Social inequality in the United States is one of the long-standing challenges the country has had to endure. Social inequality denotes the existence of imbalances in the volume of opportunities and rates of reward accrued to people of different social statuses or positions within a society. The social inequalities experienced in the US are a product of the society being highly stratified since social strata within the society create economic classes that are distinguished through employment and earning, work and family, opportunity and poverty, reproductive rights, and participation on the political scene are among the areas. Women face the greatest challenge due to these inequalities. There is a strong link between social inequalities and gender roles, which tend to disadvantage women. The social inequalities and gender roles have a closely linked relationship and thus influence each other through a cyclic feedback mechanism. The gender roles create and support the social inequalities in the country because they dictate what people of different gender can and cannot do and thus open or close opportunities accessible by the people of different genders. The gender role assigned to women have tended to limit the economic opportunities they can exploit and whole to assigned to men have consistently expanded the opportunities that mean can access. This research sought to understand the social inequalities and their gender roles origins and how they persist in American society today. The gender roles, notions, and attitudes influence the opportunities given to people and the opportunities they chose to pursue. For instance, women may shy away from pursuing certain opportunities because the opportunities do not match what is expected of their gender. Men also miss out on certain opportunities because they consider the roles associated with the opportunities to be feminine. The limiting impact of gender roles disproportionately affects women than men. There are many factors and social conventions that support gender roles and inequality and thus keep them in place. Some of the factors include the culture, notions of gender and related attitudes. Exploring available literature reveals how the different factors that influence gender roles shape the opportunities that different gender can exploit and encourage social inequalities. This research explores and reviews the available literature on gender roles and in inequalities and uses. Based on the finding of this research, gender roles affect people’s behaviors and access to opportunities and lead to inequalities, yet many social conventions support these inequalities keeping them in place and disadvantaging American women.
Background
Gender roles embody the collection of social and behavioral norms that are thought to be socially appropriate for people of specific gender. Gender roles are historically and culturally contingent. As a result, there tends to be a variation in gender roles across culture and through historical eras. Many sociological, biological and environmental factors influence the development of gender roles and continue to influence these roles. According to gender role theory, from childhood, girls and boys learn to perform their biologically assigned gender roles through a set of behaviors and attitudes. The theory underscores the significant influence of environmental factors on gender roles, thus resulting socialization of these roles. Through socialization, gender values, behaviors, norms, and beliefs get transferred within the society as people learn to either behave as females or males. The influence of socialization is supported by the social role theory. The theory posts that social structure is the causal force that separates the genders, differentiation of behaviors along sexual lines, and subsequently encourage division of labor between men and women. The division of labor also further supports the creation of gender roles and support the developed of gendered social predispositions
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American culture and history have been at the center of creating, shaping, and socializing gender roles in American society. As a result, gender roles have been consistently changing in American society, and therefore the gender roles are not generalizable. Changes from single-income families to dual-income families, feminism, immigration of people with different cultures, and the influx of women into the male-dominated workplace have also seen a change in how gender roles are perceived. Regardless of these changes, there are still sentiments of gender roles and division of labor that persist and influence the distribution of different opportunities across the genders.
The persisting cultural and traditional beliefs are supported by the underlying cultural notions which reinforce policies and laws that promote certain beliefs on gender. The policies and laws also reinforce cultural traits. The traditional beliefs regarding gender reinforce notions that result in institutionalizing inequalities in economic opportunities voting rights, property rights, health services, and others. Gender roles consistently hold women as subordinate to men and thus deny them the ability to compete with men for the best opportunities life has to offer. Women earn far less than men due these inequalities and are also likely to drop out of the workforce to raise families. Women still have challenges rising to managerial roles in the workplace, and those who rise to the managerial usually end up getting paid less than their male counterparts. By focusing on the social, historical and political source of social gender inequalities, this research will demonstrate how these inequalities arise and how they stay in place.
