StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Effective Ways on How We Can Alleviate Sexism in Our Society - Research Paper Example

Cite this document
Summary
The author concludes that in relation to a symbolic interactionist perspective, we should take it a challenge to remove the misconception that women are weaker and less competitive than men. By removing sexism, women will be able to perform well in nurturing the next generation of our society …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER97.8% of users find it useful
Effective Ways on How We Can Alleviate Sexism in Our Society
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Effective Ways on How We Can Alleviate Sexism in Our Society"

 Sexism Thesis Statement Effective Ways on How We Can Alleviate Sexism in Our Society. Introduction Rooted in the culture and tradition of a society, sexism is all about wrong attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, laws, and policies that strongly support discrimination on sex roles. Up to the present time, the act of generalizing an entire gender makes people think that a person is more superior as compared to other people (Ronai, Zsembik, & Feagin, 1997, p. 10). A good example of sexism is the act of stereotyping that men should project an image of masculinity whereas women should act femininely (Brittan, 1984, p. 236). Therefore, women are expected to stay at home, do household chores, and take care of babies whereas men are expected to stay active in work or business environment (Neuwirth, 2004). In reality, sexism is not limited in stereotyping the expected roles of male and female role in this society. Unfortunately, transsexuals are also equally affected by the negative impact of strong sex discrimination. Feminist groups have long time been trying to fight the occurrence of sexism; specifically with regards to the unequal opportunity that is present between men and women at work, within educational institutions, and their expected role in our society (DaCosta Alleyne, 2004). In relation to the importance of gender equality, feminist movement continuously campaigns for women’s rights and interests which includes: (1) right to work, equal pay, and maternity leave; (2) right to vote; and (3) right to be protected from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape (4) (Humm, 1990, p. 278; Echols, 1989, p. 416, Cott, 1987, pp. 4 – 5). It is through the strong influence of feminist groups in the way people think that gradually eliminates the traditional perspectives on how women should act in our society. Over the years, feminist groups had significantly changed the modern ways of living from culture to law. Despite the government and private institutions’ effort to alleviate sex discrimination by promoting the importance of workplace and educational diversity and improving the existing laws on sex discrimination and chauvinism, sexism remains a serious social problem in our country. In line with the social consequences of sexism, almost all sociologists are using the three primary theoretical perspectives known as the symbolic interactionist perspective1, functionalist perspective2, and conflict perspective3 when analyzing the social phenomena behind sexism (Cliff Notes, 2010). To effectively alleviate sexism in our culture and tradition, some of the existing social problem related to sexism will first be identified. Based on the different attitudes and views of symbolic interactionists, functionalists, and conflict theorists on each identified social problem, a clear description on how each social problem affects the welfare of each individual will be provided. Prior to conclusion, strategic ways on how we can effectively intervene with the identified social problems will be tackled in details. Work-Related Problems Related to Sexism Gender Pay and Work Recognition Inequality Although wage inequality between men and women has been constantly increasing since 1980s (Piketty & Saez, 2003; Card & DiNardo, 2002; Jencks, 2002), many of the sociologists were unable to explain the factors behind increasing wage gap between men and women (Sorensen, 2005). As a common knowledge, men are considered more superior than women. Aside from the differences in the working environmental condition suitable for men and women, it is a common knowledge that men and women play a different role in the labor market such that most women are involved with semi-professional, office or unskilled job as compared to men (Heath & Britten, 1984). Even though men and women work in the same position with the same work responsibility, men tend to receive more credit even though their gender counterpart had provided a better job result (Wenneras & Wold, 1997). There are also cases wherein men are receiving more grant opportunities as compared to equally qualified women (Bornmann, Mutz, & Daniel, 2007). Because of such false belief, women are often a victim of gender discrimination or sexism. For many years, our society has developed a mentality that women are weaker, smaller, and less competitive when it comes to certain jobs. Since women in general are classified as less intelligent or less competitive in certain types of job, a lot of women often end up having a lesser pay for equal job or being promoted at work as compared to most men (Cortis, 2000). Sexual Harassment and Violence at Work Regardless of work performance, sexual harassment at work occurs when a superior requires a female employee a sexual favor in exchange for a higher salary, more employee benefits, and job promotion. Although a wide-range of work