Roots of Gender Inequality

Gender inequality has its roots in differences between men and women in society. These result from social constructions of relations, which in turn stem from sexual divisions of labor rooted in biological differences between the genders, such as the ability to breastfeed. Women’s roles are valued less economically, and women also often have limited mobility and are confined to the domestic sphere. Women often experience many types of discrimination–including social, institutionalized, communal, and household discrimination–which affects their well-being and keeps them subordinated as compared to men in the notion of patriarchy. These power structures exist in all societies in which gender is present. This chapter is part of Module 6: Sites of Gendered Poverty and Inequality.