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Gender Inequality

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Submitted By me11330
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English 101
December 10, 2012
Gender Inequality: How Women get the Short Stick
Gender equality and gender roles go hand in hand in today’s economy. These two concepts complement each other to the extent in which one must know about both to fully understand the capacity of either. Gender roles are roles each sex is given. These are stereotypical things. For example, things like women cook and males work. In todays economy men and women are not equal. Gender inequality and gender roles are one of our countries biggest issues. Gender is how people are seen by society. This is imprinted in the brain at a young age and is formed and molded through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and late adulthood. Each stage comes with different ideas about gender and power.
Childhood is the point in life where the environment most influences the formation of gender schemas and stereotypes. Gender schemas are an important part of understanding how a person sees the opposite sex. Gender Schemas are “the generalizations that children develop about the differences between boys and girls” (Stevenson 3). On the other hand there is stereotyping. Stereotyping is also process that begins during childhood. Young children know that male stereotypes are high in power whereas female stereotypes convey fear and helplessness. Children are influenced by information about gender from family, peers, and the media (Stevenson 3). This justifies the argument that men and women aren’t treated equal.
Gender Roles are evident, but may not be consciously recognized during the early years of life. “In order for a developing child to comprehend information related to another’s sex the child must have some concept that males and females are different” (Stevenson 8). “Each child is expected to learn how to act according to sex and by what seems appropriate, and to avoid what isn’t for that sex” (Stevenson

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