policies and practices have been implemented to promote equal work opportunity for male and female employees, the fact that women are trained to be feminine, speak politely and observe good manners makes them more vulnerable to sexual harassment at work (Padavic & Orcutt, 1997). Different Attitudes and Views of Symbolic Interactionists, Functionalists, and Conflict Theorists Education serves as a foundation that enables each individual to compete in the global labor market. Based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women who graduated from college are likely to earn 76% more than women who only received a high school diploma (Longley, 2005). It only means that there is a strong possibility that a child will be able to find a good paying job when they receive a good educational background (Smierchiak, 2010). Despite the importance of education, children who belong to low-income families are often discriminated in terms of having an equal opportunity to good education as compared to the high-income earners (Phillips, 2008). In fact, gender inequality in US education still exists even though the government and private institutions exert an effort to eradicate gender inequalities and provide a fair treatment to all students. Symbolic Interactionists Perspective Division of labor between men and women is a consequence of the traditional socialization, attitudes, and beliefs (Padavic & Earnest, 1994). Gender pay and work recognition inequality can be explained using the symbolic interactionist perspective. Under the symbolic interactionist perspective, it is strongly believed that the role of men and women within the society can be learned through socialization process. In line with this, most women deal with other people using expressive roles or capabilities that are nurturing and emotionally supportive to other people. Since women tend to use emotional aspect and charisma when dealing face-to-face with other people, most women ends up having a pink-collar jobs4 related to child care, dental hygiene, teaching, assistance for paralegals and legal, receptionists, speech therapy, travel agent, and registered nurse (Prokos, Padavic, & Schmidt, 2009; Prokos & Padavic, 2002; Sorensen, 2000). In general, men are more serious and masculine when they deal face-to-face with other people. Since most men are trained to socialize with other people using instrumental or task-oriented roles, men are the ones who have better work opportunity as airplane pilots and navigators, architects, automobile mechanics, lawyer, mechanical engineer, civil engineer, physician, police officer, clergy, construction worker, firefighters, and grounds maintenance worker (Prokos, Padavic, & Schmidt, 2009; Longley, 2005; Sorensen, 2000; Padavic & Earnest, 1994). Other than the educational attainment of each employee, the sex classification of men and women is also a strong basis on how men and women in general are treated at work (Prokos & Padavic, 2002). For example: Since women are known for being emotional aside from their nurturing and supportive role, women often ends up filling the administrative roles within a business organization in support for managerial tasks. Since men are known to be task-oriented, it is men who are often promoted to do managerial tasks. Functionalists Perspective After having read several sociology articles related to employment, careers, human nature and the human capital theory, it is clear that among the major factors that can influence the rational decision-making of each individual in terms of deciding whether or not to shift from a current employment is based on different factors related to economics, cognitive psychology, family and personal life (Besen-Cassino, 2008; Shaw, 2008; Reed & Wolniak, 2005; Jacobs, 1997). Gender pay and work recognition inequality can also be explained using the functionalist perspective. Contrary to men, women are trained to choose marriage and motherhood and household work more than the educational preparation for their career (Kunzler et al., 2001). In relation to the nurturing role of women, women are made responsible to take care of children remains a strong part of ideological appraisal. In relation to gender role, it is also possible for pregnant women who had just recently given birth to a baby may end up deciding to shift from a full-time to a part-time employment even though the employment shift may result to a lesser pay on the part of a female employee (Jacobs, 1997). In this case, the situation of a woman dictates the need to change the nature of her previous job from a full-time to part-time in order to enable her to perform her duty as a mother to her child and a wife to her husband at the same time (Shaw, 2008). In hope for a better career, there are also cases wherein young female adults may also decide to search for a part-time job, not because she is not happy with her existing job, but because of the need to divide the available time between work and studies (Besen-Cassino, 2008). Educational attainment of each individual matters when it comes to finding a good paying job. However, teenage pregnancy could cause a young woman to drop out from school (The National Campaign, 2010). In relation to tight competition in the labor market, there is a strong possibility for pregnant women to have more difficulty finding a job. For this reason, teenagers who got themselves pregnant at a young age are more likely to face socio-economic problems after giving birth. In worst cases, this group of individuals who were not able to receive proper education will have a lesser bargaining