Gender discrimination has been a most discussed topic as it marks its presence in every aspects of society. From political field to workplace, gender bias can be seen while adversely affecting people. A society should be place providing equal opportunities to its each individual. However, in the real scenario, individuals are generally receiving unequal treatment from society based on their gender. To be more specific, the women are discriminated in a society which is patriarchal leading a society to one of the most uncouth places (Shields, 2008). Even after the issue of gender discrimination has been debated over the years as to why should women be treated as insignificant in comparison with men, the issue still persists with raising question on social construction. The study will conduct a literature review shedding light on the impact of gender discrimination or biases on society. An extensive research will be done covering important aspects related to the main topic so that a research gap can be identified. A conclusion will be drawn following the literature review part which will include a summarization of the whole discussion.
As per García-Moreno et al., (2015), the role of women and men according to social construction has been evolving in a rapid manner over the years. Women are considered to be controlling areas like family and household work and in educational areas. Even this has become one of the social norms that women themselves consider to be appropriate for these limited areas. Very few women in society have been able to overcome these limitations and have been able to successful in achieving equal significance as men. On the other hand, Devries et al., (2013) suggests that most of the societies in world have gender inequality even though they have implemented certain rules and regulations to emphasize on gender equality. The number of cases reporting discrimination or biases in terms of sex, pregnancy and marital status are high while posing significant threat on societal balance as well as creating consequences as many women find it living in such a society extremely hard. Most of the women are to become victimized of gender inequality since men tend to have a perception that women are inferior to them and are unable to fight for their rights making up the society patriarchal. More or less every society is patriarchal as the social construction of the societies remained unchanged. García-Moreno et al., (2015), further explores that women have been experiencing physical harassment, torture, abuse and even are dishonored. A certain group of men do not even mercy their own wives, mothers and their girl child. Mostly it is seen that during the incidents, women lose their lives or suffer from depression for the entire course of the life. Very few can successfully come out from the trauma and further move forward in life. Very few women seeking justice reach the gateway of court.
Meanwhile, Nagoshi et al., (2008) states those women, who make differences by seeking justice, often fail in continuing due to not being financially strong. As a result, the men who commit the crime of abusing or harassing women by various means are left without being punished, not only that they keep on continue abusing other women. Hence, the impact of gender discrimination is that women who make up a large portion of the society lose their significance. Either the victimized women lose their lives or they completely lose the purpose of living. Apart from the impact on the mental health of women, these discriminative approach to women also impacts on their overall growth. Women in many societies are barred to go out during night or society and family imposes restrictions on higher studies of women since they perceive going out or studying more can bring consequences.
According to Shields (2008), the impact of discrimination is further more significant since generation wise this discriminative behavior or underestimating behavior towards women is spread which gives birth to unwritten social norms of looking down women. The patriarchal society further emphasizes on imposing several restriction women only instead of educating male members of the society regarding how they should behave with women. On the other hand women who try to make difference by breaking the stereotype are become either stigmatized or are isolated, even sometimes they are disowned from the society.
Alhabib, Nur and Jones (2010) states gender discrimination is even evident within the family boundaries, where a boy child gets more privilege than a girl child. Again the patriarchal mindset of the society comes into highlight which considers a girl child as burden on them and that can be released away by marrying off the girl child. Restrictions are imposed on a girl child after a limited period. Not only that, after a certain age, they are prepared for the purpose of marriage. However, society holds completely different perception a boy child. A boy child is given immense opportunity in terms of education, exposer and other relaxation. Naturally, the boy child is grown up with a mindset that he is privileged and holds importance in the family more than the girl child. Such discrimination within the family itself based on gender biasness fuels the social imbalance as well as it adversely impact on the mentality of the girl child and the boy child since they carry forward this stereotypes with them into the next generation.
Tilcsik (2011) suggests that the gender biasness is not only limited within the family boundary. The gender based biasness is largely in workplace impacting mainly the women. The disparity between men and women can be seen within the labor market since the numbers of male full time employees are high whereas female employees mostly work as part time employees. While 89% of men population work as full time employees and only 11% work as part time employees, the ratio of female employees is further lower with women employees nearly about 58% as full time workers and 42% in part time employment. This disparity is generated not only due to the unwillingness of women of not working as full time employees; instead it is the un-acceptance of women employees in the industry.
Bobbitt-Zeher (2011) agreeing that previous notion sates that still in the 21st century, women employees are not desired since they are believed to be physically as well as mentally weak in comparison with the men. Hence, this gender based disparity in professional world makes brings immediate impact on the income discrimination between the two genders. A women employee is generally less paid than male employees. On the other hand job security becomes a major challenge for women employees due to pregnancy. However, there is a provision for maternity leave for women employees, but very few can enjoy that provision since a limited number of companies provide the benefit of maternity leave to its female employees. According to Booth and Leigh, (2010), women during the pregnancy period either are to leave their jobs or they are offered leave without getting pay. Most of the time women end up compromising with their profession. Certain field jobs are offered only to men as women are perceived to be physically less unfit. On a larger scale, women hold less important job role due to the general perception towards the women that they are not capable of doing the same amount of work like men.
According to Grollman (2014), in the education area, women are generally deprived of the opportunity of higher studies due to discriminated on the base of gender. Society’s perception towards women denotes that they are destined to do household work, taking care of their families and staying back at home. It is largely believed that if women get proper education they could not be remained within the boundary of home to look after their family. This discrimination further leads to the consequences like low morality rate, ignorance and poor intelligence. If women are given the exposer in the professional world, it is perceived that they are ideal for teaching jobs since it involves less workplace risks. Even though the current scenario says that women have made a change in the professional world with increasing the number of their participation in every field ranging from engineering to journalism, army to politics and so on, a major portion of women population are still deprived of the basic opportunities.
