GENDER, EQUALITY AND DIFFERENCE IN UK

Gender, Equality and Difference in UK

Gender, equality and difference in UK

Introduction

Women take up the larger percentage of the world's population as compared to men but still seem to have been outdone by their male counterpart. The following discussion will help in shedding light to this matter to see if it's true or not. This will be done by analyzing the statistics of how both genders has progressed over the last 5-10 years and then it will be determined if gender discrimination occurs in UK or not and if it does then how much. Our main focus will be gender inequality in education and work. If any issues are seen then recommendations for the same will be given at the end.

Gender discrimination has been seen as a major stumbling block to development in many sectors. This has therefore led to many governments terming it as unlawful. In the U.K., for example, the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) that has been enforced for the past 35 years, outlaws discrimination on grounds of sex in employment, education as well as in provision of other services. In order to understand this it is important that the terms that will be discussed in this essay be clearly defined.

In a study carried out in 2007-08, it was noted that UK had fallen lower in ranking of gender equality for three consecutive years. It stood at rank 13 out of 130 ranked countries in terms of women's pay and work opportunities, political power, health and education. In the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index it was ranked 11th while it held 9th place in 2006.

Ranking for equal pay showed that it had dropped from number 61 to number 81. Interpretation of these rankings according to one of the researchers and author Saadia Zahidi, meant that women were more discouraged in terms of overall economic participation in such occupations as professionals and managers. (Arno, M and A. Phipps [2003] Pp. 20-50)

Gender

While, this may seem obvious, it is important to clearly define this term in the context that it will be discussed in this essay. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 'gender' and 'sex', though closely related, are different terms. 'Sex', refers to the biological characteristics that define men and women, whilst 'gender' refers to the roles, behaviors and attributes that a particular society gives to men and women. To use the definition by the WHO:

“'Male' and 'female' are sex categories, while 'masculine' and 'feminine' are gender categories.” -- World Health Organisation (2011)

Equality

This is the state of a person having the same rights, status and opportunities as compared to other people. Where human rights refer to the rights that human being have towards their lives and how they live. Equality should be all roundness from the young to the elder regardless of the status, age and color differences. However, more specifically for the purpose of this essay, gender equality is defined as:

"A social order is something in which women and men ...