Equality Between the Genders Paper Example

Part A

Question 1: Characteristics and causes of gender inequality in wage earnings in Canada.

Gender pay gap has been in existence for many years in Canada. The struggle over pay equity has been an intriguing debate in the field of economy. Consequently, many articles, books, and theories have been developed due to this struggle (Charness & Kuhn, 2005). It is important to note that the gender pay gap sprouts from some characteristics of the labor market which influence the male and female labor force in making decisions. In summary, Socialization, family life, training records, human capital formation, full versus part-time work, and statistical discrimination are the major courses of the gender pay gap in Canada (Moyser, 2017).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Historically, the marital status of women and men has affected their employment in different ways. The traditional gender roles emphasize on men being bread winners to their wives and children, while on the other hand the roles of women include childcare and housework (William, 2013, p. 435). As a result, married men have had the highest rate of employment, followed by widowed or divorced, separated, never married and single men. Contrary, married women have always been identified as having the lowest rate of employment (William, 2013, p. 436). Socialization in this sense depicts men and women differently and hence the differing pays.

Training records in Canada have also been blamed for the advancement of gender inequality where, even though sometimes women are better trained than men, it is the men who get paid better. On top of that, further studies have shown that men are more likely to undergo further training than women when employed in a company. As a result, the aspect of socialization, family life, and training records depicts women as a gender that is associated to parenting and other household chores, and this has systematically contributed to the unequal pay.

The human capital formation is another cause of the gender pay gap in Canada. Even though both men and women have an equal level of education in many cases, the field of study makes the earnings different. As a result, women take up different jobs as compared to men. Also, the perspective women and men have towards their work is different (William, 2013, p. 350). Women tend to view their work with more emphasis on issues like job satisfaction as opposed to how they are paid.

Statistical discrimination comes into play when employers view men as more productive as they have a higher tendency of continuity in work than women. Often, when the dilemma of work versus family arises for women, they tend to choose family at the expense of their career. Consequently, women tend to prefer part-time employment to full-time employment to be able to also support family life. These factors greatly influence the gender pay gap as experienced in Canada.

Question 2: Medicalization.

Medicalization is defined as an instance where an underlying medical condition is identified and treated. To better understand the disease, researchers must study the subject, run a diagnosis and then prevent the disease from harming the patient by either treatment or vaccination (Conrad, 1992). It is important to research medicalization from a sociological perspective to clearly understand the aspect, the power of professionals, corporation and how it implicates ordinary people. Social conditions turning into medical conditions can be treated which is beneficial to the society.

Medicalization is viewed as an issue in sociology since it helps explain how medical knowledge can be applied in social control worldwide. Medical professionals can expand their scope into the domains of everyday existence. An example of a social condition which is observed from a medical perspective is alcoholism. In earlier days, before healthcare professionals viewed the aspect of alcohol addiction as a medical condition, they perceived it as only a human deficiency, and thus no proper treatment had been put in place to deal with the illness (Conrad, 1992). However, after detailed research, it was better understood that indeed the addiction is a condition which should be treated to ease suffering and be of benefit to the society by ensuring that their safety and peaceful coexistence is maintained.

Another example of medicalization is an addiction to pornography. Most people view the behavior as self-indulgence and of one where a person is in control of their behavior and habits. However, from a sociological perspective, this condition has been established to be a significant challenge where no proper treatment has been developed to treat it with (William, 2013). In most cases, addiction to pornography and sex drives a person to committed acts of felonies such as rape or other violent crimes. Therefore, managing such people is not only paramount to themselves, but also to other people who could fall victims to their actions.

Part B

Question 1: Biological limits to equality between the genders.

Gender equality can be defined as equal responsibilities, rights, and opportunities according to both men and women in society. Also, recognition of the diversity between these two different groups regarding the needs, interests, and priorities should be taken into consideration (William, 2013). The recognition of gender equality is not an easy thing to do in society due to complex social structures. There exist biological differences between the genders that play a considerable role in gender inequality. Such differences include susceptibility to certain illnesses, as well as the existence of different hormone levels such as testosterone, estrogene, and progesterone in each gender.

