Socially Constructed Gender Inequalities

The socially constructed differences between the sexes in American society have severely infringed the rights of women in the workplace. Mary Blair-Loy’s piece “Competing Devotions: Career and Family among Women Executives,” indicates that a socially constructed family devotion schema defines women as having to stay at home in order to care for children, husband, and household, and therefore women are discouraged by society to hold a job. In the piece “An Overview of Sex Inequality at Work,” Padavic and Reskin further explain that women who are in the job market are excluded from certain male dominated jobs and are often paid and promoted less than male coworkers. Padavic and Reskin’s piece as well as Blair-Loy’s agree that the inequalities found in the workplace, including limited prospects for promotion of women and sex differences in earnings, directly limit the social opportunities of women and keep them subordinate and dominated by men. The constructed roles that men and women are expected to play in our society also affect social institutions such as the home, where women are stereotypically expected to be caregivers, and men are expected to be the breadwinners. Women face a very unfair challenge when deciding what role to play in their adult lives. They also face unwelcome pressure by society to choose one of two schemas that are revealed in the piece by Blair-Loy. In her work, she defines a family devotion schema, and explains how it appoints women to designated roles in society. “The family devotion schema assigns primary responsibility for home and family to women…Homemaking is a calling. It demands and deserves single-minded focus and allegiance” (Blair-Loy 263). The work devotion schema, which regards dedication to one’s job, also demands complete dedication and concentration from man or woman and it