“ We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” (Center for Civic Education; United states Congress, 1776). The phrase was developed by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and implies two things. One is that human equality is not a derivative of one’s political affiliation, but instead, it is deeper than that. Second, all humans are equal by birth, and hence no one is legitimately bestowed to be ruling another by the birthright and nor is anyone born a subject to any ruler. However, despite his goal, gender inequality is still permeating, and the authentic meaning of equality in America has not been achieved.
The US constitution contains that all people are endowed with equal rights and equal justice as subject to the laws of the land. Surprisingly, the truth is, in this day and age, people are being treated differently because of their gender, race, sexual orientation, and religion. To illustrate the inequality is the proposed prohibition of transgender people from military service. President Trump explained that his administration would not be hiring the transgender community because the military must retain its focus and decisiveness. According to him, having the transgender soldiers on board is burdening due to the tremendous medical costs associated with sex affirming treatment. Further, it entails frequent disruptions in their call to service (Transgender Military Service | Human Rights Campaign, 2019). It is clear that the society is slowly portraying the gender inequality intolerance led by the most powerful office, office of the president, by basing army victory on features such as “stable biological sex,” and hence the equality Jefferson talked of is far from being achieved.
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Another aspect of gender inequality can be seen in the economic gap between pay sales in men and women. According to Pew Research, the gap has narrowed since 1980 but still persists since, in 2018, women earned 15% less than what men earned (Patten, Brown & Graf, 2019). The conclusion was drawn from analyzing the median hourly earnings of both part-time and full-time workers in America, translating to an extra 39 workdays for women to be at par with what their male counterparts pocketed. As much as the pay gap is attributable to other factors such as work experience and educational attainment, gender discrimination is still a factor that also contributes to the discrepancy.
In sum, we are drawn to Jefferson because of many confounding reasons as well as his fascinating character. Most important is his equality phrase in the Declaration of Independence. Ironically, he developed the phrase while he was a slave owner. The fact that only two black slaves were given freedom as contained in his will exemplifies precisely what he meant by the words “all men are created equal” was actually white men are created equal. As can be observed today, prohibiting transgender soldiers from serving and the persistent pay scale difference between men and women shows that discrimination still prevailing along gender divides. Therefore the Idea of Jefferson’s equality in America is still a mirage, and the battle is far from being won.
References
PATTEN, E., BROWN, A., & GRAF, N. (2019). The narrowing, but persistent, gender gap in pay.
Retrieved 8 October 2019, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/03/22/gender-pay-gap-facts/
Campaign, H. (2019). Transgender Military Service | Human Rights Campaign. Retrieved 8
October 2019, from https://www.hrc.org/resources/transgender-military-service
Center for Civic Education . (n.d.). Terms to Know From the Declaration of Independence.
Retrieved Oct 8, 2019, from Center for Civic Education : http://www.civiced.org/resources/curriculum/911-and-the-constitution/terms-to-know
