Sociology

Gender inequality issues remain to pose controversies in society.  Men and women often compete in the realm of education, profession, achievements and even in social dealings.  At times, women are preferred and at other times, men are preferred.  But what add spice to the issues nowadays is the gay/lesbian activism.  They often call themselves the third gender!  They often refer to discrimination in almost all aspect of life in ordinary day to day living, except however those in certain professions where gays and lesbians are found to achieve in their respective fields.  This paper shall discuss briefly and in summary the matters learned in interviewing one (1) gay, self-employed, one (1) corporate woman employee and a female teenager.

The present generation of teens/adolescents are subtle in expressing concerns on gender inequalities.  They consider both males and females as equal, or at times, they do not care at all.  For the interviewee, she opined that inequality issues are not prevalent in her time considering that youngsters their age are into fashion, puppy loves and other forms of luxury.  They mostly think of themselves and their friends and their friends are mixed males and females.  To her, she does not see any form of competition or discrimination considering that she and her friends do things together.  Inequality is never an issue.

On the other hand, the perception of a female teenager is not the same as with gays.  The gay interviewee (Leean as he calls himself) is strongly against gender inequality.  It should be noted that gay and lesbian activism is common almost all throughout the world, homosexuality already even being taught in schools (No Author, 2007).  As such, gays and lesbians call for equal opportunities in religion, profession, school and society in general.  It may be said that lucky are those who are in countries where the concept of gay activism is recognized.  But while this may be the accepted trend in such country, not all gays are recognized.  For Leean who is earning just enough for a living is often discriminated in his work.  The first job interview he had was a total flunk.  The officer declined his application mainly because he was gay, and that he might not be able to meet demands in his work.  Leean believed that the perception of the officer was mainly because of what he learned from other gays and lesbians who simply go out at nights getting drunk and have poor performance in work the next day.  It is prejudicial on his part, but he could not however blame the officer. It is personally opined that gays and lesbians should be given full and equal opportunities in work.  While there are those who not have good reputation in work, it is also equally true that there are those who are performing exceptional works in their respective fields.

The last interviewee is a corporate woman.  She is holding a managerial position in her company.  To her, gender inequality truly exists in the workplace.  In terms of promotion, men are preferred than women.  This may be attributed to the fact that women have to absent themselves from work in case of pregnancy and subsequent delivery, for the company, it is considered as a disruption in work operations.  But she said that the issue on inequality is not very critical nowadays considering that many women have attained high levels of achievements in almost all aspects in society.  This is supported by Evertsson, et al. (2009) that women today obtain high-paying jobs not to mention the fact that they do excel in their fields of study thus allowing them to get good jobs.

Gender inequality exists, that is a fact.  However, it is noted that the issue is not so critical in the present as compared to the previous generations.  This may be because there are already laws which are intended to protect gender inequality issues or discrimination particularly in the workplaces.  But this should not be taken in sweeping.  There are jobs for instance which require only the expertise of men and there are likewise jobs which require the expertise of women.  Issues of this kind must be taken in light of the context from which they arise.