Has the ‘construct of gender’ been more beneficial or more harmful to humanity throughout history?

The Construct of Gender
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The Construct of Gender
Gender refers to the roles bestowed on males and females by society. Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon since the roles, responsibilities, norms, and behaviors associated with either being male or female differ from community to community. They do change from time to time. The aspect of gender is intertwined in people's everyday lives within a society since it determines aspects such as access to factors of production or resources, division of labor in the workplace or the organization, and education, to mention a few. This issue of gender, though it differs from one community to the next, has played a significant role in classifying what roles are acceptable and which ones are not for each sex. The classification of these roles has been in existence since time immemorial but has been very rigid. The social construct of gender has indeed been more harmful to the human race than beneficial. It led to the increase in the burden of poverty on women, inequality in education and training, inequality in economic structures and policies, discrimination against the girl child, inequality between men and women in the decision-making table, and violence against women.
The burden of poverty on women has increased due to the gender construct promoted by the society around them. This burden is due to the women's lack of access to production factors such as land and resources such as credit facilities, education, or farm inputs. Society has always considered men as the breadwinners in their families, and in this regard, income-generating opportunities have been readily available for men than for women. Prejudice in income-generating activities has led the women to settle for menial jobs that offer very little payment, such as domestic work. In contrast, the men get priority for all the well-paying jobs. This prejudice has seen the wage gap widen even further, with most people occupying the lower spectrum being women (UN Women, 2017). The ability of women to compete for well-paying opportunities has significantly been hindered by their low uptake of education, unlike the male in their respective societies. With the role of home keeper squarely vested on the women, they have to depend on their men for income entirely. This low uptake of education contributed to the women's lack of money, placing them at the center of the never-ending poverty cycle. In this regard, therefore, as women are confined to their homes handling majorly domestic chores, it becomes hard for them to advance economically. Given the role gender construct plays in keeping women poor, it is conclusive to say it has been more harmful than beneficial.
The social construct of gender contributed majorly to inequality in education and training opportunities for males and females. Education and training opportunities include accessing education at the primary, secondary, or tertiary levels. As set by the society, the males have the priority to attend school to the highest level uninterrupted, after which they are required to look for jobs and turn providers for their families. These priorities are at the expense of females who are not a must to be educated (BIIP & USDS, 2012). Instead, they should be ready to get married off as soon as they attain the age of marriage. For instance, in many societies around the world, such as the African society, the girl child's education was dependent on a sufficient education budget for both the boys and girls. If there were not enough resources to educate both of them, then automatically, the boy was considered at the expense of the girl child who had to contend with waiting to get married. This inequality directly affected the number of girls who attended school as the numbers were far below the number of boys who attended school. In developing countries, the illiteracy rate in women is twice as much as that of men. The gap grows wider in a rural setting since the cultural patterns there are still very rigid, and the social rules are stringent. It is evident that females have been on the receiving in regards to the construct of gender and their affairs have been overlooked for the benefit of the male gender.
Economic structures and policies have also developed along with the gender construct, and it has bias. The financial systems and procedures governing the world have contributed significantly to a wide gap in opportunities that the male and female can access. In essence, these structures and policies have stifled the options that females can access in society. The men are recognized as the heads of households and get favored by the economic systems and procedures (FAO, n.d.). The men can access credit from financial institutions partly because they have been given exclusive rights to land ownership and may freely use titles of these lands as collateral to the financial institutions. Women, on the other hand, especially those in rural areas, do not have exclusive land rights and hence fall short of requirements to access lending from financial institutions (FAO, n.d.). The women can only access the lands for farming purposes but not any other purpose, not even to join a farmers' association. In employment circles, the females have been paid considerably less than their male colleagues in similar positions. The economic structures and policies get drafted to favor the male employee over females due to their place in society. These have even overlooked that some women are single parents and are the sole breadwinners for their families.
The girl child has been significantly disadvantaged by the roles that society has placed on each sex. Compared to the boy child, and the girl child has been sidelined regarding socio-economic opportunities such as education, healthcare, and inheritance, to mention a few. Regarding education, the boy child gets priority to attend school up to the highest lev...