This is a response to the following blog posting: http://www.progressiveu.org/180124-will-we-ever-truly-be-equal
*Note: This post was a comment, but then I felt that it really reflected my thoughts on gender inequality.
De facto institutions take a lot longer to change than de jure ones. A law may change, but stereotypes, public opinion, and conditions will take a lot longer to change. A perfect example is the aftermath of slavery and the Civil War. Many blacks are still assigned to inner-city and poverty-stricken areas of the US. This is a result of the socioeconomic issues that arose after the passage of the Civil War Amendments. Freedmen were stuck in cycles of debt peonage, not unlike slavery, and racism that led to a lower socioeconomic status that continues for many even today.
It's hard to imagine the effects of what we do today one hundred years from now. Although women have been struggling for political and social equality, why is it that the first viable female presidential candidate has come forth only for this coming election? Why is it that even though there is approx. 50-50 representation of genders in our country's population that the gender representation ratio in politics is so small? I don't know when we will gain true equality, but I know we won't until we began to accept new roles ourselves, and it certainly won't happen until we rid ourselves of this stereotype of the "cult of domesticity."
