Malala Yousafzai once said, “I raise up my voice-not so I can shout but so that those without a voice can be heard…we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” Today we live in a male-dominated society in which women are looked down upon and belittled. Women and men should be seen as equals, but sadly even in this day in age, that is still not the case. Women receive an unfair disadvantage in society and more specifically the workplace solely because of their gender, but when will it end? In such an advanced society that we live in you would think we would have equality, but still we don’t. It is sad for us to think that our gender creates such a controversy in the workplace and effects the way we are treated in society. Even in 2019 women still receive unfair wages compared to their male co-workers. This reason for unequal pay solely being their gender, not their ability to work or work ethic.
Not only do women receive unequal pay but unfair treatment as well. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates fixed gender roles in society through the protagonists Hester and Dimmesdale. Even though both committing the same sin of adultery, Hester and Dimmesdale receive different treatment in their community, Dimmesdale was praised while Hester was looked down upon and shamed. In The Scarlet Letter, the matter of gender roles can be viewed through the people of the towns’ contradicting opinions towards Hester and Dimmesdale’s public confession. The world in which we live in today is demonstrating a system of inequality in the workplace through unfair wages, a persistent culture of sexual harassment that leaves women generally disempowered in society.
Just as Hester was discriminated by her townspeople, women in the workplace constantly face the same type of shaming that Hester received. Women are faced with gender stereotypes on a day to day basis which hurts the self-value of these individuals and their morale. “About 42% of working women in the United States say they have faced discrimination on the job because of their gender” (Parker). This number of working women receiving this discrimination is absolutely astonishing and unacceptable. How can we sit back and let this happen? “A review of many studies…found that clearly competent men were rated higher than equally competent women… One study…found that two-thirds of managers selected male job candidates, even when the men did not perform as well as the women on math problems that were part of the application process” (Rivers and Barnett).
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What does this say about our employers? Can they be trusted to find good, eligible people to help the companies of the United States grow? Due to this discrimination in the workforce, women are seen as unpowerful and therefore easy to take advantage of, leaving room for possibilities of sexual harassment and unequal pay. Due to the gender discrimination happening in our places of work there is a significant difference in the pay received between men and women. “On average, a woman earns 80.5 cents for every dollar a man earns, and women’s median annual earnings are $10,086 less than men’s, according to data from the 2017 U.S. Census Bureau” (Wolfe). Women work equally as hard as men do, so why should they receive any less pay then what they deserve? This issue dates back to many years ago in our history when men made the money and women stayed at home to do house chores and take care of the children.
We can’t specifically blame these old customs for the lack of integrity in the workforce today, but it does stem from this. Due to this old way of thinking, women are faced with unfair wages. “If change continues at the same slow pace as it has done for the past fifty years, it will take 41 years—or until 2059—for women to finally reach pay parity” (Institute For Women’s Policy Research). During Hester’s time, she would have never thought that equal treatment of the genders could happen, and it is sad to say that this time of equality has still not yet come. The gender superiority of men allows for women to be denied of equal opportunities and not given a fair chance compared to her male co-worker. Hester was not given the chance to speak her truth just as many women have today. Unequal opportunities allow for unequal balance in the workplace and for more discrimination to follow.
“The results show that, of the 17 workplace areas we asked about, the one that women are least likely to have experienced compared to men is being given the opportunity to lead on a project. While 59% of men have been had the chance to take charge of a project, this falls to 44% among women” (YouGov). This information proves that the lack of leadership positions available for women is evident and a problem. “The final experience that the majority of women believe was down to gender are comments over appearance. Half (51%) of those who have received such comments in the workplace believe they did so because they were female”(YouGov). Besides the fact of the unequal opportunities given to women, they are even picked at by their appearance.
Many women already struggle to fit the unattainable body and beauty standards of society, and yet they have to face them when they go to work as well. “By contrast, only a very small number of men believe anything that has happened to them in the workplace is down to their gender, with the highest being the 18% of men who believe comments on their appearance were only made because they are men” (YouGov). These statistics show that women feel that they are discriminated for their looks a little bit less than three times that of men.
The gender gap is obvious, so why are we doing nothing to stop it? As children we are raised with the idea of male superiority in our society and that this is a man’s world. That’s how it has always been and how it will continue to be if we don’t take a stand. With the rise in the number of women’s rights movements recently, it is evident that making a change can be as simple as using your voice to raise awareness for this issue of gender inequality. If you witness inequality in your own community, don’t stand and watch, take action because silence is a killer. The society that we live in today is continuing a system of inequality in the workplace through unfair wages, a persistent culture of sexual harassment that leaves women disempowered in society. Help the fellow women around you, don’t bring them down.
Some people may sit around just hoping for equality between the genders, but what are you actually doing to contribute? I urge you to do whatever you can to break the gender gap. If you really want to help break down gender barriers then you can reach out to your Congressperson and write them a letter. We as women will continue to fight for equality in a world of discouragement. Gender equality in the workplace can start with one woman with a voice and a hope for change. Together we can end gender inequality. I encourage you to join me in this fight. As Bella Abzug, who served in the House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 and was a leader of the Women’s Movement, once said, “The test of whether or not you can hold a job should not be in the arrangement of your chromosomes.”
