Gender Inequality

What is Gender Inequality?

    Gender inequality is a result of discrimination against a gender or sex to the point where the other gender(s) or sex(es) is getting more recognition, special treatment, or prioritized over the other. Gender inequality can happen to any person no matter the sex or gender of them. Gender inequality has always been a big issue all around the world and so many people have experienced it at some point in their life.

What can gender inequality affect?

    According to UN Women, gender inequality can have an affect in poverty, education, employment, decision-making, maternal health, violence, sexual health, and environmental sustainability. Personally, I think it has the biggest impact on employment and education. We tend to see it a lot in the workplace and many people have experienced it hands on, myself included. Gender inequality can take a lot on a person mentally as well. It is hard knowing that no matter how hard you work, if a male will do it just the same as you, they are more likely to get the more praise than if a woman would.

Gender Pay Gap

    Our World in Data states that "The gender pay gap (or the gender wage gap) is a metric that tells us the difference in pay (or wages, or income) between women and men". Gender pay gap is a big issue everywhere especially here in America and throughout Asia. Most of the time, white males are the ones who usually make the most money and hold higher positions out of everyone. I think this has a lot to do because usually the people hiring are older white males so it just will continuously domino effect until someone, such as a a woman of color, can help break that cycle. Women tend to make a significantly lower amount than men because a lot of the older generation believe that woman are not capable of doing everything a man does, which is certainly not the case. Plus, it should be fair that women are paid equally to men. Globally, only about 19% of females hold a manager person in a firm(Our World Data, 2019). 

 

Personal Connection

        Personally, I felt like I have definitely had some issues with gender inequality and sexism in the work place versus a pay gap. I work as a reverse logistics expert in the company Target. Reverse logistics is essentially receiving vendors(Pepsi, Frito Lay, Coke, etc.) and making sure I have the correct quantity as well as the right product coming in as well as making sure that the backroom is running smoothly. A majority of these vendors and truck drivers that I work with are males. They need to ask me if it is okay to bring things in or what to bring. But there is a couple of vendors that will treat me completely different than compared to my other male colleagues at work. One in particular always happens to come on days where I am not there so they have to talk to one of the men that are in the back. I have told him countless times that he needs to come in earlier when I am there but he just says okay, rolls his eyes, then I don’t see him again for a long time. When he talks to the other guys he always asks them the questions that he is supposed to be asking me but he chooses not to talk to me. I even feel this way about the higher management because you can just tell sometimes by the way they talk to other women there comparatively to the other men. It can be extremely bothersome at times but I cant seem to do anything about it. 

Fast Facts

• In 2015 there were only 21 female heads of state in the entire world.
• Over 150 countries have at least one actively sexist law.
• In most countries, women only earn between 60 and 75% of men’s wages - for the same work.
• There are approximately 781 million illiterate adults worldwide – two-thirds of whom are women.

Works Cited

Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban, and Max Roser. “Economic Inequality by Gender.” Our World in Data, 21 Mar. 2018, https://ourworldindata.org/economic-inequality-by-gender.

“In Focus.” UN Women – Headquarters, https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus.

        YosolaYosola. “7 Shocking Facts about Gender Inequality around the World.”         Global Citizen, https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/shocking-facts-gender-inequality-international-wom/.