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Ruben Alcala

Professor Granillo

English 101

19 November 2018

Gender Inequality Still Exists

When a boss tells a person to do something they don't like, depending on that bosses

gender it changes the dynamic and feeling of how a person interprets what he or she said and

makes a person judge the character of their superior. That scenario can vary depending on the

situation, of course, there will be other factors such as tone and rhetoric when a person speaks.

The general idea to get across is that there is a significant double standard in our society and that

also affects everyone's work culture and careers in many ways. Richard Dorment argues in his

article, "Why Men Still Can't Have It All" that men have a harder time and are expected to do

more than women, but research shows that there still is a gender wage gap between men and

women that favors the male gender. Although many of the factors causing the wage gap have

decreased over the years, now it has less to do with discrimination against women and more with

the gender roles we assign men and women, along with that idea also comes the problem of

stereotyping both genders and how that also plays a role in gender inequality. The wage gap,

gender roles, and stereotyping of both genders have been a societal problem for centuries and

eliminating these ideologies would significantly decrease gender inequality, if that maybe even

eliminate it completely.

Richard Dormants article "Why Men Still Can't Have It All" has some ideas that are

agreeable such as men still have it harder to balance work life and other aspects of their life than

women. Dormant points out in his article that women are dominating most of the fastest growing
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professions in the workforce, all while also having 60% of bachelors go to women (556). This is

also supported by research that shows the gender college degree gap, this research states ”

...Overall, women in the Class of 2017 will earn 141 college degrees at all levels for every 100

men (up from 139 last year), and there will be a 659,000 college degree gap” (Mark.J Perry).

Dormants main idea to get across is that men overall are being misjudge and are actually

pressured the same if not more then women are in our society, but even with this in mind, he still

agrees that there are still forms of the wage gap that exists because of gender roles.

Gender roles have to do with the idea that because of your sexuality you are assumed to

fit the characteristics of that sex and must cater to the societal norm of that sex, an example is

like men working physical labor jobs and women work in office or house maintenance jobs. A

reason why gender roles are a factor of why inequality in the workplace exists is that women are

expected to take care of families more than men are because they are the ones who bear a child.

In this particular case one article states, “If women put many more hours into these household

activities than men, this greatly disadvantages women in the workplace. It is unrealistic to expect

gender equality if workplaces demand that women be available all the time” (Harvard). This

quote further argues that Women are more at a disadvantage because of the gender roles and that

it should be an expectation for them to take care of the family but in turn also negatively impacts

them in the workplace. Many people would compare gender roles to stereotyping, but both are

unique in their own way, stereotyping is just a little different depending on how one sees it.

Stereotyping is looked at as an oversimplified image or idea of a person. This relates to

the difference between men and women because often times the stereotypes tend to exaggerate

the differences of both genders. According to this article, it states “stereotypes also work
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to keep the sexes apart. In other words, we tend to perceive men and women as much more

different than they actually are” (Elessar) What Elessar is trying to argue is that because of the

stereotypes we think both men and women are different in the way they think act and talk in the

workplace. this is significant because it further divides the argument that there is no equality in

the workplace for both genders. On the other hand what really does make an impact more on the

inequality is gender roles. This has to do with the fact that women are actually taken out of work

physically and making a difference when looking at statistics. Stereotyping is significantly less

impactful and is less important than gender roles in terms of actually making a change in the way

women and men are treated.

The pay gap between men and women around the world looks a little different

depending on how you measure it. Today The wage gap between men and women have

diminished significantly, but yet it still has not been completely resolved. The wage gap exists

because of one crucial factor, The expectation that because women bare the child they must,

therefore, take care of the child. Leaving the men to stay in their jobs and provide for the family.

for example, blah states in their study This also may be where the idea stems from when Richard

Dorment when he talks about the pressure and level of expectation men have to bring home

money to provide for their family. in our society today we expect women to have equal pay for

equal work, while this may be what does happen in our society, it's an expectation that women

are to take care and provide for the children of the family, and less with the idea that they are

discriminated against because they are women.

In a modern professional workplace, gender stereotyping may not seem obvious to those

who think about it. In recent debates over gender inequality in the workplace, the conversation

has changed from women discrimination and more to equal work for equal pay. While
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discrimination still happens in some small places around the world, the gender wage between

men and women have 80% the last half of that percentage goes to the gender roles we put on

women who are expected to leave their job behind once there child is born, so that they may be a

mother at home. This is an expectation of women having to take care of their child while the men

are the “breadwinners’ or money provider for the family. because of this ideology, this is a major

part as to why women are still being looked at in statistics as making less than the average man.

