Research Essay Example on Gender Inequality

Men take care of children while women work, crazy right! Not anymore. In the article, “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All”, author Richard Dorment, emphasizes that both men and women are discriminated against in their occupations, and neither gender can “have it all”. Many readily ignore the issues that men face in the workplace. In another article, “Society Should Adapt Itself…”, the authors claim that only women have to have changes to their hours at work so they can come home to take care of their children. Many women argue that they are discriminated against based on gender in their workplace and home. While women experience discrimination with roles in the family and workplace, men also encounter the same hardships, therefore, neither gender can have it all. 

One of the main viewpoints in the debate of gender inequality is represented by Richard Dorment. Dorment argues that neither gender can have it all, more that both are close to equal responsibilities: “She works longer hours, shoulders weightier responsibilities, and faces greater prospects for long-term success, all of which are direct results of choices that we made in our early twenties. She does more of the heavy lifting with our young son than I do, but I do as much as I can. I do a lot of cooking and cleaning around our house. So does she. I don’t keep score, and it’s hard to imagine how our life would work if we weren’t both giving every day our all” (699). By saying this, Dorment describes his family situation, simply stating that his wife and him try their best to divide the responsibilities evenly. His idea of “no gender can have it all” is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of a majority only seeing women having problems with working and family discrimination when it actually goes both ways. 

Furthermore, Dorment strongly believes that both genders face discrimination. Dorment emphasizes that men would actually like to help more taking time off of work to relieve the stress of mothers: “Among various ways that men can help women, paternity leave is sometimes mentioned as a good place to start, the idea being that if more men took a few weeks off following the birth of the child, they would help remove the professional stigma surrounding maternity leave and level the playing field” (Dorment 707). He is basically asserting that men would like to assist women in the parenting process more than they already do. Dorment also acknowledges the discrimination men receive for taking an absence from work for children because it is not the stereotypical thing to do (Dorment 708). This is showing that neither one of the genders have all the weight of taking care of the children on their own regardless of the discrimination in the workplace. 

While women and men clearly face the same hardships some still argue that women are larger targets. In the article “Society Should Adapt Itself…” the authors emphasize the main idea that women feel that the businesses should adapt their hours so that they can spend more time with their families. They argue that there is a huge stigma attached to women working and having a family as opposed to men “Today, a majority of women work what is known as a double shift. They hold jobs outside the home, and continue to carry the burden of childrearing and domestic chores at home. Generally, it is still the mother who is expected to cook, do laundry, clean the house…” (Geraldine par. 7). Basically, the authors are reinstating the thought that women are placed into roles in the household and workplace. These are tough jobs, but the authors are obviously mistaken because they overlook that men would also love to cook and clean, therefore this article should state that these new ideas are in place for men also. This just proves Dorment’s point that no one gender can have it all because they are discriminating against men by not allowing the same option to adapt business hours for them.  The author can’t have it both ways. On the one hand, she argues that women are gender discriminated against and the economy should work around them. On the other hand, she ignores that men get discriminated against in their own ways. 

Additionally, discrimination is very evident with men in their occupations and households just as well as it is in women. Yet many seemingly ignore the majority of men who would like to step up to help or even the single fathers in the household. Men want to help more, even if they are discriminated against for doing so. While the authors are easy to agree with to a certain point, it is impossible to agree on their overriding assumption that only women should have altered hours to spend time with their family.  However, It can be agreed that no gender can have it all, which is a point that needs emphasizing since so many people still believe that men and women have different roles. Dormant’s views are more practical and he promotes equality, which is what society says they want. 

In conclusion, neither gender can truly ever have it all. Dorment makes excellent points about women and men having equal roles. Gender inequality is still an immense problem, it is important to keep in mind both women’s and men’s points of view. It is even more necessary to know that they both face problems with discrimination in the workplace and household. In the future, hopefully, the stigmas and stereotypes surrounding gender inequality in the workplace and household will fade. One day it will be normal to have stay-at-home dads and working moms, and for it not to matter either way.