首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Gender Inequality In Western society, traditional male and female roles are not only substantially different, but also highl
Gender Inequality In Western society, traditional male and female roles are not only substantially different, but also highl
admin
2013-03-11
50
问题
Gender Inequality
In Western society, traditional male and female roles are not only substantially different, but also highly unequal. As we have seen, the male is given the dominant position. In a sense he is the star actor, whereas the female often plays only a supporting role. Psychologically, the male is trained to play the role of decision maker, whereas the female is encouraged to be submissive and obedient. This same gender inequality is reflected in our basic institutions. In education, employment, and politics, women clearly are treated as inferiors.
Education
In the past, women faced open discrimination in almost every aspect of our educational system. Far more boys than girls were enrolled in primary and secondary schools, and most of the best colleges did not admit women at all. Changing cultural expectations and new antidiscrimination laws broke down most of these barriers, and great progress has been made. Today, more females than males graduate from high school and from college.
Yet men still maintain some important educational advantages. For one thing, men receive over 60 percent of professional degrees and doctorates. There are also important differences in the majors women and men pursue. More females are in the liberal arts and humanities, while more men major in such fields as science, mathematics, and engineering, which are most likely to lead directly to high-paying career. Although the reasons for these differences are not entirely clear, several factors appear to be important. It seems that traditional gender role stereotypes no longer stop females from pursuing an education, but women are discouraged from going into academic areas that are overwhelmingly dominated by males. For example, one recent study shows that the lack of female role models among faculty members in mathematics, science, and engineering subtly conveys the message to young women that those fields are not for them. Women’s preference for a more general liberal education may also reflect the fact that women expect to carry more child-rearing responsibilities than their male counterparts. As a result, they may shy away from majors leading to demanding careers that would interfere with those responsibilities.
Employment
Women’s role in the work force has undergone a remarkable change. Fifty years ago, fewer than a quarter of all adult women in the United States worked outside the home. Today, that figure has more than doubled, and the number of working women continues to increase. In the next decade, six of every ten new workers in the United States are expected to be women. Although the gap between men’s and women’s pay has narrowed in recent years, it continues to be a large one. In 1975 women earned only about 60 percent as much as men, but by 1992, that figure was around 75 percent. Unfortunately, the reason the gap has closed is due more to a decline in men’s earnings than to an increase in women’s pay. An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute concluded that over two-thirds of that improvement was caused by the drop in men’s wages and only a third by increasing women’s wages.
Many women receive smaller paychecks than men because they enter lower-paying occupations and hold lower-ranking jobs within their field. Yet there are substantial differences in pay even among men and women who do the same type of work. Women in sales earn only 56 percent as much as salesmen, and women professionals about 72 percent as much as their male counterparts. A Business Week survey found that the starting salaries of male graduates of the best MBA programs in the United States are 12 percent higher than the starting salaries of female graduates. Even when workers break out of the traditional occupational stereotypes, women still come up short. Although 94 percent of all registered nurses are female, male nurses earn about 10 percent more than their female co-workers. Women who cross the gender barrier to join the building trades, on the other hand, earn about 25 percent less than male construction workers.
Many occupations are clearly "sex-typed"; that is, they are considered either men’s jobs or women’s jobs. Almost 60 percent of all university professors are men, as are 86 percent of police officers and 92 percent of engineers. In contrast, 75 percent of primary and secondary teachers, 84 percent of librarians, and 98 percent of all secretaries are women. "Women’s jobs" almost always have lower pay and lower status than comparable "male" positions. Jobs that are relatively autonomous are usually typed as male, as in the case of truck drivers or traveling sales personnel.
There are, nonetheless, some hopeful signs. As Francine D. Blau and Marianne A. Ferber point out, there has been a slow but steady decrease in occupational segregation since the 1960s, and many women have managed to breach the walls that kept them out of better-paying "men’s jobs". In 1960, only about 6.5 percent of U.S. physicians were women; today that number is over 20 percent. Women have made similar strides in the legal profession: In 1960, fewer than 1 out of 20 lawyers and judges was a woman, but today the ratio is more than 1 in 5.
Political Power
Politics has traditionally been considered a man’s business. Women were not even allowed to vote in most democracies until this century. The few women who have gained top positions of power have often had the benefit of family connections to overcome objections to their sex.
