GENDER
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Gender and discrimination
Discrimination on the basis of gender is both subtle and persistent.
Because men are expected to be ‘strong’ and unemotional, they can often experience barriers when seeking jobs that require a degree of caring or empathy. Even if successful in securing a caring role, their masculinity can single them out for additional duties that rely on physical capacity rather than capacity to care.
Women are expected to be ‘natural carers’ which has led to a huge imbalance in the types of jobs women do, how much housework they do and disapproval of society if they do not conform to this stereotype.
There is a very serious side to this imposed difference. It means that women consistently earn less than men throughout their lives and often live in poverty when they are older. This lack of economic power has also meant that women have less power in society and less access to positions of power in politics.
Men’s power and status in society can be seen through violence against women and children including domestic violence, rape and sexual assault. Women have campaigned for years to bring this to society’s attention and to change attitudes to make these crimes unacceptable. Society’s persistence in raising men to be the dominant sex is also reflected in high rates of violence between men, with young men being most likely to carry out, and also be victim of, violent crime, including murder.
There is a broad spectrum of gender diversity within society and traditional gender stereotypes are inadequate in reflecting people's lives. Medical gender reassignment can be a vital life-saving treatment for transsexual people experiencing intense gender dysphoria.
It appears that large sections of the British population hold negative and discriminatory views towards transsexual people, and there is little evidence of positive change. In 2006 30% thought that someone who had had a sex change operation would be unsuitable as a primary school teacher; the figure in 2010 was 31%. Meanwhile, 49% now say they would be unhappy at the prospect of a close relative forming a relationship with someone who had had a sex change operation, little different from the 50% who expressed that view in 2006.
Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2010: Attitudes to Discrimination and Positive Action
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