Gender and Capitol

I recently started a new job and had to help the business move office locations. On the day of the move, I noticed that there were three male workers and one female worker. She was helping move furniture pieces that were just as heavy as the pieces that the men were moving, but she seemed distinctly out of place. I saw several people attempt to try to help her, though they did not rush to assist the men. Others did not try to help but they would periodically glance in her direction, as if not trusting her to be able to manage the heavy loads.

I find it very troublesome that, even in such a modern and advanced society, we still seem to follow a set definition of gender roles. Advertisements are often geared toward women because the companies assume that women are the consumers and men are the producers. Jobs are often identified to be either male or female defined and, oftentimes, the people that are hiring allow themselves to be swayed by these old associations. Men become doctors, women become nurses. Men become construction workers, women become office secretaries. Sure, many women are attempting to break out of these stereotypes but a male-dominated society makes it much harder to achieve equality. Capitalism, in a sense, operates on this exact nature of gender roles. It separates men and women in an inherently unequal way. Gender roles have come a long way but there is still change that needs to happen before males and females are truly on the same level.