Final Research Paper

Equality for men and women! Equal rights! We are one in the same! These are some of
the statements that may be made when at an equality event or even asking a simple question
about equality of the sexes. While some are stuck in their old ways of Men get the bacon and
women care for the home and children. Over the years it has been great changes in how women
and men are compared and viewed whether it be in the home or the job setting. More progress
has been made to ensure that women are getting their rightful share of respect compared to the
men, but lets be realistic for a moment, do you honestly think that men and women will ever be
describes as equal? Also if women want to be a mans equal does that mean that she shouldnt be
treated as a woman anymore, for example shivery, empathy/ sympathy for being a woman? I for
one dont feel like there will be a day that we will truly be equal but I do feel as though we
should dump the gender norm of women and men and be able to do as we please in our own
homes whether it be the stereotype or the total opposite. I think that we as men and women
should be differentiated by an emotional aspect though because genetically we are very different
people. The main concern is that we all should have equal material benefits such as wages, jobs,
etc. gender does not weigh your abilities as a person. For example strength, all women arent
weak and all men arent strong.
One of my best examples of the changes in equality through men and women were
through a primary source video. It is a progressive commercial and it starts off normally but it
was based in the 50s, with the main character Flo (who is a woman) explaining car insurance and
then an older man interjects her and says that women shouldnt be thinking about car insurance
and that its the male job. Flo talks about how men or women can get it and he precedes to ask
her where her husband is. The bad thing about this commercial is the fact that it actually used to

be that bad and still is in some countries. The commercial showed that the world is changing for
instance how Flo, a woman, is the leading role on the commercial and that they actually
reenacted a time where it wouldnt be acceptable. Not only in the case of Flo but in many
commercials and movies women have been getting lead roles over men more. The only issue
then the difference in pay rate between men and women. As time progresses the world becomes
better and more accepting of womens rights. I think the change is good but in some instances it
can be bad, because then women flip the scenario and want to complain about not being treated
as women in the first place when honestly its what we are asking for. I still dont feel like
women and men will ever be equal because it just wont work out.
So who is supposed to provide for the family? If you ask some people they will say the
male, always, but others dont really care who the breadwinner and caregiver are in the family.
Ruth Gaunt wrote a scholarly article on the double standards of men and women as the caregiver
vs the breadwinner. I for one dont think there should be a double standard because it is
unreasonable to think that all a womans job in life to do is be a caregiver. Same for the thought
that the man is only supposed to be the provider. In the article Ruth evaluates three hundred and
eleven people, male and female, who were either the breadwinner or the care giver. In the article
the author always used a double standard when it came to the couples with a working mother and
a caregiving father she called them, non- traditional couples. In the evaluation section of the
article the author tells how even though the mother is the breadwinner she would never be as
great as the father (or men in general) when it came to hard work and money. When evaluating
the men caregivers, they got a vote of doing an alright job with the children compared to very
good when it came to their wives (or women in general). When reading and evaluating the
article you cant help but think that the author leans more to the traditional aspect of family.

While many people feel otherwise, there still will be people who ridicule others because they feel
like its unorthodox to have the roles switched.
In the event that the roles are switched, which in 2016 is happening more than ever, the
woman does work and probably has a great job but the catch is no matter how great women are
we will never get paid as much as our male coworkers who in most instances do the exact same
thing as us. In a scholarly article by Hadas Mandel, she explains how women go up the down
staircase meaning that no matter how successful we are in a job and how much we are
promoted, compared to a man we are always getting paid less. In the article the author speaks
about how more jobs and careers that are predominantly male positions are opening their doors
for more women to take the spot rather than men. Although that is great step for women it is still
a losing battle seeing as for every dollar a male makes the female makes seventy-nine cents. Its
seen this way everywhere, to explain a more popular example is in movies. When a man gets a
leading role in a movie he gets paid substantially more than a woman leading role. Comparing
the top paid male actor Robert Downey to the top paid female actress Jennifer Lawrence, he
made 431 million while she made about half at 218 million. Both top paid leading roles of 2015
but a great difference in pay. When talking about men and women equality in pay rate Im all for
it just because I know that in my occupation as a doctor later in life that I will be getting paid less
than all of my male colleagues which will never be fair no matter how they explain it. Men have
always been paid more than women and it needs to change.
While thinking of all of these reasons to be for and against equality between men and
women there starts to be an attitude in some people that arrives called feminism. Feminism is the
advocacy of womens rights on all aspects comparable to man. In a scholarly article by Daniel
Myers and Catherine Bolzendahl on feminist attitudes and support for gender equality, the two

