Redefinition Of The American Dream

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Redefinition of the American Dream

The American dream is a belief that any person can attain success and upward mobility in society regardless of who they are, what their sexuality is and what class they belong to. This dream can be achieved through hard work, tolerance, and sacrifice. However, to achieve the dream there are certain barriers such as gender discrimination and sexual discrimination that as a citizen of America we need to pass through. According to the US constitution, every citizen has the right of free will however despite many laws that are made to protect the Women and LGBTQ community they have to face the discrimination and their voices are suppressed by making certain excuses such as religion and cultural excuses.

The process of discrimination starts at birth. When a child is born parents are required to fill a form that required them to mark the gender of their child. Likewise filling a form for any job or registration in the educational institute the first and the foremost requirement is to provide the information about your gender and in that too there are only two options male and female. There is a concept of gender neutrality. This classification further leads to the roles that each gender had to perform. For instance, females are required to do household work while males are required to be bread wiener (Zeher). In the US society shows flexibility when it comes to acting upon the gender-defined roles as many women are working in the offices and outside their homes while men are taking care of the house. However, gender identity depends upon the perception of a person rather than what he was born as.

 Specifically discussing gender discrimination in the US this issue has been prevailing throughout history. This includes occupational segregation, Unequal household work distribution, difficulty in accessing education and political representation. Additionally, the inequality faced by transgender women and the violence against these individuals is still prevailing in US society. In the past women were used in many rituals in the witchcraft against their will also they were forced to marry or engage in a sexual relationship and were subjected to extreme violence and torture. They were not even given the right to vote. In the year 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft in her published work “Vindication on the rights of women” advocated about equality of the sexes. She demanded that girls should be able to access education on the same footing as boys, also the prejudice against women should be ended and they should be evaluated on their achievements rather than based on their partner’s achievements (Wollstonecraft). The past 200 years does mark improvements and women all over the world do possess some rights and can access education easily as compared to the past yet discrimination is still not fully eliminated. According to the survey conducted by the international center of research on women in 2014 in parliament, only 23% are women while others are males. Also, working women are paid less than men making it difficult for them to access necessities of life such as health care and dietary resources. The field in which women face discrimination differs from country to country such as in India or Pakistan a son is preferred over daughter to an extent that people living in rural areas often kill daughter after their birth. In the US although the preference of son over a daughter is less yet still many people believe that sons are better than daughters.

Moving towards the transgender community the discrimination against them is still prevailing in our society. Although in the US according to the constitution all forms of gender discrimination against the LGBTQ community are considered illegal even in the workplace or during the hiring process discrimination transgender people is illegal (Bartholet). After the Stonewall riots in which the police entered a gay bar and captivate many people the crowd retaliated causing riots (Matzner) and giving birth to several movements and the formation of gay liberation front. However, many years later on April 2012, EEOC determines the gender identity clause in the Title VII policy according to which discrimination against gay people in public places or workplaces is considered illegal (Sape). However, still, gay people are often discriminated publicly. People have different opinions about transgender people and especially same-sex marriage. Although the US constitution permits same-sex-marriage yet there still are many states that do register these marriages and transgender are also not allowed to adopt a child just because of their sexuality. This causes extreme hurdles for them as since their revelation as transgender the face bullying and discrimination in almost every field of life.

However, the world would be far more beautiful if the non-discriminatory, gender and sex-neutral American dream comes true. As when the people will tolerate each other and accept their differences many new opportunities will arise that would benefit the society both socially and economically. There are many examples that proves that if women get the opportunity to show their skills they can also achieve success not only for themselves but for their country such as Serena Williams who holds the title of winning most grand slam, Hilary Clinton who became the first women to be nominated for the president of the US and Peggy Whitson who broke the record of spending most days in the space by any NASA astronaut. Similarly, Lynn Conway is known for his VLSI invention and Jennifer Finney who is a political activist and a renowned author are the people of the LGBTQ community who have made their name in their respective fields. The American dream revolution will not only benefit females but also the LGBTQ community.

Despite being living in the 21st century there still are people who oppose the American dream revolution. Specifically, more people opposed LGBTQ movements by making religion as the basis of opposing. The reforms in gay rights also include the removal of the prohibition of gay marriages causing many religious organizations to perform these marriages which according to them is the violation of their freedom of speech and practice religion. On the other hand, many people are against the feminist movement argue that these movements are against the religious teachings as most religions have identified the role of homemaker to the women due to which women working outside the home is considered against the teachings of religion causing harm to the religious sentiments of many people. However there still are people who are in supporting women rights as well as the gay community rights as according to them empowering women will help them be independent and will make their access easier to the basic necessities of life which will in turn benefit children as an educated mother can be more fruitful in the development of the child. Additionally, many people are in the favor of including topics such as female rights and sexual diversity in the curriculum so that people can learn more about the issues prevailing in our society and helps in reducing them. Furthermore, the advertisement culture should also be changed by showing diversity and programs that empower women rather than making an object of gratification. Also discussing the LGBTQ if they are given their fundamental rights they could progress in their life and this will also end the violence against them (Kattari). When all the people will have equal rights the country will be balanced and people altogether work for their prosperity as well as play a significant role in national prosperity.  

Works Cited

Bartholet, Elizabeth. "Application of Title VII to jobs in high places." Harvard Law Review (1982): 945-1027.

Bobbitt-Zeher, Donna. "Gender discrimination at work: Connecting gender stereotypes, institutional policies, and gender composition of workplace." Gender & Society 25.6 (2011): 764-786.

Kattari, Shanna K., et al. "Policing gender through housing and employment discrimination: comparison of discrimination experiences of transgender and cisgender LGBQ individuals." Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research 7.3 (2016): 427-447.

Matzner, Andrew. "Stonewall riots." GLBTQ Archive (2015).

Sape, George P., and Thomas J. Hart. "Title vii reconsidered: The equal employment opportunity act of 1972." Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 40 (1971): 824.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. 1792." The Works of Mary Wollstonecraft 5 (1992): 79-266.