Stereotyping can affect the workplace in many ways and has a greater impact on the people

working than anything else.

Stereotyping negatively affects how some work conversation and promotions happen

within a company or business establishment. An example of this can be something along the

lines of when a man and woman are hired, the women is most likely to work the less labor

intensive position. While men are put in positions that may require more labor intensive work,

women are almost expected to be able to not finish a task for a while men can seem as if they are

punished to severely considering some of things they do more in some aspects of the work. This

also can be another argument of Richard Dormant that men feel a pressure just as much as

women that they are supposed to be making money and if they can’t make end meat for the

family, the consequences will be more severe. We must go back to another reason why there is

inequality and a double standard between both genders.

When a man is hired and put into a position of power, a person may look at that

differently than a man, mainly because of the gender roles we put on eachother , an example is

like men working physical labor jobs and women work in office or house maintenance jobs. A

reason why gender roles are a factor of why inequality in the workplace exists is that women are

expected to take care of families more than men are because they are the ones who bear a child.
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In this particular case one article states, “If women put many more hours into these household

activities than men, this greatly disadvantages women in the workplace. It is unrealistic to expect

gender equality if workplaces demand that women be available all the time” (Harvard). This

quote further argues that Women are more at a disadvantage because of the gender roles and that

it should be an expectation for them to take care of the family but in turn also negatively impacts

them in the workplace. Many people would compare gender roles to stereotyping, but both are

unique in their own way, stereotyping is just a little different depending on how one sees it.

Separating ourselves from the work aspect of it, and maybe focus our attention to society.

The story in the United States is one that is similar to every country around the world. It wasn’t

long ago that women were not allowed to vote, to be more precise, a statistic Given by WBM

University says “When you go back to the 1950’s, there were not a lot of women who were in

the workforce, and the women who were, were often not as well educated as the men were’

(Julia Edwick). This quote is explaining that at one point in time, there was women who did not

have the same education as men, nor were as employed as much as men, this fit the notion that

men were a superior gender and a dominant force in society. Women were not in the workplace

often than men were. Many of the factors that were causing the wage were diminished, except

for one. Women are expected to still take care of a child more than men are

The word stereotyping can be used in many ways that is not just catered to specific

genders, but in this case it is also looked at as a contributor to why some inequality in the

workplace happens. The wage gap between men and women have diminished significantly, but

yet it still has not been completely resolved. The wage gap exists because of one crucial factor,

The expectation that because women bare the child they must, therefore, take care of the child.

Leaving the men to stay in their jobs and provide for the family. for example, blah states in their
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study This also may be where the idea stems from when Richard Dorment when he talks about

the pressure and level of expectation men have to bring home money to provide for their family.

in our society today we expect women to have equal pay for equal work, This also can be

another argument of Richard Dormant that men feel a pressure just as much as women that they

are supposed to be making money and if they can’t make end meat for the family, the

consequences will be more severe. We must go back to another reason why there is inequality

and a double standard between both genders.

In summary general idea to get cross is that there is a double standard that plagues our

society’s work culture. that affects the way many our gender norms are looked at. in this case

there have been many scenarios given as to why some of the gender politics and norms play a

role in how our society views gender roles in the workplace. Richard Dorment argues in his

article, "Why Men Still Can't Have It All" that men are expected and pressured to do more

family duties and work than women, but as shown by research, there still is a significant

difference on how our society treats women compared to men, and still favors men in the

workplace . The wage gap, gender roles, and stereotyping of both genders have been a societal

problem for centuries and eliminating these ideologies would significantly decrease gender

inequality, if that maybe even eliminate it completely.

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Works Cited

"Gender Inequality and Women in the workplace", Harvard University, May 31, 2018,

Elesser, Kim, "Gender Difference at Work, We Are Not That Different", Taylor Press

Publishing, August 15, 2015.

Dormant Richard, “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All”, They Say I Say, Gerald Graff,

Cathy Birkenstien, Russel Durst, 4th Edition, W.W.Norton & Company New York, Boston.

2018.
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Mark J.Perry, “Prediction: No 2017 graduation speaker will mention this – the growing

‘gender college degree gap’ favoring women”, AEIdeas, May 7, 2017

“Single-Sex Education: Would teaching boys and girls separately improve academic

performance?”, Issues and Controversies, Infobase, June 6, 2008, Washington D.C.

John Gramlich, “10 things we learned about gender issues in the U.S.in 2017”, Pew

Research Center, December 28, 2017, ST, NW, Suite 800 Washington DC