US gender equality is in the eye of beholder
Women and men have vastly different views on how much equality has been achieved in the US workplace, with half as many women as men seeing progress.
Women are more pessimistic about the future as well, with almost twice as many as men predicting equality in politics will take at least 30 more years, if ever, said a new survey by Gallup, a US-based polling company.
Men and women agree that equality is missing from politics and the workplace, but by distinctly different margins, according to the survey.
The poll was held to mark the 100th anniversary of ratification of the US Constitution’s 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote.
About seven in 10 US adults said women have not yet achieved equality in the workplace and in politics.
But, divided by gender, 21 percent of US women think there is workplace equality compared with 42 percent of men.
Also, 25 percent of women think there is equality in politics compared with 43 percent of men.
Looking ahead, 32 percent of women and 17 percent of men said they predict political equality will take 30 years or more to achieve.
“I can only imagine that women are just more sensitive to those factors than men, whether it has to do with equality in the number of women in Congress, the number of women CEOs, the number of women superintendents relative to teachers,” said Lydia Saad, Gallup’s director of US social research.
“It just may be more obvious to women.”
Older women had a brighter outlook than younger women. Three-quarters of those over 65 said they think equality exists or will in the next 20 years for women in politics. Only a third of women aged 18 to 44 shared that view.
“Older women have had more time to see more change,” Saad said.
“There have been gains, and the longer you’ve been around, the more you see.”
The results were based on self-administered web interviews conducted between July 13 to 19, using a random sample of 3,745 US adults.
The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
