Free Essay Sample on Gender Equality in the United States

Introduction

Gender equality has been an issue of concern for many years across the globe. Gender equality refers to equal access and distribution of opportunities and resources regardless of one's gender and also being included in the decision making process and economic participation. Currently, most countries across the globe have been trying hard to ensure that the issue of gender equality has been achieved. Other organizations such as the united nations are also at the frontline of promoting gender equality all over the world. This is evident in the united nations millennium development goals report that indicates that the role of the united nations is to attain women empowerment and gender equality. The united nation has promoted gender equality through various ways such as ensuring that there is equal pay for both men and women working on the same job. In the united states, there has been significant progress towards gender equality since early 1900s (Inglehart et al. 13). According to the world, economic forum ranking united states is ranked position twenty-two out of one hundred and forty-four country in terms of attaining gender equality(Inglehart et al. 53). The country has attained gender equality by encouraging women to take part in both political and economic leadership, supporting the women-owned business and enhancing women's access to healthcare.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The American government has been able to promote gender equality through the implementation of various strategies that include. First, the creation of various unions. For example, the white house council for girls and women. These unions help to fight for women rights and also seek more improved ways of enhancing gender equality within the country. Secondly, The government has also allocated additional resources towards combating violence against girls and women. For example, the government has allocated over $80 million towards combating the issue of sexual assaults in both women and girls within the united states. Thirdly, implementation of the affordable act, which prevents insurance companies from charging high premiums based on sex. The effort to promote gender equality within the united states has helped to enhance the country's economic growth and development since every individual involved in undertaking the national duties.

Political Participation

In the recent past, the number of women occupying and vying for various political positions has increased tremendously in the united states. According to a report by the Center for American women and politics, in the year 2003, approximately 18.3% of the congressional seats are occupied by women and approximately 23% of elective seats are occupied by women (Kabeer & Naila, 16). The number of women occupying both the congressional and statewide seats have however continued to increase steadily since the year 2013. According to another report in the year 2013, among the one hundred big cities in the unites states, ten cities were being led by mayors, this number has also continuously continued to grow(Kabeer & Naila, 16). In the year 2015, the number of women occupying the united states senate seats increased to approximately 24% while the number of women in the house of representatives increased to 19.3 percent (Barreto et al. 103). The increased number of women joining politics is as a result of various reasons that include; first, continued government effort to encourage women to vie for various political positions within the country. For example, the government has created various policies that are aimed at motivating the women in the united states to vies for the various political seats. Secondly increased women voter registration and turnout. The strong women voter registration and turnout as compared to that of the men within the country is a clear indication of the on-going struggle for women to participate in politics. The large number of registered women voters tend to motivate the women aspiring to join politics since they tend to count on the large number of register women to vote for them so that they can represent them in the various leadership positions. According to research, despite most political seats being occupied by the men, it is evident that the number of women occupying the various political position is increasing every year (Eisenberg & Jeff Spinner, 76). This is a clear indication that the united states government has put tremendous effort towards gender equality. It is therefore evident that with this trend, women will be occupying approximately half of the political positions in the near future.

Work Life and Economics

The number of women engaged in work life is on the increase in the united states. Almost every woman in the American population has either a part-time or a fulltime job. This has made it easy for the families to raise and support their children since both parents can cost share the expenses. The increased number of women in the workforce is as a result of increased government, business and societal support for the working women. For example, the government has introduced a fully paternal and maternal leave policy as a way of supporting the working women in the united states.

Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Currently, the issue of women being sexually discriminated and mistreated in the workplace has come to an end. The women are currently being offered equal opportunities with the men. For example, when applying for a certain job in a company both a man or a woman can qualify for the job, this is because the job qualifications are not based on a person's gender instead the qualification depends on a person's academic qualifications and experience. This tends to motivate more women to apply for various vacant positions in different organizations without fear of being discriminated. Also, there are no cases of discrimination in the workplace. The available jobs are equally distributed to people of both genders, delegating a certain job for a specific gender. For example, both the male and female genders are offered equal opportunities in both the office and manual work in an organization. The type of job that an individual is offered depends on his or her skills but not on the individual's gender. The government has implemented various policies and regulation that are followed strictly to ensure that no organization is practicing discrimination within the workplace. Absence of cases of discrimination in the workplace tends to be a clear proof that the United States has achieved gender equality thus motivating more women to join the labor force.

Pay Gap

Since the implementation of the equal pay act in the united states, the gender pay gap has been reducing significantly. The gap began to decrease in the year 1900s after the government effort to ensure equality and equal pay despite the gender(Kuhlmann and Ellen, 115). According to reports by the international labor organizations. In the year 2010, the American women earned approximately 81% of what the men earned, however, this gap has reduced significantly in the recent past as a result of the continued government effort (Lombardo et al. 186). According to reports by the pew research center analysis, in the year 2018 women earned approximately 85% of what their male counterparts earned (Inglehart et al. 54). This is a clear indication of the continued government effort to minimize the existing gender pay gap within the country. The young women gender gap has also reduced over time. For example in the year, 1980 women aged between twenty-five and thirty-three years earned approximately thirty-three cents less as compare to the male counterparts while in the year 2018 the women earned approximately eleven cents less compared to the male(Inglehart et al. 153).

The united states government is trying to reduce the gender gap through the implementation of various strategies that include; first, the introduction of the anti-discrimination legislation. In the year 2003, the I American government accountability office found out that the huge gender pay gap that existed was mainly due to the increased workplace discrimination cases in the united states(Lombardo et al. 123). This motivated the government to introduce various anti-discrimination laws such as the equal pay act in both the public and private sectors. Reduction of the increased discrimination cases in the workplace led to the increase of women in the workplace thus triggering a reduction of the gender pay gap. Secondly, the introduction of awareness campaigns. The American civil societies organize various equal pay campaigns, for example, the equal pay day awareness campaign and equal work for equal pay campaign. These campaigns intend to enhance the public attention on the issue of gender pay and also to encourage the population to fight for their rights. The campaigns also intended to encourage various organizations to respect the rights of the workers by reducing the gender pay gap. The annual gender gap reports helps the American government to identify the state of the gender pay differences and also help in planning when and how the government will conduct the awareness campaigns.

Occupation Segregation Based on Gender

Cases of occupation segregation have reduced significantly in the united states; this has been achieved through the government ensuring that there is equal distribution of gender in all occupations across the country and also there is equal representation of both genders in the high employment opportunities. This has been achieved through the government setting aside a certain portion of vacancies for the women the ensuring that the women are represented in every field. The women have also started joining the male-dominated field such as vehicle mechanics while the male have also entered the female-dominated areas such as catering. This move tends to be a clear indication of the government effort to enhance gender equality.

Education

In the recent past, the number of women joining school in the united states has increased at a very high rate. The ratio of boys to girls attending school in the united states is reducing every year since more girls are now ready and willing to join school. There has been an increase in the number of girls joining elementary schools due to the provision of various favorable factors such as the abolishment of sexual discrimination in schools and reduced cases of bullying and violence. These favorable factors tend to motivate most parents to take their children particularly the girl child to school since they now trust that the schools will take good care of their children. Although the number of boys in school is higher than that of the girls, the girts usually perform better than the boys from kindergarten to colleges. However, the girls tend to spend more time in books for them to excel better than the boys. According to research, the number of women joining colleges and universities is also on the increase. Also According to the united states department of education, It is estimated that approximately 50% of all students in campuses in the united states are women(Inglehart et al. 103). The department also estimated that by the year 2026 approximately 57% of the total college students will be women(Squires & Judith, 115).