The Factors that Cause and Support Gendered Social Inequalities
Historical factors
Inequality among American Indian Women
The roots of social inequalities among women in America could be traced back to the native Indian women. In as much as it is difficult to make any concrete generalization about the Native American women since North America was occupied by people from different cultures, there are common similarities. The varied indigenous American societies had their own cultures and beliefs. However, men were tasked with warfare, hunting, and participating in activities outside the community. Women were more confined to the communities. Women were involved in the rearing of children and gathering food items for the family. The fact that women played critical roles in society allowed them to hold important positions. For instance, the Five Nations of Iroquois Confederation all took part in matrilineal descent. Women were hailed as life-givers and that allowed them to hold useful social and political positions. It was when contact was established that women’s power declined. A lot of Euro-American men insisted on dealing with Indian men in trade deals. Moreover, Christian ministers pressed the Indian men to push their women to become housekeepers while the men became farmers.
Modern Indian women in America are constantly overlooked when market research gets done. In most cases, labor market research puts them in “some category” which shows their poor status. In 2017, a Native Indian woman had to work for one year and nine months to earn what a white non-Hispanic man earned in 2017 alone (Kilty, & Segal, 2013). The difference in income is largely contributed to the gender roles assigned to the women. In most cases, women stayed home to look after their families since they see it as their role. The women have come to accept their roles as being that of staying put and the difference over time can be seen from the gender gap.
Inequality among Immigrant American Women
Immigrant women are women that were not born in America but have since moved to America to live there. A majority of immigrant American women are of Hispanic origin, with most of them coming from Mexico. There are also African American women who live and work in the US. The roots of social inequalities among immigrant women could be attributed to how they were socialized before they came to America. A lot of immigrant women came from lower-class countries. It means that these women come to America knowing that the roles of women are not to work but rather to look after the family. The majority of Mexican and African American women prefer to take jobs that are close to the family. These groups see their roles to be defined by where they have come from.
There is also the argument that women who are immigrants have a smaller chance of success in America compared to white women. Immigrant women come to the country and are mostly confined to second-hand jobs such as cleaning and social work. Immigrant women have a 56.2 percent chance of being successful in the labor force compared to the US-born women who have a 59.0 percent chance of success in the same market. Immigrant women face the same challenges as white American women. The fact that immigrant women lack proficiency in the English language coupled with lack of work-family infrastructure ensures that they become unable to fully participate in the labor market. In the end, the roots of social inequalities for immigrant women could be due to their previous socialization. The lack of education required to cope in the first world also limits their chances of success.
Gender Inequality presence in American social fabric
The term woman is used to mean a female human being. It is used to denote an adult girl or an adolescent. In America, a woman has been used in the same sense of femininity. Femininity associates certain behaviors, roles, and characteristics with girls and women. Children have come to be socialized to either become masculine or feminine. Masculinity is an attribute associated with boys and men. The roots of social inequalities could be traced to the way that children get socialized. How children are brought up determines the roles that they play in later stages of life. For instance, masculinity and femininity are showed in the way that children are socialized using toys. There are dolls while the boys play with cars and guns. According to Butler (2011) the socialization process has been established in a way that it reinforces masculinity and femininity. Moreover, female children usually play with bright-colored toys and wear bright-colored clothing while the boys play with dull-colored toys and wear dull-colored clothing. How the children are brought up clearly defines their gender roles.
The American social fabric has been cultivated in a way that it encourages inequality among men and women. The girls are socialized to watch their mothers in the kitchen. The boys go out fishing with their grandfathers in the nearby river. The gendered roles that have been magnified by masculinity and femininity have served to embed social inequalities. The American culture has selected some roles and associated them with women. The grouping of roles and behaviors and associating them with either males or females have served to become a root cause of social inequalities. The fact that some roles are meant for boys while other girls plant the notion in the heads of the young people that roles in the American society are gendered.
