Patriarchy Sociology

According to AAUW.org, in 2014, women working full time in the United States were paid just 79 percent of what men were paid? That means, a woman made 79 cents for every dollar a man made; that is a gap of 21 percent! These types of wage discriminations exist when workers are equally skilled and put in the same effort, but one group of workers is paid more than the other. To remedy the problem of economic gender inequality, the glass ceiling needs to be broken, patriarchy should be abolished, and the federal minimum wage should be raised. With women being the primary or co-breadwinner of a family, how are they supposed to live healthily on $15,080 a year?
Is gender inequality the consequence of a learned behavior? Many sociologists believe …show more content…
The reason for this is because men are usually seen as the strong, superior sex; whereas women are viewed as the weak, nurturing sex. The roles of men and women in the labor force and in the family are interdependent; regardless of whether women work outside the home, they do the majority of childcare and household labor (Eitzen, Smith, Zinn 216). This frees men of these responsibilities, in return their obligation in the public sphere gives them control of highly valued resources and increases their male privilege (Eitzen, Smith, Zinn 216). In order for patriarchy to be diminished, women need to be viewed as equal contenders to men, whether it is for a position as a manager or a position as a mechanic. Women are held to the same standards as men, so why are they treated differently? The male dominance in the work place will continue to keep women in their place unless women’s feminine qualities, such as their nurturing and passive behavior, are treated with as much respect, value, and reward as male qualities, such as their non-emotional and aggressive behavior. Furthermore, to bridge the economic gender inequality gap, the federal minimum wage should be