In 1993, only 7 percent of the members of the U.S. Senate and 11 percent of the House were women. No woman has ever held a key position of power in the U.S. Congress, such as majority leader or Speaker of the House, and women are still largely locked out of the inner circles of power in the White House—including, of course, the presidency itself. In the judicial branch, only two women in the history of the United States have ever been on the Supreme Court.
Women, nonetheless, have enormous political potential. Most of the volunteer workers essential to political campaigns are women. Even more significant is the fact that women outnumber men and could outvote them if they voted as a block. Until recently, women voted much as their husbands did, but in the last decade a significant "gender gap" between the voting patterns of men and women had developed. Polls show that women look more favorably on welfare programs and environmental protection and are more likely to oppose military spending and an aggressive foreign policy. In the last three presidential elections, substantially more women than men voted for the Democratic candidate. So far, the gender gap has not been a decisive factor in U.S. politics, but the potential is certainly there.
Academic areas are mainly controlled by ______.
选项
答案
males
解析
本题相应信息在第三段第六句“It seems that…are overwhelmingly dominated by males.”中。本句后半句的大意是:学术领域主要由男性统领。句中“overwhelmingly”与题干中的“mainly”近义,只是它的意思要比mainly强。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/tbVFFFFM
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
A、Childrenarehonestbynature.B、Childrenshouldbetaughttobehonest.C、Childrenshouldlearntotellharmlesslieswhenne
Chinanowwheelsintothecarage,forcar【C1】______asthemostpopularsortoftransportation.WhilelongbeforetheChina’sne
WiththestartofBBCWorldServiceTelevision,millionsofviewersinAsiaandAmericacannowwatchtheCorporation’snewscov
Inrecentyearsmanycountriesoftheworldhavebeenfacedwiththeproblemofhowtomaketheirworkersmoreproductive.Some
A、Theboysdon’twanttolistentodifferentmusic.B、Theboysprobablywon’tturndownthemusic.C、Thewomandoesn’tthinkthe
Largecompaniesneedawaytoreachthesavingsofthepublicatlarge.Thestoneproblem,onasmallscale,facespracticallye
Perhapsthemostastonishingtheorytocomeoutofkinetics,thestudyofbodymovement,wassuggestedbyProfessorRayBirdwhis
A、TheVolkswagendriver.B、Thetruckdriver.C、Ballplayers.D、Children’sparents.D
TheHumanBrainThebrainisthemostcomplexorganinhumanbody.Itproducesoureverythought,action,memory,feelingan
随机试题
请编写函数fun,其功能是分别统计形参t所指二维数组中字母A和C的个数注意:部分源程序存在PROG1.C中,请勿改动主函数main和其他函数中的任何内容,仅在函数fun的花括号中填入所编写的若干语句。试题程序:#include<stdio.h>#i
下列哪一案件不能适用中国刑法?()
直肠癌直接蔓延环绕肠管一周约需_______。
异烟肼链霉素
采购人报财政部门办理进口产品审核手续,应按规定格式填写《政府采购进口产品申请表》和相关证明材料,相关证明材料的要求根据进口产品的不同情况有所区别,具体包括()
A上市公司在2012年度利润分配及资本公积转增股本实施公告中披露的分配方案主要信息:每10股送2股派发现金红利0.5元(含税,送股和现金红利均按10%代扣代缴个人所得税),转增4股。股权登记日:2013年3月1日(注:该日收盘价为49元);除权(除息)日:
国家教育部与各省、自治区、直辖市教委之间属于()。
商场促销前先将商品提价20%,再实行“买400送200”的促销活动(200元为购物券,使用购物券时不循环赠送)。问在促销期间,商品的实际价格是不提价前商品原价格的几折?
根据以下资料,回答下列问题。据对全国规模以上文化及相关产业5.4万家企业调查,2017年上半年,上述企业实现营业收入43874亿元,比上年同期增长11.7%(名义增长未扣除价格因素),增速提高3.8个百分点,继续保持较快增长。文化及相关
In1957adoctorinSingaporenoticedthathospitalsweretreatinganunusualnumberofinfluenza-likecases.Influenzaissomet
最新回复
(
0
)