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Gender Equality in the Digital Era

Name : Sandra Wahyudi

NIM : 2005882
Class : 1B
Major : Sociology Education
Courses: English

If we’re talking about equality, it means we’re also talking about human right. First of
all, what is equality means in general? What is gender equality? How does it effect to our life
as a human being? Is “gender equality” really matter to our society? Those questions are
always haunting in my head for so long, so, with this essay, I would like to discuss about
gender equality in the digital era, and my opinion towards it.

Let’s just straight to the point, what is equality means? Based on the UK dictionary,
definitions of equality is “The state of being equal, especially in status, rights, or
opportunities.”. From this definitions, we can conclude that equality is about to ensuring that
every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. It also
the belief that no one should have poorer life chances because of the way they were born,
where they come from, what they believe in, or whatever they have a disability. Equality
recognizes that historically certain groups of people with protected characteristics such as
race, disability, gender, sex, and sexual orientation have experienced discrimination.

Second of all, what is gender equality? Gender equality is when people of all genders
have an equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunity. Everyone is affected by gender
inequality, from women, to men. It also impacts people of all ages and backgrounds. Based
on the humanrightscareers.com, gender equality means that all genders are free to pursue
whatever career, lifestyle choice, and abilities they want without discrimination. Their rights,
opportunities, and access to society are not different based on their gender.

Gender equality  does not necessarily means that everyone is treated exactly the same.
Their different needs and dreams are valued equally. Gender equity is often discussed at the
same time as gender equality for this reason. Since society has favored men for so long, men
have many advantages. Equity fills in the gaps so everyone else can “catch up” to men. It
addresses discrimination and imbalances in society so that equality can become a reality.

On a global scale, achieving gender equality also requires eliminating harmful

practices against women and girls, including sex trafficking, femicide, wartime sexual
violence, gender wage gap, and other oppression tactics. UNFPA stated that, "despite many
international agreements affirming their human rights, women are still much more likely than
men to be poor and illiterate. They have less access to property ownership, credit, training
and employment. They are far less likely than men to be politically active and far more likely
to be victims of domestic violence."

To be honest it’s still shocking me to realise that in 2020, women around the world,
regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation still have to fight daily, both at home and at
work, to overcome gender inequality. To illustrate how far we still have to go, here are a few
figures on gender inequality worldwide:

1. In 2016, just 57% of the world’s working-age women were in the labour force,
compared to 70% of working-age men.

2. Women with full-time jobs still earn only about 77 % of their male counterparts’
earnings.

3. 62 million girls are denied an education all over the world.

4. Every year, an estimated 15 million girls under 18 are married worldwide, with little or
no say in the matter. Many organizations that support women empowerment are working to
find the solution until now. They know that education and empowerment for girls are the first
steps.

5. 4 out of 5 victims of human trafficking are girls. 

6. On average, 30% of women who have been in a relationship report that they have
experienced some form of physical or sexual violence by their partner.

7. In Saudi Arabia, women were, until recently, not allowed to drive and are discouraged
from working jobs that would put them in contact with men. The unemployment rate for
women is 33 per cent for women, 7 per cent for men.
8. Women around the world aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and domestic
violence than from cancer, car accidents, war and malaria.

9. Around the world, only 32% of all national parliamentarians are female. That’s more
than double the number in 1995, but still a marker of slow change. 

10. Women currently hold 24, or 4.8% of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies.

11. Less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women. 

12. One in three women worldwide have experienced either intimate partner violence or

non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.

BEFORE we talk further more about the gender equality in this era, we must know
the history behind it’s movement first. If we’re see it from the sociology perspective, the
conflict theorists have been focusing on inequality between races or sexes. This wider look at
social inequalities has provided the basis for feminist theory. To be a feminist theory, “a
theory must recognize gender as a system of inequality, assume that it is a mutable rather
than constant or necessary feature of human societies, and support a commitment to a gender
equitable system” (Chafetz 2001, 613). In other words, feminist theories argue that social
systems oppress women and that this oppression can and should be eliminated. All of these
people advocated for the dignity, intelligence, and basic human potential of the female sex.

