careers that have the authority in power and control. Lastly, the wage gap significantly affects individuals based on the norms society has constructed between male and female roles (Acker, 1990).
In depth, the wage gap is separate and not equal in many professional and ordinary jobs. First, gender segregation plays a significant role between males and females in the workplace due to the roles they are expected to fulfill. This reflects restrictions within occupations that range from the lack of meeting certain requirements in background, gender, and class. Second, earnings have a big difference within occupational segregation. For example, Hegewicsh, Liepmann, Hayes, and Hartmann state from IWR “In 2009, the median weekly earnings of full-time, female workers were 80.2 percent of what full-time male workers earned. Full-time employed women on average earned less than their male counterparts in 104 of 108 occupations for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides earnings data for both male and female workers” (p. 2). This implies that the gender wage gap is a worldwide issue in the work force. Furthermore, this occurs whenever women work and earn less money in their careers even it it is female-dominated. Men also are typically the ones who earn much more money even in female-dominated occupations. In turn, women may receive higher wages only if they are willing to train and work in occupations with upper class male workers (Hegewisch et al., 2010). Additionally, the labor markets are gendered segregated by functioning horizontally and vertically. Labor markets categorize women in the lower levels of hierarchy such as status, authority, and wages. For example, men in nursing are categorized to be the minority group of the profession, but however the management is dominated by men (Cross and Bagilhole, 2000). In contrast, black male nurses undergo a different experience between race and gender due to mechanism that provide white males to move up more easily in a woman dominated occupation. Poor relationships with peers or the lack of connecting with others gives off the idea in not being fit for nursing. Mostly, discrimination of gender-based wages are not acknowledged especially in women’s work (Steinberg and Figart, 1999). Overall, society is based on gender, race, and ethnicity, which categorizes people in may different ways by the amount of opportunities, privileges, and security (Lorber, 1994).
Occupational segregation and the gender wage gap are linked together due to the amount of differences that men and women undergo in the workplace. The connection between occupational segregation and differences in the amount of earnings and the relationship percentage between female workers in three general group : low skilled, medium skilled, and high skilled occupations. Low-skilled occupations are short-term jobs that require basic work skills, medium-skilled occupations require specific based skills, but less than a Bachelor’s degree and high skilled occupations require professional skills that have at least a Bachelor’s degree of a higher form of education such as a PhD degree. In addition, in the lower-skilled category such as childcare workers, less than 50 percent of childcare workers do not have a further education than a high school diploma. Next, in the medium skilled category, few occupations are reclassified as high-skilled where more than 50 percent of individuals obtained a Bachelor’s degree such as registered nurses. Overall, from these general skill groupings, there is an unequal distribution in power, experience, and money due to how men and women are seen within the workplace and the careers they part take in (Hegewisch et al., 2010).
In a study conducted on the link between occupational segregation and the gender wage gap, researchers examined the differences on median earnings of low-skilled, medium-skilled, and high-skilled occupations. First, low-skilled occupations hire about 16 million full-time associates that consist of 17.6 percent of men and 14.7 percent of women. In comparison to other skilled groups, mostly a big group of 38.9 percent of low-skilled workers in a male dominated career consisting of truck drivers, sales workers, and material moving. Next, in female dominated low-skilled occupations consisting of careers in nursing aids, psychiatric, maids, and housekeepers average up to 19.7 percent of workers. Medium-skilled careers consisting of more than 53 million full-time workers among 51.1 percent of men and 51.2 percent of women. In a medium-skilled occupation for men, a third of men are employed such as electricians and carpenters. Furthermore, a medium-skilled occupation for women, about a fifth of women are employed, as secretaries and administrative assistants. Finally, in high-skilled occupations there are over 30 million employed workers. This level of skill has a great amount of mixed occupations between men and women. Men in power positions such as chief executives account for 20.5 percent high skilled-workers, where as women account for 20.2 percent. Ultimately, men and women have significant differences and skills within the job market (Hegewisch et al., 2010).
