Provide evidence to argue both for and against the notion that gender inequalities still exist in contemporary british society

Gender inequality in contemporary Britain

View that gender inequality exists

Gender inequality is a social phenomenon that has managed to persist in some form or other in most of the developed countries of world , despite decades of education , feminist movements and call for a egalitarian and equality based society . Difference in sex has always been used as a pretext in differential allotment of resources and privileges in every society .Although Britain has taken various concrete measures in providing equal status and rights to women , yet some inconsistencies still exist in the

present system that point to unequal status of women against men

Two main areas where gender inequality plays important discriminatory roles are education and employment . Although , in recent years laws have been passed that have given equal status to women in field of education and wages in the work-field , abolishing formal restrictions on equal participation of women , still many discrepancies exist that sharply demarcate the relative role of men and women in British society . As pointed out by Crompton (1997 , 125 , there has not been any change in the hierarchical status of social and economic structure and men continue to enjoy a powerful position in work and social spheres while women are generally subordinates . Although Britain has introduced policies that have created more job opportunities for women , generally these jobs are less paid and inflexible

A principle tool to continue the gender discrimination is the perceived notion that still associates women mainly with domestic work and childcare functions . The social structure of Britain still has patriarchal shades that place firm emphasis on family based system where the man is assigned role of principle bread earner while woman is entrusted with responsibility to manage home , which also in effect reflects the Victorian culture of Britain (Kent , 1999 , 350

It can be said as an irony that the greater impetus to revert to traditional Victorian family based system came during times of Margaret Thatcher when government tried to create conditions that would force women to abandon their work and return back to house chores . For example , under Thatcher government support to childcare nurseries were withdrawn on the pretext that these nurseries were unable to meet the requirements of growing children , and thereby pressurizing working mothers to choose between children and career (ibid

Employment and labor market provide most critical instances of gender inequality in Britain . Although women participation in work has greatly increased over past decades , their role and participation are very different in the paid work as compared to their male counterparts . For example men and women take different kind of jobs , they work on different levels in many occupations and , the most highlighter of gender inequality , men and women are paid differentially for their work where remuneration of women are considerably lower (Pilcher , 1999 , 34

Gender inequality also exists in the form of work offered to men and women . Men are generally for the standard form of work , that is , full time paid works . According to statistical data...