Feminists, however, differ greatly in their views on why inequality occurs and how to
overcome it (Andersen 1993). Drawing from Marx’s emphasis on economics, Marxist
feminists argues that capitalist economic structures favor men—for example, with higher
paying jobs. Solutions rely on eliminating capitalism as the source of the problem. Liberal
feminism argues that inequality lies in a lack of opportunity and education for women as well
as traditional views of gender that limit women’s roles. Liberal feminists feel that if women
are allowed to compete equally with men in all areas of society, they will do so successfully
(Lorber 1998). Radical feminists argues that, regardless of economic system and other
inequalities women face in their lives (e.g., racism), male domination is the most fundamental
and violence is one key method of controlling women. Solutions lie in eliminating all forms
of sexual violence and enhancing women’s culture and lives.
 By the way, I write the history of feminism based on the pasificu.edu, the writer is
Martha Rampton, she is a professor of history and director of the Center for Gender Equity at
Pacific University. Her speciality is the early medieval period with an emphasis on social
history and the activities and roles of women. She holds an MA in medieval history from the
University of Utah and a doctorate in medieval history from the University of Virginia. So,
here’s the explanation.

The first wave of feminism took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, emerging out of an environment of urban industrialism and liberal, socialist
politics. The goal of this wave was to open up opportunities for women, with a focus on
suffrage. The wave formally began at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 when three
hundred men and women rallied to the cause of equality for women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(d.1902) drafted the Seneca Falls Declaration outlining the new movement's ideology and
political strategies.

The second wave began in the 1960s and continued into the 90s. This wave unfolded
in the context of the anti-war and civil rights movements and the growing self-consciousness
of a variety of minority groups around the world. The New Left was on the rise, and the voice
of the second wave was increasingly radical. In this phase, sexuality and reproductive rights
were dominant issues, and much of the movement's energy was focused on passing the Equal
Rights Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing social equality regardless of sex.

Whereas the first wave of feminism was generally propelled by middle class,
Western, cisgender, white women, the second phase drew in women of color and developing
nations, seeking sisterhood and solidarity, claiming "Women's struggle is class struggle."
Feminists spoke of women as a social class and coined phrases such as "the personal is
political" and "identity politics" in an effort to demonstrate that race, class, and gender
oppression are all related. They initiated a concentrated effort to rid society top-to-bottom of
sexism, from children's cartoons to the highest levels of government.

An additional dimension has also been added to feminist perspectives. Many feminists
from the 1960s were educated, white, and middle class. Today, feminist writings have
expanded to encompass women of diverse backgrounds (e.g., Collins 2000) as well as the
concerns of globalization and the circumstances of women in less developed countries. A
multicultural global feminism has developed that recognizes the need to include the diversity
of women’s voices by other characteristics such as race, ethnicity, class, age, sexual
orientation, and able-bodiedness. Sociologists such as Patricia Hill Collins and Dorothy
Smith focus on what feminism brings to sociological theory and our understanding of society.

The third wave of feminism began in the mid-90's and was informed by post-colonial
and post-modern thinking. In this phase many constructs were destabilized, including the
notions of "universal womanhood," body, gender, sexuality and hetero-normativity. An
aspect of third wave feminism that mystified the mothers of the earlier feminist movement
was the re-adoption by young feminists of the very lip-stick, high-heels, and cleavage
proudly exposed by low cut necklines that the first two phases of the movement identified
with male oppression.

In the United States, feminism evolved as women sought the right to an education and
joined the abolitionist movements of the 1800s. Many early female sociologists, such as Jane
Addams -she was an ardent feminist by philosophy. In those days before women’s suffrage
she believed that women should make their voices heard in legislation and therefore should
have the right to vote, but more comprehensively, she thought that women should generate
aspirations and search out opportunities to realize them-, Harriet Martineau, and Ida Wells-
Barnett participated in this “first wave” of the women’s movement, as did some male
sociologists. The second wave of feminism was established amid the social movements of the
1960s, when conflict theory overall was gaining popularity. Many changes were occurring in
women’s lives (e.g., increasing women’s labor-force participation, the development of the
birth-control pill) during that decade with sociologists such as Jessie Bernard (profiled below)
embracing the movement.

