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Pakhomova, Alexsandra
Professor Makarosyan
English 114B
28 April 2015
Gender Inequality in Our Society
Many believe that women are treated on the same level as men; that however is not
true. Although women have achieved the same rights as men in the 1920s when they were
given the right to vote, women are still being treated differently than their male counterparts
even in todays world. Gender inequality is prevalent in the realm of politics, education, and the
workforce.
Politics have always been considered masculine. Men hold the majority of
positions whether it is governor, mayor, senator, and even president. Yes, women have made
attempts to become president in many countries and have succeeded greatly, but
unfortunately in our case, it wasnt as successful. For whatever reason, there are people in
our country who arent very fond of the idea that a woman can be president of the United
States. It makes sense to think that way since all the presidents of our country were men, but
these men are only willing to start wars with other countries. They are not willing to solve
matters with words because actions speak louder than words, yet when considering how
many innocent lives have been lost because of such actions, it would be reasonable to
consider choosing words. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan once said, the role of women
in decision-making was central to the advancement of women around the world and to the
progress of humankind as a whole. (Annan). Women who hold powerful positions such as
those in politics are not only being highly respected political figures in government, but they
are also major contributors to politics and can greatly influence people just as much as their
male counterparts. Currently in the elective office, women hold 19.4% of the 535 seats in

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Congress, 20% of the 100 seats in Senate, and 19.3% of the 435 seats in the House of
Representatives (Rutgers). The rest of the seats in our government are filled by men ultimately
creating an imbalance between the sexes.
So why arent there that many women in politics? There are several factors that contribute to
this reason. One factor is that women are less likely than men to consider themselves qualified to
run for office. A 2001 study done by Women and Politics Institute shows that men remain 60
percent more likely than women to assess themselves as very qualified to run for office.
Women in the sample are more than twice likely as men to rate themselves as not at all
qualified. (Women and Politics Institute). The study goes on to mention that women dont
want to enter politics because they arent good public speakers and/ or they have no experience
with requesting funds. This leads to the second factor of why women dont chose politics is that
they are still responsible for taking care of children and tending the household. Despite
womens substantial movement into high-level positions in the professional arena, women and
men continued to conform to traditional gender roles. (Women and Politics Institute). Women
still see themselves as being mothers and fail to see that they can do so much more besides
taking care of their children and keeping their husbands happy. The last reason as to why women
are not in politics is that women do not have the politically relevant traits that one must have in
order to enter politics. In another study done by Women and Politics Institute, the results show
that ,women are significantly less likely than men to report that they have the traits that are
generally required of candidates for elective office. (Women and Politics Institute). Character
traits such as confidence, competitiveness, and risk taking have traditionally been encouraged by
men to embrace and for women to avoid. The underlying theme of these reasons are the gender
stereotypes. We may live in the twenty first century, but we still foster stereotypes about women
and men. It is unfortunate that we live in the land of many opportunities, but because of such
negative stereotypes thrown at women in our society, it makes it quite a challenge for women to

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pursue careers in politics.

There is gender inequality in education as well. Women are less likely to go into the
science fields than men. A 1991 report released by the National Research Council stated that
only 50% of women receive bachelor degrees in life sciences, 31% received a bachelors degree
in computer and information sciences, 30% in physical sciences, and 14% in engineering
(Rayman and Brett). It is rather unfortunate to see that women havent broken the glass ceiling
when it comes to the field of science. Many would see this as proof that women are better off
going into the humanities because of the assumption that majority of women are dreamers and
not realists.
There are many reasons why women do not go into the science fields .Professor Aidala,
who teaches physics at Mount Holyoke, commented on this issue, stating , Unconscious bias
and stereotype threats affect the engagement of women in science on every level, from the very
inception of their careersand even at the high school levelto the positions they are offered
and the salaries they are paid. (Aidala) When women fall into the bias when they are still
young, it has been said that their performance in science drops severely. This performance drop
serves as a self-fulfilling prophecy to these women and that is what leads them away from such
fields. Most women and people who hold gender stereotypes fail to remember that women have
made an impact on science, once upon a time . One of the most well known women in science is
Marie Curie, a physicist who made groundbreaking pioneer work in radioactivity. Without her,
we would have never discovered radioactive elements Radium and Polonium. She is proof that
women can be scientists and should break those false stereotypes that surround women who
leave the sciences because they either find them too challenging or they believe it is a field that
isnt for their gender. Another reason why women do not go into the sciences is because they
have family responsibilities. Although there are more women who hold higher positions in their
careers in todays world than there were in the last century, there are still women out there who

