The connection between personal life and external factors such as economic and political changes might seem barely tangible. Yet, it has rather significant power on how one builds relationships with the community. For instance, the problem of the gender pay gap and gender disparities in the workplace, in general, remains a problematic area for a vast number of modern organizations. According to DeFrancisco et al., a significant number of people have to work in a gendered environment due to corporate policies and the lack of equality in certain organizations. When considering personal examples, I would like to mention the situation that my friend faced when applying for an IT job, where female employees were seen as a deviation from a default. Therefore, the chances of encountering sexist behaviors and attitudes in the workplace are very high.
Similarly, the academic environment is not devoid of casual sexism, with women receiving fewer opportunities for building careers in science. Gender biases in the educational setting require the greatest and undivided attention of the proponents of gender equality since the specified setting defines children’s further attitude toward the subject matter. Academic institutions shape the minds of generations, which means that the problems in the modern education system will inevitably become inherent in students’ lives as they become adults. Thus, it would not be an understatement to claim that the lack of gender equality observed in the modern community is the direct outcome of the flaws in the education system.
Because of the influence of the academic hierarchy on my personality, I have been struggling with accepting feminism for a significant amount of time. Believing that feminist ideas were mismatched with the values that I received and accepted as a young student, I struggled to follow them until I started building my awareness about gender inequality. Therefore, academic influences are not to be dismissed when defining the factors that impede the promotion of equity and gender equality in modern society.
Similarly, the policies designed by men and, therefore, fail to reflect the interests of women and LGBTQ representatives fully should also be seen as the reason for concern. Despite the current tendency to revisit some of the social and legal policies that infringe upon the rights of the LGBTQ community and the efforts made by the National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS), the problem of social and legal policies misaligning with the needs of the LGBTQ community has been growing exponentially.