Most third-wavers refuse to identify as "feminists" and reject the word that they find
limiting and exclusionary. Grrl-feminism tends to be global, multi-cultural, and it shuns
simple answers or artificial categories of identity, gender, and sexuality. Its transversal
politics means that differences such as those of ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, etc. are
celebrated and recognized as dynamic, situational, and provisional. Reality is conceived not
so much in terms of fixed structures and power relations, but in terms of performance within
contingencies. Third wave feminism breaks boundaries.
 The fourth wave of feminism is still a captivating silhouette. Feminism is now moving
from the academy and back into the realm of public discourse. Issues that were central to the
earliest phases of the women’s movement are receiving national and international attention
by mainstream press and politicians:  problems like sexual abuse, rape, violence against
women, unequal pay, slut-shaming, the pressure on women to conform to a single and
unrealistic body-type and the realization that gains in female representation in politics and
business, for example, are very slight. It is no longer considered “extreme,” nor is it
considered the purview of rarified intellectuals to talk about societal abuse of women, rape on
college campus, Title IX, unfair pay and work conditions, and the fact that the US has one of
the worst records for legally-mandated parental leave and maternity benefits in the world.

Some people who wish to ride this new fourth wave have trouble with the word
“feminism,” not just because of its older connotations of radicalism, but because the word
feels like it is underpinned by assumptions of a gender binary and an exclusionary subtext:
“for women only.” Many fourth wavers who are completely on-board with the movement’s
tenants find the term “feminism” sticking in their craws and worry that it is hard to get their
message out with a label that raises hackles for a broader audience. Feminism no longer just
refers to the struggles of women; it is a clarion call for gender equity.

Well, from the explanations above, we can see that the movement of the gender
equality was started from long ago, there are four waves of feminism, from the late
nineteenth of the century, until now. We know that the feminists are always rising their
voices for the equality of all human being, especially a women. Because out there,
discrimination to the women from this society caused by the patriarchy is STILL going until
now.
By the way, talking about gender equality, what is exactly the benefit if we’re
emphasizing gender equality? Based on humanrightscareer.com, these are the benefit if we
are emphasizing gender equality:
1. Better business
Studies shows that gender diversity improves an organization’s innovation and
productivity. When women are given equal education (and as a result, equal job
opportunities compared to men, the businesses they join will thrive.
 2. Better economy
When women can participate in the economy in the same way as men, the economy
does better. Because closing the gender pay gap plays a significant role in this.
3. Reduced poverty
Girls and women make up the world’s poorest populations, because they aren’t given
equal education, job opportunities, and income, cycles of poverty repeat themselves.
By giving women the same opportunities as men, it would raise up entire families
from poverty and reduce the world’s poverty rate.
4. Better health
Because of barriers like income and lack of education, access to good healthcare is
often challenging for women. Even without those obstacles, women are often not
taken seriously. There’s also less research on conditions that mostly affect women. If
gender equality became realized in healthcare, women would get better care, leading
to improvements in a society’s overall health. Studies also show that gender equality
has a link to the improvement of children’s health. Women with equal education and
income can care for their children better.

The discrimination towards women in the society, especially in South Korea, can be
described in a movie called “Kim Ji-Young, Born: 1982”. The movie is based on the novel
with the same title, made by Cho Nam-joo. In the movie, we can saw the struggle of being a
women in South Korea because of the patriarchal and conservative society. The story of the
movie is about a women named Ji-Young, she was an office worker but then she decided to
married with her significant other, and then she has a child. Because she have to take care of
the child, she decided to stop working at her office. She faced so many discrimination, from
her men friends, her boss, even her mother in-law. It’s really hard to be women in a
patriarchal and conservative society, even though she still wanted to get a job, but she can’t
because she was prohibited by her mother in-law. Her mother in-law is always told her to be
a good wife, who always in the kitchen cooking for the entire family, and don’t do working,
etc. All the discriminations and pressure towards her makes her depressed. But thank to god
she have a supportive husband, he will support his wife no matter what, so at the end, she still
get a job in the new office of her old boss. And she can be free for doing what she want.

