Darian Dolansky Dr Grant SOC 200 E40M 16 June 2016 Gender Inequality Interviews In order to examine the real life impact of gender inequality I interviewed two women a close friend Maryam who was born and raised in Syria and my grandmother Adele Throughout these interviews I gathered questions and answers that addressed the inequalities that these women may have faced growing up in the generation or culture that they lived in These questions assessed factors that examined the inequalities gender differences and construction of gender within the social environment they grew up in Growing up in Tartus Syrian culture exposed Maryam to many consequences of a patriarchal society that most women in the United States have never experienced It was evident upon her answers that there is a clear divide of gender that limits women in a Syrian society Women are not only victims to discrimination but are also at risk of sexual harassment There are preset social norms that are expected from women that outline what behavior is acceptable In many cases if women go against any of these norms they are seen as disrespecting their family and putting the honor of their family at risk Social construction of women in Syria is highly focused around women being portrayed as homebodies of the family The patriarchy of men is highly evident when looking at the social construction as they are typically the only gender that is capable of holding professional positions This also exemplifies the impact of gender typing within Syria on gender differences as even in the rare occurrence women do work they hold lower status and paid positions Not only does gender factor into the status and pay of jobs but also in many cases is a factor into the importance of a person Men are often much more appraised than women and seen as more capable in many areas on a more biological basis As for Adele these impacts of a patriarchal society were seen growing up in Wisconsin during the 1940s to 1950s Growing up on a farm my grandmother explained that most of the gender role socialization was taught through words and actions of her parents Similar to growing up in Syria as Maryam women were expected to have the role of a homebody Often the men in her family were the ones who took care of the farm while the women did most of the housekeeping such as making meals for the family Growing up in the United States my grandmothers was less oppressed than women in other countries that are less developed but she still faced difficulties with the more evident patriarchal society that existed back when she was younger Even upon graduating high school my grandmother recalls that most women were discourage from continuing their education because of this many women got married soon out of high school or took on jobs that did not require a much furthered education After interviewing these two women I was surprised by the extremity of the impact of patriarchy they dealt with growing up One statement that Maryam made that I found most impactful was that women in Syria are often sexually harassed in a casual manner on the streets Something like this nowadays would be more frowned upon in the United States but in Syria this is still a common practice All of this information matched pretty well with the textbook I found that having personal accounts even furthered the validity of the gender inequalities the book talked about I feel like learning about gender inequalities emphasizes the importance and prevalence of it in our society today It is clear that although we have made advances there are still many areas on which we can improve to this day both in the United States and worldwide Works Cited Giddens Anthony Introduction to Sociology New York W W Norton 2014 Print The World Factbook Nepal Central Intelligence Agency Central Intelligence Agency 16 May 2016 Web 08 June 2016