Each social theory addresses the issue of gender inequality. The major social theory that I am going to analyze in relation to gender inequality is the conflict theory. This theory describes the society by the dominance of certain social groups that vigorously compete for scarce available resources. Conflict theory describes the issue of gender by the attempts of men to maintain privilege and power in order to disadvantage the social minority who are women. Men are, therefore, perceived as the dominant social group while women, on the other hand, are viewed as the subordinate group of the society (Van der Vleuten, 2016). Gender is a fundamental aspect of family life and personal identity that is deeply women into the society and therefore several attempts to bring changes will continue to receive criticisms from the dominant groups of the society. In this 21st century, both men and women should struggle to attain social equality such that sexual harassment at the workplace should be condoned and both men and women should assume corporate and political positions to end social segregation based on gender.
Analysis of Conflict Theory
According to conflict theory, the reason why gender roles persist in the society is that men who are the dominant group of the society naturally struggle to maintain their status and power. Gender inequality, therefore, arises when men oppress or exploit women who are the subordinate group (Stroebe et al., 2012). This social problem, therefore, can only be solved when there is a balance of power between men and women which will ensure that both equity and equality is attained in the society. In most worlds' cultures, the resources are held and controlled by men whereby women have no control but are treated as subordinate groups. In some areas, women are not allowed to hold property which makes them continue being dependent on men for everything they require in life. Additionally, all the powerful political and corporate positions are held by men, and in few cases, women are offered small and inactive roles to exercise their power which has been a major constraint that limits them to fight for gender equality.
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The conflict between dominant and subordinate groups in the society will be fundamental in bringing changes in the society. For instance, one of the movements that have helped in bringing change in the world is the "Women's Suffrage Movement." These movements have greatly assisted in advocating for gender equality in the society (Gerson, 2010). Some of the feminist argue that the same owner-worker relationship that occurs at workplaces is likely to be transferred into the households where the social minority will be forced to assume proletariat's role. This is because most of the women in many parts of the world entirely depend on men to attain their wages a situation that cannot help liberate them from mistreatments imposed to them by the dominant social groups (Intriligator, 1982). The only solution for women to empower themselves from this kind of slavery is for them to become wage earners. This will enable them to attain power in the society, and they will be able to establish a more democratic social structure in their homes despite the fact that they may still carry some domestic burdens.
The Scope of Gender Equality
In the United States of America for instance, the Equal Pay Act was enacted in 1963 to ensure that all individuals of all genders were paid equally basing on the nature of work and their professional qualifications. The Act was to empower women to prevent them from entirely depending on their men who had been limiting them from fighting for gender equity and equality (Lorber, 2010). In the following year, Civil Act of 1964 was also enacted which ensured that all individuals were employed as civil servants irrespective of their gender. Some other Acts were established such as Women's Educational Equity Act of 1975, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 and many legislation policies that have been important in fighting for gender equality in the United States of America and other parts of the world. In the U.S, more than 2 million women had joined feminism movement by 1980 (Elwér et al., 2013). Other emerging international committees and conferences were held with the core objective of promoting gender equality in the world. The UN held the first world gender equality conferences in Mexico, Copenhagen, and Nairobi in 1975, 1980 and 1985 respectively to empower all women in the world to engage in powerful positions that were perceived to be held by men (Stroebe et al., 2012).
The impacts of gender equality conferences held by UN agencies are that women of today can own their own property, they can vote, they can pursue careers and have custody rights. The major challenge for women is that holding a powerful corporate and political position requires sacrifices to family lives (Elwér et al., 2013). According to Karamessini and Rubery (2013), most women are unable to balance their jobs and family lives. For instance, men cannot give birth and therefore, it requires that during their pregnancies they will be required to be off duty which will create a big vacuum in the workplace. Women are seen as if they are highly empowered, yet it is not the case when you reflect on marriage and family and powerful careers. Women are still left to attend to most of the family chores and majority of the high profile jobs are performed by men implying that women are still underrepresented.
