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Inequality is now a major concern in most parts of the world. Inequality of wages and wealth is triggering global inequality as well as a variety of social issues. Inequalities in social and economic status are responsible for tearing the social fabric, disrupting social stability, and keeping nations and societies from thriving. Inequality has an influence and an affect on all industries around the world. The social and economic disparity raises the strength and value of social hierarchy, rank, and class. There is a need to reform the rules, traditions, and procedures that have resulted in the unfair and discriminatory treatment of minorities based on gender, ethnicity, and class.These laws and policies are blamed for institutionalizing racism, sexism and classism thereby naturalizing the practice at the detriment of the racial minorities, women and the have-nots. The Congress should rise to the occasion and ensure that the laws and practices that promote inequalities are abolished.

Gender, Race, and Class

People have different experiences in the society, at any moment, race, class or gender may fell more salient or meaningful in a given person life. According to Brah & Phoenix (2013), the term intersectionality as coined by Williams Crenshaw best describes social identities and modes of oppression, domination, and discrimination. The idea of intersectionality is that multiple identities intersect to create a wholly different character, the components such as race, gender, and social class are used as a ground for oppressing others. Laws and policies address one or few forms of marginalized identity but not the intersectionality, and therefore there is a need to examine all the characters simultaneously. Race, gender and class identities are used to disadvantage women, one another shapes the expression of oppression. According to Andersen & Collins (2015), gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to the differences between masculinity and feminist. It might refer to sex, that is being male, female or intersex or the gender roles or gender identity. Some communities have specific gender role based on the sex of a person that should be specifically done by a member of that gender. Preparing and taking care of household chores is associated with women while men are supposed to engage in masculinity works.

It is said by Andersen & Collins (2015) that race is the classification of people into groups based on their ancestry or social relations. It might be taken to mean speakers of a common language, the social conception, and grouping of people saw a divide of the human being based on the language they spoke, it also extends to the color of their skin. The discrimination in the allocation of resources based on race was evident during the times of slave trade, black Africans and Arabs were discriminated due to their color and segregation was witnessed in the most part of America. In the United States views of race is based on the self-identity of as African-American, European American, Native or an immigrant. There is a perception that the people who are not the native Americans possess lesser rights than the native Americans, the African-Americans who come to America through slave trade or immigration feel that they are discriminated. There had been a move to recognize any person who was suspected to have ancestry of an African to be a back African regardless of the color of their skin, to be white, one had to be pure white without any traces of blood of any other race. Hispanics are among the groups that consider themselves minorities and experiences various forms of discrimination that ha lead to inequalities in the society,

It is the assertion of Andersen & Collins (2015) that social class is a political theory that centers on the modes of social stratification whereby people are classified into a set of hierarchical social divisions of upper, middle and lower classes. Karl Marx said that level was determined by the relationship of a person with the means of creation. Those who dominated the means of production were seen as the first class citizens while those who provided labor services were referred to as lower class citizens. In the modern world where the society is based on the notion of the capitalist, the richest member of the community are said to be occupying the coveted position of first class citizens. The poor, who provide their services or rely on the government to offer them with food rations are considered to be lower class citizens. There is a wide gap between the wealthy and the have-nots, and those occupying first class honor are said to be very educated, enjoy good health and nutrition as well as being in high positions of employment at either government jobs or private ventures. The community abhors the rich and shuns the poor, it preaches about generating money and accumulating wealth. The poor are encouraged to strive to get enough money to take them to the higher class, and they therefore engage in criminal activities to acquire property or get food for their family. Women and children suffer, especially in the low level settlement because there is no person cares how they get their daily need or whether they are met or not.

Effect of Inequality in Society

The economic inequalities bother us all, whether one is rich or poor is affected in one way or the other by the inequality. In the United States, the high inequality of income and wealth is deeply troubling, and something must be done to reduce the gap or eliminate it in entirety. The reason for redistributing the resources from the rich to the poor is to make the poor better off, and voluntary redistribution is aimed at improving the lives of every person. Although there is a confrontation of why the wealth should be distributed to the poor, there is a need to eliminate inequality because all lives are equally valuable. Empowering women and other minority groups, as well as the poor member of the community, seems to be a reason for seeking to reduce the rising levels of economic inequality. Women are discriminated politically, and they are not given equal footing with men since they are abused and tormented by being told that their place is taking care of homes. Taxation is a method that the government uses to ensure that there is a redistribution of resources and that the gap is minimized. However, the act of taxing the rich more than the poor is received a lot of criticism because they argue that government is stealing from them. All people want to be better than they are due to the rising cost of living.

There is a need to reduce the gap because economic inequality can give the wealthier individuals an unacceptable degree of control of lives others. The super rich people control various aspects of lives of the poor; they decide how, where and the time they work. The poor are controlled in terms of the monetary amount they can spend in shopping or doing other activities since the rich determines the money, they are paid. The inequality undermines the fairness of political institution and representation of the people. The rich will always remain top contenders in any elective post; the poor have no financial muscles to fight with the wealthy. Women are discriminated solely due to their gender. The race is also a factor in determining who represent the people, for instance, there was a contention about the nationality, and by extension, the race of the former United State of America President Obama.

