Gender and Social Inequality

Running head: GENDER AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY
Gender and Social Inequality
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1GENDER AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY
Social Division refers to the segregation that prevails in the society on the basis of
factors like caste, race and language. Gender inequality refers to the idea that women were
not equal to the men in the social structure. Gender inequality is indicative of the unequal
treatment or perceptions of the individuals on the basis of gender (Kaul 2018). Gender
inequality arises owing to the distinctions pertaining to gender that is socially constructed.
This essay throws light on the feminist claim that gender acts as a consequential social
division within the society. It also states how gender inequality can have an impact on the
health status of an individual.
History has been witness to the fact that in every sphere of life the women have
occupied the back seat whereas the men occupied the dominant position in the social
structure. Men enjoy more physical along with social power as compared to the women
within public arena. It was held that the men were capable of fighting wars as they were more
aggressive as compared to the women (Blau 2016). It was held in the society that the boys
have to give proof in relation to masculinity with the help of strenuous effort. This paved the
path for the male to hold the public office, create rules and define the society.
Feminism is indicative of a political movement that shares common goal and it wants
to achieve political along with social equality in relation to the sexes. They want to establish
education along with professional opportunity for the women which are equal to that of the
men. The feminist movements carry out campaigns for the rights of women that includes
right of voting, holding public office, earning fair wage and receiving education (Chowdhry
2017). Gender feminism refers to the subdivision in relation to feminism which is based on
the view that gender difference is a social construct that is perpetrated by the men so that they
can maintain dominance over that of the women. Gender feminism asserts the viewpoint that
psychological difference that exist between the sexes are not on account of evolution but they
are largely socially constructed. The gender feminists hold the notion that the social

2GENDER AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY
institutions from state to the family helps in perpetuating the factor of male dominance. It
believes in the idea that women are always under siege and they want support from the
society so that they can seek vindication.
For distinguishing the biological difference from the psychological ones, the feminists
created the term “gender”. The feminists for serving their purpose distinguished sex from that
of gender. The feminist argued on the fact that the differences that exist between the men and
the women was socially produced and hence they can be stated to be changeable. Gender
system refers to the arrangement with the help of which biological raw material pertaining to
human sex is shaped with the help of social intervention (Cavalcanti and Tavares 2016). The
feminists think that biological difference can be said to be fixed and the gender differences
exist on account of the oppressive result of the social intervention that dictates the behaviour
of men along with women in the society. Gender is a social construction and hence it can be
altered by taking recourse to social reform that can end the subordination of women.
Feminism aims at the creation of a genderless society within which the sexual autonomy of
an individual would become irrelevant to what one does (Connell 2014).
The human beings can either be said to be male or female and hence it can be stated
that sex is fixed. The cultures are instrumental in interpreting sexed bodies in a different
manner and they project the different norms on the bodies that helps in the creation of
masculine along with feminine person. The feminists argue that gender differences in the
society arise owing to cultural practices along with social expectation (Kucharska 2017). The
men and the women in the society can be said to be intended or that of unintended product in
relation to social practice. It has been stated by Simone de Beauvoir that “one is not born but
rather becomes a woman” which implies that the female in the society become women with
the help of a process in which they acquire the feminine traits along with behaviour (Collins
2017). Masculinity along with femininity can be said to be the product of nurture that refers