A Brief Overview of Gender Inequality

Gender as a term is associated with society. Depending on sexes (as men and women (?)), it can be said that gender identities (as being masculine and being feminine) have traditionally certain gender roles which are given by the society. This discriminates men and women in a non-equally way. Thus, we see here the term gender inequality. To open a little more, in the patriarchal societies, on the one hand, masculinity is described with the terms such as “strong”, “dominant”, “active”, “independent” and so on. However, on the other hand, femininity is characterized with the terms such as “submissive”, “weak”, “emotional”, “dependent”, “passive”, “sex object” and so on. Therefore, this type of unequal social construction of the gender causes women to be a housewife and so mothering and motherhood. Thus, it can be said that unlike being natural, motherhood has an ideology and history and so it is a cultural practice.

I live in Turkey and I can say that gender inequality is a big social issue in Turkey which has a patriarchal society. To give some examples: girls are not still sent to the school in certain regions; women cannot be worked in the jobs they want; women cannot get the same salary with men; women have low participation in politics; the general social media discourse which is exposed to women is “being an housewife, doing household chores (non-paid work), and giving a birth”… These examples can be reproduced. As a result of all of these inequalities, women live a repressive life, become a type of “slave” and so become to be socially isolated.

Finally, it is not easy to find a way out for gender inequality. I cannot say that positive discrimination is a good solution for this big social issue because it is far away from an equal life, too. I want to finish my writing with the following feminist quote: “EQUAL RIGHTS FOR OTHERS DOES NOT MEAN LESS RIGHTS FOR YOU. IT’S NOT PIE.” 

Narin