Gender inequality, in my opinion, is one of the world’s biggest problems. If a place has gender equality, then that means that equal treatment is given to everyone, not just men or women. Many people don’t understand that the sooner they accept that women and men ARE equal, the better things will get. Many people believe that women are the only ones treated unfairly, though that is not the case. It goes both ways for this situation, and in some cases, men have been treated just as unfairly as women have.
We have read about the struggle women have faced throughout the years in our text books and in the news, but what some people don’t realize, is that that battle is still going on. There are still jobs that don’t give equal pay to women, and there are still people who still believe that a woman’s place is in the house, cooking and cleaning instead of living independent lives. In Afghanistan, half of all married women are under sixteen. In Iraq, the women who do work, barely even earn enough to eat. In other countries women are gang raped, and half women who are pregnant die giving birth. Even in our own country, rapists have been defended just because of the way the victims had dressed, even though it is their right to wear what they want.
Another thing people don’t realize is that men don’t always have it easy either. There have been situations where men have been raped too, and just because they are male it doesn’t seem as serious. There is more spending that goes to women in the health care system than men (breast cancer receives seven times the funding of prostate cancer). Women wanting equality for their gender is feminism, but in some cases, when men want equality for their gender, they are called arrogant or chauvinist.
I believe that one of the most important things People can do to create gender equality, is for them to teach their children at a very young age that all men and women are equal. People need to practice what they preach. And the international authorities need to push harder for gender equality in all countries.
Kofi Annan once said, “Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promotion sustainable development, and building good governments”. I believe that on the day men and women are treated equally everywhere, the world will have gotten so much closer to being a better place.
Here are my sources.
Comments
Well done Abbey!