How the evolution of gender equality relates to contemporary social issues.

1. P R O B L E M S I N H U M A N D I V E R S I T Y :
E V O L U T I O N O F G E N D E R E Q U A L I T Y
C O N T E M P O R A R Y S O C I A L I S S U E S - G N E D 2 0 5 7
C L A U D I A W O O D R U F F

2. GENDER EQUALITY VS. GENDER INEQUALITY
• “Gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the
same rights and opportunities across all sectors of society,
including economic participation and decision-making, and
when the different behaviours, aspirations and needs of
women and men are equally valued and favoured.” (Gender
Equality in Ireland, 2013).
• “Gender Inequality refers to the differences in the status,
power and prestige women and men have in groups,
collectivity's and societies.” (English Encyclopedia, 2014).

3. 16TH CENTURY
• Allowed women limited
opportunities for involvement in
society.
• Purpose was to run the
household.
• Worked towards bettering their
husbands.
• Education for these women was
not advocated because it was
believed to ruin the traditional
female virtues.

4. THE 17TH CENTURY
• Not much change from the previous century.
• Women were still viewed as a significant part of society but
were not acknowledged in the economic or political
structures. They were still viewed to do the domestic
activities.
• Acted as councils to their husbands when they would come
home from work.
• Actions in the home and community allowed them to
influence political decisions.
• Women who challenged societal norms put their lives at risk.

5. THE 18TH CENTURY
• Women’s roles began to evolve.
• Middle to high class women were
able to become involved in
commerce.
• Low class women would assist their
husbands in working outside.
• The basic idea of marriage was that
middle or high class women would
be dependent on the man.
• In 1857 men were given the right to
divorce their wives on the grounds
of adultery. Women were not
allowed to divorce the man, no
matter what offence they

6. THE 19TH CENTURY
• Women were taught to attract a guy by not only their looks but
also their educations.
• At a young age, adolescent girls would be educated at a boarding
school or at a resident governess.
• It was believed that women would desire to become married
because they wanted to become mothers, rather than for their
own satisfaction.
• As the women began to gain more rights, men still had more
power over them.
• Men still had the obligation of providing for the family.
• As we continued through the 19th century the average family size
began to decrease.

7. THE RIGHT TO VOTE
• By the 19th century men and women
believed that they were separated by
natural and divine laws, calling it
“separate spheres.”
• Women in the armed forces or a relative
of a military man were granted the right
to vote in the Federal Elections during
the Wartime Elections Act of 1917.
• Women began to gain rights after they
were granted the right to vote in 1918.
• Voting rights based on “no taxation
without representation.”
• Aboriginal women were excluded from
voting rights until 1951.
• The turning point of gender equality.

8. THE 20TH CENTURY
• Change was brought with the industrial revolution.
• Women began participating more and more in public life and
pushed towards greater equity.
• Inequality was still shown in politics, wages and working
conditions.
• More and more women began to get out into the workforce.

9. PRESENT DAY
• Women are still payed less in the
workplace than men, even if they have
the same amount of education.
• Women and men are both able to be in
the workplace in any occupation,
whether it is trades or in business.
• Women and men now have the choice as
to whether they want to be a stay at
home parent or be out in the workforce.
• It is becoming more common to see
women in jobs that used to be male-
dominated, such as the military or in the
trades.

10. A MAN’S EQUALITY
• Pressure to be the main provider of the family.
• Until the previous century, men were expected to go out a get a full
time job.
• It is now expectable to for them to be the stay at home parent to take
care of the children.
• Men can now been seen in job fields that had been previously
stereotyped as a women’s job, such as hairstyling or nursing.

11. CONFLICT THEORY
• Protests have lead to the social change needed for gender equality.
• This theory believes that inequality is the main source of conflict, which
is the same as for finding a balance of gender equality.
• Previous social arrangements always benefited the men more than the
women from what we saw in previous centuries.

12. THE FEMINIST THEORY
• Women have been fighting for their
rights for many years.
• They have always been inferior to
males.
• Activists have been working
towards gaining these rights to
benefit women for the better.
• Uses the historical evolution as a
platform to work towards a better
future.

13. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
• Gender equality is changing societies “norms.”
• The women was the one to stay home with the kids and take care of the
household, while the man had to provide for his family by working many
hours a day.
• Both men and women had roles that benefited society, but it didn’t
always mean that they were happy.
• Overtime these norms have been changed and society has adapted to it.
• Working towards a “Natural State of Society”.

14. IN CONCLUSION
• Gender equality is continuously
evolving.
• Women and men are becoming
more and more equal.
• Equality in the workplace is
where we are lacking.
• Men deserve to be equal just as
much as women; women just
had to work harder to get that
equality.

15. R E F E R E N C E S :
Feminism in Literature Essay - Women in the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. (n.d). Enotes.
Retrieved from http://www.enotes.com/topics/feminism/critical-essays/women-
16th- 17th-18th-centuries
Hughes, K. (n.d). Gender roles in the 19th century. Discovering Literature: Romantics and
Victorians. Retrieved from http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-
victorians/articles/gender- roles-in-the-19th-century
Marsh, J (2015). Gender Ideology & Separate Spheres in the 19th Century. Victoria and
Albert Museum. Retrieved from
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/g/gender-ideology-and-separate-spheres-19th-
century/
Tag Archives: Gender Equality (2013, March 31). WOMEN WRITERS, 1660-1800
EXPLORING AUTHORIAL ADVENTURES IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Retrieved from https://eng307womenwriters.wordpress.com/tag/gender-
equality/
What Are the Roots of Gender Inequality? Women's Rights, Race and Reproduction.
(2012, June 1). Newswise. Retrieved from http://newswise.com/articles/what-are-
the-roots-of- gender-inequality-women-s-rights-race-and-reproduction