Sociological Factors
Gender inequality and sustainable development
Sustainable development allows for the needs of the present population to be met without putting in jeopardy the ability of future generations to also have the platform to meet their own needs. Sustainable development seeks to ensure that the future is not compromised by activities that take part in the present. As (UN Women, 2014) explains, whenever a disaster strikes women and children are the people who are affected the most. Disasters are sudden and cause loss of lives and property to a large extent. However, not all people are exposed to disasters in the same measure. The analysis of the effects of natural disasters is done from the everyday socioeconomic status of women in society. Generally, natural disasters claim the lives of more women compared to men. Additionally, the women killed by natural disasters are usually younger, which lowers their life expectancy. Natural disasters lower the life expectancy of the women since it takes their loves earlier as compared to that of men. The day-to-day socioeconomic activities of women place them at a higher risk of being killed by natural disasters compared to men. Without considering their physical being, socioeconomic activities are greatly responsible for the woman’s demise in natural disasters compared to men.
Gender inequality hinders women from being able to achieve sustainable development. Women are less likely to be greatly involved in sustainable development owing to their reduced roles. The women are at a disadvantaged position in many areas that prevents them from being able to play a vital role in ensuring that the future of other girls and women is secured. The reduced role of women in policy-making limits their chances of ensuring that future generations are fought for. Women in leadership positions presently have to fight uplift the lives of others. There is less representation of women who can drive the agenda for sustainable development of their interests. In as much as a lot has been done by women in America, more needs to be done to ensure that women in America in future do not face the same challenges as those who live presently.
Gender Inequality in the Workplace and its Sources
The workplace is the place where people (both men and women) meet for a stipulated time to carry out their duties for the achievement of a common goal. Both men and women have their duties assigned that they are supposed to take part in. The workplace gender discrimination has been root cause of social inequality among women in America. The fact that women have struggled to break into the workplace let alone get top roles cannot be hidden. The workplace has been a male-dominated area with women confined to the homes. However, there has been a change in recent years, with more women getting more involved in the workplace. The changes have not yet seen the ratio of men to women in the workplace become even since men continue to dominate. One area that has brought a lot of social inequality in the workplace is the acquisition of leadership roles for women. A lot of women in the workplace have had to do lesser involving roles as compared to men. The men have been the leaders while the females remained confined to the secretary and maid jobs. In as much as women have been adopted more into leadership positions, men continue to dominate.
Another aspect of the inequality experienced in the workplace is in regards to pay. Women are paid lesser for doing the same amount of work as males. The notion that males are better at their jobs as compared to the females and hence should be paid more is outdated (Stamarski, & Hing, 2015). Women in the past and present American society have had to settle for lesser pay for the same work compared to men. Women are paid 49 cents as compared to $1 that men earn. Generally, women earn 80 percent of what their male counterparts get paid. The fact that women are more educated in the US and still more men are employed compared to the females means that the attitude of employing women is still low even in America. The roots of social inequalities among women in America are enhanced by the fact that workplace practices look down on women, ensuring that they are not able to get the same opportunities as men. The gap in pay serves as testimony to the many challenges that women face in the present American society. The cause of the problem could be seen to be the perception created that women are not fit for leadership positions in addition to the fact that they are paid lesser than men for the same services rendered.
Roots of sexual inequalities of women in America are also perpetuated at the workplace through sexual harassment that women face. Up to 38 percent of American women have reported being sexually harassed in their places of work. Moreover, over 80 percent of women have reported that they have been sexually harassed in one way or another in their life. Lack of workplace promotion also promotes social inequalities among women. Even though women are responsible for over 50 percent of the American workforce, less than 5 percent are top chief executive officers of big companies. The workplace has long failed to sense the skill set of women, and hence they remain behind when it comes to top jobs. Lack of women at the top means that the younger women and girls lack role models to look up to and inspire them.
