Free Essay On Women And Gender Studies

Introduction

Income or economic inequality or what is usually referred to as the gap between the rich and the poor (Sen, p. 12). It refers to the discrepancies in the distribution of wealth and income between individuals or groups in a given social setting (p. 12). A major contributor to this inequality is the gap in income or salaries. Other causes include professional and technical skills, technological developments, distribution of wealth, gender, political setting, personal preferences, etc. (p. 13). These factors are usually interlinked with one another.
The concept of economic inequality is usually related to gender and this is what this paper is going to explore. The intersection of class, gender and even ethnicity all contribute to certain economic inequalities. This paper will specifically explore the various ways by which gender intersect and contribute to income inequality. This analysis is contextualized in the highly developed market economies of the world and the developing economies of Third World countries. The most striking aspects of this inequality in market economies are magnified by paid employment. As economies become more globalized, the income gaps have become more highly structured. These economic inequalities are usually highlighted by feminists and in women studies (Berik, Rogers & Seguino, p. 3).
As it is, millions of women worldwide enter the work force as full time, high paid employees while their poor counterparts are given casual work with lower pay (p. 3). It is evident that there is gender discrimination in the labor force and the plight of women is being intensified by their domestic responsibilities and by the social norms. It is also true that social and economic class also plays a pivotal role in the widening inequality and gap in labor and employment (Stilwell & Jordan, p. 8).

What is the Gender Interaction that Generate Income Inequality in Market Societies?

