7 Inequities: A Weeklong Look at the Biases Women Face
Women live in a world that’s made for males.
Whether it’s the automobiles they drive or the medicines they take, they’ve nearly all been developed with males in thoughts. And that may have life-threatening penalties for girls.
If that’s onerous to abdomen, contemplate this:
The U.S. well being care system — together with the care itself and the coaching of would-be well being care staff — makes it much less possible that ladies’s circumstances will likely be taken as significantly as males’s. This additionally can have life-threatening penalties for girls. And it’s far worse for girls of colour.
Or, contemplate this:
Women put in additional hours of labor over their lifetimes, however receives a commission much less for it general. And that’s not simply due to the gender pay hole (which can be far worse for girls of colour), but in addition as a result of girls do much more unpaid work — cooking, cleansing, caring for kids — than males. In different phrases, they’re working extra and getting much less. And that’s holding girls again.
[Learn extra about the inequities going through American girls. Try “In Her Words: 7 Issues, 7 Days”]
The inequities that ladies expertise — so a lot of them invisible — are a stark reminder that we don’t reside in a rustic that treats ladies and men equally. Far from it.
Many Americans may agree with that. According to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, a vast majority of Americans across demographic and partisan groups think that women should have equal rights with men. And while they think progress has been made in the past decade, a majority of respondents believe the country hasn’t done enough to give women equal rights with men. (Although 10 percent said the country has gone too far in giving women equal rights with men.)
It doesn’t help that U.S. leadership is still predominantly male — women comprise just one quarter of Congress — because if women aren’t at the table making decisions, who, exactly, is looking out for women? Even feminist men can overlook the basic stuff that women deal with all the time. (Menstruation, for example. Hello, tampon tax!)
Yes, of course, there are exceptions. There are female chief executives, female political leaders and certainly many women in positions of power. But when you break it down by the numbers, the examples are pitifully few.
This column kicks off a seven-day exploration of the inequities faced by women in the United States. Join us, and each day you’ll get a new issue sent to your inbox.
On Day 1, you’ll learn how cars are not designed with women’s safety in mind. On Day 2, you’ll find out why — even with all the strides that have been made toward equality at home — women still do the bulk of unpaid labor. Later in the week, we’ll examine the double standards in health care, the persistent inequities in men’s and women’s economic status, and more. Click below to get started.
