Khachatourians 1

Edwin Khachatourians
Professor Jon Beadle
English 115
24 September, 2016
Inequality is Everywhere
Throughout time there have been many wrongs that have corrected as the years go by.
Society as a whole begins to become further educated and through the gift of knowledge corrects
its wrong ideology. There can be many examples of this thought time, the treatment of black
people in America, the false stereotype of Muslims in America being terrorists after the attacks
on the twin towers on September 11, 2001, and many more are some examples. However, some
things have not been corrected like inequality in sex and gender. Sex is defined as either male or
female and is what one is born as, determined by the biological features. Gender on the other
hand is not biological but rather the categorization of behavior as masculine and feminine. In
recent years people are trying to raise awareness in this topic. This can be seen in the articles,
Rethinking Womens Biology by Ruth Hubbard and Judith Lorbers, Night to his Day. The
fact that multiple authors write about the shared idea of inequality in gender through separations,
and restrictions, reveals a need for a change in societys lives.
One way authors reveal the inequalities of gender is through the separation of men and
women in society even when performing the same task. The fact that we still arent equal in our
work does not seem right to me. This inequality can be seen in Judith Lorbers, Night to his
Day. Lorber writes about the work place relations between men and women she brings up the
fact that, Women recruits in the U.S. Marine corps are required to wear makeup- at a minimum,

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lipstick and eye shadow- and have to take classes in makeup, hair car, poise, and etiquette
(Lorber 27). Due to the fact that women must take classes, wear makeup and men do not, reveals
that there is a social separation between the two. This is due to society trying to get women to
follow a feminine gender while keeping the males at a masculine gender. By forcing each sex to
adopt their stereotypical gender, society creates a wall of separation between them negatively
influencing the minds of the young. Lorber tries to convey that men and women should be equal
and not be forced to do something if the other sex doesnt have to equally do it. Now that I
understand this I have noticed that it has influenced my own life as well. For example, me and
my sister have a separation between us. One way this can be seen is in our chores. While she was
assigned indoor tasks I was assigned tasks that required outdoor work. This stereotypical idea
that a man should be outside and a woman should be inside doing feminine things create a
separation between us even when we were doing the same thing, chores. I believe that what
society pushed on us was wrong and we both should have the honor of doing what the other is
doing so we can grow to be well rounded individuals. Unfortunately, society was able to separate
us through the use of their ideas of gender causing an un equality between us.
Another way that there is inequality in todays society due to gender is the restrictions
that society places on its people to have each sex correspond with the stereotypical gender it is
supposed to match with. This idea is portrayed in Rethinking Womens Biology by Ruth
Hubbard, Hubbard address the differences of men and womens physiology and that [Women
are smaller because they eat less than they should be to fill that stereotypical behavior that
society has placed on women] (Hubbard 48). This reveals that in reality there should be no
difference between men and women. However due to the fact, that society makes women follow
the feminine gender instead of allowing them to choose helps create physiological differences

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between the two sexes since eating too much is thought of masculine and not right for a woman
to do. This leads to the difference in physical features like height. Hubbard uses this to portray
the idea that it is un equal for society to judge someone if they dont follow he restriction society
has set for them, and not allow them to grow into the person they wish to be. I was able to notice
this in my own life as well. I noticed how, many tall girls were not thought of as attractive as
girls of shorter heights. Girls like my sister who is five foot ten inches would be thought of as
masculine or not sought after. I know that this is not the case though. Just because she doesnt
match the societal norm, of the gender they have enforced upon women does not mean she is any
less beautiful than if she was five foot two inches. I choose to not accept that society will
determine what is acceptable of gender that it creates. Both should be free to do as they wish and
grow into who they choose to be in terms of gender and sex.
The word Gender is not a simple one. Gender is more complex than what I previously
believed. Gender is not binary to the two stereotypical knowns, it is not set in stone and is
constantly changing growing and evolving. Gender is not the same as sex. Finally, gender is a
construct that varies from society to society. Society not only has the power to construct gender
but it also has the power to assign gender to sexes causing the sexes to have a separation between
them instead of unifying them further. Society also enforces particular sexes to go with the
stereotypical gender. This results in a never ending cycle of parents teaching their kids this ideal
and in turn the kids become adults and teach their own children the same way of thinking
whether they know it or not, in other words a self-fulfilling prophecy. All of these cause there to
be an inequality within society between the sexes and the genders. They cause men and women
to be separate even when preforming the same tasks as seen in the military, or in my life as the
chores my sister and I would do around the house. It also causes differences between men and

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women in the aspect of physical appearances as seen by the fact that women are shorter than men
due to the fact that they are expected to eat less if they are going to be accepted by society,
depriving them of necessary nutrients. My eyes have been opened by the common theme of
inequality that both authors were able to portray in their articles. I see that there needs to be a
change if society is going to further advance together rather than be pulled apart based on what
they think is acceptable or not. We as the people of today have the power to choose many things
like our next president, or a law we think is right. We need to decide if we are going to add to the
self-fulfilling prophecy (cycle) or will we break the chain and bring our brothers and sisters
together as equals in all aspects.

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Edwin Khachatourians
Professor Jon Beadle
English 115
24 September, 2016
Work Cited
Lorber, Judith. ""Night to His Day": The Social Construction of Gender." Composing Gender.
Ed. Rachel Groner and John O'hara. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 19-34
Hubbard, Ruth. "Rethinking Women's Biology." Composing Gender. Ed. Rachel Groner and
John O'hara. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 46-52