Gender Norms and Stereotypes
Gender norms are rough ideas formulated about show women and men should act. Gender norms create gender roles that can lead to stereotyping. Stereotypes are beliefs held about a certain group of people. Stereotypes create expectations from people when interacting with people from a particular group. United Nations Development Program (2016) attest to the fact that gender norms and stereotypes create certain beliefs about women that ensure that social inequality goes on. For instance, there is the belief that employing women would be a burden since they are likely to get pregnant and take time off that interferes with the daily running of the organization. However, the idea is not true as some women choose not to have children and dedicate their lives to their professions. The creation of facilities that allow women to care for their family and also take part in work has to be blamed and not women.
Stereotypes have created and given identities to different people.
Men and women have been assigned roles according to their gender, which should not be the case. For instance, men have been more involved in the construction industry while women have a heavy presence in hotel industry as waitresses and secretaries in offices. Finding a woman in the construction industry could certainly raise eyebrows from many Americans. The stereotypes created hinder the movement of people from one industry to the other. Women have remained confined to their lesser roles because they fear being viewed as being ‘male’ by looking to venture into other careers. Gender mobility has been constrained by the fact that women are expected only to be present in certain areas of work. There should be no limits to what the people are allowed to do, and that would enable women to able to venture into male-dominated areas.
Social Classes of Women and Social Inequality
Social classes place people in various economic and social statuses. Women in America also belong to various social classes. The upper classes are occupied mainly by white females who were born in America. The middle-class women are mainly of African American origin while the lower class is mainly immigrant women. However, some immigrants have been successful together with African American women. Generally, women in higher social classes enjoy more privileges than those in the lower class. Priority in opportunity is given to females from the high social class because they have a good education, access to resources, and have networks with powerful people. It means that access to opportunities for women also varies depending on their level of poverty and wealth.
The most recent immigrant women are likely to be found working low paying jobs as they gain experience and education to be able to access better-paying jobs. A majority of the high-class group of women have been those that have lived in the US for long periods. It means that the females with lesser time spent in the US have limited access to opportunities and hence the creation of inequality (McGinn & Oh, 2017). The social inequalities could be attributed to a lack of continuous policies that immediately identify the fact that women’s needs vary depending on their social class and putting measures in place to ensure that their status is lifted.
Gender Norms Impact on Healthcare
Healthcare is a powerful tool in measuring the social inequalities that women in America face. Gender norms are responsible for the creation of inequality in healthcare. About 80 percent of women report having been sexually harassed in their lives. It leads to the interpretation that women are likely to suffer psychological issues as compared to men. The fact that women can easily be preyed upon by men allows women to suffer more healthcare costs compared to men. The women are regarded as primary caregivers in society. Whenever a family member has issues it is the role of the woman in most cases to look after the family. Fleming & Agnew-Brune (2015) say that the fact that women have to spend most of their time and resources looking after their family members serves to bring inequality. American women are more dedicated to their families than men.
The withdrawal to focus on the family in most cases is never recognized, let alone being rewarded. Women spend a lot of time and resources on healthcare compared to men leading to creation of social inequalities. Women are also more likely to be victimized leading to depression. Generally, the gender norms attached to the women places them at the center of healthcare issues within society. The socially constructed gender roles lead to growth of social inequalities among women in America.
Inequalities Arising from the Influence of Gendered Media
Media are outlets through which information is disseminated to society. Media are responsible for spreading news through television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and digital media. Media coverage of gender news has served to enable the creation of social inequalities among women in America. A good example of how media spreads gendered news is through various advertisements. Comparing advertisements carried out by male and females show how society constructs gender. In many advertisements where women are involved, beauty is always defined as being thin with a slim figure and applying make-up. Additionally, women are usually portrayed in sexual clothing in various advertisements. The media has continued to spread the fact that women are sexual beings and not more. By doing so, the media shows young girls that they are to become thin and apply a lot of make-up to look beautiful which is not the case.
