Gender Gap In The Workplace

To think about the quote by Judith Lorber and my own life, gender is a socially constructed “being” of masculine or feminine. It does not refer to the genitals or certain biological markers. It is a set of feeling, thinking, and acting to be a man or woman. It is about the personal conception on how an individual sense the one fits into masculine or feminine characteristics. It is also about the social expectations for the state of being male or female. The mutual shaping of individual and society has a certain pressure on how we are supposed to act and produce outcomes associated with masculinity and femininity. This subjective view was perceived and reinforced across cultures, society and time. Thus, the attached meaning of this term changes

There is a difference in the payment for men and women that depends on their gender. On average, women are paid less than men. In gender stratifying of work, it follows with the gender norms and roles that privilege men and disadvantage women. Males are heavily represented as breadwinner. They are advanced to the upper class and “top of the pyramid”, such as director, administrator and supervisor. The jobs for men tend to be in leadership positions. By contrast, female should be the subordinate of male. She is considered to be temporarily participating in the job and intimately bear more responsibility to her own family. This socially constructed dominants and the oppressed has rooted in our minds and behaviors. The higher-paying fields are ranked and occupied by certain gender. It is a hierarchical structure comes with appropriate masculine and feminine

In my personal experiences, family also operated in that way. There is a very clear gender division of labor between my father and mother. For being a man, my father is the head of the family. For being a good woman, my mum follows his decision and does all the housework. There is also a double standard between sons and daughters. My older brother enjoys privileges. If we ask for the same thing, he is most likely to get a “yes”. It is fine for him to do that, but I am not allowed to do the same thing as I am a girl. Sometimes, I just wear T-shirt and jeans. Then, my family would think it looks too “boy”. Males and females are judged by unequal standards that come from gender. These unequal statuses are in social assumption of masculine and