Gender Inequality In The United States

I would argue that the primary cause of gender inequality in the United States is family structure. Although I believe both nature and nurture can shape a person’s personality, I believe nurture is the more prevalent case. Growing up in an environment can essentially shape who a person is. Looking at cultures across the world, they each have behaviors and traits that are deemed acceptable or taboo across their society. It everyone’s behaviors were based on purely instinctual behaviors there would be more mixed opinions. With that being said, people learn a lot from visualization of how other people react to specific situations. Since people are around their families a lot, many beliefs can be formed.

One of the best examples …show more content…
Within a family, a mother is expected to do most of the house work. Women have to come home from their jobs in order to do an even more exhausting job, parenting. Although parenting can be just as hard if not harder than any job, it is often overlooked as being work because it does not pay. Since woman have the burden of a child to deal with, they are not able to put in enough time their own careers. In the movie “The Second Shift”, a female surgeon was making far less money than her husband, who the same kind of surgeon. Since the woman had more responsibilities as a mother, she had to cut back the hours she worked so she could take care of her family. The husband, on the other hand, was hardly effected with a baby around the house. Since the wife did all the work, the husband was able to advance in his career. This can tie into family values because people are often in the same family household situation as how they grew up. If someone grew up with a stay at home mom, that is how they think all mothering is suppose to be. They think that in order to be a good mother they must give up their career for their family. Although labor reproductive work is an effect of gender inequality and not the primary cause, it certainly perpetuates …show more content…
In many societies, men are practically encouraged to be violent. It order to be a “real man”, men must be tough. They lift weights and participate in sports where it is seen encouraged to get in a fight with someone. Just as gender beliefs about women can be instilled in our minds, gender beliefs about men can be instilled too. Since men have to constantly have a tough guy persona, it starts to become easier to be violent in the wrong situations. In countries where it is pushed on men to be “tough”, there are higher instances of rape. Countries, where it is more egalitarian, have lower instances of rape and gender violence. Violence can be used as a tool to keep woman in their control and out of the bed with other men. Just as men are suppose to pick fights, females are excepted to be sweet and docile. This immediately puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to protecting