Argumentative Synthesis

Jessie Cobb

Dennis Turner

Eng 111-22TR

18 April 2016

With all the equality standards that have risen, why is gender inequality still an issue in today’s time? Gender inequality is a big issue in America and has grown tremendously over the years. Women should not be held to higher behavioral standards than men, but the two genders should have equal behavioral expectations. If equal behavioral standards are not maintained both women’s and men’s social, romantic, and professional relationships may suffer.

One type of relationship that suffers by unequal behavioral standards is social. Women are commonly held back from doing what they want. They are said to be more lady- like and girly which holds girls back from doing something outdoors that a male might do. Which is shown by the following quote from an article, “the most important schism between female and male sexuality in our society concerns motivations and power: men initiate, women submit. This distinction permeates social life”. Women aren’t the only ones that suffer when it comes to social relationships. Men are told they cannot express vulnerability. If males express their emotions they are said to be sissy or girly by society. We see how Society has a big impact on how we view gender as stated, “gender involves social norms, attitudes and activites that society deems more appropriate for one sex over another. Gender is also determined by what an individual feels and does”. An unequal gender behavioral expectation sets people up to hide their emotions.

Romantic relationships also suffer from unequal behavior standards. Women are forced into being the more warm, and nurturing partners in the relationship. We see from the article, “Who You Callin’ a Lady?”, the author states, “We want women to be honest, compassionate, and nice—you know, like our moms”. The female roles in the romantic relationships are always more kind, caring, and giving generally. We see the nurturing aspect of the female role in these relationships in the following quote, “the same is true of another alleged superiority of women such as aptitude for motherhood, for a woman’s mothering is too close to her supposed morality, and vice versa”. Men are stereotypically judged as being the more assertive, dominant, controlling, and manipulative in the relationship. Not all guys are like that, but it’s shown in the following quote, “ Men are more likely to have traditional gender stereotypes than women especially if they are the sole wage earner in the family”. Men get this very assertive and dominant stereotype about them, when did they really do anything to deserve it?

Another type of relationship that suffers by unequal behavioral standards is professional. Women are competing and struggling to accomplish career goals because they’re not taken seriously. Most women in professional settings if they come off as to nice they are considered to be push overs, if they come over as to assertive or aggressive then they are being to demanding, as stated in the following quote, “one problem is that women aren’t supposed to be aggressive or self-promoting—that’s nasty male behavior—even though its often rewarded. […] And yet if professional women are too nice and cuddly, they don’t seem decisive or tough enough to be leaders”.  We also see how women complain about the men in the working environment, as stated, “working women sometimes complain that men in the work place don’t take them as seriously ad they take men”. Many people have wondered why women haven’t gotten as far in the professional field, “nonetheless, many wonder why women haven’t risen further”. Men are struggling with the different expectations of being their family’s primary source of income. Sometimes going into careers isn’t what the guys want to do but its what’s expected out of them. In the article, “Stay-At-Home Dads” we see an example of how guys feel about this issue, “SAHDs also have to contend with the societal perception that being a househusband is unmanly. The idea is so pervasive that even I still tend to think “wimp” when I first hear about a SAHD”. Society has conformed the way people think about switching the gender roles and making people think negatively about gender inequality.