power when it comes to salary and wages or job promotion. Particularly the societal expectation and practices behind the role of women are among the major factors that make them less literate and less competent than most men. This also explains why more men in the United States have doctorate degrees and highly respected career as compared to women (Smierchiak, 2010). As a result, it is men who are given more opportunities to do extremely well in their chosen career as compared to women. Likewise, the current supply and demand for labor can be used to explain the wage gap between men and women. As part of globalization and developments in technology, the labor market requires more high-skilled workers than low-skilled workers (Card & DiNardo, 2002). In general, women’s expected function within our society can hinder women’s access to better education. Since more men are receiving better education than women, it is men who often have better job than women. Despite the functionalist perspective behind the gender wage gap, Tumin (1953) explained that the actual performance of each employee is not affected by the wage inequalities. It means that there will always be a possibility for a female employee to perform better than male employee but still receive a low salary for her service. In line with this, Fischer et al. (1996) and Tumin (1953) suggest that the wage inequality between men and women can be a result of unequal opportunity given to both sexes. Conflict Perspective Under the conflict perspective, women are considered valuable inside the house and less superior outside home. This perspective somehow explains why majority of women work more for lesser pay and get lesser chance for work promotion (Kerbo, 2006). Contrary to the perspective of a functionalist view, the high incidence of wage gap between men and women is one factor that can negatively affect the economic growth. Instead of having efficiently working economy, the presence of wage gap between men and women only benefits men in general at the expense of women (Fischer et al., 1996). In general, conflict theorists assume that a decline in the wage inequality could not affect the performance or efficiency of the workers. In fact, promoting gender pay equality could eventually increase the overall work performance of a workforce within the labor market. Thus, contribute to the increase in the efficiency of the economy. In line with this perspective, Tumin (1953) explained that removing work envy, distrust, and ill-feelings between male and female workers could lead to increase in the teams’ work performance. The same reason made Fischer et al. (1996) agree that gender pay inequality does not promote efficient society. Married women now-a-days are not only expected to work as a house wife but also maintain their career in order to support the financial needs of her family. Because of the need for women to earn more money, women who work in a corporate world often ends up a victim of sexual harassment at work. Since there is a huge competition between men and woman in the labor market, there are managers or superiors who would require a female employee a sexual favor in exchange for a higher salary, more employee benefits, and job promotion. Since a large population of women is receiving less pay and work promotion opportunity, women become more vulnerable to fall under the control or power of the elite. Recommended Solutions and Conclusion Under symbolic interactionist perspective, gender pay and work recognition inequality occurs because of the way men and women interact in our society. On the other hand, functionalist perspective considers the increase in gender wage inequality to cause the increase in overall work productivity of a team whereas conflict view accepts the perception that the increase in wage gap inequality could only result to work performance inefficiency. Specifically the research study that was conducted by Kim and Sakamoto (2006) accepts the conflict view on gender wage gap in the sense that the increase in gender wage inequality does not necessarily promote increase in work productivity. To avoid social conflicts like having misbehaved young individuals caused by lack of guidance from mothers and exposing more women to sexual harassment at work, the U.S. government should minimize the gender wage gap by giving more women the opportunity to have an equal access to better education. Since the incidence of teenage pregnancy could cause more women to drop out from school, the U.S. government should make an effort to teach young women in school the negative consequences of having a child at a very young age. In relation to symbolic interactionist perspective, we should take it a challenge to remove the misconception that women are weaker and less competitive than men in general. By removing sexism, women will be able to perform well not only within the corporate world but also in nurturing the next generation of our society. As a result, it is possible for our society to become more productive and more efficient. *** End *** References Besen-Cassino, Y. (2008). The Study of Youth Labor: The Shift Toward a Subject-Centered Approach. Sociology Compass , 2(1), 352 - 365. Bornmann, L., Mutz, R., & Daniel, H.-D. (2007). Gender differences in grant peer review: A meta-analysis. Journal of Informatics , 1(3), 226 - 238. Brittan, A. (1984). Sexism, racism and oppression. Blackwell. Card, D., & DiNardo, J. (2002). Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles. Journal of Labor Economics , 20, 733 - 783. Cliff Notes. (2010). Retrieved May 23, 2010, from Three Major Perspectives in Sociology: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Three-Major-Perspectives-in-Sociology.topicArticleId-26957,articleId-26837.html. Cortis, N. (2000). Gender, Pay Equity and Human Service Work: A New South Wales Case Study. Australian Journal of Political Science , 35(1), 49 - 62. Cott, N. (1987). The grounding of modern feminism. Yale University Press. DaCosta Alleyne, M. (2004). The global promotion of gender equality—A propaganda approach. Human Rights Review , 5(3), 103 - 116. Echols, A. (1989). Daring to be bad: radical feminism in America, 1967–1975. Minneapolis. University of Minnesota Press. Fischer, C., Hout, M., Jankowski, M., Lucas, S., Swidler, A., & Voss, K. (1996). Inequality by Design : Cracking the Bell Curve Myth. NY: Princeton University Press. Heath, A., & Britten, N. (1984). Women's Jobs do Make a Difference: A Reply to Goldthorpe . Sociology , 18(4), 475 - 490. Humm, M. (1990). The dictionary of feminist theory. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. Jacobs, S. C. (1997). Employment Changes over Childbirth: A Retrospective View . Sociology , 31(3), 577 - 590. Jencks, C. (2002). Does Inequality Matter? Daedelus , 131, 49-65. Kerbo, H. (2006). Social Stratification and Inequality. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Kim, C., & Sakamoto, A. (2006, August 11). Retrieved May 23, 2010, from "Does Inequality Increase Productivity? Revisiting the Debate Between Functionalism and Conflict Theory" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montreal Convention Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p103017_index.html. Kunzler, J., Wolfgang, W., Reichart, E., & Pfister, G. (2001). Gender Division of Labour in Unified Germany. Tilburg. Longley, R. (2005, May). Retrieved May 23, 2010, from Education Greatly Boosts Women's Earnings: Report. But women still face a male vs. female pay gap: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/censusandstatistics/a/womenpayed.htm. Neuwirth, J. (2004). Ms. Magazine. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from Unequal. A global perspective on women under the law: http://www.msmagazine.com/summer2004/globalwomenlaw.asp. Padavic, I., & Earnest, W. (1994). Paternalism as a Component of Managerial Strategy. The Social Science Journal , 31, 389 - 404. Padavic, I., & Orcutt, J. (1997). Perceptions of Sexual Harassment in the Florida Legal System: A Comparison of Dominance and Spillover Explanations. Gender & Society , 11, 682 - 698. Phillips, A. (2008, September 2). ABC News. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from Chicago Students Boycott First Day of School: School district blasts use of children in operaning day protest over education funding: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=5706827&page=1. Piketty, T., & Saez, E. (2003). Income Inequality in the United States, 1913-1998. Quarterly Journal of Economics , 118, 1-39. Prokos, A., & Padavic, I. (2002). There Oughtta Be a Law Against Bitches': Masculinity Lessons in Police Academy Training. Gender, Work & Organization , 9(4), 439 - 459. Prokos, A., Padavic, I., & Schmidt, I. (2009). Nonstandard Work Arrangements among Women and Men Scientists and Engineers. Sex Roles , 61(9), 653 - 666. Reed, E. J., & Wolniak, G. C. (2005). Electronic Journal of Sociology. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from Diagnosis or Determination?: Assessment Explained through Human Capital Theory and the Concept of Aptitudes: http://www.sociology.org/content/2005/tier1/reed_wolniak.pdf. Ronai, C., Zsembik, B., & Feagin, J. (1997). Everyday sexism in the third millennium. Routledge. Shaw, S. M. (2008). Family Leisure and Changing Ideologies of Parenthood. Social Compass , 2(2), 688 - 703. Smierchiak, J. (2010). MSNBC. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from Census: Women equal to men in college degrees. Statistics from 2009 survey show increasing educational gains for women: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36663479#http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/educ-attn.html. Sorensen, A. (2000). Toward a Sounder Basis for Class Analysis. American Journal of Sociology , 105, 1523 - 1558. Sorensen, J. (2005). "Organizational Diversity, Labor Markets and Wage Inequality" Forthcoming in American Behavioral Scientist. The National Campaign. (2010, March). Retrieved May 22, 2010, from Why It Matters. Linking Teen Pregnancy Prevention to Other Critical Social Issues: http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/why-it-matters/pdf/introduction.pdf. Tumin, M. (1953). Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis. American Sociological Review , 18, 387–394. Wenneras, C., & Wold, A. (1997). Nepotism and Sexism in Peer-Review. Nature , 387, 341 - 343. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Effective Ways on How We Can Alleviate Sexism in Our Society Research Paper”, n.d.)
Effective Ways on How We Can Alleviate Sexism in Our Society Research Paper. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/gender-sexual-studies/1738442-sexism
(Effective Ways on How We Can Alleviate Sexism in Our Society Research Paper)
Effective Ways on How We Can Alleviate Sexism in Our Society Research Paper. https://studentshare.org/gender-sexual-studies/1738442-sexism.
“Effective Ways on How We Can Alleviate Sexism in Our Society Research Paper”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/gender-sexual-studies/1738442-sexism.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Effective Ways on How We Can Alleviate Sexism in Our Society

