Jazlynn Perez Blog #2

 Gender Inequality. A topic that has truly opened up my eyes. Coming into this project I was very ignorant with gender inequality and if I am going to be completely honest I didn't think it seriously existed. I personally have never encountered a time where I was not able to do something because of my gender, so I assumed no one else did either, but on the contrary, it is something many woman face on the daily. As I did my research, I discovered this whole new world that I had no clue of. I had been in a bubble my whole life. I learned many stories about woman who have been set back because of their gender, I learned about the wage gap, I learned a lot about woman's history, our present and what hopefully could be our future. I didn't realize how bad woman really had it in the Middle East or even in the United States when it comes to machismo men with their wives. 

Some interesting facts that opened up my eyes were the following. 

- Countries around the world have multiple perspectives on gender inequality mainly because of religion practices. For example most countries that predominantly Muslim, are the prime examples of countries with large gender inequality, i.e, Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, just to name a few. These countries tend to be very harsh towards women, in some of these countries they can’t vote, go to school, or even drive a car. Women also have to abide by a dress code due to these religious practices in these countries by wearing a Hijab.

-Household chores and caring for the family is the most common conflict, especially in family with children.

-Women spend almost double the among of the time on unpaid work as men for example caring for children.

-Most men still maintain fully involvement in their work because their feminine couple assume the responsibility for caring their children.

-Men do not feel an obligation when they are involved in the home as women do, as they perceive it more as a hobby or a free choice

-Also these common daily house chores (shopping, cooking, washing dishes, and clean the house) are considered feminene.

- A concerning trend toward realizing gender equality through educationSince First Lady Clinton’s speech, girls’ education has become a political priority among many governments and high-level political for a promoting gender equality. The money appeared to have followed, most notably in the last decade as corporate engagement in girls’ education increased and as special funds, like the UK Department for International Development’s Girls’ Education Challenge, were dedicated. In 2010, 20% of overseas development assistance (ODA) targeted at gender equality went to the education sector, making the education sector the largest recipient of ODA targeting gender equality. But in 2018, while the overall ODA bucket to gender equality nearly doubled (from US$25.3 billion in 2010 to US$48.7 billion), the education sector’s share has been subdivided.

- So, while investments toward promoting gender equality are on an upward trend, countries may be losing sight of the importance of investing in girls’ education as a critical entry point. And, those funds that have been allocated may not be targeting geographies where the road to gender equality is the longest and hardest.

- As we mark 100 years since the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and 25 years since the Beijing Declaration, we must consider that girls today in developing countries do not have another 100 years to wait for gender equality. If humanity is to realize Generation Equality by 2030, the U.S. has an important role to play in helping other countries “build back equal” for girls, especially in the wake of COVID-19. It can start in three ways:

1. Adopt a feminist foreign policy. “The policy of a state that defines its interactions with other states in a manner that prioritizes peace, gender equality and environmental integrity and seeks to disrupt colonial, racist, patriarchal and male-dominated power structures.”

2. Increase ODA toward gender equality as a principal goal. Feminist advocates recommend that countries should allocate at least 20 percent of their total aid to investments with gender equality as a principal objective, and at least 85 percent as a significant objective.

3.Give way to gender transformative leadership. Research has pointed to the important role of transformative leadership to promote progress in girls’ education specifically and gender equality broadly.

- During World War II, the amount of women in the workforce increase exponentially, making up 37% of the civilian workforce by 1945 compared to the previous 24%.

- Due to the fact that women had historically earned less than men for the same work, many of the men feared that the increasing amount of cheap labor would leave them jobless or decrease their pay.

- Unions quickly began to advocate for equal pay as they thought that this would prevent men’s wages from being lessened.

- Congress introduced the Equal Pay Act in 1945, but it was not passed due to the controversy caused by it stating that the pay would b determined by “comparable work”, meaning that pay would be determined by the worth of the job

- After the war ended, many companies refused to hire women, including the ones that had done it during the war. There were newspaper ads that would run identical job listings with different pay for men and women. Eventually, the amount of women in the workforce dropped to 28%. 

All in all, this has probably been my favorite project. As a woman, I feel like I should take responsibility in learning about gender inequality and make sure to do all I can to ensure that the world around me in is gender equal.