Reflective tag:
The world treats men and women differently and we refer to this as the Global Gender Gap. Men have always been stronger than women and have used that strength to gain what they want. Unfortunately for women this often means their mistreatment. Time has proved to be beneficial for some countries though. Women are treated differently in separate parts of the globe, sometimes being granted all the freedoms of men and sometimes given none of them.
Artifact 2
What is the Global Gender Gap? There is such a thing in our world today as it has been around in some form or another since creation. Cultures all over the world recognize the differences in men and women as far as strength and instincts are concerned and will often let these differences define the roles of differing genders. Unfortunately some societies/cultures get too carried away with the idea that the man of the family must always be the “bread winner” and the female must always be the “subordinate mother”. A few countries such as Iceland, Finland, and Norway have a much smaller gender gap. In these countries women have many of the same advantages that men do. They have equal: economic participation/opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. On the other hand Chad, Pakistan, and Yemen are the worst countries in the world for women to live. In these countries education for women is almost nonexistent, economics are 70% controlled by men, health of women is among the lowest of concerns, and politics are 99% controlled by men. These countries may be the worst in the world however the gender gap is present in almost every country, including America.
The USA has been known for granting equal rights to all citizens no matter color or gender, at least since the 1960’s, but when compared to other countries we fall short in a few categories. Overall the US is ranked 20th in the world for the global gender gap. We are ranked 4th in economic participation and opportunity, 39th in educational attainment, 62nd in health and survival, and 54th in political empowerment, all for women. Even though we have more freedoms than any other country in the world our women are not at the top of the charts. Perhaps this is due to the old fashioned way of thinking. Until the First World War women were supposed to stay at home and raise children while the men went out to earn a living for the family. This held true for the white families at least. Many other races had to employ every member of the family just to survive. Today we encourage women to get involved in studies that have long been revolved around men, such as STEM majors. However, many of the social outlets, such as television, suggest that women become a “real housewife”. We do have a government system that protects women’s rights though. Many countries have no government and even if they do most times women are not allowed to speak for themselves or hold rank within the system. Perhaps this is why in some countries such as India women are treated as lower class citizens, often times beaten, raped, and abused by men simply because they were born a different gender. There are also systems in India that allow for abortions of female fetuses if the family does not want to take on the financial burden of raising a woman. Although we as Americans have room for improvement within our gender gap it could be much worse.
The global gender gap results from man’s dominance over women in the fact that we are stronger than women and therefore should be a leader. However, being stronger than women we were intended to protect women rather than use our might against them. The world could benefit greatly from the diversity that women bring to the table, but until countries realize the faults within countries like Yemen, Chad, and Pakistan, there will not be a bridged gender gap.