Welfare Spending in the USA

The paper "Welfare Spending in the USA " tells that welfare spending in the USA has been realizing negative effects on the economic standing of American society as a whole, more specifically in terms of long-term growth in poverty rates and high levels of unemployment.... hellip; It should be mentioned, that many such contentions came out right before the USA presidential campaign....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Paper

Stem Cell Research: The Importance In-behind Maintaining Funding

The fact is that this type of scientific research can ultimately lead to better medical care for patients who are burn victims, cancer survivors, pulmonary patients, heart patients, as well as being beneficial in other medical arenas.... However, the Bush Administration has put a limit onto what type of funding this research can acquire.... So, regardless of the possibilities, embryonic stem cell research can only go so far because the funding is so very limited....
16 Pages (4000 words) Essay

The Sociological Perspectives

As with other models which human beings employ for understanding the world, like in science, philosophy, and in our everyday goings-on, sociological perspectives construct models with the aim to uncover the meaning of what we regularly witness around us.... Still, this problem seems to be inevitable in our dynamic social environment with its unprecedented level of change in many spheres of our life.... Generally speaking, the alternative methodologies, from which we can choose the ones that would best suit the needs of our research, are represented by different theoretical sociological perspectives....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

Leadership Assessment

here are a variety of industries in society.... Inasmuch as without the individual, there would be no society, it is therefore vital to provide efficient healthcare services.... Another reason I can fit in this organization is that I have a passion for helping people.... Good leadership brings about a working environment both harmonious and efficient which can consequently lead to a more effective workforce and a successful organization....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

The Most Difficult Traps to Overcome by the Poor States

The first dimension is that of verticality, where the state is ideally considered to be above the society, communities as well as families.... Culture is a composition of society that places the role of managing resources within their geographical regions on the universal institution, in this regard, any form of failure that may lead to poverty should be totally blamed on institutions.... I support the 'searchers' idea; this is because research and innovation is the key solution to many challenges facing society owing to the fact that they lead to the generation of long-lasting solutions....
3 Pages (750 words) Assignment
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us