Biological differences exist between females and males which are far beyond the apparent macro level. These differences impact the susceptibility to certain diseases and can require different medication because of the way the disease metabolizes for each sex. For example, studies have shown that women are less susceptible to tuberculosis than men. From a gender perspective, this biological difference can be explained by the fact that the ratio of men who smoke is more than the ratio of women who smoke (BioMed Central, 2007). Additionally, higher levels of estrogen, the primary sex hormone in females, hormones in women have been associated with the loss of bone mass, and thus causes bone-related complications to older women. This reality has triggered a notion that as women age, they become more fragile and less productive as compared to men, and thus a contributing factor to gender inequality based on the biological aspects (William, 2013). Social inequality exists in many societies. Gender gap indicates that women face severe restrictions by primary health outcomes amongst other factors. These restrictions are more dominant in some professions as compared to others. For instance, the menstrual cycle may break the continuity of work for a woman. Women also face a challenge of breaking from work during pregnancy, childbirth and the consequent childcare (William, 2013, p. 405). The productivity of women is profoundly affected, and hence most employers see men as more productive than women.

In a nutshell, the gender gap in wages continues to increase due to biological limitations. It exists in ways such as gender discrimination in hiring and remuneration. Even though discrimination by gender is unconstitutional in Canada, women and men do not receive the same salary. Furthermore, women tend to seek more flexible employment opportunities where job satisfaction and status is more important than remuneration. As a result, women end up receiving lower pay as compared to men.

In the CBC "Ideas" podcast "The Gender Trap, Part 1" by John Kennedy, several issues on gender inequality are addressed. He notes that over the past five decades, the wave of feminism has taken a new shape as women have chosen new career paths, pursued education and engaged in different intellectual endeavors. Consequently, women are seen more in medical schools than ever before. Additionally, the podcast notes that only 6% of companies in Canada are led by women, even though they have proven to be as capable as men are.

Societal barriers have been noted to be one of the main hindrances to recognition of gender inequality. In a book referenced in the podcast called the Delusion of Gender, men are seen to be leaders while women are seeming to be more empathetic. This difference explains why men take up careers such as engineering and pursue politics, while women take up careers such as teaching and medicine. Also, the stereotype that boys do well in math and sciences, while girls do better in languages is also addressed. However, the above information has no scientific evidence. The presentation gives a wide range of ideas from different scholars that challenge the theories behind gender inequality and show that women can pursue all careers despite the existing societal barriers.

Part C

Discussion 1

Activity 1: Media story: The fear of losing culture.

The fear of losing culture is a story which was published in the Toronto Star newspaper that discusses how traditions and customs are retained beyond generational immigrants. In the story, the writer defines culture as more than just clothing and food but involves more of tradition and family histories. The author goes ahead to explain that culture entails a person's mindset and way to explore the world. In the story, Uzma Jalaluddin who is a Canadian whose parents migrated from India, wonders if her children would ever know their parent's culture from back in their country of origin. She wonders if some cultural elements such as clothing and food will ever be known to her children. The story displays the great question concerning cultural loss that the second-generation immigrants in Canada try to answer (Jalaluddin, 2018). The fear of losing one's culture to a new culture is one of the most significant concerns that one may face.

This story is relevant to sociologists in many ways. First, the definition of the term culture is denoted in the story. Culture is defined as different ways people think and how they adapt to the world. Also, culture involves material artifacts and beliefs that are held by a society. Secondly, the story explains that culture is linked more to the geographical location of people than to the biological links. This is evident with Jalaluddin's children who have adopted the Canadian culture because it is where they have grown up. They are unaware of the Indian culture despite their biological roots being from India. The story demonstrates to sociologists that culture is more dynamic than it is static, and as human interact their cultural beliefs and orientations are bound to change (Charness & Kuhn, 2005). It clearly shows that contemporary culture is vibrant and has blended with other cultures worldwide. Article link: https://www.thestar.com/life/relationships/opinion/2018/03/01/the-fear-of-losing-culture.htmlActivity 2 Response to the article "Trudeau says pot will be legal as of October 17, 2018."

I agree with the Marquis Dunaway article regarding marijuana being legal as of October 17, 2018. This is because the report provides factual data that contains actual ongoing political events in the country. A motion has already been presented to the floor of the parliament, and a bill C45 is imminent. In total conformity to Dunaway's observation, the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes will have numerous benefits to the society, such as keeping the profits out of criminals' pockets and instead using the money for community development incentives such as the building of schools, roads and other government projects. Other benefits as highlighted will include cont...