Hayden Banks

Project 5
English 1102
The Negative Impact of Gender Roles and Gender Inequality in Society
Throughout human history men have been deemed as the more evolved gender within in
the race. The earliest civilizations of humans depict men hunting and providing food for their
families and building a solid home to ensure safety for generations to come. Men are shown as
being great leaders of nations and pulling through in times of strife and war. Women, however,
are seen, early on, as nurturers and caregivers to the offspring and a necessity to keep bloodlines
intact. Women held no title in early societies because they were seen as the inferior of the two
sexes. In fact, up until the late 20
th
century women were still seen as the inferior sex. This is
evident by the vacancy of the right to vote and own land. Women were thought to have smaller
brains than men, and even given a biblical story; a rib being given by a man created a woman.
Surely since women were the makings of a man they should be considered inferior, right? Wrong.
Gender roles have been assigned throughout humanity from the earliest civilizations to the post-
womens rights movement era. It is a poison in our society that is filled with greed and arrogance.
A society that thinks less of a person based on their sex, and not their credentials. Gender roles
give restrictions the progression of an equalitarian society and should be abolished permanently.
In the early 20
th
century the modern world was at war. The world was elated to be at war
because of a rise in nationalism and imperialism. All countries had to prove that they were the
best in the world by obliterating the competition, thus spawned World War I (WWI). WWI pays
an important but very subtle part in equalizing genders because men were going off to fight for
their countries. Men leaving meant jobs were vacated as well as the creation of new jobs to
manufacture supplies to send overseas to the troops. With the men gone, women stepped in to fill
the roles, and employment of women rose from 23.6% before the war to 46.7% in 1918 (Striking
Women). However, after the war ended women were no longer needed in the factories and went
back to their jobs of being a housewife. This event, however, is important to keep in mind for the
near future.
While Adolf Hitler was resurrecting Germany from the ashes after the Treaty of
Versailles had placed unthinkable sanctions on them. The wives of German officers had to report
to a special school designed to teach them how to be a proper housewife
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL0T61XD-js) (Brown). The video shows how women
were trained into being a proper housewife by cooking and cleaning and ultimately submitting to
their husbands every command. During World War II (WWII) American women once again rose
to the demand of being factory workers to supply munitions, but this time they were here to stay.
With propaganda such as the poster that reads, We Can Do It! women became the backbone of
the American economy during WWII and would lead a charge to retain their roles for the rest of
time.
(Miller, J. Howard)
After WWII was over women decided that they liked contributing to their families in
more ways than just being in a nurturing role. In the 1950s a full on feminist movement was
taking place and by 1966 an organization by the name of The National Organization for Women
(NOW) was formed. This organization was basically an all-star team of the known feminists at
the time and decided to spearhead the Equal Rights Movement. By 1971 NOW had pushed the
constitution to be ratified and equal rights were given ("A Brief History of Women's Rights
Movements).
After the feminists movements of the mid 20
th
had ended it was thought that men and
women would be seen as equals. While legally that statement is true, gender roles can still be
seen even in the 21
st
century. A study done as recent as 2012 depicts that male make still make
money while holding the same jobs as females. The study says that a female will make roughly
81% of what her male counterpart will make under the same job title; again bringing up the
effect of gender inequality and gender roles (Sauter). If a man and women possess different skill
sets paying one more than the other makes sense. However, if they have an equal skill set and
equal degree there is nothing that warrants a women to receive 20% less of an income than a
male.
Gender roles and inequality shed a harshly negative light on an ugly truth and should be
abolished. However, given the fact that history seems to repeat itself, that is just not possible. In
a perfect world, everyone would be considered equal, no matter race, gender, or religious belief.
Since the dawn of time women have been seen as the inferior sex to men in most societies. While
technically women are equal to men in the eyes of legislation, sadly that may never be so in the
eyes of all individuals.














Reference Page
"Striking Women." World War I: 1914-1918. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2014. <http://www.striking-
women.org/module/women-and-work/world-war-i-1914-1918>.
Miller, J. Howard. We Can Do It! Propaganda. 1943.
Brown, Alan. "Women in Nazi Germany." YouTube. YouTube, 19 Oct. 2013. Web. 6 May 2014.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL0T61XD-js>.
"A Brief History of Women's Rights Movements | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. N.p., 1
Jan. 2014. Web. 6 May 2014. <http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/history-
womens-rights-movements>.
Sauter, Mike. "Jobs with the Widest Pay Gaps between Men and Women." Yahoo Finance.
Yahoo, 6 Nov. 2013. Web. 6 May 2014. <http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jobs-widest-
pay-gaps-between-172615069.html>.