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In this country, one of the most common types of discrimination is based on gender. Throughout history there has never been a time or place where women enjoyed complete equality with men. As Belle S. Spafford confirms, "Since ancient times women have been considered men's inferiors-physically, morally, and intellectually” (8). Has a woman ever been able to share the same rights or even earn the same wages as men without working twice as hard? Although the current situations concerning this controversy have improved from ancient times, it is still devastatingly imbalanced. Many often associate the words gender and sex as the same category. In fact, it is much different and it has everything to do with the way society classifies a woman in terms of social order. According to the Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, sex is defined as, “…the female or male division of a species as differentiated with reference to the reproductive functions,” gender is defined as, “the societal or behavioral aspects of sexual identity” (539). Sex and gender may not be the same category, but to some, they are believed to be related in a cause and effect manner in terms of society. As Myra Jehlen points out, “…taking masculinity as a given expressed a traditional conviction that the differences between men and women arise from natural causes to organize a cultural order” (264). The aspect of society in which gender discrimination is most apparent would be in the labor force. Even in the early ages, young girls were sent out to work as domestics while the boys were sent out to be apprentices to learn a trade. Women generally wouldn’t work outside the home unless it was ultimately necessary, for example, if her husband got laid off or died. Although some levels of integration have been implemented, “…most women and men continue to work in sex-typical jobs with coworkers of the same sex” (Roos, 1). While women have been characterized by society as the weaker ones who should just stay home as the homemaker, it is an undeniable fact that, "Throughout history, women have been laborers" (Spafford, 48). Even in ancient civilizations, women have worked as laundresses, seamstresses, hairdressers, and midwives.
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