With a Queen as the head of the Monarchy of England, Quentin Bryce as Governor General for Australia and Julia Gillard as elected Prime Minister of Australia; it is easy to assume that gender inequality in Australia is dead and buried. Wrong. Similarly the assumption could be made that because Barack Obama is the elected president of America, racism no longer exists on its soil. Racism and Gender inequality follow similar lines however the line of gender inequality is not always clear. In fact “students are more willing to accept the reality of racism, heterosexism, and class inequality than sexism” (Copp and Kleinman 2008). In light of the Royal Wedding a few weeks ago this event and the overwhelming interest from the general public proves that socialisation of gender inequality is still alive and well. The Royal Wedding included socialised stereotypes; girl meets her prince charming, commoner marrying into money, a breathtakingly beautiful bride, girl becomes a Princess and many more. Two billion people around the world watched this extremely lavish affair. American’s, in large numbers, were amongst the two billion watching across the world however they are not a part of the monarchy. So what’s the connection? The public have been socialised to want a fairy tale life and happy ending. If we look closely at the Royal Wedding Princess Catherine’s happy ending includes the following; obeying her husband (even though this word was omitted from the vows, who is she kidding?), living off Prince William’s “families” money, reproducing another heir to the throne and remaining beautiful always. It is true society has come a long way in fighting the battle of gender inequality however it is still present in every aspect of our lives; predominantly work family and the media. It is the taboo topic of the twenty first century. This crippling view that females are a lesser species is an accepted notion because it has been socialised within us to an extent that it is almost as natural as our sex. This issue is becoming so big that the United Nations have “created a new entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women” (Hausmann, Tyson and Zahidi 2010). The Global Gender Gap index was introduced by the United Nations to combat the harrowing problems that gender inequality still creates. Remarkably, Australia is placed 23rd on the list of countries that possess gender equality, falling behind New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States. However, most alarmingly Australia is lagging behind Philippines, South Africa, Latvia, Trinidad and Mozambique. So where are Australians going wrong?
Broadly speaking, a male and female stereotype within the work arena is still as present as it was one hundred years ago. In recent times there has been an injection of individuals challenging these work/gender lines, for example male nurses, however, the distinction of gender associated with certain careers still remains. The stereotypical female roles include; shop assistant, nurse, administration and cleaner to name a few. These roles are cheerleading roles; all careers that play a supporting role. The conventional male roles include; trade, mining, factory workers, transport drivers, finance sector and politics. If you compare the two, the male careers are predominantly more profitable then the female careers. In Australia, women’s wages fall well below the national average. Women are also faced with the impediment of promotions for their life choices. Employers are reluctant to promote women of a certain age as they are more likely to start a family and leave their employer which can be a heavy burden on a company. Across the board, females are paid less than their male counterparts when undertaking the same roles. Research conducted by NATSEM for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia recently produced some alarming results in the disparity between males and females; females “earn up to 26% less than men and face a period of just 20 years of peak earning, compared to 40 years for men” (Cassells, et al. 2011). This is not taking into account the impact on a female’s superannuation. Sexual harassment and the overbearing sexism is another issue women face within the workplace. For example the case against David Jones (CEO Mark McInnes) who was sued for sexual harassment in the workplace. Ms Fraser-Kirk, the victim, approached David Jones management about Mr McInnes’ behaviour however was merely told how to deal with this behaviour when it arose again; “In failing to act early on McInnes's behaviour, DJs effectively condoned it, which seems only to have entrenched in the former executive's mind that his behaviour was permissible because he was kicking goals for the company in terms of profitability” (McIIwraith 2010). This neglect of a female’s right is riddled throughout small and large corporations.
Women are still leading the way with their contribution to unpaid work. This involves jobs around the home that are conducted without a monetary reward. The traditional expectation that a male comes home from their hardworking job to find their dinner on the table unfortunately still exists. This does not mean that males don’t participate in unpaid work, as gendered unpaid roles include mowing the lawns, washing the cars etc however the percentage is still heavily tipped towards the females. Within a family, the gender lines are deeply reinforced. This socialisation process begins at a very early age. From the moment a child is born they are associated with a colour; blue or pink. As they grow older, female toys are associated with gender roles; shopping, cooking, playing with dolls. Male toys include trucks, cars and tools. In fact, Mattel, Barbie creators, now a billion dollar company “sells about 10 million Barbies and 20 million accompanying outfits annually” (Furze 2008). It is generally the woman taking maternity leave to look after their newly born child. If a mother does return to work immediately she is faced with public scorn, as she is not home to look after her child. There has also been a strong stigma with mothers placing children in day care while they return to work. Day cares “can command fees of up to $125 a day” (Martel 2011). As day care prices rise, it is nearly impossible and pointless for mothers to return to work. Domestic violence against women is another strong issue that occurs within the family domain. Feminist’s theory believe that it is a sociological problem; males are sociologically trained to believe that they are superior and females inferior. “The more unequal women are compared to men in a society, the more likely men are to be violent toward women” (Yodanis 2004).
Since the release of the book “Men are from Venus and Women are from Mars” it has been heralded as supporting sociological views of gender that inhibits equality. That the species are inextricably different, not just biologically, but also internally; this influences how we think about gender. Feminists have been stereotyped by the media as; lesbian, butch, hairy legged monsters. Even Julia Gillard’s ascension as Prime Minister of Australia was an attack against feminism and women; claiming females are voting for Julia based on her gender and not on her political ideologies. Julia Gillard might be Prime Minister; however, this certainly doesn’t mean a win for feminism. A female as Prime Minister may do more damage than good. Ms Julia Gillard will be another example of a woman conforming to a male society. It is impossible for her to expose her feminist ideology without sidelining male and females alike who unfortunately the majority in Australia. In a very humorous article written by a Kathy Lette, a UK writer, she claims “Julia Gillard is not just a woman; she’s an unmarried, childless, proudly undomesticated feminist agnostic — who also happens to be shacked up with a hairdresser. In the land of cold beer and untrammelled misogyny, this is about the worst kind of human being possible” (Lette 2010). Unfortunately true, however, Lette received a backlash of Australian’s disagreeing with her sentiments. Media plays an important and pivotal role on gender inequality. Unfortunately the media is a double edged sword when it comes to gender equality. The media will always produce what the general public are interested in. After all the media relies on viewing, hits and readership to survive. The problem is that the general public, from birth, are socialised to associate themselves with gender stereotypes.
There is one place, however, that Australia came in first along with twenty two other countries; Education (Hausmann, Tyson and Zahidi 2010). Yes, Australia is one of the forerunners for gender equality in Education. Could this be that women are striving for fairer pay conditions and feel this is the only avenue to prove themselves as equal? I have outlined where gender inequalities still exist within Australia, however, there is one vital piece of the equation that I have not touched on. Female inequalities aren’t necessarily reinforced by males. Throughout it may seem I have ostracised males as the inhibiting factor behind gender equality; in some cases this is true. Bridging the gap doesn’t necessarily just involve males, it also involves females. Females can be the most critical of other females that are pushing the sociological boundaries of gender. If all females banded together and stood up for their rights to be treated as equals, these problems would be diminutive.
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