Gender Inequality Essay - 1849 Words

It is only recently that sociology has begun to explore the topic of gender. Before this, inequalities within society were based primarily on factors such as social class and status. This paper will discuss gender itself: what makes us who we are and how we are represented. It will also explore discrimination towards women throughout history, focusing mainly on women and the right to vote, inequalities between males and females in the work place and how gender is represented in the media. The term ‘gender’ was coined by John Money in 1955: â€Å"Gender is used to signify all those things that a person says or does to disclose himself/herself as having the status of a boy or man, girl or woman, respectively† (Coleman and Money, 1991, 13). In†¦show more content†¦This perhaps explains why so many women changed their name to that of a male to be able to get their work published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For example, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brà ¶nte published their work under the names Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Studies have also been carried out into whether or not there are differences between male and female brain size and whether this affects how we relate to each other in terms of gender. Simon Baron-Cohen believes that male brains are wired towards systematic understanding and females are wired towards empathy. In addition he says that this is not necessarily always the case but the majority are wired in this way: â€Å"Both sexes have their strengths and weaknesses. Neither sex is superior overall.† (Baron-Cohen, S. 2003). It is also thought that much of the gender inequality in today’s society can be put down to social and biological construction of our characteristics. Stereotypically, men are seen as the â€Å"strong† gender and women as the â€Å"weak†. In reality, women fail to make full use of their bodies potential and with a greater awareness of getting hurt, are less likely to take part in a dangerous activity. â€Å"Men more often move out toward a ball in flight†¦women tend to wait for it and then react to its approach† (Young, I. 2010, 207). Women have always been seen as a lower social class than males and are therefore identified as having limited privileges and rights compared to men.Show MoreRelatedEssay On Gender Inequality1127 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"superior† race/gender of a white male were typically treated as if they were less. Women and African-Americans aren’t being treated as bad today, but they’re still being treated worse than the white males of society. Even today, when white males are typically the leaders of society, it’s not always race and gender that creates inequality; sometimes it’s money that creates the issue. 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