The Inequality Between Men And Women - 1529 Words

Throughout time, women have been treated differently than men. History teaches us that in the past, women could not own property, women could not vote and women were often denied the opportunity to work at paying jobs and were often expected to stay home to raise and care for their families. One would think that now in the year 2014, the inequality and inequity between men and women would be a thing of the past; something we would be learning about only in history. However, in today’s society, the inequality between the sexes continues. Currently those differences exist in areas like America’s pay scale and also in hiring practices. It was theorist Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) who introduced this idea of gender inequality. She was†¦show more content†¦Additionally, they stated that 74% of those women worked full-time and 24% worked part-time. On the other hand, that same set of statistics showed almost 87% of men worked full-time and about 13% worked part-time. Since the work force is made up of nearly 50% women and 50% men, one would think that differences in pay would be far less than they actually are. It was Theorist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a sociologist and supporter of feminism, who developed an approach to address gender inequality. Her theory reflects the foundation of educating us today about feminism. She draws from the ideas of Marxism, symbolic interactionism and social Darwinism. Combining those ideas and concepts, her multidimensional theory of gender inequality was born: 1. â€Å"Marxist emphasis on the economical and political basis for gender inequality.† 2. â€Å"A symbolic interactionist emphasis on how these gender differences are reinforced and institutionalized through the process of socialization. and 3. â€Å"A sociobiological emphasis on the evolutionary advantages or roots of gender differences.† (Appelrouth Edles, P 189) Gilman argued that the division of labor in a traditional family (husband makes the money for the family, wife stays at home and cooks, cleans and cares for the children) is what forces women to become dependent on men. Then women learn to rely on this impression that a man’s job is outside the home and a woman’s â€Å"job† is inside the home. Gilman further