As the 100 year anniversary of ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women in the United States the right to vote approaches, a majority of the Americans say that the country still hasn’t gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men.
A study from the Pew Research Centre said that only half of the Americans believe that granting women the right to vote has been the most important milestone in advancing the position of women in the country,
The survey by the Centre says that 57 per cent of the Adult Americans believe that the country hasn’t gone far enough when it comes to giving women equal rights with men. When 64 per cent of the women say that the country hasn’t made enough progress, 49 per cent of men only believe this. When coming to political parties, the Democrats and those who lean to it are more than twice as likely as Republicans and Republican leaners to say the country hasn’t gone far enough to give women the same rights as men.
The study found that the American society is more dissatisfied with gender equality now than in 2017. Half of the Americans adults in 2017 said that the country hadn’t gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men. But now about 57 per cent believe this. This shift is seen not only among the genders but across party lines, the Pew Centre said.
The study found that 77 per cent believed sexual harassment to be a major obstacle to women’s equality. While 67 per cent say women don’t have the same legal rights as men, 66 per cent point to different societal expectations for men and women. Moreover, 64 per cent of the people surveyed say that there aren’t enough women in positions of power.
On what gender equality would look like, several of the surveyed people opined that it was somewhat or very important for men and women to have equal rights at workplaces. About 45 per cent argued that a society where women have equal rights with men would include equal pay. For 19 per cent of the people, gender equality meant no discrimination in hiring, promotion or educational opportunities. One in ten of the people wanted more or equal representation in business or political leadership.
Meanwhile, there in ten men say that women’s gains have come at the expense of men. About 76 per cent of the participants opined that the gains have not come at the expense of men. Twenty eight per cent of men and 17 per cent of women think that women’s gains have come at the expense of men. When 38 per cent of Republican men believed this, 19 per cent Democratic men shared this opinion. A quarter of Republican women also said this when compared with 12 per cent of Democratic women, the Pew Said. .
“Among women, those without a bachelor’s degree are about twice as likely as college graduates to say women’s gains have come at the expense of men (21% vs. 10%). Educational differences are less pronounced among men,” the survey said.
When it comes to gender discrimination, the study said that most of the time people did not see where it really exist, rather than people seeing discrimination where it does not exist. The study said that 85 per cent of Democrats pointed out that the bigger problem was that the people overlooked gender discrimination. Meanwhile, a majority of Republicans point out that the bigger problem was that people saw discrimination where it doesn’t exist.
Seven in ten Americans believe that feminist movement has done a great deal to advance women’s rights. About three-in-ten US adults say feminism helped the lives of white women, the study said. Meanwhile, about 21 per cent opined that this had helped Black and Hispanic women.
The study also notes that 57 per cent of the participants believed feminism has helped lesbian and bisexual women at least a little. It also said that 41 per cent said it helped transgender women. The study pointed out that 41 per cent of the women said that feminism helped them personally.
Several of the people opined that the country still has work to do on gender equality. “More than eight-in-ten Americans who say the country hasn’t made enough progress say it is very likely (31%) or somewhat likely (53%) that women will have equal rights with men in the future, compared with 16% who say they think gender equality is not too likely or not at all likely. Men who say the country has not yet achieved gender equality are more likely than women to say that gender equality is very likely (37% vs. 26%). Democratic women are the least likely to say this is very likely: 23% say this, compared with 35% of Republican women and 38% of Democratic and Republican men,” the survey said.
