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
32
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.
Women earn less money than men even if they do the same type of work.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
A
解析
本题相应信息在第五段第二句“Yet there are…the same type of work”。这句的大意:即使男性和女性从事同一工作,他们之间的报酬也是相差很大的。句中“substantial”一词可作“相当的;非常的”解释。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/fnr7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
WiththestartofBBCWorldServiceTelevision,millionsofviewersinAsiaandAmericacannowwatchtheCorporation’snewscov
A、Fromtheparentsofthestudents.B、Fromthedonationofthesociety.C、Fromthecontributionsofinfluentialpeople.D、Fromt
Inspiteof"endlesstalkofdifference",Americansocietyisanamazingmachineforhomogenizingpeople.Thisis"thedemocrati
A、Stretchingexercises.B、Longdistancerunning.C、Activewalking.D、Jumpingjacks.B文中讲话人提到热身活动包括stretchingexercises,jumpingj
Societywasfascinatedbyscienceandthingsscientificinthenineteenthcentury.Greatbreakthroughsinengineering,theuseo
DoweneedcitiesanymoreIdon’twanttoliveinacity.Perhapswedividenaturallyintotwotypes:thoseforwhomcities
Perhapsthemostastonishingtheorytocomeoutofkinetics,thestudyofbodymovement,wassuggestedbyProfessorRayBirdwhis
Perhapsthemostastonishingtheorytocomeoutofkinetics,thestudyofbodymovement,wassuggestedbyProfessorRayBirdwhis
Perhapsthemostastonishingtheorytocomeoutofkinetics,thestudyofbodymovement,wassuggestedbyProfessorRayBirdwhis
Withamixedfeelingofprideanddiscontent,Prof.MitchellsatonthefrontlawnofPrincetonHighSchool,watchingtheClass
随机试题
A.支气管哮喘B.支气管肺癌C.支气管扩张D.阻塞性肺气肿E.肺结核上腔静脉阻塞综合征常见于
设定标准(根据质量要求)、测量结果、判定是否达到定期要求,对质量问题采取措施进行矫正、补救,并防止再发生的过程称为()。
银行汇票的付款期限是()。
期货公司风险监管指标包括()。[2016年3月真题]
某实行定期定额征收方式的个体工商户计划办理停业税务登记,其下列做法错误的是()。
综合各种分类,可以将企业面对的主要风险分为外部风险和内部风险,下列不属于外部风险的是()。
【2012年】在识别和评估重大错报风险时,下列各项中,注册会计师应当假定存在舞弊风险的是()。
已知某固定资产投资项目计算期为13年,固定资产投资为120万元,建设期内资本化利息为10万元,预备费为11万元。包括建设期的回收期为5年,不包括建设期的回收期为2年。如果该固定资产采用直线法计提折旧,净残值为20万元,则年折旧额为()万元。
设X1,X2,…,Xm和Y1,Y2,…,Yn是分别取自总体都为正态分布N(μ,σ2)的两个相互独立的简单随机样本,记它们的样本方差分别为SX2和SY2,则统计量T=(n—1)(SX2+SY2)的方差D(r)=()
Smokingisconsidereddangeroustothehealth.Ourtobacco--seller,Mr.Johnson,therefore,alwaysaskshiscustomers,iftheya
最新回复
(
0
)