Forms of Gender Inequality

• Patriarchy refers to male dominance over women. There aren't very many known societies that are not patriarchal, although the degree and character of inequalities between the sexes varies across cultures.
•  Many women are poorly paid and have dim career prospects. Even women who are successful in the corporate world face discrimination in the form of cultural expectations about the proper role of women in society.
• The increasing number of women in the labor force has affected family responsibilities such as child care and housework. Though men contribute more to these responsibilities now than in the past, women still shoulder the bulk of the work. For working women, these household obligations constitute a "second shift."
• The ways schools are organized and classes are taught sustain gender inequalities. Rules specifying appropriate dress for girls and boys encourage sex typing, as do texts containing established gender images. There is evidence that teachers treat girls and boys differently, and there is a long history of specialized subjects for separate sexes.
• Violence by men against women occurs in many societies-in the form of spousal abuse, rape, and sexual harassment, for example. Some scholars argue that women are often the targets of sexual violence because men are socialized to see women as sex objects and to feel a sense of sexual entitlement to women.