For the past century, there has been an issue confronting equality between gender. Equality is ensuring that an individual has equal opportunities to make most out of their lives, and believing that no individual has less opportunities just because of the different values and beliefs the individual follows. Throughout time women and men were treated with inequality. During the early 1900s, inequality continued to become an issue especially in the workforce. For instance, women were treated unequally, especially when entering the workforce.
However; the workforce does not specify that during the war many women began working in the meatpacking industry when men left to the army being paid at less salary and positioned in lower ranks. Throughout the whole semester I could analyze Prashad and Fink perspective of inequality. According to Prashad he states polyculturalism, multiculturalism and color blindness. As for Fink, she emphasizes inequality and the variety different factors that inequality portrays in the workforces between gender and race. For instance, Prashad and Fink, both stated differential argumentative ideas through the idea of equality.
According to Prashad book, Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting states “…a practical index that sets in motion the processes that might in time produce a humanity that is indeed in some way equal’ (Prashad, 2001: p. 69). It explains that equality is a process where humanity goes through polyculturaism. However; in Fink’s book, Cutting into the Meatpacking Line states “Gender remained a salient means of organizing packing house production. The union in digging in its heels to preserve the old system, conceded gender to manipulation of packing companies, thereby contributing to the deterioration of conditions for all workers” (Fink, 1998: p. 12).
It explains that packaging industries used gender toward their benefit such benefitting their corporation in manipulating both genders into working in lower labor workforce cost and raising profits towards their own companies. However; authors, Prashad and Fink both explained similar ideas, Prashad states that polyculturaism is ‘practical index’ in which processes that humanity falls into equality. On the other hand; Fink states gender gives a function in meatpacking industries and benefited from it.
Furthermore, ethnicity became an issue among employees in the meatpacking industry, for instance individuals whom are Hispanics, African American and Asian American were the ethnicities that gave an impact to the meatpacking industry. One of the many reasons why individuals from other ethnicities were employed was either because they could get the job done the way the company wanted. Secondly, the employees are being paid low salary for less hours they were working. For instance, Fink states “Ethnicity, like gender, is not separate from the construction of class; it is a dimension of it.
The inequalities associated with the ethnicity are essential to understanding the history of working class in rural Iowa” (Fink, 1998: p. 117). In the state of Iowa due to segregation most employees during their breaks they would eat in different sides. Granting, that laws prohibited discrimination it still occurred. As individuals, the thought about privilege and discrimination is white individuals versus any other race even though there is a structured difference between white and the non-white has defined access to certain social privileges, ethnic diversity has been more complicated.
Furthermore, individuals who are ‘white’ get to through certain discrimination that other races do as well. Now and then we find it okay to render comments about white privilege based weather on the color of their skin or race, but it turns out that when white individuals make comments about another race we find it to be offensive and we find to be okay because they are the privileged race.
Furthermore, an issue author Fink states in her book, “The specificity of each group’s condition with respect to citizenship, language, education, and cultural capital assigns them to different niches, making a fragmented and often internally conflicted rural working class. Any effective mobilization of workers will have to confront the ethnic inequality that is deeply ingrained in rural Iowa (Fink, 1998: p. 154). Every race is based on language, education and citizenship is where the individual will be determined to receive employment.
On the other hand, an individual is at ease when obtaining a higher education and being able receive permanent employment instead of those who have less education. In this case, why is language and citizenship fall into receiving employment. For instance, an African American who speaks more than one language and has obtained an education his or her chances in partaking a higher paid employment are forty-five percent but if a ‘White’ American would apply for the same position as the individual of color the chances are he or she will receive the job because of the privileged of being white and the race he or he falls into.
Citizenship is also an issue among ethnicities especially to individuals who immigrant to the United States to obtain beneficial employments. For example, Hispanics migrant to the United States to gain a better future working for less hours and getting paid less than other workers because either they are undocumented or the color of their skin. Overall, we don’t see the discrimination that people go through at the daily basis. Today, it is occurring among us and we become so blind to not even see it that we let this types of issues occur without even trying to put an end.
Although Fink supports the main idea of Prashad it states and explains to the readers’ proof that there is a process into developing what people identify as equality. However; there is a course of steps that every gender should follow in order from receiving equality from others. Such as, we all live in a society that is full of opportunities that individuals can partake. Our society need to break through the stereotyping that give a generalization belief about a group or class of people. For instance, Hispanic dressed up as a gangster, being able to be blind and judging the individual by its book cover.
By stereotyping we judge the individual by the many characteristics and abilities that we assume that everyone in the ethnic group will fall in. Furthermore, the main reason is that it helps individuals have a way to process the idea of equality or inequality. Ethnic groups can understand the single principle of the idea that falls in having equality. According to Fink’s quotes Alice Kesseter-Harris an author who expressed to recognized gender as recognizing that men should be known as the “other” it specifies that even men will be the ‘other’ there will always be a difference between men and women.
Its either because men and women portray different role and they both strive to complimenting and sharing each other’s struggles to improve their life style. Men should take in action that being the dominant group they should concentrate in using their qualities for the better. For instance, protecting the women and helping the female realize that they also have potential in improving our society as well instead of making them feel less. Overall, over the past few years’ gender equality has improved.
However; race, gender and ethnic classification was an issue in the making of Perry, Iowa. For instance, race permitted meatpacking companies pay low wages for the equal amount of labor hours and being taken advantage because of the color of the skin we are born in. Second, ethnic classification was an advantage for the company because it leads them to control the different ethnicities, such as being hired and placing the individual in a low paid employment. Gender also became a main factor by allowing women to substitute men and being paid less.
Women were placed in suitable positions that were equipped for women. Companies had laws that employers had to abide by laws that proclaimed by no means discriminate gender, ethnicity or race, but it continues to do so for instance in the city of Perry, Iowa. We are the change to end being bias and discrimination between both genders either is race or the ethnic group that individuals come from the process I long but if we continue to argue equality we can achieve it and we no longer should live in a society full of revulsion.