The relationships between class structure, gender and overall economic inequality are shown by market driven societies. The feminist theorists and scholars generalize that the principal problem of gender and economic inequality is the low valuation of women’s work as reflected by their lower wages (in comparison with men) (p 4). Other problems include their social responsibilities and low educational background, the norms and expectations of societies, etc. (Marchevsky & Theoharis, p. 421). Less than 9% of immigrant households received cash public support and most politicians and journalists stereotyped Black women as “making careers of having babies so as to collect more welfare check” (p. 421). They also stereotyped the Latino immigrants with their very big families as crashing into the borders to take advantage of the welfare dedicated to the American families (p. 421).
In a speech, President Janet L. Yellen of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, USA, stressed the income discrepancies that affect both men and women in society based on their class, educational background, skills, among others (Schaeffer, p. 25). President Yellen stated that the actual hourly wages in the 90th percentile grew by another 30% or more. This category is composed of people with college or advanced degrees. Among the top 10 percent, the wage increase is just focused on the smallest 1% of the whole population (p. 25). This extraordinary group of top earners is composed of the celebrities and executives with the highest salaries in the modern day economies, like those who are working in entertainment and sports, investment firms, legal companies, multinationals, etc. In contrast, about 50% and below are the majority of individuals with mere high school diplomas. Their actual income only grew by 5% to 10% (p. 26).
In terms of gender, many contenders believe that the income discrepancies are brought about by the personal choices and preferences of women (p. 25). Women have the highest tendency to evaluate special factors in choosing work and employment such as travel time and relocation, few hours’ work and part time employment, educational preferences which do not often lead to higher income (like teaching, social work, etc.) (p. 26). Women also have the greater tendency to work for governments and non-profit organizations. Thus, they are given lower income as compared to those in the private sectors (p. 25).
According to Crittenden (p. 428), back in the late seventy’s, the economist Waldfogel found that the difference between a man and a woman’s pay was about the same for all women. Non mothers earned only slightly higher wages. But over the next decades, things changed. By 1991, thirty year old American women without children were making 90 percent of men’s wages, while comparable women with children were making only 70%. Even when Waldfogel factored out all the women’s differences, the disparity in their incomes remained – something she dubbed the “family wage gap.”
Basically, economic activities are usually associated with socio-cultural contexts (Friedman & Marshall, p. 13). Social behaviors, values and attitudes determine both hiring and job preferences and the choices made by both genders result to the marginalization of women in most economic aspects (p. 16). To illustrate, in Muslim societies, women are not permitted to work or leave their houses. Another example is the western societies’ expectations of women balancing between their careers and their families (p.10). This is also reflected by the way society stifles women to reach the top of the corporate ladder (Schaeffer, p. 26).
Society depicts women as less aggressive and they lack the abilities to market themselves better than men (p. 12). They also do not assert themselves well when it comes to delivering changes and enhancements in formal organizations. Another significant factor is the under representation of men in several job classifications which hold power and influence, such as business, media and politics. Thus, women are less likely to be able to pursue their interests and embrace change. Even in international and national organizations, women still have the lower hands as compared to powerful men (p. 12).
Just like the people in the lower strata of society, women often lack access to informal channels of power and influence. Men and those which are in the upper classes usually become part of vital organizations which determine economic well being. These include elite clubs, fraternities, sports teams, etc. which are very helpful in enhancing one’s economic status and earnings. (p. 12). The lack of leverage by women and lower class people are outcomes of stereotyping and social discrimination. It is also a by-product of cultural, social and political factors (p. 13).
According to Lo Sasso, et. al. (p. 195), women are usually regarded with the major responsibilities of child rearing, taking care of their parents and managing their homes. These are fundamentally unpaid employment. Having domestic responsibilities, they do not have more time for paid employment and thus, they have reduced economic power and status brought about by their reduced income. Women are stereotyped and are not able to get involved in a diverse range of jobs due to cultural norms, stereotypes, and social traditions (Berik, Rogers & Seguino, p. 9). Hence, they are not usually involved in the aircraft making, military organizations, etc.
In speaking of domestic work, Ehrenreich also narrated her own experience of cleaning floors while working with The Maids International in the United States. This was a company that cleans offcies in the U.S. The author considered it as “a different world” (p. 88). With the increase in two-earner households of both male and female between 1965 and 1995 and the growth of the feminist conscience, women’s and men’s housework was measured in hours per week (p. 88). With the decrease in cleaning hours spent by the woman of the house, men were still found to spend only 1.7 hours per week by 1995 in scrubbing, vacuuming, and sweeping, whereas women still spent 6.7 hours per week performing these specific tasks (p.89).
Ehrenreich illiustrates how rather than a relaxation of standards of cleanliness in the home, the equation is expanded with an increase in number of people required to do the household job and the creation of outflow of cash. Money is paid to another female, a “cleaning lady,” to fill in the gap caused by the female earning wages outside her home. It somehow perpetuate gender oppression in the identification of females with this employment classification (p. 90).
