Khachatourians 1

Edwin Khachatourians
Professor Jon Beadle
English 115
24 September, 2016
Inequality is Everywhere
Throughout time there have been many wrongs that have corrected as the years go by.
Society as a whole begins to become further educated and through the gift of knowledge corrects
its wrong ideology. There can be many examples of this throughout time; the treatment of black
people in America, the false stereotype of Muslims in America being terrorists after the attacks
on the twin towers on September 11, 2001, and many more are some examples. However, some
things have not been corrected like inequality in sex and gender. Sex is defined as either male or
female and is what one is born as, determined by the biological features. Gender on the other
hand is not biological but rather the categorization of behavior as masculine and feminine. In
recent years people are trying to bring forth a change in the balance of inequality. This can be
seen in the articles, Rethinking Womens Biology by Ruth Hubbard and Judith Lorbers,
Night to his Day the fact that multiple authors write about the shared idea of inequality in
gender, where women are not valued as much as men, through the use of separations, and
restrictions, reveals a need for a change in societys lives.
One way authors reveal the inequalities of gender is through the separation of men and
women in society even when performing the same task. This inequality can be seen in Judith
Lorbers, Night to his Day. Lorber writes about the work place relations between men and
women where she brings up the fact that, Women recruits in the U.S. Marine corps are required

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to wear makeup- at a minimum, lipstick and eye shadow- and have to take classes in makeup,
hair car, poise, and etiquette (Lorber 27). Due to the fact that women must take classes, wear
makeup and men do not, reveals that there is a social separation between the two. This is due to
society trying to get women to follow a feminine gender while keeping the males at a masculine
gender. By forcing each sex to adopt their stereotypical gender, society creates a wall of
separation between them negatively influencing the minds of the young. Lorber tries to convey
that men and women should be equal and not be forced to do something if the other sex doesnt
have to equally do it. By neglecting to do so women are kept at a lower position of men by being
forced to do things where men are free to not have to do the same, thus giving men more
freedom. Now that I understand this I have noticed that it has influenced my own life as well. For
example, me and my sister have a separation between us. One way this can be seen is in our
chores. While she was assigned indoor tasks I was assigned tasks that required outdoor work.
This stereotypical idea that a man should be outside and a woman should be inside doing
feminine things create a separation between us even when we were doing the same thing, chores.
I believe that what society pushed on us was wrong and we both should have the honor of doing
what the other is doing so we can grow to be well rounded individuals. Unfortunately, society
was able to separate us through the use of their ideas of gender causing an un equality between
us.
Another way that there is inequality in todays society due to gender is the restrictions
that society places on its people to have each sex correspond with the stereotypical gender it is
supposed to match with. This idea is portrayed in Rethinking Womens Biology by Ruth
Hubbard, Hubbard address the differences of men and womens physiology and that Women are
smaller because they eat less than they should be to fill that stereotypical behavior that society

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has placed on women (Hubbard 48). This reveals that in reality there should be no difference
between men and women due to the fact that women are expected to eat less their bodies arent
allowed to get the nutrients it needs to even the playing field. However due to the fact that
society makes women follow the feminine gender instead of allowing them to choose helps
create physiological differences between the two sexes since eating too much is thought of
masculine and not right for a woman to do. This leads to the difference in physical features like
height since their bodies didnt receive the necessary nutrients it needs to grow to the same size.
Hubbard uses this to portray the idea that it is un equal for society to judge someone if they dont
follow he restriction society has set for them, and not allow them to grow into the person they
wish to be. I was able to notice this in my own life as well. I noticed how, many tall girls were
not thought of as attractive as girls of shorter heights. Girls like my sister who is five foot ten
inches would be thought of as masculine or not sought after. I know that this is not the case
though. Just because she doesnt match the societal norm, of the gender they have enforced upon
women does not mean she is any less beautiful than if she was five foot two inches. I choose to
not accept that society will determine what is acceptable of gender that it creates. Both should be
free to do as they wish and grow into who they choose to be in terms of gender and sex.
The word gender is not a simple one. Gender is more complex than what I previously
believed. Gender is not binary to the two stereotypical knowns, it is not set in stone and is
constantly changing growing and evolving. In addition, Gender is a construct that varies from
society to society. Society not only has the power to construct gender but it also has the power to
assign gender to sexes causing the sexes to have a separation between them instead of unifying
them further. Society also enforces particular sexes to go with the stereotypical gender. This
results in a never ending cycle of parents teaching their kids this ideal and in turn the kids

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become adults and teach their own children the same way of thinking whether they know it or
not, in other words a self-fulfilling prophecy. All of these cause there to be an inequality within
society between the sexes and the genders. They cause men and women to be separate even when
preforming the same tasks as seen in the military, or in my life as the chores my sister and I
would do around the house. It also causes differences between men and women in the aspect of
physical appearances as seen by the fact that women are shorter than men due to the fact that
they are expected to eat less if they are going to be accepted by society, depriving them of
necessary nutrients. All of these result in keeping females in a place where it would be nearly
impossible if they chose to go against what society enforces. Authors like Hubbard and Lorber
write articles to call for a renewal in this system and bring forth a way of thinking where males
and females dont have to live in unequal conditions. I see that there needs to be a change if
society is going to further advance together rather than be pulled apart based on what they think
is acceptable or not. We as the people of today have the power to choose many things like our
next president, or a law we think is right. We need to decide if we are going to add to the selffulfilling prophecy (cycle) or will we break the chain and bring our brothers and sisters together
as equals in all aspects.

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Work Cited
Hubbard, Ruth. "Rethinking Women's Biology." Composing Gender. Edited by. Rachel Groner
and John F. O'Hara. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 46-52
Lorber, Judith. ""Night to His Day": The Social Construction of Gender." Composing Gender.
Edited by. Rachel Groner and John F O'Hara. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. Page
19-34