Media outlets are responsible for depicting women as subordinate to men. Women are also shown as stupid sex objects that look up to the men. In as much as recent times have shown a change in the characterization of women, a lot still needs to be done. In most movies and television shows, women are always portrayed as lesser than men. Men are usually regarded as the head of the house while women adore men. The dependence on men for basic needs and luxury items has always been played by the media from time to time. Women are usually portrayed as weaker objects that need the protection of men. Media has not helped in disputing the gendered roles as it has been promoting it all along to ensure that social inequalities among women in the US continue to thrive.
Social Policy
Social policy is one of the instruments the society uses to spread and maintain gender notions and stereotypes. The most visible policies that are thought to influence gender roles are the policies that are meant to improve gender equality. However, the policies that are not created with notion of gender inequalities in mind usually indirectly support these inequalities (Kennedy, 2013) . Public policies can be made to intervene in issues of inequality in different ways. Such approaches include affirmative action, legislations against discrimination, funding academic programs among others. These programs aim to reduce inequality among women. However, the policies also contribute to negative notions towards women, especially among employers. They look at women, not as deserving qualified employees who can deliver the way men do, but as people to employ to meet legal requirements. Some employers may resort to employing women to meet the provisions of affirmative actions of gender policies. The position given to women ends up being perceived as tokens, and they may be expected to behave in a certain way to get or to keep the positions. The notion that the policies favor women over men encourages negative sentiments among men toward their female counterparts. Most of them believe that women are weak and incapable and are thus need the support of policies to eliminate half of the competition they would face in competing for the jobs against their male counterparts. Although such sentiments fail to acknowledge the obstacles women face while trying to maneuver in the male-dominated space, they have the ability to limit the support men give to improve the women’s social standing.
Policies that ignore the existing social and gender inequalities are mostly made by male politicians who identify with traditional gender roles. Some policymakers do not fully comprehend the origins of social inequalities, and thus the policies they create are usually counterproductive. For instance, many tax policies that are expected to reduce inequalities usually increase the said inequalities. Education, housing, and health policies rely on taxes to raise money to fund the programs. Heavily taxing people affects their economic status and increase poverty. Taxing people reduces what they are left with to buy other essentials such as food and health products that are not financed by tax. In such instances women suffer the most because they cannot meet their needs. Women being the primary caretaker of their households, and sometimes the heads of their single-parent families usually bear the brunt of the poor polices. The situation can be worse if the negative tax regimes also push employers to reduce their workforce. Many women may lose their jobs since most job cuts usually affect low and subordinate staff. These tasks are dominantly held by women.
Policies that limit the earning potential of women to earn at part with their male counterparts usually encourage gender inequalities. Similarly, policies that are based upon the traditional gender roles usually disadvantage women and result in inequalities. Women indeed tend to populate certain industries more than others. For instance, there are far more women in the service industry than men. There are also more women-owned small businesses. When government policies impact on small business and the service industry, they heavily disadvantage women.
Policies thus have the power to end social and gender inequalities as well as the ability to support the existing inequalities as well as create new ones. The perspectives of the policymakers are thus critical in the conception and drafting of policies, that is why a participatory approach is always necessary.
Socialization
Socialization is one of the most common forces that enforce existing gender notions and the resulting inequalities. It makes gender stereotypes become mainstream and as a result, makes them very influential. First, socialization is effective because it ushers children into gender notion of how people should be, behave or treat each other. Since such children have no other alternative source of gender behaviors and roles, they take and internalize their society’s gender roles and behaviors blueprint (Handel, 2011) . Through socialization, gender notions and stereotypes have been passed down from one generation to another and have managed to stay alive for centuries.
Initially, gender stereotypes moved freely from one generation to another easily since boys and girls had separate schools and were taught differently. They were taught according to their genders and the roles they were expected to perform as adults. Such practice limited the opportunities women could exploit since they were prepared to play second fiddle to men. Although boys and girls no longer attend separate schools, they are still taught in ways that promote stereotypical gender roles.
