Gender-Based Inequality in the Modern American Society

Gender relationships significantly changed over the course of the twentieth century and inequalities between women and men are continually challenged in all spheres of life in the twenty-first century. Yet, gender gaps and inequalities persist: full-time working women make only 85 cents for every dollar that their male counterparts earn, women continue to shoulder most of the domestic load (e.g., childcare, housework) in their partnerships, and women are less likely to hold executive positions in corporate America or represent large constituencies as elected officials. How do these gaps persist in an advanced industrialized country that has enjoyed social and economic transformation in the modern era? Enduring gender stereotypes are largely responsible for these stubborn inequities that frame how women and men interact with one another and inform our beliefs about the roles each is permitted to inhabit. This chapter will explore theoretical perspectives from sociology, psychology, political science, and social cognition that elucidate how gender differences and hierarchies function and persist over time. The intersectionality of racial categories, socio-economic status, and gender further contributes to overt and systemic privilege and discrimination in the American context. Cumulative disadvantage is utilized as a case study to illustrate the ways in which gender stereotypes produce inequities across a woman’s career. This example reinforces the fact that gender-based inequality continues to be the norm rather than the exception.