In a global comparison, women needs more skills and education in order to secure more lucrative employment and attain upward mobility (Stilwell & Jordan, p. 27). This is usually taken as having few female enrollees in primary schools. Even when they register, women do not usually finish their pre school education. This gender gap in primary education enlistment extends the education gap as the female enrollees become more reduced in the secondary and tertiary education (p. 28). More men are also entering the science and technology fields which are very lucrative in the market economy (p. 32). Similarly, individuals who belong to the upper class are more literate. Women are less likely to receive further or vocational training after employment. Hence, they have lower opportunities for career advancements or promotions.
As Ehrenreich & Hochschild put it, for each female executive who rack up frequent flier miles, there are millions of women whose journeys go unnoticed. Annually, millions of women from the Third World leave their homes to work in other homes, brothels, and nurseries all over the world. This wide scale shift of labor results in odd displacements, wherein the poor women’s energies were supplied to the First World and taken out of their poor countries.
Women usually lack access to resources needed to establish their own businesses. Laws pertaining to family, inheritance, divorce, and real estate often discriminate against women. Being so, they are incapacitated from important capital and property which are the main values in a market society (Cohen, p. 5). Without capital, women are not able to secure credit, which is highly vital in any business or economic transaction. Not more than 10% of credit is dedicated to women (p. 6). While many microfinance organizations are filling up this gap, many people are still unable to access capital to become entrepreneurs. Women remain economically dependent. Even when resources are accessible to women, such as through micro financing organizations or other institutional aid, they are less likely to obtain the needed business and management skills so as to become successful in micro enterprises and small to medium enterprises. Actually, most of the micro enterprises owned by women are not expanding out of the subsistence level (p. 7).
One of the leading factors of the income inequality between men and women, on the average, is their varied work in various industries and occupations. This accounts for up to 49.3% of the income inequality (Glynn, p. 1). Women are much more likely than men to be clustered in just some occupations, with nearly half of all working women or 44.4% employed in just 20 occupations, such as secretarial and administrative work, nursing, and teaching (p. 1). Meanwhile, only about 34.8% of men are working in the top 20 occupations for male workers, such as driving, managing and supervising (p. 1).
Interestingly, only four occupations (selling, first-line supervising and managing of retail stores, cooking, and all other types of managing) appear in both genders’ top 20 most common occupations (p. 1). Not only are women more likely to be confined in smaller types of occupations, those jobs are more likely to be dominated by female. This fact usually leads to lower wages. Female-dominated industries pay lower wages than male-dominated industries requiring similar skill levels.
All this could be used to argue that the wages for men and women would be the same if only women were not choosing traditionally female-dominated industries. However, in reality, there are various factors that lead women to conventional female-dominated roles, including the gendered socialization that trains girls from childhood to fulfill the sorts of traits which translate well into traditionally feminine jobs. These female jobs stereotypically centers on nurturing, service, and supporting other people in their occupations (p. 1).
Increased globalization, the embrace of market-oriented reformation and a specified preference for state administered economies in the last few years brought about several income and wealth discrepancies in national and international fronts. It has also led to policy reforms which are working against the intergroup equality in gender, class and racial terms (Berik, Rogers, & Seguino, p. 24).
According to ActionAid’s report, the issue of income inequality is underscored by the more certain and more corrosive issue of gender inequality (The Guardian, p. 1). As indicated in the UN studies, women consist about 60% of the working poor around the world and only about half of them participate in the work force (p. 1). To complicate the situation, the 2014 World Bank report shows that women earn 10%-30% less than men for comparable work, on the average (p. 1).
This gender inequality is a fundamental aspect of the economic status quo around the world. In a way, the globalization of economy perpetuates this situation. To cite, a low paying, outsourced factory work is closely related to gender inequality (Friedman & Marshall, p. 21). As a 2013 report of the International Center for Research on Women showed, about 80% of garment workers are women (The Guardian, p. 1). Sadly, gender-based economic inequality bleeds over into political and social inequality as well (p. 21). too. Lower income, unregulated and insecure work and a lack of economic security makes women more dependent and places them at greater risk of oppression and violence. This is very true in developing countries, where economic inequalities are often even more pronounced.

Conclusion

While globalization is heralded to have brought more economic prosperity in most countries worldwide, it has also led to increased economic inequalities and social under development. The market system as expanded through globalization sponsors the vicious cycle of inequalities, especially among the various social classes, gender and racial and ethnic lines.
The enormous wealth of globalization is not evenly distributed and the old beneficiaries still take advantage of the institutional and market forces which maintain their status, wealth, power, and influences. This pertains to both men and upper class. Meanwhile, the women and the lower class are still marginalized in the market societies. They intersect in the aspects of wages, economic access, economic capacities, and most especially, in the discrimination and stereotyping of the general society.
These factors are historic ones. They have been the ills of economic development since industrialization. In fact, the classical economic theory of Karl Marx has postulated on how class leads to the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Meanwhile, the more recent feminist studies have also emphasized the issue of gendered inequalities in all aspects of market systems, especially through the conventions like female roles, social values and norms, lack of women empowerment, etc. The presence of this inequality may preclude the positive outcomes of globalization and the various market reforms being undertaken today.

Works Cited:

Berik, G., Rogers, Y. & Seguino, S. Feminist Economics of Inequality, Development and Growth. Feminist Economics, 15 (3), pp. 1- 33. 2009.
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