In the average earnings between men and women, there is a significant disproportional balance. There is a negative relationship between women and the amount of money they earn in either low, medium, or high-skilled jobs barriers at each level. Mostly, women are negatively impacted on their wage earnings from higher-skilled jobs than low and medium-skilled jobs. This is due to the amount of power and authority that usually belong to men in higher ranking positions. For example, Hegewisch et al. highlights, “The statistical relationship between earnings and gender composition identified by our model that a high-skilled occupation that is 0 percent female would pay $1,555 per week while one that is 100 percent female would pay only $840 per week or 46 percent less” (p. 10). This supports that women earn much less money regardless what job level they are and do not receive fair treatment due to how they are viewed in a socially constructed society. In turn, from the negative relationship between money earnings and women, low wage jobs even include low wages as well. The average earnings in a low-skilled female dominated occupations are typically $408 per week, where as low-skilled male dominated occupations are $553 per week. Next, in medium-skilled male dominated occupations earn an average of $752 weekly, while female dominated occupation earn an average of $600 weekly. Finally, for high skilled occupations men are usually the ones in charge and have the highest rank position earning up to $1,916, as where women play a subordinate role earning up $759 to $1,153 (Hegewisch et al., 2010).
In today’s society, men and women have a significant wage gap between one another. Implementation in having an equal wage gap between men and women needs to be into effect. Furthermore, there are many ways to change this issue. One solution to resolve this issue of the wage gap is give better advice to girls and women when they pursue a career, so they will be able to have a voice and to make reasonable choices. Second, creating a great amount of programs that emphasize training and employment skills in order to reduce barriers for women. Next, employers and training providers should take on the responsibility in trying to recruit and retain more women who meet or are above expectations. In addition, mothers who are in the lower class need to be motivated in pursing an education and learning critical skills that will help them succeed. Also, there needs to be more support towards women until they are able to provide for themselves and have a stable career. Ultimately, equal pay and equal employment opportunity laws need to be changed so that women are payed equally and are not overlooked or discriminated during the hiring process of a career. In all, women should not be stereotyped or labeled in a particular way because they can achieve the same abilities and skills men possess (Hegewisch et al., 2010).
Gender inequality is heavily enforced within the job market. Men and women have a significant range difference in earnings even though they are in the same occupation. Societal expectations between men and women either benefit them or not in the job market due to the requirements and skills of various job occupations. Regardless, the wage gap heavily impacts women more than men because men are seen to be the dominant figure, while women are the ones who stay in the background and help those in charge. All in all, there is a significant wage gap difference between men and women that needs to be addressed in implementing fair pay for every job position.
References
- Acker, J. (1990). Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations. Gender and Society, 4(2), 139-158. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/189609
- Cross, S. and Bagilhole, B. (2000) ‘Girls’ Jobs for the Boys? Men, Masculinity and Non- traditional Occupations’ , Gender Work and Organization 9(2): 204-226.
- Hegewisch, A., Liepmann, H., Hayes, J., & Hartmann, H. (2010). Separate and Not Equal? Gender Segregation in the Labor Market and the Gender Wage Gap.
- Institute for Women’s Policy Research. 2010a. The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation. Washington, DC: IWPR Fact Sheet. < http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350a.pdf>
- Lorber, Judith (1994). The Social Construction of Gender. Grusky, D. B., & Szelényi, S. The inequality reader: Contemporary and foundational readings in race, class, and gender (pp. 276-283). Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.
