Kejejian

Gasig Kejejian
Professor Makarosyan
English 114b
May 11, 2015
wo-MAN
Women today in the United States, who are educated and are working, are seen as
powerful figures to younger females growing up in todays society. In the past, women were not
allowed to equally work the same jobs as some men do in society. For centuries, men naturally
have had higher position jobs in society, for example, government positions, sports, corporate
businesses, lawyers, doctors, and engineers. Women were meant to just be a housewife and
produce and cater to their family. I read a story called Shaman from Woman Warrior, which is
a story about the authors mother and it has true stories of certain similar gender issues she had to
deal with growing up as a Chinese woman. With generations and society changing, women and
mens roles have become equivalent to a certain extent. Society tries to make everyone agree
with a certain social norm, but in reality woman have taken it upon themselves to break the status
quo and take important positions in society today.
Gender inequality is a main issue that I see in todays society and it certainly has
advanced since the womans suffrage movements, but society isnt completely equal yet. Society
sets a social norm for people to have a concept of a certain group of people. This sets conflict
with peoples perception and creates a difference between men and women. Women arent as
accepted and appreciated as men in certain work positions and in society, although they might be
as educated as men. It is more looked at negatively when a female is trying to go to school and
get an education, when they should be taking care of the family and help raise children. We dont

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often see women having high positions in government roles until recent small changes. For
example, we now have Michelle Obama, the first African American first lady in America.
Following with many female judges and senators, such as Shelley Moore Capito and Joni Ernst.
This was a big and new change for society, not many women were paid equally and fairly due to
racial factors in the past. Unfairness treatment, harsh criticism, but yet women still fought to
make a way into society and create a sense of equality with men.
Numerous court rulings and gender discrimination laws have helped legitimized womens
right to equality and yet they arent truly equal in the workplace. In a recent article, Cheryl Lynn
mentions, Gender discrimination laws apply to both men and women equally but women are
often the victim (1). Employment discrimination is a big issue for most women because today
they have the degrees but often men are wanted for the job. The suffrage movement was led by
reformers to publicly pass a constitutional amendment to enfranchise women. Women reformers
such as Susan B Anthony, and other pioneers knew they can make a change and they lobbied
until they passed the legislation. This was a helpful legislation for many women and it didnt stop
any individual until today. The discrimination set for women is unlawful and stirs other issues
such as under-payment of women and a sexist economy. In the story of Shamans, Brave
Orchid the mother, uses her husbands money to go and become a doctor. As a woman she waned
to find her independence and success in society and I think every women should be granted the
work force experience, in this case she created one for herself.
School is not mandatory upon women today, nor was it back in the day. But today we are
given more opportunity and chances to make a difference in society. Education is allowed and
important for everyone, and society is acceptant of womens knowledge in certain subjects. In
the book of the Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston tells us stories of women in china and

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how society was treating them before and after they got an education and started advancing in
life. School wasnt mandatory upon women in china, however it wasnt even an option for many
women in china at the time. Women were not advised to move on and go to school to exceed in
education. If they did it was seem as a shame and many were just going against the social norm,
and tradition.
While norms are important for educational attainment, especially in the developing
world, there are very few people who realize this social issue between genders and all around the
world. Interesting enough, I found an article to connect with The Woman Warrior, and it talks
about gender inequality in education in china. Over the past 3 decades women werent given the
opportunity to progress in society and get educated in china, as Junxia says. We seek to
understand the progress China has made in reducing gender inequality in education since the
1980s . (474) She mentions that gender inequality still exists, but it has been narrowing over
time. It varies by area and level of education the society is provided with. Rural areas are
predicted to face more problems with inequality when they reach high school or beyond.
Breaking the tradition that is passed down from many years is unacceptable for Chinese
people of their rich and old culture. The tradition is the bond that mainly keeps a special tie back
to their culture and who they truly are. Many females struggle is they have a problem with
wanting to go against the tradition, just because they dont really agree with certain things
anymore. They dont want to be a disgrace and be seen differently than the others in their society.
The truth is the change we are seeing now with gender roles is the powerful change we need to
embrace the females in all of society. Taking small steps such as education is the greatest selfachievement anyone can reward himself or herself with. In return, these changes have made it
easier for women in society to be respected nowadays equally with men.

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In addition, a major problem with the gender inequality between men and women, there
is a huge pay gap within the workforce. As of women in the United States, they now are earning
more than half percentage of just as the men in the same labor organizations. Since the equal pay
act, inequality of jobs have been increasing since the 80s and middle wage jobs have been
available to more women, just equal to men. This creates a highly polarized environment for the
gender pay gap in the United States.
Education, characteristics and knowledge can all affect your position ranking in every
job. Equivalent characteristics can provide salary advantages for one gender over the other; in an
article written by Mary Hampton she talks about all advantages and disadvantages. In this study,
we find that the salary of female faculty members is more aligned with the salary in the market,
offsetting the salary advantage of male faculty members that remains unexplained(54). For
example, womens average annual salaries are looked upon to see if they are fair. In regards to
pay equity, these ways of compensation for both sexes should be equal and fair. These can be
offsetting to some, but also encouraging to others to go out and get a job for what they are worth.
One main issue though women are coming across today is, when receiving the education
they need, they arent getting much appreciation or equality compared to a man would with the
same occupation. The society around us has created a sort of norm for gender segregation in
degree choices in life. Its stereotypical but true to think that feminine degrees might come
with a lower income, such as nursing or teaching in general. Other masculine degrees, such as
engineering might have a higher income. Both of these cases vary though whether you are a male
or a female in society. We technically should be equal in all ways especially pay for our jobs.
However society believes that men have an advantage over women when applying for highly
selective jobs, even though more women are educated than men in school.

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The gender inequality sparks other issues due to the aggression towards women and their
position in society. It makes it okay for sexist humors to be correlated towards women more than
men in society. With statistics and facts, women in society today has raised the number of sexual
assaults in schools particularly related to sexist humor, sadly because it is normal to
discriminate against women. The certain attitude comes from actual people living in society
because they choose whats sort of ok. Studies show that the humor creates an environment
where the discrimination and violent behavior towards women is acceptable and this is when we
need the strong powerful women to put a stop to the humor. Its only right to treat everyone
equally and not discriminate just because of gender.
In retrospect, women are just as good and equal to men in todays society. Women in
society today are changing for the better to make a statement, just like Hilary Clinton running for
President. She is trying to make a statement for all women around, that any job, despite the
gender, is acceptable in todays society. Man or woman, were equal and need to start respecting
each other as a whole part of society.

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Work cited
Hampton, Mary, Carol Oyster, Leticia Pena, Pamela Rodgers, and John Tillman. "Gender
Inequality in Faculty Pay." Compensation and Benefits Review, 32.6 (2000): 54.Web. 27
April 2015.
Kelsey, Cheryl Lynn. "Gender Inequality: Empowering Women." Journal of Legal Issues and
Cases in Business, 3 (2015): 1. Web. 27 April 2015.
ZENG, JUNXIA, XIAOPENG PANG, LINXIU ZHANG, ALEXIS MEDINA, and SCOTT
ROZELLE. "Gender Inequality in Education in China: A Metaregression Analysis."
Contemporary Economic Policy, 32.2 (2014): 474-491. Web. 27 April 2015.