Gender As A Social Construction: Opening Equal Opportunity

It states in the 1916 proclamation that all citizens of the country should have “equal rights and equal opportunities”. Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. It arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles as well as biologically through chromosomes, brain structure, and hormonal differences. Gender systems are often dichotomous and hierarchical; gender binary systems may reflect the inequalities that manifest in numerous dimensions of daily life. Gender inequality stems from distinctions, whether empirically grounded or socially constructed (LLC, 2019). Gender inequality is a massive problem today not only in Ireland but in many other countries too. In todays society it is a growing concern. In this essay I am going to discuss how gender inequality is a massive problem is todays world.

There are many issues today in relation to the workforce. Today many people still think that the only place for a woman is ‘in the home’ and to be a ‘stay at home mother and that the men in the family should go out and earn the family income. This is not correct. Women should have as much of a right as a man to go out and work. In the last number of years this has changed hugely and more women are joining the work force. In 1994, statistics show that 65.9% of men were in the workforce. In the same year 40% of women were working (O'Mahony, 2019). 12 years later, in 2006, another survey was completed. 77.3% of men were in the work force while 58.8% were (O'Mahony, 2019). Women are getting paid less than men even when carrying out the same tasks. If a woman works the same hours, performs the same tasks, and is required to meet the same goals as her male counterpart, she is entitled to equal pay. When women are paid less because of their gender, it is a form of sex discrimination and is illegal (Wolfe, 2019).

In 1932, ‘The Marriage Ban’ was introduced in Ireland. This marriage ban meant that single women had to resign from their jobs consequent to getting married. Women were also not allowed to apply for jobs which were vacant (Bambrick, 2019). Marriage Bars in the private sector were finally abolished in 1977 when European law made it illegal to discriminate in employment on the grounds of sex and marital status. While Marriage Bars were commonplace throughout Europe, America and beyond from the late 1800s, Ireland was one of the last countries to lift bans on hiring married women and dismissing women on marriage (Bambrick, 2019).

Women today are mostly employed in careers in the health and education sectors. These sectors require workers with good knowledge and skills. It is a massive responsibility on people to be working in any of these sectors. This is a female dominated sector and still women are expected to work for minimum wage. Men however, tend to go down the route as Engineers for example. According to PayScale, the average hourly rate for a Childcare worker is €10.12 (PayScale, 2019). Mechanical Engineers get on average of €35,349 a year in their salary compared to childcare workers who receive on average of €19,780. Both of these professions require level 8 degrees and it is because the childcare sector is more female dominate that they are discriminated against. This shows that inequality exists in todays world.

In relation to education, 82% of 18 year olds which are females are students while only 62% of males are (O'Mahony, 2019). More women tend to go to college and succeed than men and also women are more likely to graduate with a degree. Since 1999, more women than men graduate with a degree every year (O'Mahony, 2019). Boys are underperforming in school. Girls are making big strides and achievements in education, but women are massively under-represented in senior work roles and in third-level academia (McGuire, 2015). About one third of the schools around the world are single-sexed.

In secondary schools, there are more subject choices available for males than there are for females. Although females can do the subjects, e.g. woodwork and metalwork, there is a higher percentage of males involved in those subjects and more girls involved in subjects such as home economics and business. Boys have a higher failure rate in subjects than girls do.

In secondary schools, a new junior cycle has been introduced. This gives both girls and boys the chance to gain marks and in some cases pass exams before they even sit the paper at the end of third year through completing projects, presentations, etc. The new junior cycle was designed partly in response to the problem of boys – particularly working-class boys – disengaging from the education system and either dropping out of school altogether or underperforming in exams (McGuire, 2015).

In sports for example, Irish rugby players game is professional. Womens, however, is not. Women in Ireland that play rugby work full-time and have to manage their training between their 9-5 job (Crowe, 2019). If a player is semi-professional it is better as they do not need to worry about becoming injured and it affecting your career. It is also less financial stress.

In soccer, there are more men in key positions and decision-making roles than there are women (O'Mahony, 2019). This is not right as women and men should both have equal rights to equal positions weather it be in the work place or not.

Cultural barriers, in todays world, can be a massive problem. When two individuals do not share a common language it is increasingly likely that they will also suffer from other barriers, such as a lack of shared body language and cultural context. This leads to difficulty navigating even the most basic situations and can even cause more serious miscommunications (Ask Media Group, 2019).

Globally, 12 million girls each year get married before the age of 18 - roughly 33,000 every day, or one every two seconds. There are some 650 million women alive today who were child brides (Whiting, 2019). There are many different reasons for this happening in different communities but usually it is because girls are not valued as much as boys and when girls are married off at a young age it transfers the ‘economic burden’ away to another family.

Many women have and still continue to experience different forms of violence just because they are women. These of which include domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape, sexual violence during conflict and harmful customary or traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, forced marriages and honouaar crimes (Ireland, 2019). It has been estimated that in Europe, 20% to 25% of women have suffered physical violence at least once during their lives and there are estimates that up to half a million women living in Europe have been subjected to genital mutilation (Ireland, 2019). Gender-based inequalities are also present in healthcare and long-term care as well as in health outcomes. Women and men are confronted with gender-specific health risks and diseases which need to be adequately addressed in medical research and health services (Ireland, 2019).