Women's Underrepresentation in Social Institutions
Women in the modern era are underrepresented in most social institutions across the world. The underrepresentation is largely associated with the traditional conservative roles of women enshrined in most cultures. Most societies define the role of women as being mothers and taking care of the family while the man is considered to be the head of the house and breadwinner. Although current economic conditions may have changed some of the roles, most societies still hold the traditional role views, and as a result, historical tendencies are still persistent across the globe although women are making an effort to change such perceptions. The effect of having such perceptions transcend to how most social institutions including how the government of the day operates. One elaborate example which shows the social differences and perceptions between the various genders is the number of politically elected heads of state of governments across the world. As of January 2017, the participation rate of women in the national parliament across the globe was about 23.3 % rise from 2013 where only 8% of all national elected leaders were women (Carmichael et al., 2016). This form of gender inequality spreads across all units of institutions of the society despite the total number of men and women across the globe nearly being the same. But how do governments of the day perceive members of different genders within society?
Government Perceptions of Women
Most government institutions perceive women to be suited for specific types of jobs within the society. Such jobs include nurturing, service provision and housekeeping roles. On the other hand, most societies believe that men are suited for a number of careers which involve authority as well as some high level of decision making. More people believe women cannot make good leaders or even rule big organizations despite various women being at the helm of some successful organization. The mentality that women should be under men has been permeated across various institutions and believed to be true by both men and women. Bishu "Alkadry (2017) provides a systematic review of an example of gender inequality in terms of different gender gaps between men and women mediated by government offices. Gender-based workplaces gap differences can be mediated by a number of factors including the workplace authority. In most cases, women may be systematically denied access to certain positions with authority because of their perceived cultural roles described in the above section. In other cases, women granted positions of authority, are provided with low level of authority which they could exercise compared to their male counterparts and as a result have lower economic return from their jobs Interestingly, most governments of the day have unique clauses within their constitution which indicate that individuals shall not be discriminated based on their gender or work roles. However, because men are perceived to hold such positions over time and have asserted their dominance over time to the point of affecting the social fabric of the society, such clauses within the constitution are avoided, and the clamor for the same pay and equal work opportunities is sometimes not given a priority.
Government Efforts Towards Gender Equality
Generally, most governments view women as the weaker sex and as a result attempt to develop gender equality programs in society. One instance is in developing countries where women are not provided with proper education. In such cases, most families do not pay any form of proper attention to the girl child. More emphasis is primarily placed on educating the boy child. Such practices are primarily influenced traditions and cultures which make females to be regarded as not being equally important to males in the society. Some cultures in societies do not permeate women to engage in certain practices (Al Alhareth, Al Alhareth, "Al Dighrir, 2015). Such practices form the basis of some essential functions and processes of the state. An elaborate example of how culture affects genders is by looking at Saudi Arabia, a monarch state in the Gulf of Asia primarily known for its oil reserves. Women cannot make decisions without consulting men, go for swimming, interact with other men without their husband permission and in some cases restricted on how to vote (Al Alhareth et al., 2015). It is only in recent time that women in Saudi Arabia have been allowed to drive cars. The entrenchment of such practices which restrict what women can do in the society proves that some societies have entrenched certain gender inequality practices. Saudi Arabia stands out as a unique country since it has strict laws written indicating activities women are not supposed to engage in at any time (Al Alhareth et al., 2015). Failure to follow some of these rules and regulations resulted in massive consequences under the law. Unlike Saudi Arabia whose laws are written, most countries across the globe still operate under such latent laws, applying practices which encourage gender inequality.
Government Actions for Gender Equality
A number of countries have enacted a host of measures to reduce gender inequality in society caused by systemic and social challenges such as inequitable division of labor, cultural attitudes regarding gender roles as well as representation of women in public life. Today most governments are patriarchal in nature and often fail to provide adequate structures for women, and in the process, women feel their interests are under-represented or in most cases not represented. Nonetheless, most governments understand gender inequality gaps and have slowly started engaging in activities aimed at attaining gender equality. Some actions implemented by some states include increasing access to education to women through abolishing some form of fees which limited parents financial decisions in taking either of their children to school, provision of scholarship opportunities primarily for females and establishment of girl specific schools, colleges and universities (Jayachandran, 2015). Other countries have also introduced specific quota based laws which limit the dominance of a specific gender within national offices. For example, some countries apply the potential candidacy quota method which mandates that a pool of aspirants for political post be selected from women (Jayachandran, 2015). Another approach commonly employed is the nomination of women into national offices. The last approach is having specific election seats reserved for women. It is only when women are at the highest level of governments will their interests be represented.
Conclusion
Most governments across the world are patriarchal in nature. As a result, men hold the most powerful and dominant positions in society resulting in gender inequality. The place of most women is still reserved for the traditional roles of nurturing and taking care of the family. As a result, there are fewer women attending school and universities as well as fewer women in national institutions, organizations, and businesses. Introducing gender equality practices may aid in reducing the gap between the two genders and in the long term change the perception of the different genders and their contributions to individual societies.
References
Al Alhareth, Y., Al Alhareth, Y., " Al Dighrir, I. (2015). Review of women and society in Saudi Arabia. American Journal of Educational Research, 3(2), 121–125. https://doi.org/10.12691/education-3-2-3
Bishu, S. G., " Alkadry, M. G. (2017). A systematic review of the gender pay gap and factors that predict it. Administration and Society, 49(1), 65–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399716636928
Carmichael, Sarah; Dilli, Selin; Rijpma, Auke (2016), "Women in the global economic history", in Baten, Jörg, A history of the global economy: from 1500 to the present, Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 244, 24
Jayachandran, S. (2015). The roots of gender inequality in developing countries. Annual Review of Economics, 7(1), 63–88. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080614-115404
