Barriers to Social Justice: Race & Gender

This article discusses the barriers to social justice posed by race and gender discrimination. It explores the impact of gender inequality and racial discrimination on achieving a fair and just society. The article highlights the historical context, societal norms, and economic disparities that contribute to these barriers. It also examines the effects of gender inequality on education, employment, and political representation, as well as the consequences of racial discrimination in terms of slavery, colonization, and contemporary racial profiling. Overall, the article emphasizes the need for a global revolution to overcome these barriers and achieve social justice.

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BARRIERS TO SOCIAL JUSTICE
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9th April, 2019

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Introduction
Thomas Moore published a fictional political satire which imagines an island that
proposes the idea of what an ideal and just society should look like, called Utopia. For a society
to be termed as just, it should, in essence, be a system which is designed to meet the needs of
people and to provide for equality as well as equity thereby bringing about both psychological
and physical security to the members of said society. In practice, there are numerous barriers to
social justice and fairness with all having to do with some form of discrimination or oppression.
Race, Gender, Religion, Sexuality, Class, Age are some of the most notable barriers to the
achievement of a Utopian society. (Loewen and Pollard, 2010). In this paper, I shall focus my
interest and arguments on Race and Gender as barriers that prevent fair and just societies from
existing. Both race and gender, as impediments towards social justice, are fuelled by
humankind’s inherent quest for superiority. Every group wants to be dominant so as to control
societal norms and economic and political policies and power. In terms of race, the problem of
racial discrimination and populism is just as big in the present as it was and has been in centuries
past (Luca-Silveira, 2016). It is a very dynamic sort of phenomenon, and just changes form from
generation to the next. Gender based discrimination as a barrier towards the actualization of
societal justice is a great challenge due to the enormous influences that drive it such as religion,
age and Mother Nature itself.
Gender Inequality
Historically, there are numerous forms of inequality between men and women across all
societies on earth. In many cultures, it is usually a case of the patriarchy being the dominant
party leading to great oppression and violence being meted upon women (Bose, 2012). It is a
world where conditioning of society on the superiority of the patriarchy is done right from a
formative age. The inequalities in treatment, access to services and opportunities and exercise of
basic human rights between men and women, increases the risks of women being abused
(Steinberg and Skae, 2018, p.2602). Socially acceptable norms are instilled from childhood
where the boys and girls are taught differently. Boys are raised to be aggressive, dominant and to
take control. Girls, on the other hand, are taught how to be submissive and to cede control and
power to their male counterparts.

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There are a number of factors that contribute to this state of affairs among them:
• Religion
• Customs
• Nature
The patriarchy operates in all religions and cultures with only the ideologies bringing about
differences. Gender inequality has led to girls being disadvantaged from birth before they even
get a start in life. Statistics show that two thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are female with
only half of the women population being employed as contrasted with a figure of three quarters
of men being employed. Gender bias and inequality in the work force has led to an enormous and
staggering disparity in the wages earned by both groups, with the wage gap standing at $17
Trillion which is a big blow to the purchasing power of women. (Holma, 2018).
Economic disparities such as this are the result of the reluctance of many parents to send
their female children to school. This is done because of a myriad of reasons, among them the
belief that boys are more intelligent than girls; girls are seen as sex objects only good for
marriage and giving birth. (Brandt, 2011, p.1415). In some African communities and indeed
other areas of the globe, girls are not educated as it is seen as a waste of resources on a person
who will eventually join another household in order to bear and nurture children for another
family. It is also for this same reason that in some societies women are not allowed to inherit
property from their fathers, only the male children are entitled to inheritance.
In the year 2012, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Pakistan
Taliban for her efforts in championing the rights of the girl child to an education. This despicable
act just goes to show the lengths patriarchal fanatics will go to in order to maintain the status quo
of oppressive practices towards women. The denial of education to women has far reaching
effects not only in terms of income, but also inequalities in terms of access to healthcare. Due to
the lack of access to vital information, women are made vulnerable to cultural practices that are
retrogressive as well as unfair religious teachings and practices.
Practices such as female circumcision were developed to oppress women and their
sexuality while the men maintain their natural sexual desires and pleasure. The extent of this vile

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culture is such that women themselves will preside over the female genital mutilations
themselves over their daughters and kin. Some women who have been rescued through some
means will at times beg to be allowed to undergo such a dangerous and detrimental procedure for
fear of being shunned by their communities. (Brighouse and Wright, 2008).
The Muslim world is the most affected in terms of the economy when it comes to gender
disparities. Statistics show that the differences in literacy and economic opportunities are highest
in Arab countries. This greatly hurts their economies since economically empowering women
would be of great value addition to their GDP’s. The old laws on early marriages, female genital
mutilation, education and ownership are the causes of the modern-day gender-based oppression
that women face in the Arab world. Ironically, these oppressive laws are against the spirit of
Islam on the rights of women. (Cooray and Potrafke, 2011, p.270)
It is not just in the Arab world or in third world African countries that gender inequality
has taken root, but also in the western world. In developed countries, a substantial number of
women have gotten into managerial positions in the corporate world in recent years. Some of the
misogynistic ideas of what a woman in the workplace (Gupta, 2017) .Those were prominent in
the 20th century have thankfully been done away with. However, women at the very pinnacle in
the business world are a rare breed with most companies still maintaining men in the senior most
positions and boards of directors. Women’s efforts to climb up the corporate ladder are frustrated
by a glass ceiling that they can’t seem to break through. This kind of injustice is detrimental to
social justice which relies on equal opportunities and responsibilities.
Government leadership has one of the greatest manifestations of social injustice brought
about by gender inequality (Seguino, Sumner, van der Hoeven, Sen, and Ahmed, 2013).
Although numbers have been steadily increasing, due in part to affirmative action, it is still not
an ordinary occurrence around most parts of the world to have female leaders in government. A
female head of state or government is an even rarer sight. The political world is still dominated
by men who have little intentions of allowing women to join their ranks. Women in power have
had to scrape through and fight multiple times as hard as their male counterparts to get to the
same levels. Angela Merkel (Germany), Theresa May (Britain), Tsai Ing-wen (Taiwan), Jacinda
Arden (New Zealand), Saara Kuugongelewa (Namibia) and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic are a few

