| Gender issues include
a range of social and economic differences between
men and women on the basis of personality, behavior,
changing roles, aspirations as well as the overall
status of women in urban, industrial societies and
developing nations. Gender issues are studied interdisciplinary
and cross-nationally as they are evident in political,
social, economic aspects of all societies.
The popular and sociological descriptions and
definitions of gender are of different focus and
dichotomy. For instance, the approach of sociologists
to “gender” concerning social roles
will focalize upon the economic or power differences
in positions of males to female employees disregarding
their sexual orientations of between gay or straight.
In contrast, the popular approach concerning
gay and straight sexual roles will focalize on
different social conceptions of people who are
straight/gay in comparison to straight people
which disregards the vast economic difference
between females and males in both categories.
In accord, as the term “gender” is
approached differently by feminist sociology and
the homosexual sociology.
From an economic perspective, the wage gap between
the two genders can be observed through a range
of occupations. In 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported that females in sales occupations earned
64.8% of the wages that males earned in the same
positions. If working women are paid the same
amount as men in same positions then, their income
would increase by $4000 each year. It is also
estimated that current poverty rates may decrease
by as much as half. |
