The Prevailing Outlook in Social Inequality
While sex endowment is a natural factor, under which one is bestowed with the accompanying privileges and challenges of being either male or female, one need not settle to the prevailing social inequalities evident in feminine discrimination but rather one should be determined to conquer social inequality and break all gender based barriers (Lake, 2006, p.1).
Even though preconceived cultural and social norms govern varied facets of everyday life bestowing certain privileges while withholding others commensurate to ones gender, they do not necessarily have to dictate one’s social conception. The heightened vulnerability of females in the modern society to job discrimination, abuse and violence give a wakeup call for a radical revolution in the social domain to level gender equity.
Many scholars did devote and are still devoting their time in a bid to demystify the existing gender differences; they have put forward several approaches on this subject, some of the most acclaimed theories to gender development include; the biological, interpersonal , cultural and the critical theories. The modern genius of hi-tech developments has had its fair share in contributing to sensitization of the global village on the emerging issues along gender domain (Wood, 2009, p.1).
This proliferating social media in form of computers, laptops and internet coverage has taken the place of television, magazines and films – in creating a reliable platform for social change. As such it has enhanced connectivity, collaboration and linkage between individuals and institutions alike towards the promotion of gender equity in the social front. History confirms that social media has played a central role in shaping gender trends, with the United States of America witnessing three waves of women’s movements.
Gendered communication
Verbal communication acts as a litmus test to the existing gender sensitivity and awareness in any society in the world. Generally, there has been a predominance of male generic language in all spheres of social life, with very little cognizance female oriented language.
This has proved to be the main impediment to social change, for it undermines the feminine attributes, following from the fact that the adoption of a language by any society not only facilitates gender awareness, evaluates gender inclinations but also organizes gender perceptions (Wood, 2009, p.1). Thus, the varied ways in which languages define men and women epitomizes the overriding masculine privilege to societal devices over their feminine counterparts.
To counter male generic language there have been female movements advocating for the adoption of gendered communication practices, which are characterized by feminine-masculine speech patterns. It is anticipated that with such a change in language patterns societies would not only be sensitized about gender autonomy but also on gender interdependence (Lake, 2006, p.1).
Environmental Impact to gender dispositions
It is needless to cite the inestimable influence with which the family unit and the immediate community impact a child’s disposition to gender roles, values and standards. Even at a very tender age, a child has an innate ability to identify and internalize gender functions using the subconscious mind, simply by observing the conduct of family members or members of his/her community (Wood, 2009, p.1).
Parental modeling is central to enlightening children on gender values, for instance, male children are generally urged to be courageous, aggressive and self-reliant while their female counterparts are encouraged to be pleasant in appearance, sensitive and caring (Wood, 2009, p.1). The child’s internalized and acquired gender inclinations are difficult to alter later in life, which principle underlies the gradual change evident from gender based campaigns.
Works Cited
Lake, A. “Gender equality.” 2006. Web.
Wood, T. “Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture.” 2009. Web.