Gender Inequality Essay

1909 Words8 Pages
Anthony Ornelas Ornelas 1 Sociology 440 6/10/2013 Professor Inoue Gender Inequality The tendency of society to favor males and their masculinity has been a recurring theme throughout history and culture. As a result of these ideas, to be masculine is synonymous with dominance, while femininity directly correlates to weakness. These attitudes are responsible for the belief that women should stay at home and out of the way while men rule the world and control the money and society. That males enjoy social privilege is apparent even in American culture, though males do not often realize their own biases against women or the male privilege that they regularly enjoy and manipulate. Since claiming their role in society as capable human beings, women have been treated unfairly in the society when they haven’t been directly excluded from various fields that are socially less “suitable” for a woman. As a young man who has grown up with significant female influence in my life and as a young musician who is in a rock band with two women, I know these stereotypical male views to be completely baseless. Even in infancy children are doused in the complex ideas of gender roles and what it means to belong to a certain gender. Before encountering the views of a patriarchal society a child will first encounter this sexism in the home, no matter how subtle. While boys are encouraged to be adventurous and granted freedom that is perhaps undeserved, their female counterparts will be given toy ovens and princess dolls to play with. Well meaning adults will often correct or shame a child who exhibits behaviors that are not suitable for the gender roles Ornelas 2 they are being raised to fill. Though parents and relatives mean no harm by introducing children to the societal constructs of behavior befitting their gender, these practices directly harm the child.
Open Document