- Steinberg, R., & Figart, D. (1999). Emotional Labor Since The Managed Heart. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 561, 8-26. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1049278
- Wingfield, A. H. (2009). Racializing the Glass Escalator: Reconsidering Men’s Experiences with Women’s Work. Gender & Society, 23(1), 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243208323054
Gender Neutral Toys Essay
Have you ever subconsciously buy racing cars for your son and dolls for you daughter when you go shopping, thinking this is what they should play with, or did you try to avoid the whole thing and give them whatever they want, no matter which gender the toy was supposed to be for. It has been a controversial topic recently as to whether all toys should be labeled as gender neutral. In this paper, I will be exploring the reasons why I think all toys should be gender neutral for boys and girls. And in order to explain this, I will draw upon the concept of binary thinking written by Leslie Feinberg, social construction of gender written by Judith Butler and Judith Lorber, and trans politics written by Dean Spade. And I think through how gendered toys reinforced binary thinking and social construction of gender and limits the baby’s choices and lead to the unlivable life of transgendered and companies want to earn money by making the toys gendered. Ultimately, I demonstrate although it is not possible to get every toy gender-neutralized, it is better than none.
To begin with, in a stereotyped environment, like the environment that people are used to gendered toys, the way children think is different from the environment without gendered toys. When people grow in an environment that includes stereotypes in toys, their way of thinking starts to have an incorrect rationale and the labels on toys may tell a person about what things are thought to be normal and what are not. According to Feinberg’s article “We Are All Works in Progress”, “Gender is the poetry each of us makes out of the language we are taught” (Feinberg 1998). Because of the social norms and structure, our exploration of gender is limited. We were being taught from a young age that there are men, there are women, and that’s it. In most people’s minds, gender diversity has been flattered into two diametrically opposed camps, male and female. So, casually, parents expect their child to be either one of the two genders. This emphasizes binary thinking and ignores the people in between. Besides, people have stereotypes of gender, which is they assume boys should play with toy cars and toy guns while girls should play with dolls and princesses and this is due to the long playing social construction of gender. It is common for us to see right after the child is born, his or her family would get the boyish or girlish toys that they assume to be the right one based on the child’s sex, but the fact is, the child never has the choice to choose by him or herself of what he or she really wants to play with.
What’s more, toys with gender means constructing and assigning gender roles to the baby. Gender is assigned when we produced sex, because once the baby is born, the doctor would come tell you whether the baby is a boy or a girl. And then parents would buy toys based on the gender of their child, reinforcing the social construction of gender and giving no choice to the baby to choose. According to Butler, in her article “Acting in Concert”, she talks about gender is something we do rather than we are born with. I definitely agree with this because since the kid is so young, he or she cannot even talk, there is no way other people can determine and decide what his or her gender is. “One cannot be born to be a woman, but rather becomes a woman” (Lorber 1994). This demonstrates that gender is a structure that produces woman as subordinates of man. Take myself as an example, when I was a little kid, my parents used to buy me all kinds of dolls and very girly toys, but in fact I was more interested in boyish toys like robots and cars more. However, when I asked my mom to buy them for me, she refused me without hesitation, and I can still remember her words. She said: “What do you want those for? You are a girl, so you should be girly and do what a girl should do.do you think it is normal for a girl to play cars and guns all day?” And this is linked to normalization. Gendered toys are symbols of social structure and social norms saying girls should only play with dolls and boys should only play with cars. And think things outside of the norm as illness and abnormal. In my mom’s opinion, I was abnormal, and I wanted to do that only because I wanted to be different and get attention. As a result, I was really upset and started to dislike dolls from that time. So, I think it is important to let the child choose by himself or herself and they should be able to play with whatever they want.
Apart from above, another reason for toys to be gender neutral is because we should support transgender children. It is important to allow children to be who they are naturally. With gendered toys, children are forced into the two binaries, and transgendered children would be forced into the gender he or she not happy with (Spade 2013). It is not necessary that every little boy likes to play with the boyish toys and every little girl likes to play with girlish toys, they deserve to be happy and free to be themselves without being forced to fit into the limited rules of the society. Just as the article “Mutilating Gender” has said, there should be intelligibility toward all people, which is whenever someone does something, he or she can be understood (Spade 2013). Also, transgendered people should live a livable life. If you say boys must play with cars and girls must play with dolls, you are ignoring the kids who are in between the spectrum of boys and girls, making them have nothing to play with and leading those kids to have an unlivable life. One of my friends Leo was a transgender and her parents knew it when she was really young. I was really surprised at how open-minded her parents were at first, because Leo told me that in the beginning, her parents bought her cars and robots, but when they found out she was not interest in the toys at all, they asked for the reason and after they knew the truth that she was trans, they accepted it and bought her lots of littles princesses and Barbie. I felt really happy for her to have such nice parents, and because of her parents, she didn’t have to go through the experience of being forced into the sex at birth but not her real gender, and she had a lot more choices to choose from.