authors do a study on feminist attitudes and gender norms between men and women of two
different decades. They asked questions about employment, race, age, education, etc. to gauge
different points of view between men and women of these different categories. The point the
author was trying to get across was that the idea of equality was getting better over the gap in
generations and that people were more subject to change as time went on. They concluded that
women and men who wanted more equality were more likely to have a feminist attitude toward
the world and womens rights compared to people who were stuck in the old ways of thinking
that women are supposed to be the caregivers and house keepers and the men were supposed to
work hard to bring home the bacon. When talking about feminism people get it so often confused
with men haters which is not true. Its not that feminist hate men or even that they have
anything against them at all other than the facts that they should want equality for both sexes
basically saying people should have more of an open mind when it comes to feminism.
Are gender norms taught? If you ask me I would tell you yes, they are taught because if
you ask a three-year-old how they feel about a Barbie vs an action figure theyd probably play
with both seeing as they are both toys no matter if its a girl or a boy. In a scholarly article by
Claire Conry-Murray she does a study on children aged from six through ten and also continued
the study on adults. When she did the study on the six year olds they were given toys specific to
gender so the girls got playing cards and the boys got math computer games, in their study it was
clear that either being a girl or boy they didnt care which toy they were given and often
switched with one another depending on their liking showing no sign or gender norm. When she
moved to the older 10 year olds and adults she did the same study in which they did differentiate
which toy was for girls and which was for boys and stuck to their genders toy pick. So why when
given to the older children did we see the difference? Probably because they were taught the

this is for girls and this is for boys rules by now. This study shows that although things are
differentiated by gender it is also something that is taught.
I can remember times as a younger girl when I didnt feel comfortable with doing certain
things or people actually told me that it wasnt lady like to do things and I never truly
understood until I was older. When were younger they prep us for what we deal with now. When
it comes to boys and men they have to be strong, always, no emotions no crying, always have to
work hard and be on top of their game. When compared to girls we get the softer treatment, more
compassion and caring side we also often get a pass on more things than men ever would just for
being a girl which isnt fair or equal on our side of the spectrum compared to theirs. That again
is another reason why to me at the end of the day men and women can only be equal to a certain
extent because if women want ALL of the rights of men we have to give up the caring and
forgiving side of people just as men do, we also cant justify why we should be able to feel
certain ways because if we compare that to men most of the time they arent given a choice or a
second chance and when they have a downfall it is up to them to get themselves out of their slum
they have very few to no handouts compared to women.
This primary source is an article by two women, Raewyn Cowell and Rebecca Pearse from the
University of Sydney, one is a professor and the other a researcher. The two women come
together and basically dissect if gender norms are the enemy, how theyre used in everyday life
and the dynamic of change going on with them in the past till now. One of the starting and best
arguments in the article is, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW) itself has a clear aim: To modify the social and cultural patterns of
conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and
customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority

of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women. (Cowell & Pearse). Which is
what the CEDAW stated to try and fix the social and gender norms. In the article they also state
that social norms are a key excuse of social injustice. The authors stated, Beneficiaries of
patriarchal privilege often appeal to tradition, custom, culture, values or religion. In
rich and poor countries, gender norms are claimed as warrants for anything from domestic
violence and occupational segregation to polygamy and compulsory pregnancy. However, even
those who benefit from gender inequality recognize that norms can change, since they fear
change; and that is an important fact. Norms are not fixed and unassailable. Gender norms,
specifically, do change through time. Gender norms do not reflect a simple biological dichotomy
indeed, no part of the gender order does. The social arrangements we call gender concern
the complex ways human reproduction, and reproductive bodies, are handled in the everchanging life of human societies. (Cowell & Pearse). The part I just quoted from the article
improves an argument I was trying to pose earlier about the children being tested in a gender
study. It also tells how gender norms and womens rights can change they just are taught at such
a young age that it feels like it is the normal thing to do they also made a comment about that
saying, Our report emphasizes the dynamic nature of gender norms. Discussions about gender
norms commonly assume that norms are reproduced automatically from generation to
generation, as people are socialized into norms. According to this model, children are rewarded
for conformity, punished for deviance, and identify with role models. So the gender norms of
their culture are installed immovably in their heads, and later acted out in adulthood. The adults
then socialize the next generation into the same norms, and so on. (Cowell & Pearse) So
basically saying the authors tell that the thought of gender and social norms arent something
passed through genetically but manually through a generational idea that since we as human have

different reproductive set ups that women and men are set to do different things and men are the
heads. It is also a very big thing in religion, I am a Christian and at my church, the church of
Christ, we dont have any women in the hierarchy and in the bible it states how men should be
the head of the family and lead the church and although I do believe these things I dont feel like
that means pay differences.

