Gender Inequality In The United States

“America is not like a blanket: one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, and many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread.” This quotation spoken by Jesse Jackson, a civil rights activist, demonstrates how influences of puritanical culture possess metaphorically a patch in the quilt of the United States and the idea of puritans influencing Americans from the belief of conforming to civilizations norms. Throughout the United States, Americans are held up to the idea of equal opportunity but subsequently caused by our extensive history of puritanical influence; society has been turned into isolation of diversity creating unequal …show more content…
In a puritan society women were restricted from being unable to have the right to vote in general court, to being unable to own and sell land, and recognized as inferior to men in which subsequently produced inequality throughout history. The role of a woman in puritanical society is that of a caretaker and only pictured as a mother in the household not as a breadwinner. While in modern day America, the inequality of the sexes endured change from females taking elected official position to being independent business women, there is still a sense of inequality of the genders in social and educational aspects. Chimamanda Ngozi said, “You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise you will threaten the man.” Ngozi expresses the idea modern day inequality of the genders used in a sense of women being depicted in current society as being inferior to men socially and less educated attributed to the extensive history of puritan views of females established in current American psyche. By the influences of these puritanical views of gender roles it also integrated the protestant work ethic in modern day …show more content…
The protestant work ethic is defined as the belief that hard work, dedication, and diligence will bring salvation. Since puritans landed on the shores of the United States to create thirteen colonies, their work ethic brings this group of people to influence modern day society. Eric Luis Uhlmann says, “In America the ideal is the guy who came from nothing,” Uhlmann from, “Our Inner Puritan,” article implies the sense of modern day Americans following the teaching of protestant work ethic of coming from nothing but through hard work, good deeds, and dedication leads the worthy to the path of salvation. In the Article, “Still Puritan After All These Years,” a study of Canadian and American students was conducted; these students were given puzzles with anagrams, but caused by the some of the American student’s exposure to the idea of the protestant work ethic the American students came up with words involving salvation. This proves the influence of protestant work ethic in an average American. Although Americans are accredited to having a work ethic that is strictly non-religious this protestant belief of work ethic for salvation can be interpreted into a brighter future which exemplifies the American dream. The infusion of these ideas in protestant work ethic created rooting of this influence of puritans in modern day