Children also learn by observing adults. Children are good at observing what adults do and copying (Handel, 2011) . Since adults are already socialized into their respective gender roles, they act according to their socialization and assume roles prescribed to them socially. Children easily see what their parents and teacher do and how they behave. They learn and internalize what they see the adult doing and further act it out through role-playing games. As they grow, the gender roles become part of their being dictating the opportunities and risks they can take. They take different jobs and responsibilities based on their socialization, and gradually the inequalities start to appear due to the different rewards they receive. The women make less economic gains compared to their counterparts, and experience challenges participating in the politics of their communities. Most women remain home to raise the family while the men seek employment outside their homes. Such arrangements make the men the primary bread weaners and women dependent on them. The women and the men join hands together to socialize the next generation into these roles keeping the cycle alive.
Negative Impacts of Social Movements
Social movements are critical for social change. They play a critical role in shaping people's attitudes towards several factors and phenomena in society. As a result they influence how people think and how they behave (Snyder & Stobbe, 2011) . They have been many social movements geared at changing inequalities in the US. Prominent movements include the feminist movement, whose aim is to eliminate the inequalities facing women. These movements primarily aimed at ensuring equality in the country. However, social movements usually encounter lash backs especially for the beneficiaries of the status quo, who feel that change is likely to negatively impact on their social standing. The resistance to change can negatively aggregate the gender inequalities especially when people put up passive resistance that is not easily noticeable.
Sometime some individuals may feel that they have not been adequately involved in the social movement. Such individuals or groups can also be a source of resistance that supports the existing equalities. Social movement may also spread negative notions about gender and subsequently encourage gender inequalities. In some instance people may consider those who participate in such movement or identify themselves with certain movement as rebellious and thus deserve to be treated differently. Such notions can result in granting or denying employment to the participants of such movements.
Social movement through the influence of gender role norms may also encourage discriminative gendered division of labor. Employers, due to their desire to appease these movements, may choose to reserve certain jobs form specific genders. For instance, some jobs may be reserved for women, and make it challenging for them to grow out of these jobs to other jobs or positions. Individuals who are given positions following social movements may also be considered incompetent who hold their position out of political or social appeasement. Such individuals may be treated differently. Negative perception and treatment also end up limiting the opportunities the individual who are considered beneficiaries of political appeasement can exploit.
Psychological Factors
Identity and Personality
Psychological issues also play a critical challenge in creating and shaping social and gender inequalities in American society. Psychological factors influence gender identity. Gender identity constitutes the way an individual conceptualizes oneself as either female or male (Wood & Eagly, 2012). The concept of gender identity is closely linked to the idea of gender roles. Gender role mainly stand for the one’s outward manifestation of personality which reflects their gender identity. Identity is usually a product of various intrinsic and extrinsic factors
The development of gender identity is also influenced by socialization. It is through socialization that children start acquiring their identity as either male or female and start internalizing behaviors and dispositions associated with the said gender. Testing on men and women’s personalities, men are said to be more open to new ideas as well as assertive, while women are higher on average on neuroticism and agreeableness (Chapman, 2007). The differences in personality start showing early in life. Women's psychological disposition is thought to make them more maturing and thus bequeaths them the responsibility of taking care of children and raising them. Men, on the other hand, have bolder personality traits that make them efficient at competing with other men. These attributes are thought to have evolved in humans in their past and are passed down through successive generations. The notion that the traits are a product of human evolution and are inherited by successive generations points to the biological source of differences between men and women.
Identity influence on choices
However, basing gender psychological identities and dispositions on biology undermines the impact that social force has on psychology. Regardless of how the psychological factors arise, they play an enormous role in creating inequalities in women. Men being assertive and competitive are thought to be open to ideas, which include openness to taking challenges, encourage them to get better jobs, positions, and salaries. On the other hand women may not go for the same jobs that men go for, and may also not negotiate for better salaries. This difference influences the men’s earning as well as the women’s earning and gradually inequalities start to develop. Since women's psychological predisposition makes them the nurturers, they are likely to drop out of work to have children and take care of them. Taking even a breakthrough, paid maternity leave also detracts women from work, giving the men an advantage over the women. Furthermore, women are likely to miss work to take care of sick family members. Depending on how the employer treats such absence from work, it is likely to influence the women’s earning power. The differences in their earnings gradually create inequalities between the two.
