Discrimination
Personal Experience
It became evident to me that females in Nigeria have been discriminated for a long period. They are not recognized in the Nigerian society despite their efforts to scale up heights of professional and sociological development. This has become evident even at the workplaces since no matter how hard a woman works to move up the career ladder, she is not given a chance to occupy the top positions. Living in Nigeria, I saw how women are treated in different communities. We felt discriminated and bullied as women since we were not able to speak up for ourselves. Not being able to express one’s opinions was considered the norm in Nigeria for women. I could not accept this mistreatment in the community since I had grown up in the Western culture where women assumed almost equal freedom with men.
Mostly, I was referred to as a rude American girl since I disagreed with some of the activities that women undertook under men’s control. Most importantly, girls in Nigeria are advised to marry rather than attend school since this is usually considered as a waste of time and resources. Parents have a right to choose men to marry their daughters hence denying them of a right to make choices regarding their private life. Only a small number of women in Nigeria have taken a step further to scale heights in their professions since most of them have been forced into early marriages in the name of following ancestral beliefs. I could spend some of my time trying to advise women that came close on the needs for self-development and creativity. I was glad that I was able to transform some of them, but some were strongly tied to their culture.
Sociological Imagination
No matter how hard that the Western world claims and portrays equity in gender, there are many loopholes in other nations in terms of gender fairness. From a sociological perspective, gender discrimination happens whenever sexes are handled unequally such that one sex is perceived as superior to another (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011). Therefore, gender discrimination is not only based on gender differences, but also the fact that people are treated differently due to their sex. For instance, employers that offer different conditions at work as well as promotional opportunities for both women and men can be said to violate the available anti-discrimination laws. Research has found out that women have tried to lessen their inequality in job participation. However, they continually suffer from several other forms of inequalities based on their gender at their workplaces. Glass ceiling has been a major hindrance to women development across the world. This refers to a type of discrimination that deters women from climbing up promotional ladders at their places of work.
Women have also been facing discrimination in families. Men in most families think that a woman is responsible for caring for the children and doing all household work meaning that a woman is a tool used for household chores. In most cases, this also affected women’s behavior since they spend most of their time at home but not focus on professional development. Child care consumes a lot of time, and people perceive it to be a woman’s responsibility while men acting as breadwinners to the families. This is unfair treatment of women since it denies them a chance to fully exploit their potential especially in the professional and business world. Women have also been perceived to earn less than men meaning that they are economically dependent on men (Kendall, 2012). This perception has changed many women’s way of thinking; thus, they have opted to remain at their homes and attend to daily household chores.
Discrimination Towards Women
Some women across the world have decided to respond to such discrimination through different movements. Gender discrimination has emerged as a great plague that has pulled economies behind and led to poor social interrelations across the world. In retaliation, feminist’s movements have been historically formed in order to respond to the inequalities towards women. However, it has also become evident that as much as women are trying to fight against gender discrimination, they are fighting against one another. This has been seen in political settings whereby women who managed to get inside politics have continually denied their colleagues to join them due to the fact that they are colluding with male counterparts for personal interests.
Religions and Discrimination
It is also vital to note that some religions have also greatly contributed to gender discrimination. This has been prevalent in Islamic religions whereby women are perceived as men’s properties. The Quran clearly teaches its people that women have similar rights to men despite the fact that men are the superiors of them all. Theocracy has become a common concept in the Islamic religion. In other nations such as Egypt, men can draft letters of complaint that forbid their women from leaving their nations (Kim, Lee & Sung, 2013). Moreover, Saudi Arabia has followed a relevant concept whereby women are required to acquire permission from the closest male relative in order to leave their country or move by public transport through the kingdom. These are some of the indicators that gender discrimination that deters women from enjoying their freedom is prevalent across the world.
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The Fight Against Discrimination Women
Women have tried to fight against this discrimination as much as possible through educational and professional enrollment and entrepreneurship among other activities. This has been evident in Zambia whereby violence and discrimination against women will soon become history. Women in Zambia are taking a turnaround in order to transform their communities. Muslim men across Zambia have been on the lead in gender discrimination, but they have acquired awareness on need to respect their women and allow them to engage in social development. This has assisted in reduction of disease infections and violence against women in Zambia (Oskamp, 2013). This has also been evident across other nations in Africa such as Kenya whereby women have formed movements that help them to fight for their rights at the workplaces and their homesteads.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that sociological factors have contributed to gender discrimination especially towards women. Women have for long been perceived as weak beings and tools for men and their families. This causes them to face inequalities in their social lives through low wages and ineffective economic status that affects them negatively. Women have continually narrowed their spaces in political sectors and employment. This has helped them to take positions in political and professional arenas unlike in the traditional regimes whereby women could not have opportunities to exploit their political, economical, and social potential. Young girls in some developing nations are being forced into early marriages hence hindering them from acquiring information that can help them in socio-economic development. This has been a major challenge for many countries such as Nigeria where women have no say despite their attempts to climb up the ladders of education and professionalism. Therefore, as much as the Western countries have claimed and portrayed gender equality in their sectors, there are remaining problems in the developing nations that encourage gender discrimination hence the need to find relevant solutions.