The next part would be my counteracting argument I started with a primary source article.
In this opinionated article Suzanne Venker talks about how feminism isnt helping towards
strides for equality but hurting us in the way we develop relationships. Starting with the quote,
But young women have an added burden: theyve been raised in a society that eschews
marriage. Theyve been taught instead to honor sex, singlehood and female empowerment.
(Venker). She points out how its good that women are getting to control their lives in the ways
that they would want them to be but it is counteracting when it comes to responsibility and
commitment. She made two good points, one being that women are in and out of relationships or
live with their boyfriend but dont think of having children or moving forward until they realize
that their biological clock is ticking. The second reasoning is that she feels that marriage is
becoming more of a competitive sport now because everyone is just rushing to get with someone
resulting in a battle of who does more than who and etc. Her result was that we broke the chain
of equality but no one won because we definitely didnt expect the men to just back down. So
honestly are men and women equal? No. but do I feel like it hurts us? Yes. I feel like if the
simple things were fixed like having the same pay rate and job opportunity then there wouldnt
even be a conversation. Money and success is the root of all evil and it shows in how women and
men are compared.

I did a lot of research on this topic most of them being in secondary sources which are scholarly
articles. Most of the thoughts were the same on the topic of men and women equality in these
saying that men and women should be equal but also explaining why they arent or the
consequences women have to face when wanting the equality. None of my articles so far have
considered the changes that have to happen to men also if women and men will truly be equals,
will men have more compassion put on them in situations? Or will the women have to toughen
up and do what they need to do? Im basically saying that as a woman I dont want to be
compared or equal on an emotional level because a lot would have to go into that to make it
perfect on both sides. Intellectually and worldly though I feel as though women and men should
have equal rights so like my examples, I think we should have the same pay rates, women and
men should be able to pick if they want to be the caregiver or the breadwinner and all of these
should be choices made by their own living situations. Lets face it biologically women and men
are not equal and never will be but we should be gauged on talents and abilities not what we are
born as.
In conclusion, women and men will always be different genetically but we should not be
judged on what we have as a women or a man but our strengths and abilities as human beings. I
agree with both of my arguments in the sense that both are true in some senses, for religious
reasons and other aspects I agree that women and men have a role but I also agree with the fact
that it has nothing to do with material and earthly things such as money and jobs. I also agree
with my counter argument that men and women shouldnt be in a race for equality because then
marriage becomes the battle of which can provide the most for the relationship which can cause
the rates of marriage in the 21st century to be the lowest because as women we are always trying
to prove that we are stronger, better, etc. when in reality it is okay for both partners to have a

good job and good role it shouldnt be a competition. This on going argument will be forever a
topic that is battled between the sexes but I think it will get better when we all learn to stop
mixing material with emotion and women get the same credit as men do when it comes to work
but in the home setting the idea of being a woman and the care and nurture aspects are still there
same for the masculinity of men.

Work cited

Progressive. "Black and White - Progressive Insurance Commercial." Online video clip.

YouTube. YouTube, 5 Oct. 2015. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Gaunt, Ruth. "Breadwinning Moms, Caregiving Dads: Double Standard In Social
Judgments Of Gender Norm Violators." Journal Of Family Issues 34.1 (2013): 3-24.

ERIC. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.

Mandel, Hadas. "Up The Down Staircase: Women's Upward Mobility And The Wage
Penalty For Occupational Feminization, 1970-2007." Social Forces 91.4 (2013): 1183-

1207. ERIC. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Bolzendahl, Catherine I., and Daniel J. Myers. "Feminist Attitudes and Support for
Gender Equality: Opinion Change in Women and Men, 1974-1998." Social Forces 83.2

(2004): 759-790. ERIC. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

Conry-Murray, Clare. "Children's Judgments Of Inequitable Distributions That Conform
To Gender Norms." Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal Of Developmental Psychology

61.3 (2015): 319-344. ERIC. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.

Venker, Suzanne. To be happy we must admit that women and men arent equal. Fox
News Opinion. Fox News Opinion, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2016