Psychological wellbeing and mental health
The employment arrangement that makes women play second fiddle to men or earn less than men also impacts on women mentally. First, it pushes women to accept that such an arrangement is the way things should be, and the acceptance makes them reluctant to challenge the status quo. On the other hand, such arrangement predisposes women to mental health challenges that it does men. Yu (2018) reported that women were prone to psychological challenge due to the discrimination they faced. They were twice more likely to suffer mental illness than men. Depressive disorder in women correlated with the inequalities they experience social and in their living standards. According to Sarieddine, (2018) discriminations influence people’s thoughts, behaviors, and personalities. Social conditions shape people’s emotions and thus create human archetypes. While they may desire change, the part of themselves that desire change is hidden as their shadows and the women present themselves as comfortable with the status quo. This disposition may make people reluctant to challenging the inequalities they face. The inequalities keep growing.
Psychological Essentialism
Psychological essentialism also has significant influence on how people behave. It has been argued that the inequalities experienced between men and women are a product that the two genders exhibit. Although such comment seems unpleasant, there is evidence that the beliefs people have regarding their gender influences their behaviors and choices (Heyman & Giles, 2006). The sentiments people have easily become self-full filing prophesies. Beliefs are powerful and shape reality for the people who hold them and the others around them. For example, people respond to the stereotypes about their gender and ethnicity and are likely to act inconstancy with these stereotypes. Even people who reject these stereotypes are still likely to act in ways that are congruent with the ideas the stereotypes suggest. People also judge others based on these stereotypes. Essentialist arguments have been used on numerous occasions to refer to men and women and are responsible for promoting many gender stereotypes that have psychological impact on people's thoughts. Psychological essentialists, much like personality tests promote notions of who people are, shape their identities and encourage them to take different roles. Essentialism encourages people to take certain identities and express their identities through gender roles (Heyman & Giles, 2006). Subsequently, the two genders get separated by the reward issued for each role since the roles played by men are more valued and are rewarded more that the roles played by women. The inequalities between the two genders start appearing the moment the men and women start earning that keeps growing throughout their earning period. Furthermore, women may not earn as much as men since they may be involved in domestic roles that are traditionally no reward financially
Discussion
The root causes of gender and social inequality among American women are linked and consistently influence each other. The factors work together to support or reinforce each other as well as spread collectively through social, legal, political and cultural channels. The biological differences between men and women are the primary causes of these notions of differences between men and women. Social and cultural factors are founded on biological differences. In turn the social and cultural factors support the economic and political factors of discrimination. For instance, due to perceived biological differences, social and cultural stereotypes on what individuals of different gender can or cannot thus creating gender roles. The gender roles result in the gendered division of labor leading to the description of certain jobs as feminine and others as masculine. Women's roles are usually considered to be at home where they take care of their families, and men are expected to seek employment outside. The arrangement locks women out of many economic opportunities keeping them depended on men who become the breadwinners of their families. Missing out on opportunities, however, diminishes the women's economic and social standing, which on depends on their husbands. The arising equalities are further fixed in society through policies and political actions. The children born in the society learn their gender roles, play to the same old script and prepare to indoctrinate future generations.
Conclusion
Social and gender inequalities have, for centuries afflicted the American society and continue to persist to date. This research has demonstrated that there are many causes of inequality that are intricately linked. The work together in a cyclic way that ensures they persist despite all the effort made to realize equality. Changing the cultural norms, gender stereotypes and social conventions that support the inequalities will take time to come to fruition. As a result efforts to change the way people view and treat gender should be persistent.
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