Chapter 11: Gender, Age, and Health

     We plan to make an unequal society equal, we try to make a society where there are men and women, two genders with totally different characteristics, equal and have both sexes perform equal roles when its simply impossible. So this difference in genders contributes to an unequal society, many problems come when these genders, male and female, fight for their roles in society. Gender is not the only factor societies look up to, treatment in society is different depending on your age, of course this always depends on the society you are living on. Many times a high age brings disabilities to the human body, and people who suffer of these disabilities see how the chances society gives them to get a decent job are significantly lowered. 

     Gender comprises the behavioral and psychological traits considered appropriate for men and women. People in a society have roles, gender roles are the specific behaviors and attitudes that a society establishes for men and women, and these roles are different, therefore, in many cases, men or women prejudice the other sex based on how well a member of the other sex can fulfill his role. A very important factor to get people to fulfill their role correctly is gender identity, gender identity is the awareness of being masculine of feminine as those traits are defined by culture. Like mentioned before, gender roles tend to lead to social inequality, patriarchy is a system where men are dominant over women, in many cultures the men of the family becomes the leader and decides what happens inside the house. Sexism is the belief that one sex is by nature superior to the other. Many movements have been held in the past century claiming sexes are equal. Women’s movement, in America, held’s that the sexes were socially, politically and economically equal, women make this movement. Women had never had the right to vote in elections, but in the past century they were able to accomplish the suffrage reform, which gave them the right to vote. More and more women are joining the work force every day, decreasing the wage gap, the difference between a woman’s salary and a man’s salary. There once was said that there is a “glass ceiling” in businesses, the glass ceiling is the invisible barrier that prevents women from gaining upper level in businesses, this “glass ceiling” is apparently beginning to vanish though. It is visible how women have a second shift, their work in society, women not only do they work on their professional regular work but they also have  a ”second shift” because they get home and must take care of the kids, clean the house, cook etc… these actions are usually attributed to women in most societies.

Gender roles of women that stay in home cleaning and taking take of children.

     Societies are changing at fast rates, old people have always been the once that you go to look for advice, since old used to be seen as wise, but things have changed. Societies today tend to have preference for some age groups over the others and this causes social inequality, since they prefer a group of people of one certain age over the other. Ageism is the belief that one age group is naturally superior to the others. It is amusing how in a society like the American society where people seem to worship youth and look forward to looking as young as possible, there are each time more and more old people, more than ever before. Sociologist have observed a new phenomenon which they decided to name “the graying of America”, which refers to how by 2050 1 in every 5 people will be elderly, that’s 20% of the entire population. Today there are many elderly people since they are mostly part of the baby-boom generation, period of time when birthrates in the US simply got extremely high, then they lowered again but all those kids born during that period are today around 50-60 years old. Another problem we are facing today is the dependency ratio, back in the 60’s, for every 5 workers there was 1 retiree, this is the dependency ratio, but by 1998 this had lowered to 3 workers per retiree and it is estimated that it will continue to lower and reach a 2-1 ratio by 2030. It is thought that elderly people will continue to increase as well thanks to the availability of medicine, Medicare is the government-sponsored health-insurance plan for elderly Americans and Americans with disabilities. There is also another program; the Medicaid is the state and federally funded health insurance program for low-income individuals.A main reason why elderly population is growing so fast is thanks to health. Even though health might be very good, citizens are not happy with the medical system. Most people are under managed care programs, where you pay a monthly or annual fee and in return receive health-care services. This is the most common method used for health insurance. Medicine has developed and today we can also see alternative medicine, for example, acupuncture, acupressure, massage, yoga and more unconventional methods. One of the biggest problems that today’s medicine has to face is the Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), a disease that attacks the immune system, leaving a person vulnerable to a host of deadly infection.

     Our society is full of prejudice and discrimination, and we complain that everyone should be equal over and over again without any actual response. The truth is, why do we claim so much that we are all equal when we are not, races, ethnicity, gender, age, all those factors make us different, and capable of accomplishing different tasks. Gender and age are two factors that make society unequal, yet we will have to live with it. Should we worship youth so much and leave the elderly people, who brought us to the world, out? Probably we are not taking the right decision when it comes to answering that question.