Page 230 - SST Class 07

among counsellors and that they often steer where groups of people are distributed across
females away from certain college prepara- occupation according to gender. Men and
tory courses, especially in mathematics and women possess different physical, emotional and
sciences. mental capabilities. These different capabilities

THE REINFORCEMENT OF MALE make the genders vary in the types of jobs they
DOMINANCE are suited for. While some occupations have
become more gender integrated (mail carriers,
Male dominance is both a socialising and struc-
bus drivers and real estate agents), occupation
tural force. It exists at all levels of society, from
including teachers, nurses, secretaries and
the interpersonal interaction of women and men
librarians have become female dominated.
to the patterning of gender that is found in all
Occupation including architects, electrical engi-
cultural forms and social institutions.
neers and airplane pilots remain predominantly
Language is one such form that perpetuates male
male in composition.
dominance by ignoring women. Use of the
pronoun ‘he’ when the sex of the person is Even a person seeking loans for house negotiat-
unspecified and of the generic term mankind to ing for house can be refused because of gender.
refer to humanity in general are obvious exam- In banking, unequal loan terms can be worked
out or credit can be refused.
ples of how the English language ignores women.
Gendered Media : The media plays up tradi- WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
tional veins of men and women. Boys and or There have been many movements focusing on
men are often portrayed as active, aggressive giving women economic rights. A range of
person while women are portrayed as quiet, government programmes have been launched to
passive and pretty. increase economic opportunities for women.
ECONOMIC ASPECT OF UNPACKING Things are changing for the better. Today, there
GENDER are more girls in schools. More and more women
are coming out of homes to take up jobs or
In the work place wage discrimination is the
engage themselves in business or social work.
discrepancy of wages between two groups due to
This has helped many of them to be financially
a bias towards or against a specific trait with all
independent and self-confident. Women have
other characteristics of both groups being equiva-
also joined political bodies. Today, women form
lent.
about one-third of the elected representatives at
The gendered income disparity can also be
attributed in part to occupational segregation,

Many women have ventured into professions
that were once dominated by men.

Social Science-7 230