Does Gender Inequality Exist Here in South Carolina Court System?

      Gender inequality  is one that many have recognized to be a problem within society. Gender inequality could simply be defined as one gender being place above another gender. There are many different categories that gender inequality exists. My main focus is does it exist within the court system.

       Many will agree that gender inequality exists within the court system, just as well disagree. Agreeing that gender inequality does exist in the court system will more commonly be supported by men. There approach will be that men receive more harsher and severe punishments, than the female. Some of these crimes are equal in its severity, but when deciding what should be the punishment, men usually receive harsher, and longer sentences.

       So does this problem exist here in South Carolina? Well many will agree. A group name “Gender Bias in South Carolina Family Court,” is an example. This group consists of men who believe that when it comes to the criminal justice system, they are being discriminated against. They believe this take place in rulings like child support, alimony, and child custody cases. In cases such as these types, the court usually runs in favor with the mother, instead of the father. Their goal is to not to remove any women’s right but to extend the same rights to men just as well, like being allowed custody of the child.

Here are some statistics provided by this group:

In 2002, an estimated 13.4 million parents had custody of 21.5 million children under 21 years of age whose other parent lived somewhere else. About 5 of every 6 custodial parents were mothers (84.4 percent) and 1 in 6 were fathers (15.6 percent).
In 2002, 27.6 percent of all children under 21 living in families had a parent not living in the home.
Of the 13.4 million custodial parents in April 2002:
About 63.0 percent of custodial mothers and 38.6 percent of fathers had child support agreed or awarded to them.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Does these statistics suggest gender inequality in court rulings for child custody?