Moreover, the question that should all toys be gender neutral for boys and girls is related to capitalism. The fundamental of capitalism is productivity and to earn profit, and because when selling gendered toys, the company is able to earn more money, capitalism starts to worsen the problem of gendered toys. Companies that sell toys make separate toys for boys and girl, and they use the social norms and constructions that girls and boys should play different toys to earn money. As still many people believe in binary thinking that there are only male and female and they should both obey certain rules and characteristics, they are able to use marketing strategies and find a way of selling all the items out. Take the Toy R Us as an example, this company is famous for selling toys, and if the company sells gendered toys instead of gender neutral toys, it can produce several versions of one toy, which apparently will attract more consumers and the company is able to earn more money. However, this capitalism only benefits the company but does no benefits to the children, and the company does this only to make more money, so there is no benefit to have gendered toys.
Last but not least, many people question if it is possible to make every toy gender-neutral with each gender liking a specific toy. The answer is no, and it is absolutely impossible as each individual has their own opinion of each toy. So how can you make toys completely gender-neutral if each person has their own opinion of which toy is good? Having some gender-neutral toys is better than having none. At least it gives choices to kids to see what they want to play with.
In conclusion, in this essay, I talked about four main reasons of why should all toys be gender neutral for boys and girls. The first reason was if not, it could create binary thinking, the second reason was if toys had gender, gender would be assigned, the third reason was we could support transgendered children, and the last reason was only the companies could benefit but not us the consumers. Lastly, it is not possible to make every toy gender neutral, but some is better than none anyway. Also, in my analysis, I opened up space for exploring questions such as what will happen after toys are gender neutralized, and will children who play with gender neutral toys be affected in their childhood developments?
The Social And Anthropological Construction Of Gender
Sex as a subject has gotten extremely famous over the ongoing past. The worldwide society has seen numerous adjustments in social development of sex. As indicated by World Health Organization, sexual orientation is a socially built quality, direct, position, and activity that a given society thinks about reasonable for people. Characterizes sexual orientation as a given scope of qualities that recognizes a male from a female. Ender alludes to those traits that would cause a person to be distinguished as either male or female. As can be seen from the above definitions, sex is even more a social than a physical property. We take a gander at sexual orientation from a cultural perspective. Characterizes social development as a standardized trademark that is generally adequate in a given society as a result of the social framework. Social development, in a smaller term, alludes to the overall standards of conduct of a specific culture molded by convictions and qualities. A socially developed trademark in this manner shifts starting with one association then onto the next. Various social orders have various convictions and social practices that help characterize them. Hence, a social development of one society would be not quite the same as another general public.
To social constructionists, social build is a thought or a thought that is viewed as evident and characteristic to a specific gathering of people in a given society, which might be valid or not. This implies that it holds just to the particular society. In such manner subsequently, sexual orientation and related convictions would shift starting with one network then onto the next relying upon observations. Then again, essentialists hold there is a lot of qualities that are widespread in a specific element. This implies that a given element can get a solitary definition, paying little mind to the cultural set up. In such manner, sexual orientation is a general substance, independent of the general public and the social convictions related with it. This viewpoint weakens the idea that sexual orientation is a social development. This is on the grounds that it gives it an all-inclusive definition, where there is an exceptional distinction in the social build of various social orders on the planet. This is because of contrasts in religion, social convictions and development. To approve this conversation, the paper depends on social constructionist thinking instead of essentialism.
In Conclusion, different cultures within any part of the world would be a great opportunity for others to know about tribes and cultures. The society would know about everything from the past and the stories far away from them.