for Genius Genius- Discussion Forum

Make the case that gender is or is not a central dimension of social stratification in the United States. Consider issues such as income and wealth, work, schooling, and power. In other words, to what extent do males represent a privileged class of people in this country today? Provide specific evidence to support your position.

#1Classmate Tylor James

Unfortunately, men in this country have become incredibly privileged in the United States for a number of reasons. The factor I am choosing to focus on for this discussion is gender inequality in the workforce (pay gap to be specific - Link). Back in the 1970's and 80's women were gaining a lot of traction but have since lost some of that traction. According to Business Insider ( Link (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. ), "women earns 80.5 cents for every dollar a men earns". That is already pretty bad, however, it is even worse for African American and Hispanic women who make 55 & 66 cents for every dollar earned by a white male. According to BigThink.com, most of the highest paying jobs are primarily dominated by male presence which leaves women to work jobs that pay much less. Only four of those top paying jobs have both men and women employed at similar amounts.

2#Classmate Deeba Shirazi

Gender is a central dimension of social stratification in the United States and this is apparent in many ways. As things have improved vastly for women over the past years and years, somehow things are still not completely even and fair and men are still seen and treated as the superior gender. The inequality in the way men and women are treated and viewed are what causes social stratification. To begin , in 2013 The Burea of Labor statistics reported that a full time woman “ had median weekly earnings of $706 compared to men’s weekly earnings of $860.”(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_pay_gap_in_the_United_States). Not only do men get payed more than woman , a well off white man is three times more likely

to get a job than a woman is. Men are clearly seen as society as more superior and powerful than woman making them much more

priveledges. Society views the man as the better fit for almost anything than woman.Male priveledge is seen as embedded in society since men are often assigned authority over women and given many more benefits.