As per Iyer and Ryan (2009), it is seen that in big companies, majority leadership positions are held by the men as women are believed to have poor governance. A male professional gets promotion to higher position even if his female contender is more qualified and more potential. Such negative outlook to women does not ruin the social equation rather discourage a large number of women to move ahead in the growth ladder of career. Gender discrimination is not limited in the mere aspects like promotion. The problem is rather more serious as women are being exploited sexually in order to retain their jobs. Several reports are published which states harassment of women employee as the people in the higher ranking position try to exploit them. Many women compromise with their chastity for the financial need. As per Hoyt (2010), the cases of duping with the promise of marriage further projects women as perceived to be nothing but an object to men. Many women are physically tortured over a prolonged period of time as they remain under life threat. In regard to that, women trafficking are taken under the consideration since large portion of men consider women as nothing but commodity.
On the other hand Fawole (2008) suggests the discriminative behavior towards women over the years has made women role in the society as depended on men. Society tends to possess a belief that men must take the responsibility of women and for which more importance is given on the income rate and wealth of men while marrying off a woman. The income rate determines the eligibility criteria of men. The men with higher income rate are considered to be more eligible than the men with less income rate. In the whole process of marriage, the financial identity of women is not taken under the consideration. Within the family boundary, men are considered as leaders while women are expected to abide by them. More importantly, women after marriage are to sacrifice with their career for the sake of upbringing a child. However, men do not required to compromise with their career since societal norms gives more importance to the financial identity of men than of women. This is the reason for which education opportunities are prioritized for men as they are thought to take the responsibility of their family. In order to order fulfill the responsibility it is believed by the society that men must be well educated so that they will be able to give a better life to their family.
Besides, Williams (2013) suggests that religion also plays a significant role in contribution to the gender discrimination. In the countries, where religion itself is law like Muslim countries, women face more discrimination as they are not even allowed to access the basic opportunities of a human being like preliminary education, being only wife of a person, speaking on behalf of them and etc. In such a social construction, men are more encouraged to underestimate women and their ability. Discrimination due to religion further leads to violence against women resulting gender imbalances in the society. The religion and the social norms derived from play a major role in gender discrimination when women become victim of spiteful brutality of men like rape. A rape victim is generally considered as responsible for the injustice against her and is gone through several unpleasant post rape incidents. These unpleasant incidents includes lodging complain to facing the harshness during trial period and to surviving in the society. In most cases, rape victims commit suicides in order to get relief of the brutal reality. Meanwhile, some cases when an unmarried girl conceives a child, she gets stigmatized as characterless woman and is further forced for aborting the child. Such discrimination and undervalue to women not only adversely impact the gender balance in society but ruin the notion of society while imposing threat on the future of the society.
Brandt (2011) suggests that there have been many cases reported revealing segregation or discrimination regarding sex, pregnancy and conjugal status with a higher number while presenting significant danger on societal adjust and additionally making results since a large number of women think that living in such an environment is harder than what can be thought of. A large portion of the women are to end up being exploited of sex disparity since men have a tendency to have a discernment that women are second rate compared to them and cannot battle for their rights making up the society male centric. Most of the societies are male centric as the social development of the social orders stayed unaltered. Accordingly, women have been experiencing physical provocation, torment, mishandle and even are raped or dishonored. A specific portion of men do not even benevolence their own particular spouses, mothers and their younger female members of their family. For the most part it is seen that amid the discrimination, women lose their lives or experience the ill effects of discouragement for the whole course of the life. Very few of the tormented women can effectively turn out from the trauma and further push ahead throughout everyday life and among them very few looking for equality seek legal assistance.
Conclusion
From the above literature review, it can be seen that a considerable researches have been done on the negative impact of gender discrimination on society which have highlighted the issues in terms of discrimination faced by women. However, there was hardly any researchers found shedding light on the gender discrimination faced by men. On the other hand, it can be said that researches have been barely done in the area of figuring out the ways through which gender discrimination can be overcome. Hence, it is apt to state that these two previously mentioned areas need to be researched. However, the study conducted a literature review shedding light on the impact of gender discrimination or biases on society. An extensive research was done covering important aspects related to the main topic so that a research gap could be identified. Thus, the study holds importance since it focused on the discrimination faced by women in the society.
References
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Bobbitt-Zeher, D. (2011). Gender discrimination at work: Connecting gender stereotypes, institutional policies, and gender composition of workplace. Gender & Society, 25(6), 764-786.
Booth, A., & Leigh, A. (2010). Do employers discriminate by gender? A field experiment in female-dominated occupations. Economics Letters, 107(2), 236-238.
Brandt, M. J. (2011). Sexism and gender inequality across 57 societies. Psychological science, 22(11), 1413-1418.
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García-Moreno, C., Hegarty, K., d’Oliveira, A. F. L., Koziol-McLain, J., Colombini, M., & Feder, G. (2015). The health-systems response to violence against women. The Lancet, 385(9977), 1567-1579.
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Grollman, E. A. (2014). Multiple disadvantaged statuses and health: the role of multiple forms of discrimination. Journal of health and social behavior, 55(1), 3-19.
Hoyt, C. L. (2010). Women, men, and leadership: Exploring the gender gap at the top. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(7), 484-498.
Iyer, A., & Ryan, M. K. (2009). Why do men and women challenge gender discrimination in the workplace? The role of group status and in?group identification in predicting pathways to collective action. Journal of Social Issues, 65(4), 791-814.
Nagoshi, J. L., Adams, K. A., Terrell, H. K., Hill, E. D., Brzuzy, S., & Nagoshi, C. T. (2008). Gender differences in correlates of homophobia and transphobia. Sex roles, 59(7-8), 521.
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