Those holding political offices depend on significant contribution to the campaign, the wealthy contributes the funds for the campaign, and at the end, they manipulate the lender. This, in essence, means that those who are not wealthy are not fairly represented. The economic inequality undermines the fairness of the economic system in that it becomes difficult if not impossible to create equal opportunities for all the people. Some children are forced to enter the workforce earlier than their counterpart from the wealthy family. Individuals with less or no assets have no base to access the first step to larger opportunities such as loans. Application for a loan or other financial debts requires a person to get a collateral and a guarantor, and women find it difficult to get a person to guarantee them for a loan especially when they have been segregated to performing household chores. The inequality in the laws that requires both rich and the have-nots to provide the collaterals and guarantors should be amended to ensure that all people enjoy equal benefits. The issue of basing the financial handout to the people based on the gender and race has continued to widen the gap. The first class citizens cannot be denied any service because they have the money and ability to buy, the community like a person who pays the highest, this has the effect of discriminating the poor individuals who live by the mercy of the wealthy.

Institutionalization of Racism, Sexism, and Classism

The dehumanization of women and male hegemony realm is a social problem in the society, the women have endured a long history of discrimination and have been excluded in the political affairs by man-centered ideologies that assert men control. Women continue to face harsh treatment despite the high feminist advocacy across the country, the enlightenment of women have enabled them to fight for their space. The battle is not over, and it is still ranging, it has shifted to the boardrooms where women have been demanding for equal treatment by the male. They argue that they are capable of doing what male can do; they are being employed in military, offices and even as secretaries to the cabinet positions of the government. Races, especially the people professing Islamic faith have been faced with the issue of discrimination in the society for a long time. They are blamed for terrorist attacks and supporting terror activities.

Women and children wearing hijabs have been cited to abhor terrorist, and they are said to hide under their veil when conducting illegal activities. The inequality created by discriminating the Muslim community by having executive orders and policies that restrict their movement has continued to hinder their economic development.

Some institution and employers have reserved some job for men or certain people of the community. Foreigners or individuals who are not the citizen are not allowed to join the armed forces or intelligence service. Although women have joined the defense forces, there is discrimination on their roles, and there have been arguments that they cannot engage in combatant. It is argued that the women pose a challenge to men on the battlefield because they have to be protected, it is also claimed that their presence disrupts the thinking and working of people. These arguments and complaints have seen women being denied promotion or chance to lead other soldiers in the battle field. On the issue of race, the African-American are treated in a way that is discriminatory due to their color, and this is because they are easy to spot when there is a war. The poor members of the community don’t get a chance to serve their community since they are rarely promoted effectively. Workers as participants in a scheme of cooperation that produces national income, have a claim to a fair share of what they have helped in creating. Although it is not clear what amounts to fair share, the employee whether they are poor or rich should be paid a reasonable amount. According to Skorupski (2015) the theory of difference principle, inequalities in wealth and income are permissible in instances where disparities could not be reduced without worsening the position of those who are worst-off. Lamont & Favor (2013) also share this view, and they argue that the people who participate in producing the benefits should share the result of the toil.

The violation of women rights and discrimination is apparent in particular among the Muslim women, even when they are not in their country that strictly requires following Islamic law to the letter. Women are perceived to be inferior to men and that they should follow what they do. The notion of equality has not sunk completely to the men who view women as the inferior gender.

Reducing Inequality

The income differences can be reduced through the redistribution through taxes and benefits. We all know the effects of variation; therefore we should both monitor difference and commit ourselves to reduce it. Discrimination of the people based on their race, gender or class serves little purpose since the effects of inequality in the society cause more harm than good. The Congress should abolish all laws that directly and indirectly promotes the aspects of economic inequality or any other form of discrimination. The setting of difference level is essential in ensuring that unequal member of the society including the children and women are elevated to enjoy equal; right with all other people.

According to USAID, one in three women experiences gender-based violence in her lifetime (Anon, 2017), the number of women who have joined the workforce has increased over the last few years. They occupy a large percentage he of the workforce in the informal sector such as farming. Greater gender equality is a recipe for the prosperous and competitive nation. The setting of standards that promote equality of gender whereby men and women are treated equally is a much welcome notion. Law that promotes inequalities in our society should be abolished, and dismantle the structure of the organization that favors male and not the female. Members of the community should be protected from the laws and policies that seen to promote disparity or discrimination based on race, class or gender. Women should be given an equal chance as the men, and they can compete effectively and efficiently if the playing ground is based on equality and equity. Empowering the poor members of the society to raise their level of living, and with time, they end up being in the upper class.

Conclusion

The member of the Congress is mandated to represent the people and air their views on issues they consider are of great concern to the society. There is a need to eliminate inequalities in all spheres of human life in our community. The law, policies and practices that promote inequality should be abolished; there are those other that embrace the status quo of inequality and unjust treatment of minorities. Discrimination and unfair treatment of the people based on gender, race or class should not continue to be in operation. Racism, sexism, and classism have been naturalized in the practice and institution to the disadvantage of the minority groups. Inequality is created by discrimination based on gender, sex or class, whereby the rich continue accumulating wealth. Poor people are in the lower class of the community













References

Andersen, M., & Collins, P. H. (2015). Race, class, & gender: An anthology. Nelson Education.

Anon, (2017). Retrieved 9 May 2017, from https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment.

Brah, A., & Phoenix, A. (2013). Ain’t IA woman? Revisiting intersectionality. Journal of International Women's Studies, 5(3), 75-86.

Lamont, J., & Favor, C. (2013). Distributive justice.

Skorupski, J. (2015). John Rawls on Mill’s Principle of Liberty. Debates in Nineteenth-Century European Philosophy: Essential Readings and Contemporary Responses, 197.