Sociology Essay: Gender Equality in the 21st Century - An Analysis

This argumentative essay explores the multifaceted progress of gender equality in the 21st century. It begins by defining gender equality and acknowledging the historical struggles faced by women, highlighting advancements in areas such as education and voting rights. The essay then delves into contemporary issues, including pay disparities, underrepresentation in STEM fields, and subtle forms of sexism. It discusses the impact of social and political constructs, ethnic divisions, and the evolving roles of men in supporting gender equality. The essay also examines the role of global initiatives like the UN's SDGs in promoting female education and empowerment. Furthermore, it acknowledges the gender inequality faced by men, particularly within the legal and academic systems. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of collaborative development and a balanced view of gender equality for a peaceful and growth-oriented future. The essay references multiple sources to support the arguments and analysis.

Argumentative Essay
Argumentative Essay on "Has Gender Equality Improved in the 21st Century?”
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Argumentative Essay
Gender Equality has been one of the most debated topics of this century. Society has been
fighting with this one issue for long. the term for a long time has only considered the gender
binary of biological options: male and female as defined by Gaag (2019). Both these genders
have constantly fought over access to basic resources and living with equality and dignity.
This essay will aim to understand how 21st century has successfully implemented gender
equality in a lot spheres and how this improvement will continue in future as well.
For a major chunk of time, gender equality was only about women oppression and how the
middle ground has to be found along with promoting their welfare (Evans & Engeli, 2019).
Gender equality is a two-way concept and has bothered both the genders equally. Initially, the
term was used to voice support for women. Since long, history has been unfair to women for
a lot of things; from education to voting rights, still the situation has improved a lot.
However, with this improvement, there are various segments or fractions of society that have
constantly asked for more. For example, women have constantly asked representation in
STEM field in Australia. Even then the representation is about 20% only, which improved
from 10% in 2010 as per the Government of Australia (2018).
Molloy (2018) states that there are several factors which have contributed to this gender
divide: Social and political constructs being the most prominent and impactful ones. The
issues in the 21st century, however, are different. While women have found their hold, issue
such as lack of promotion, pay parity, casual sexism etc. have also crept in. Australia’s full
time gender pay gap currently is 14% as measured by the WGEA (2018). However, this
number has come down from 18% in 2014. Hence, it is quite right to say that some progress
towards gender inclusion have been made.
According to Awaworyi Churchill, Nuhu & Lopez (2018), the ethnic divide has been one of
the major contributors to gender division, especially in Australia. According to the authors,
"Gender divide is deeply influenced by happening in the social environment of the particular
society” and the process of change is long term. This is quite the situation everywhere and
cannot be just restricted to few societies or culture only.
However, the situation has changed a lot over time. Women have managed to fight for their
rights and have been successful in doing so as well, and in this pursuit, a lot of men have also
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Argumentative Essay
helped them. For example, Sir Ian McKellen has been a women right champion. This is the
beginning of bringing men and women together and moving slowly towards bridging the
gender gap as strongly argued by Braunstein (2017). Men in Australia have become more
careful about how they conduct themselves in public with women, how they voice their
opinions do not come out as sexist and focus more on creating safer workplaces and
communities. This is where gender equality starts. Australian school have started sensitizing
young boys and girls towards these issues at a very young age.
The Australian society as of today is extremely influential and can be swayed away by any
catalyst that holds a certain position and can be influenced easily. Here, it is quite
commendable that many famous men have come out to support women. A recent example
has been the abortion ban in America. While this regressive law has been extremely
distressing to women of that country, a lot of men came in support of the women and their
involvement in this matter. There are various instances which have occurred over time and
will continue to happen. Women get a lot of support from all the spheres, and most
importantly, the opportunities are now equal. While the mindset of people has changed a lot,
the powerholders to have increasingly come in support of women wherever it was needed.
One such policy is the SDG laid out by UN which emphasize a lot on gender equality and
focuses on the importance of female education. Even though these global agendas are far
from reality, and have not been 100% effective, these agendas and policies have still created
a little difference which is just enough for start (North & Unterhalter, 2011).
Women all around the world have appreciated this move since they have access to education
in an unbiased manner. This has helped a lot of women to work hard on themselves and
further contribute to the cause of gender equality as well.
While a lot of focus has been given to only the side of gender equality which focuses on the
growth of women, the argument will be incomplete if the other side is not discussed. Men too
have been victims of gender inequality, especially in the court of law where women have
often taken advantage of this gender divide and the apparent notion of women being the
weaker sex (MENIF, 2019). There have been so many instances of false rape and other
criminal charges levied against men which resulted in a wrongful conviction. However, the
judicial system has started recognizing this flaw, and how women tend to take advantage of
it. Furthermore, various universities and colleges, in a bid to promote women in STEM roll
out several scholarships and reservations. While the intention behind this is purely to help
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Argumentative Essay
women succeed, it still comes off as gender divide and preferential treatment. Male students
have finally started standing up against any such policies which differentiate on the basis of
gender and not caliber. This has created a better and healthier competition amongst people
who now compete and co-exist on the basis of their ability, thus, eliminating any animosity
whatsoever (Moreau, 2018).
Gender equality cannot be achieved unless both these genders come on the same page, and
focus on collaborative development for each other. it is essential for the world to have a
balanced view towards gender equality and create opportunities for peaceful co-existence of
both genders amidst a growth-oriented future.
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Argumentative Essay
References
Australia's Gender Pay Gap Statistics | WGEA. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.wgea.gov.au/data/fact-sheets/australias-gender-pay-gap-statistics
Awaworyi Churchill, S., Nuhu, A., & Lopez, K. (2018). Persistence of gender inequality: the
role of ethnic divisions. Applied Economics, 51(8), 781-796. doi:
10.1080/00036846.2018.1513635
Braunstein, M. (2017). Women’s Equality in the 21st Century. Retrieved from
https://ifstudies.org/blog/womens-equality-in-the-21st-century
Evans, E., & Engeli, I. (2019). Gender Equality in the 21st Century. Retrieved from
https://ecpr.eu/Events/SectionDetails.aspx?SectionID=543&EventID=95
Gaag, N. (2019). Women are better off today, but still far from being equal with men | Nikki
van der Gaag. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/sep/29/women-better-off-far-from-
equal-men
Government of Australia. (2018). ADVANCING WOMEN IN STEM (p. 7).
Men in Teaching: Gender Equality through the Promise of Gender Balance. (2019), 66(5).
Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/42730776
Molloy, M. (2018). How far have women’s rights advanced in a century?. Retrieved from
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/far-have-womens-rights-advanced-century/
Moreau, M. (2018). A matter of time? Gender equality in the teaching profession through a
cross-national comparative lens. Gender And Education, 1-18. doi:
10.1080/09540253.2018.1533918
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Argumentative Essay
Unterhalter, E., & North, A. (2011). Girls’ Schooling, Gender Equity, and the Global
Education and Development Agenda: Conceptual Disconnections, Political Struggles, and the
Difficulties of Practice. Feminist Formations, 23(3), 1-22. doi: 10.1353/ff.2011.0045
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