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see themselves as being stay at home moms, dedicating their lives to their families. This makes it
hard for them to balance a career in science and being mothers to their children. Research shows
that, being single is a predictor that a woman will be hired for a tenure-track job in physical
science and promoted. (Why So Few Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics). Since being involved with science is a full time job, women end up choosing
other ventures in their career paths that will give them job satisfaction as well as enough time to
spend with the ones they love.
Not only is there gender inequality in politics and education, but also in the workforce as
well. Women may hold the same job as males, but will not get paid the same. Blau, a researcher
states that, even when controlling for such variables as industry, unionization, and occupation,
womens wages are only 88% of mens wages. (Blau). Although women get paid less, its been
said that women are more likely to get higher pay increases than men, but that doesnt mean
there is equality in the workforce. The only reason that women get the higher raises is because
once their pay is raised, their wages will be on the same level as males in the same exact job as
they have. That doesnt create a leveled playing field for both sexes. The employer just uses this
in order to divert the attention of unequal pay to some other issue that arises in the workforce.
According to the White House, the gender pay gap goes beyond wages, stating Women
are less likely to have an offer of health insurance from their employer, have retirement savings
plan, or have access to paid leave, and perhaps as a result, they are more likely to take leave
without pay.(whitehouse.gov). This means that a mother who is taking a leave to take care of a
sick child or family member will not get paid when she is on leave, but a male in the same
company as her and with the exact same job will get that paid leave. It is completely mind
blowing how two genders in the workforce who hold the exact same positions, can be treated in
opposite ways. The question is why does the gender pay gap persist? In a survey done by Pew
Research, women are more likely say that they had taken career interruptions to take care of the

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family. (Pew Reseach). The research comes to show that such interruptions have a great impact
on long time earnings. Four out of ten women say that they have taken time off from work or
have reduced their work hours in order to tend to familial responsibilities. Because of these
occurrences, it makes it hard for women to get back to work and thus reach the position that they
once had. The employer doesnt want to give them their position back because the position has
already been filled by a man, who is being paid more than she was. It would give the employer
financial strain if he was to hire this woman back and pay her the same as the man. The women
ends up getting the job, but not the paycheck she wanted. This is called gender discrimination in
the workforce. The woman can be over qualified and have a degree from Yale, but her paycheck
will not match that of her male counterpart because she is of the female gender. This leads to
many questions like why should gender matter when it comes to the wages? Can legislation be
made in order to guarantee equal wages for both men and women? We are left with unanswered
questions when it comes to the gender wage gap. This social issue has been talked about for a
long time and it is really sad that nothing has been done in order to avoid it from happening.
There is gender inequality in politics, education, and the workforce. Society likes to say
that we are all the same regardless of our genders and backgrounds, yet in some aspects of life,
we are not. The way we are wired biologically always ends up prevailing in the end. In No
Name Woman by Maxine Hong Kingston, the narrator tries to figure out what caused her aunts
pregnancy and ultimately her suicide. The other man was not, after all, much different from her
husband. They both gave orders: she followed.If you tell your family, Ill beat you. Ill kill
you. (Kingston 7). Why is it that men can get away with treating a woman like that? Women are
humans too. We are not toys that men can just play with and then throw away when they have
lost interest. This isnt the way its supposed to be and as a woman I demand change. If we can
legalize gay marriage in 37 states, then we can definitely do something to stop gender inequality
from becoming an even worse problem than it already is.

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Works Cited
Rayman, Paula, and Belle Brett. "Women Science Majors: What Makes a Difference in
Persistence after Graduation?" The Journal of Higher Education, July-Aug. 1995. Web. 27 Apr.
2015.
Thanikodi, A., and M. Sugirtha. "Status of Women in Politics." The Indian Journal of Political
Science, Aug.-Sept. 2002. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
Harris, Michael M., Brad Gilbreath, and James A. Sunday. "Why Are Women Paid Less than
Men, but Given Higher Raises?" Journal of Business and Psychology, June 2002. Web. 27 Apr.
2015.
"Facts on Women Officeholders, Candidates and Voters." Center for American Women and
Politics. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
Stevenson, Betsey. "Five Facts About the Gender Pay Gap." Council of Economic Advisers, 14
Apr. 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015
Savoie, Keely. "Why Aren't There More Women in Science?" Mount Holyoke College. N.p., 07
Apr. 2015. Web. 09 May 2015.
Lawless, Jennifer J., and Richard L. Fox. "Men Rule Report." Women and Politics Institute.
School of Public Affairs, Jan. 2012. Web. 9 May 2015.
Hill, Catherine, Christianne Corbett, and Andresse St.Rose. "Why So Few?" AAUW (2010): 1134. Feb. 2010. Web. 9 May 2015.
Patten, Eileen. "On Equal Pay Day, Key Facts about the Gender Pay Gap." Pew Research Center.
N.p., 14 Apr. 2015. Web. 10 May 2015.