My Edits:
editGender inequality is a social process by which people are treated differently and disadvantageously on the basis of gender.[1] Typically, it is understood as the idea that gender affects an individual's lived experience and that, due to different societal norms, barriers, and expectations, certain genders are prioritized and valued over others. For example, in heteropatriarchal societies, men, women, and gender-diverse folk are not given equal access to life opportunities (see Discrimination against non-binary people, Sexism). This power imbalance arises from social and cultural assumptions about gender (see Gender role, Social construction of gender) and from socially designated values assigned to different sexed and gendered bodies. Sociologist and Women's Studies theorist, Judith Lorber, emphasizes the socially constructed nature of this power discrepancy between genders:
Gender inequality—the devaluation of "women" and the social domination of "men"—has social functions and a social history. It is not the result of sex, procreation, physiology, anatomy, hormones, or genetic predispositions. It is produced and maintained by identifiable social processes and built into the general social structure and individual identities deliberately and purposefully. (p.35)[2]
Studies show that lived experiences of gender affect many domains including education, life expectancy, personality, interests, family life, careers, and political affiliations. Gender inequality is experienced differently across different cultures and across different genders.
In an article by MacNell et al. (2014), researchers used an online course and falsified the names of assistant teachers to make students believe they had either a female or a male teaching assistant. At the end of the semester, they had the students complete a course evaluation. Regardless of whether the teaching assistant was actually male or female, assistants who were perceived as female received lower course evaluations overall with distinctly lower ratings in areas of promptness, praise, fairness, and professionalism.[3]
In a report by the Movement Advancement Project and Center for American Progress, researchers found that transgender people are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. 21% of transgender women reported that they spent time in jail compared to 5% of all U.S adults. The reason for this disproportionate rate was stated to be because transgender people are more likely to be put in vulnerable situations due to gender discrimination. Transgender people are more likely to face discrimination in the domains of housing, employment, healthcare, and identification documents, leading to higher interactions with the criminal justice system.[4]
The report also found transgender women are more likely to experience gendered violence while in prison. When transgender women were placed in men’s prisons in California, 59% reported that they had been sexually assaulted compared to the 4.4% of all male-respondents. Otherwise said, Transgender women are 13 times more likely to be assaulted than incarcerated men. [5]
- ^ Kent, M. (2006). Gender inequality. In the Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 12 Oct. 2020, from https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198568506.001.0001/acref-9780198568506-e-2834.
- ^ Lorber, J. (1994). Paradoxes of Gender. Yale University Press.
- ^ MacNell, L., Driscoll, A., & Hunt, A. N. (2014). What’s in a name: Exposing gender bias in student ratings of teaching. Innovative Higher Education, 40(4), 291–303. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-014-9313-4.
- ^ Gender Inequality (2020). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_inequality.
- ^ Movement Advancement Project and Center for American Progress. (2016). Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails Transgender People. https://www.lgbtmap.org/policy-and-issue-analysis/criminal-justice-trans.
Before Edits:
editGender inequality is the idea that men and women are not equal and that gender affects an individual's living experience. These differences arise from distinctions in biology, psychology, and cultural norms. Some of these types of distinctions are empirically grounded while others appear to be socially constructed. Studies show the different lived experience of genders across many domains including education, life expectancy, personality, interests, family life, careers, and political affiliations. Gender inequality is experienced differently across different cultures.