This movie is so controversial even before it’s released. A lot of men are rating it 0.0
simply because they address feminism theme. And a lot of men said that they will break up to
their girlfriend if she asked him to watch the movie. This is all happened because Korean
society teaches men through the education system and media that the perspectives of men are
the most important, the important Koreans through history are the men, the important books
and artworks are the products of men. The perspective of men is held up as the Korean
perspective. This film shows how many difficulties in the lives of Korean women are due to
structural problems in a society built by men. So it makes women in Korea feel a lot of
pressured.
And now, back to the topic of gender equality in the digital era. In this era, where we
use social media a part of our life, we can see that there’s a lot of discrimination, misogyny,
and hate towards the idea of “gender equality” or feminism is everywhere. From the actual
street, office, school, overseas, domestic, even in the social media, it’s literally everywhere.
All the hates, I think, it’s because the stigma of how the patriarchy society made women have
a lesser position than men. The stereotype that said “women should stay at home while men
working on the outside”, or something like “women should do the cooking, cleaning, taking
care of the babies”, “women should be the submissive one in the household”, “women don’t
do working! You must stay in home”, “women don’t be too smart because they will be the
dominant in the household”, “women must serve the men”, “girl, your outfit is too tight”,
“why are girls always screaming like crazy over a singer? I don’t get that”, “women should
have lower income than men because they’re don’t worthy enough”, “why are girls always
crying over the little things?”, when the boys catcalling girls they’ll be like “come on girls,
it’s a joke, don’t take it seriously!”, Women tend to be seen as incapable and less
experienced. To be honest, I’m so tired of how the society portrays women by saying,
“women should this, women should that”, as if women are just a bunch of toys. We are all
human, we have right to be ourselves, to be whatever we want to be, to be respected like the
other human being. We have right to express ourselves to the world, we have right to learn
new things and take a higher education same as men. We have right to earn the same income
as men, not because we are just a women but because we are same, as a human being.

All those stereotype towards women is so lame and it’s not valid anymore. It’s 2020,
there’s no more men is better than the women, and vice versa. We are all equal. Women can
too, be freely expressing their idea, their opinions, their voices and not being judged only
because they are women.
 The term of feminism is now misused by everyone who don’t know or don’t literate
much about feminism and it shows by how people would call a women if she protesting about
the inequality they’ve faced, they will call her “feminazi”, a satire term used to describe
feminists who are considered extreme or radical, which is very rude. In the first place,
feminism is a movement that says all gender are equal, every women should have the same
opportunity, and access to society same as men. And it does not necessarily means that
everyone is treated exactly the same. Their different needs and dreams are valued equally.
That’s it, that’s the main concept of feminism.

In the digital era, where social media is now used as a need, the discrimination
towards women are still going on. So many times I’ve read some post from social media such
as Twitter, or Instagram, that a woman being called feminazi only because she is just express
her opinions and aspirations to the public about how unfair our society is. I honestly don’t get
it how some people can be this rude. Like I said before, the concept of feminism is now
misused by a lot of people. Women, just wanted their opinions to be heard, their idea be
listened, women don’t want a special treatment than men. Women just want to be respected
same as men, not because they are women, but because they are human being.

As a human being, we need to learn or at least knowing about this gender equality
issues. We need to woke our eyes up for the unfairness and discrimination out there. If we
want to live in peace and healthy society, we have to appreciate the differences between one
people and another. The diversity between us should be accepted and appreciated rather than
judging, and hating for no reason.

I hope this essay will somehow, give you, the readers, an insight about gender
equality in this digital era, and the problems inside of it. A lot of people out there are still
demanding for a justice, and I hope we can be a people who try to understand their struggle,
not only feminists, but to all the minority such as black people, people of color, and all the
community who faced an injustice by this society. I hope in the future we can change all the
negativity, and hates into the positivity.
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