Race And Gender Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Princeton scholar Cornel West and an American public that in 2008 elected its first African American president know that race matters. Although the debate remains regarding the use of the terms race and ethnicity as constructs to describe differences between and among individuals, it cannot be denied that the outward manifestation of such differences has had an impact on the political and economic treatment of individuals in American society and in other societies in general.

The same holds for gender. Indeed, with the growing consciousness regarding the more than 50 percent of the population participating in the economic and political life of various societies, women need to be treated equitably. Thus, gender also matters.

Most Americans believe that in the United States race is no longer a factor because people generally receive what they deserve based on their talents and efforts. However, some consider this a “sincere fiction” because minorities still lag behind in every relevant social indicator, are poorer, earn less, and possess significantly less wealth than whites.

Discrimination

The focus on race and gender stems from the historical fact that women and minorities have tended to be treated differently and inequitably by the majority white male population in the United States. When the difference in treatment results in unfairness purely from the belief that the minority is inferior due to skin color, then discrimination takes place. When the difference in treatment results in unfairness purely from the belief that the minority is inferior due to gender, then discrimination takes place. Discrimination may be overt (explicit, outwardly expressed) or covert (hidden, implicit). Regardless, society has labeled these actions and feelings as racism and sexism, respectively.

Racist and sexist actions have impacts on individuals’ lives. Skin color stratification or colorism (discrimination based on skin color or tone that implies that discrimination can take place within as well as among racial groups) as well as gender discrimination have tended to determine a person’s educational attainment, occupational status, and income.

Historical Development

Movements to overcome racism and sexism have run parallel to each other nationally and internationally. When it comes to the treatment of minorities in the United States, we are reminded often of the legacy of colonialism, the racial oppression during the time of slavery, the legalized discrimination under the Jim Crow era, and the de facto segregation of the civil rights era. The focus of attention on minorities impacted by such discrimination has had a tendency to change—from Native Americans to African Americans to Asian Americans, and now to Arab Americans. But the discrimination against any minority remains nonetheless, regardless of who was the focus of attention.

Women’s movements ran along the same lines as the antislavery and civil rights movements. They began in Seneca Falls with the Declaration of Sentiments in 1848, when women wanted to gain equal rights in education and work. Women wanted to obtain political equality with the right to vote as well. However, they subsumed that goal in order to help with the abolitionist movement. It would not be until the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that American women would earn the right to vote. Even then the exercise of that right would not guarantee equal treatment for women. The feminist movement or the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s would come at the tail end of the civil rights movement and would try to awaken women to the various areas in their lives where inequity still prevailed—in education, in wages, and in politics. Policies such as affirmative action would not only keep minorities but also women in mind in their implementation goals for equality.

Not until the 1980 elections would the voter turnout gap go in favor of women exercising that right to vote in larger numbers than men. Not until the 1992 elections would women gain numbers in the U.S. House and Senate as well as in offices in the state and local levels. And it would not be until that time that women would obtain greater acceptance and admission into law schools and medical schools. And now, this second decade of the twenty-first century, women still earn only seventy-seven cents to every dollar earned by men.

Despite advancements in better treatment for women and minorities, a backlash would occur starting in the 1980s and continue into the twenty-first century. There are fears that minorities would become the majority in states such as California, Florida, and Texas. And there are fears that women are taking over academic institutions with their increasing numbers in colleges, law schools, and medical schools. Some states and universities have even changed their policies to bar or discourage Asian Americans and women from their programs because there are “too many of them.”

Implications

Race and gender are two outward characteristics of an individual that have been the focus of attention of many studies. Knowledge about the racial and gender composition of a society has many implications for determining trends in ideological leaning, political party affiliation, and voting behavior. In the United States the majority white population has a greater tendency to be conservative and to be affiliated with the Republican Party—and, until recently, a greater tendency to vote. Minorities have a greater tendency to be liberal and to be affiliated with the Democratic Party (except for Asian Americans), and have a lower tendency to vote. These trends reinforce the notion that there are interracial and interracial differences when it comes to making such generalizations. Women, like minorities, have a greater tendency to be liberal and associated with the Democratic Party—and, quite recently, have turned out to vote in larger numbers than men.

When it comes to gender, the general tendency is to lump all women together and treat them as a single entity. It has been shown in the later part of the twentieth century that women of color need to be treated separately and differently if they are to progress. Minority women get the brunt of the burden of race and gender, a “double whammy.”

Throughout the world, women and minorities face obstacles for their participation in politics. These barriers exist in prevailing social and economic systems, as well as in existing political structures. In 2007 the rate of female representation at the national level stood at merely 18 percent globally. Although this figure has increased over the years, at the end of the old century and early in the new one, minimal progress has been made, meaning that parity between men and women in national legislatures still remains a distant ideal. Because general women’s participation is currently studied most often, it is easier to find data on this aspect than on minority participation and minority women participation.

Bibliography:

Back, Les, and John Solomos. Race and Racism. New York: Routledge, 2000.
Bulmer, Martin, and John Solomos. Researching Race and Racism. London: Routledge, 2004.
Herring, Cedric,Verna M. Keith, and Hayward Derrick Horton, eds. Skin/ Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the “Color-blind” Era. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Junn, Jane, and Kerry L. Haynie. New Race Politics in America. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Mui, Constance L., and Julien S. Murphy. Gender Struggles. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.
Rothenberg, Paula S. Racism and Sexism. New York: St. Martin’s, 1998.
Race, Class, and Gender in the United States. New York:Worth, 2007.
Taylor, Paul C. Race. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell, 2004.

This example Race And Gender Essay is published for educational and informational purposes only. If you need a custom essay or research paper on this topic please use our writing services. EssayEmpire.com offers reliable custom essay writing services that can help you to receive high grades and impress your professors with the quality of each essay or research paper you hand in.