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examples of the powerful women who have made it to the top but it is still not representative of
how it should be as women make up half the population of the world.
Racial Discrimination
Historically speaking, racism is arguably the biggest contributor to the social injustices
and economic disparities being witnessed today in the world. During the foundation of the great
United States of America, the most massive forceful long-distance migration of human beings
was orchestrated by the trans-Atlantic Ocean slave traders. Hundreds of thousands of black
Africans were sold into slavery in America by white slave traders. The Africans experienced
horrific conditions while at sea, leading to some of them preferring to jump into the sea rather
than take any more of the racist torture. Africans were sold in slave markets like merchandise
and were considered property fit only to work long hours in the fields under harsh supervision.
They were frequently whipped for slowing down at work, had their feet cut off for trying to
escape (like the legendary slave Kunta Kinte), some were hanged for attempting escape while
others were hunted down by the white men for sport just like animals. This kind of treatment of
black people as inferior and decades of torture and oppression is as big a barrier to a just and fair
society as one can ever get. (Loplez-littleton and Bisett, 2018, Pearson, Dovidio, and Gaertner,
2009).
Racism denied black slaves in America education and gave them new names and erased
their African identities through years of continuous bullying and torture. Families were separated
in West Africa where slaves were acquired while slaves in America also had their families ripped
apart through sales (Leach and Allen, 2017). Ripping apart the most basic unit of society is a big
blow in the quest for a just society since it even curtails the growth of society itself. The black
community has been the hardest done by a group of people when it comes to racism. When the
European powers occupied Africa in the scramble and partition of Africa in the late 19th
Century, it was the beginning of an almost century-long medley of racism and human rights
violations. Occupation of African countries was majorly for the economic and political
advancement of the European states while Africans were just viewed as cheap laborers and
primitive apes (Richeson, 2018).

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Colonization was just another form of racism that destroyed Africa. It pitted the white
man against the black man and in some cases the black man against the black man through
coercion or trickery from the white man. Those who resisted the European rule were killed; those
who collaborated with the Europeans lost everything to the Europeans and became slaves. The
Africans were only good enough to provide labour for the whites for little or no wages at all
while living in cramped reserves where starvation and disease were not at all uncommon. (Mays,
Cochran, and Barnes, 2007, p.210).
Development of a just and free society with racism is practically impossible due to the
conflict that it raises. The colonial oppression led to many uprisings in many parts of Africa
which resulted in hundreds of thousands dying in those liberation struggles in Africa. Armed
struggle in countries such as Mozambique, Tanganyika, and Kenya among others turned Africa
into a graveyard for both the white and the black man. In the United States of America, there has
been a great deal of hype surrounding the “Black Lives Matter” campaign. The Black Lives
Matter campaign has gained traction in recent years due to the uncalled for and unfair brutality of
American police officers when dealing with black people. Multiple shootings of unarmed black
men by police officers have been reported with some even being caught on tape. (Grosfoguel,
2016, p.18). Racial profiling is still dominant in the United States of America with the black
community and the Arab community feeling the most heat. Hostility between the black
community on one side and the police along with the white community on the other side is
detrimental for any hope of a society that is just and fair.
Racism is also there in subtle and not so subtle ways in sports such as football. Fans have
been seen throwing bananas and banana peelings at black players on the pitch during matches
(Murphy, 2018). There have also been racist taunts and monkey noises made by some racist fans
at some black players. This has led to some players like Blaise Matuidi of Juventus threatening
to walk out of the pitch if such racist acts happen again and some are walking off like Ghanaian
Sulley Muntari walking off in an Italian Serie A match due to racist abuse on the pitch. When
racism invades even a socially cohesive activity such as football, societal justice and fairness are
in jeopardy (Thelocal.it. 2019).
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Conclusion
Social justice proposes a society in which distribution of resources is fair and equitable
with all members achieving psychological and physical safety as well as economic
empowerment. Social justice is, however, tied to other factors such as human rights, free will and
non-discrimination. Achievement of a truly just and fair society is well near impossible as it
faces some serious challenges from the people in society themselves. Gender inequality is a
culture that has taken root worldwide and uprooting it will need a global revolution. Early
childhood conditioning, religious teachings along with misogynistic notions entrenched in many
communities make it difficult to overcome this barrier in order to achieve social justice. Racism
is a scourge that has plagued the Earth for centuries and refuses to go away, only evolving and
adapting to the times. Wars have been fought because of racism, revolutions have sprung up to
combat racism but still more needs to be done to overcome this seemingly insurmountable
injustice. Due to its many manifestations in different environments, racism is arguably the
hardest barrier to overcome. Barriers to social justice go hand in hand with each other and
elimination of one barrier must be coordinated and aligned with the other barriers in order for a
just and fair society to be realised.

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