The Effect Gender Inequality Has on Women

Story by Nataleigh Jackson. Graphic from IASPaper.

MAR. 20, 2019: Gender injustice/inequality means that men and women are not treated equally. Women and girls are impacted by gender injustice because some men think women are weak. Women have always been discriminated against at home and in the workplace. For example, it used to be that women’s main jobs were to stay in the house and tend to their husbands and kids. They also weren’t able to vote or work for a very long period of time until female activists changed everything. Men with the exact jobs as women are still paid more.

Gender inequality is sometimes caused by gender stereotyping. For example, it is believed that women focus on feelings and men focus on reasoning. This creates a negative stereotype for women because at work people are supposed to be able to turn emotions on and off so they can do their job correctly. But, men feel as if women don’t know how to turn it off—maybe because of one incident.

Women from culturally diverse communities worldwide face additional bumps in education and employment as a result of language barriers, racism, and discrimination. Refugee women (women who were forced to leave their country in order to escape war) are offered lower paying jobs. Many families in Asia desire male children because they believe this will ensure the best source of income. For example, in China, females are thought of as less valuable for labor and unable to provide food. Many families in China may think that it is useless for girls to go to school because in their culture it is normal for them to marry and become housewives. In Asian cultures, there is a stereotype that women usually have a lower status than men because males carry on the family name and hold the responsibilities to take care of their families. So females have a less important role. It’s mainly to carry out domestic chores (basic house chores), and to take care of their husbands and children.

In conclusion, gender inequality is something that women face because they are not treated equally to men. Men get a higher wage than women for the same job. In other cultures, women are only thought of to work in the house instead of actually working in the real world. This is not a good thing because everybody should be able to work in the same place with the same benefits.

 Nataleigh Jackson is a 10th grade scholar at Friendship Tech Prep Academy.