Concepts
In today’s society, men and women are progressing towards gender equality through narrowing the gender gaps, in terms of education, health, employment and more (Hanemann, 2015). It appears that striving for gender equality is a key component in achieving many other development goals and to have effects on the various aspects of well-being for both men and women (Carmichael, Dili, & Rijpma, 2014). However, gender inequality is still a prevailing issue till date. Although it has vastly improved since a decade ago, this issue still persist itself in many dimensions of daily life, along with the development of the country (Dorius & Firebaugh, 2010).
In fact, research has shown that there is a higher level of gender inequality in undeveloped countries compared to the developed countries (Grant & Behrman, 2010). There are disparities in health, education and bargaining power within marriage in countries with low GDP per capita (Anderson & Kohler, 2015). But regardless of development of country, men are earning more than women in all societies.
To investigate the concept of gender inequality, this exercise aims to identify the various forms of gender inequalities experienced in a well-developed country like Singapore.
Action
The proposed action design consists of role-playing a person that is different from one self. The writer is a female, but she has always wondered whether there was gender inequality in Singapore. Hence, the writer decided to assume the role of that is of the male gender. She decided that she was going to dressed up as a male for a lunch date with her friend, who is female and is aware of the situation as well, to see how the process gets along. Upon arriving at the restaurant, the waiter immediately went up to the writer instead of her friend to ask whether they made any reservation. Even by the table, the waiter’s body was slightly facing towards the writer even when the waiter was clearing addressing to the couple. Lastly, when the couple called for bill, without any hesitation, the writer passed the receipt to the writer, whom was supposedly male, to make the payment rather than the friend.
Reflection
Based on this observation, there were indeed gender inequality even in a well-developed country like Singapore. However, the gender inequality faced by the writer was not entirely like what she expected. When she assumed the role of a male counterpart, she did receive more attention from the waiter and she felt the “privileges” of being a male. However, when it came to paying for the bill, the writer was taken aback when the waiter passed the receipt to her with no hesitation. It was at that point the writer realised that even with the privileges that came with being a male, she also faced the gender inequality of the societal expectation of a male paying instead of the female even though both are consuming the meal. Therefore, this exercise shows how gender inequality actually affects male more than females in more developed countries like Singapore.
References
Anderson, T., & Kohler, H. P. (2015). Low fertility, sociosconomic development, gender equity. Population and Development Review, 41(3), 381-407. doi: 10.1111/j.1728- 4457.2015.00065.x
Carmichael, S., Selin, D., & Rijpma, A. (2014), “Gender inequality since 1820”, in Jan Luiten van Zanden, et al. (eds.), How Was Life?: Global Well-being since 1820, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264214262-16-en
Dorius, S. F., & Firebaugh, G. (2010). Trends in global gender inequality (Forthcoming, social forces). Social Forces, 88(5), 1941-1968. doi: 10.1353/sof.2010.0040
Grant, M. J., & Behrman, J. R. (2010). Gender gaps in educational attainment in less developed countries. Population and Development Review, 36(1), 71-89.
Hanemann, U. (2015). Narrowing the gender gap: Empowering women through literacy programme. Hamburg, HH: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.
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