Throughout history, gender inequality in the United States has been diminishing due to the significant advancements of equality since the 1900s (Yavorsky et al. 669). Nevertheless, gender inequality continues to persist in the United States in different forms with its effects being prevalent in the American society. Gender inequality refers to the idea or concept that men and women in the society are unequal, leading to prejudiced treatment as well as perceptions of individuals due to their gender (Yavorsky et al. 669). In the United States, the issue of gender inequality has not been fully conceived and there are no strategies that apply across the variety of relevant phenomena. Additionally, the effects of gender inequality are diverse because the mechanisms used are not effective to minimize conceptual ambiguities and they are not analytically operative. While there exists a series of advancements to enhance gender equality in the United States, critical effects of inequality in terms of social life, employment as well as education continues to persist.
Causes of Gender Inequality
Gender inequality has been diverse and well spread in the United States, portraying men and women as unequal in almost every conceivable way as well as endless circumstances. Gender norms in the society, as well as the roles and stereotypes, continues to be prevalent in the social life and they dictate what a man or woman is supposed to be. For instance, the gendered nature of power has greatly been affected by the economy as well as the political spheres in the community as a result of unchallenged cultures of the dominance of males (Kakabadse et al. 267). As such, subordination and at times exclusion of women in social, political, economic among other areas becomes common in the United States. Additionally, the differences in gender constructed roles in the society, as well as the traditions and culture of a particular group, may regard one gender and view the other as not important (Yavorsky et al. 668). Furthermore, some religions in the United States promote the value of men in the society and disregards the input of women. As such, the society fails to appreciate the importance of gender equality which causes pain in the holistic worldwide domain.
Social Life
Every individual is constrained by social activities that affect both men and women in significantly different ways. Attitudes towards gender as well as societal roles continue to persist in the United States because many believe that each gender should take the traditional roles which are unachievable especially in the 21st century (Yavorsky et al. 671). In fact, family and kinship are very relevant when it comes to gender inequality due to the ways that men and women are organized in the society. Additionally, the social differences between the activities of men and women have significantly been affected due to the perceived aspect of the role of sexuality (Ponthieux and Meurs 997). Sexuality, therefore, becomes a source of tension in many families which is in turn reflected in the society. Consequently, violence, as well as intimidation in the relationships between men and women, become common due to the lack of agreement on the role of sexuality.
Violence against men or women is also highly linked to privilege, impunity as well as injustice because of lack of gender equality. In the United States, violent behavior is highly associated and generally professed to be a fundamental part of the behavior of male as well as a normal feature of being a man (Ponthieux and Meurs 1036). While violence is culturally masculinized, gender violence is highly related to the systems as well as feelings of power. Gender inequality, therefore, results in a culture of violence in addition to the oppression of women as well as some groups of men. For instance, when women are viewed to be less important in the society and subjected to the authority of the male gender, men feel less cautious in degrading women in order to satisfy themselves. Consequently, the choices of women in the society are limited by the dominant masculinity norms in many cultures.
Employment and Education
Despite significant progress for women in employment in the United States, gender inequality continues to persist in the working sector since men hold major positions in different companies and organizations. Additionally, in the United States, the educational level of women is significantly lower than that of women since they receive less education, a scenario which contributes to their unemployment levels (England 37). Gender inequality has impacted on the whole population and the gap in gender education and employment has weighty consequences to the lives of individuals. For instance, twice as many men in the United States have professional or doctoral degrees as compared to women (Yavorsky et al. 675). Consequently, more than 70 percent of the women in the either have jobs or are looking for one because their levels of education are high. However, less than 60 percent of women in the United States have jobs or looking for one due to the lower education levels. Additionally, there is a huge difference in the choice of degrees with some being viewed as feminine and others masculine (England 43). In fact, there is higher income for those jobs that are viewed to be more masculine and men hold a significant advantage when it comes to employment as well as selection in higher selective universities.
Economic Consequences
In regions with large gaps in education and employment, there exist serious negative economic consequences. The growth rate of the economy is highly associated with education and employment levels between men and women (Cuberes and Teignier 7). Gender gaps in education and employment create significant inefficiencies in regional economic growth. Inefficient use of human capital as well as an increase in fertility rates are major reasons as to why education and employment gaps in men and women are harmful. When women are excluded from some of the forms of higher education, they fail to take the top positions in a significant number of employment opportunities. Consequently, the productivity of a particular region reduces since some of the women would have been valuable assets to the economy (Kakabadse et al. 276). When a certain group does not achieve full capabilities in the labor market, the economy is bound to suffer due to limited human capital as well as reduced competition. Additionally, lower education rates among women lead to a population shift as a result of reduced fertility rates (Cuberes and Teignier 21). When women lack higher education, there is a high chance of becoming pregnant at a young age which increases the population, and since the labor workforce is inadequate, the populace cannot be effectively supported.
Conclusion
Gender inequality is a common phenomenon in the United States and inflicts adverse effects on the lives of the people. Social norms have contributed to gender inequality in the country, an aspect which results in women being discriminated against. Violence is a major impact of gender inequality because some people in the society believe that men are superior to women, making them degrade the female gender and use them for their own satisfaction regardless of the consequences. A large gap also exits in terms of education and employment between men and women in the society due to the perceived differences in their gender. Women are therefore disadvantaged, resulting into significant economic inefficiencies. Gender inequality deprives some groups of their share in the economy despite the efforts put in place to ensure equality of men and women in the society.
Works Cited
Cuberes, David, and Marc Teignier. "Aggregate effects of gender gaps in the labor market: A quantitative estimate." Journal of Human Capital 10.1 (2016): 1-32.
England, Paula. Households, employment, and gender: A social, economic, and demographic view. Routledge, 2017.
Kakabadse, Nada K., et al. "Gender diversity and board performance: Women's experiences and perspectives." Human Resource Management 54.2 (2015): 265-281.
Ponthieux, Sophie, and Dominique Meurs. "Gender inequality." Handbook of income distribution. Vol. 2. Elsevier, 2015. 981-1146.
Yavorsky, Jill E., Claire M. Kamp Dush, and Sarah J. Schoppe‐Sullivan. "The production of inequality: The gender division of labor across the transition to parenthood." Journal of Marriage and Family 77.3 (2015): 662-679.
