Women Gender and Realities - 1925 Words

Women Gender and Realities (Essay Sample) Content: Women Gender and Realities Name Institution Women Gender and Realities Institutional discrimination on women can be defined as any injustice by organizations, for example, the government or any other institutions, done on women because of their gender. This discrimination is brought about by norms that exist in the society that is predominated by discrimination. This paper will explain how women are discriminated in healthcare and family and how this discrimination relates to their age, race, and status. It will also discuss feminist solutions to these forms of discrimination. Women face institutional discrimination in healthcare by receiving discriminatory treatment from most insurance companies, unlike their male counterparts. For example, women are required to pay higher insurance premiums compared to men. The only factor that necessitates this disparity is gender, an incidence that sheds light into the existence of discrimination in the health care sector. There is also a noticeable inequality in the rate of insurance, whereby a large number of women are insured compared to men. Similarly, many companies make an assumption that caesarean sections as well pregnancy are pre-existing conditions and thus don’t have to be covered. This hypothesis puts women in a situation where they have to seek alternative sources of money to cater for pre-natal check-ups, yet they contribute premiums that should cover the costs. Some women, who work part time to handle household jobs and take care of their children, are excluded from the health care programs of their employers. In some areas, women working in the health sector who are eligible for promotion are forced to stay in the same job group longer than their male counterparts (Andersen their parents make the choice for them instead. During pregnancy and after childbearing, the woman is relegated to staying at home without the capacity of engaging in any demanding duty such as employment whereas the husband enjoys the benefit of fully being involved in work and other meaningful tasks without any interruptions based on gender. The influence of class upon the experiences of a woman in the light of discrimination in the family cuts across virtually all societies; it being a universal occurrence. In most cases when there is a difference in the educational levels of the individuals that make up the married couple, segregation then eventually sets in stealthily and almost imperceptibly. If the husband is more educated that the wife, an inevitable degree of discrimination comes into view even in simple things like conversations. Over the years, feminists have sought to deal with women discrimination by addressing inequalities or injustices that are based on gender, building on the belief that there should be political and socioeconomic equality of the sexes. They propose doing away with social structures that favor men over women to achieve equity in access to quality health care for all. They propose that since men dominate most medical institutions, the services offered should support men above women. Hence dealing with institutional discrimination in health care should inv...