Article Review 1 --Marcus Allen

Theories on the Gender Gap

            Many people are obviously aware of the fact that there is not equality in the world as of now. I’m here to figure out why that is. In many activities and throughout daily life there is a huge gender gap. Many individuals don’t even notice this problem frequently because they are comfortable with the benefits given to them. I plan to show factors that lead to the gender gap, whether physical, mental, or indirectly received or given by societal means.

            Starting with the physical aspects that compose the gender gap, I’ve learned that women are more likely to survive than men. Are males truly the more fragile sex? This can be picked apart starting even from the womb. It was found that premature birth success has a higher turnout with females as they are 1.7 times more likely to survive than males. Further, African American girls are more than twice as likely to survive as white males. (Pinker, 2008) Being a female is like having a better life insurance policy (biological). There is not much light to shed on the reasoning for this, but one widely believed cause is the two X chromosomes females possess. If one of their chromosomes are damaged and produce defects while in gestation they have nothing to worry about because of their handy spare. As males have two different chromosomes they would be out of luck when the factory stopped working right. Also men are much more susceptible to disease, again because of the chromosomes. Women can carry diseases and not be affected. Another thing is that the Y chromosome has been subject to mutation and erosion by time. The Y chromosome has been shedding genes furiously over the course of evolutionary time, and it is now a fraction the size of its partner, the X chromosome (Wade, 2003). The Y chromosome in a way also hinders survival for males around the globe, indiscriminate to species as well. According to Susan Pinker; testosterone increases aggression, risk-taking, and verve. Testosterone is suspected to be involved in every male chronic illness such as heart disease, cancer, and AIDS. Surges of testosterone boost strength, stamina, and spatial problem solving but decrease the body’s immune response.

            I’ve really been taken aback by all of the information I found. I was very surprised about the Y chromosome and how it is dwindling on the brink of extinction. If evolutionary mutations keep occurring at the past and present rates, the decay will eventually cause the end of the human race, starting with males. It was very interesting to learn that Men and women differ by 1 to 2 percent of their genomes, which is the same as the difference between a man and a male chimpanzee or between a woman and a female chimpanzee. I’ve also learned that the gender gap is as old as time itself. That there is evidence about women being less enthusiastic about going to war than men, and more concerned with the provision of food, shelter, clothing and healing to children and men. (Boulding, 1984) Regarding this knowledge I would especially desire to make a larger awareness among every population. Nothing gets fixed without everyone’s help. In this class I have learned many things that I never would have known if I hadn’t registered for this class. This is the same in regards to the gender gap. One of the approaches to the study of problems of women is awareness. Simply put many individuals do not incur the hardships of women nor query them (Somjee, 1989). Education is the answer, start enacting more gender comparative classes so this problem can be solved.