Personal Analysis
Most of working mothers are disadvantaged than working-non-mothers. Despite the fact that many movements have helped women in eliminating gender imbalances at workplaces, working mothers are paying high prices for being mothers. Working non-mothers are earning a lot of wages and salaries when compared to working mothers. The reason behind this is that the kind of work that they are subjected to is structured one which limits them from exercising their powers fully (Van der Vleuten, 2016).
I think both women and men should be treated equally in the society despite their differences in their genders. Both mothers and non-mothers should be treated as women, and they should be offered the same opportunities at the place of work the same way as men to prevent the dominance of a certain group of individuals over others. Industrialization has greatly contributed towards gender equality by eliminating physically demanding jobs with those that require human imagination and thought. Most of the men in the society perceive themselves to be physical as opposed to women and therefore industrialization has helped in rubbing their mentality by establishing jobs that fit individuals of all genders.
The second liberating factor for women is medical technology which helps in controlling over reproduction in the society by eliminating unwanted pregnancies. This is an important factor because most of the women have been losing their jobs to women when they get unwanted pregnancies hence limiting their active roles at work places (Stroebe et al., 2012). The only way of empowering a woman is to let them be self-reliance and prevent them from depending on men. By improving the medical sectors, women will be able to decide when to get pregnant and hence they will not be forced to leave most of their jobs just because they are pregnant or they are interfering with the production process of the firm they are working in.
Sexual Harassment Acts at workplaces can contribute to gender equality. Most of the women are sexually harassed or assaulted by their male counterparts at the place of work which demoralizes their attempt of getting empowered. Most of them end up leaving their jobs due to the harassment they receive from men. Sexual harassment complaints should be attended to with serious measures they deserve at the workplace to prevent men from exploiting or oppressing women. When men oppress women at the workplace, they feel to be a dominant group and perceive women as the subordinate group which limits the attempts by women to empower themselves from a male dominated society (Karamessini and Rubery, 2013). The only way to end sexual harassment at workplace is to offer women powerful corporate and political positions, and this will enable them to enact powerful legislation measures to punish men that interfere with the affairs of women in the society.
The society should also change its approach to gender equality such that issues affecting women in the society should not be perceived as "women issues" but rather they should be viewed as gender issues for gender equality to be achieved. When the issues are approached as "women's issues," most of the male activists will shy away from advocating gender equality since they will see that issues have no influence on them and this will be difficult for women to fight alone to eliminate gender imbalances in the society (Gerson, 2010). Substitution of "women" with gender is an indication that the issues affecting women also affects men in same measures. This, therefore, illustrates that the society of men is a society of women.
Conclusion
Gender is an important social problem as each person in society is identified by it and therefore attempts to change the perception of gender roles in the society will receive a lot of opposition. In the past years, the society was dominated by men who exploited women who considered being a subordinate group of the society. However, many movements have helped in eliminating gender imbalances in the society though there are still some traits of gender inequalities even in the western world because women are still underrepresented in powerful corporate and political positions. In this 21st century, both men and women should struggle to attain social equality such that sexual harassment at the workplace should be condoned and both men and women should assume corporate and political positions to end social segregation based on gender.
References
Gerson, K. (2010). The unfinished revolution: How a new generation is reshaping family, work, and gender in America . New York: Oxford University Press.
Karamessini, M., & Rubery, J. (2013). Women and austerity: the economic crisis and the future for gender equality (Vol. 11). New York: Routledge.
Lorber, J. (2010). Gender inequality: Feminist theories and politics . Oxford University Press, USA.
Stroebe, W., Kruglanski, A. W., Bar-Tal, D., & Hewstone, M. (Eds.). (2012). The social psychology of intergroup conflict: Theory, research and applications . Springer Science & Business Media.
Van der Vleuten, A. (2016). The price of gender equality: Member states and governance in the European Union . London: Routledge.
Elwér, S., Harryson, L., Bolin, M., Hammarström, A. (2013). Patterns of Gender Equality at Workplaces and Psychological Distress. PLoS ONE 8(1): e53246. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053246.
Intriligator, M.D (1982). Research on Conflict Theory Analytic Approaches and Areas of Application. Journal of Conflict Resolution 26 (2), 307-327. doi: 10.1177/0022002782026002006
