Introduction
Simone de Beauvoir was a renowned French philosopher and feminist from a wealthy family that became poor during World War I. She completed her undergrad in math and philosophy and became a teacher for fourteen years until she saved enough to become a full-time teacher. Simone de Beauvoir wrote a book in 1949 titled The Second Sex, which speaks about gender relations in society, feminism, sexuality, education, and career advances. One of the main arguments in her book is that social change happens in steps or stages. Gender equality begins at the domestic level and then proceeds to electoral equality and, eventually, employment equality. Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist theory of social change is crucial to addressing the gender wage gap issue. Currently, women who work in the same job positions as men earn a lower salary, which amounts to gender inequality. Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist theory of social change is crucial to addressing the gender wage gap and ensuring that women are paid equal wages as their counterparts.
Simone de Beauvoir’s Feminist Theory of Social Change
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir is a long book that generally speaks about the essentialist feminist theory. The preface and introduction of her book mentions the common gender roles and stereotypes. In most societies, men are the providers while women stay at home and take care of children and household chores. Beauvoir noticed that, despite these gender norms, millions of women have joined the labor force and they balance between work and their social lives. However, she is puzzled by the fact that women and men are not equal since most men earn higher wages, have more opportunities, and get better jobs (Beauvoir 20). The book reveals the gender inequality issues spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which reveals that it is not a new issue.
There are mixed reactions about Simone de Beauvoir’s work, especially her book, The Second Sex. Some authors consider her the mother of the second wave of feminism, who used an existentialism approach to address women’s issues (Jiang 651). Women born in the early 90’s resonated with her work because it reflected their daily lives. However, some critics do not appreciate her work as they say her theory is out of date, lacks originality, and Beauvoir’s era is not similar to the current society. Nonetheless, the philosopher’s work has not lost its relevance today since it offers valuable lessons to address issues, such as the gender pay gap. Beauvoir’s feminism philosophy offers valuable insights when analyzed from a non-western perspective because women in other parts of the globe face more severe gender inequality issues.
Simone de Beauvoir’s work is crucial to modern feminist conversations because it speaks about the “double shift”, the “glass ceiling, and the gender wage gap. The philosopher argued that women have to work a full day at the workplace and then come back home to put many hours in domestic production – a concept named the “double shift.” Beauvoir also mentions the “glass ceiling,” which is the concept of an invisible barrier that stops women from reaching the top organizational positions (Bodkin 23). The philosopher believed strongly in the liberation of women and the equality of the two sexes. She argues that as long as perfect economic equality between the sexes is not achieved, then women will be the subordinates of men.
Inequality and the Gender Wage Gap
Simone de Beauvoir argues that gender inequality is a centuries-old societal issue that emerged even before modern civilization. When human lived in caves, men were much stronger and protected women who were vulnerable when pregnant or during childbirth. Beauvoir’s theory argues that most societies evolved with women taking care of familial tasks and being inferior to men, who went out to hunt and gather resources. However, all these occurrences were in the past and society has changed drastically. Women have made significant progress in getting most of their rights back, including the ability to vote, which was not the case in the past. Their involvement in the workplace has also increased significantly over the past few decades. However, the gender wage gap is a significant issue that continues to hinder women’s progress and achievements.
Simone de Beauvoir who was born in 1908 wrote her book The Second Sex in 1949, which detailed events that happened in society between the early and the mid 1900s. Unfortunately, the gender wage gap issues she speaks in her book persist even now in the twenty-first century. According to Beauvoir, women encounter many hurdles to jump starting their careers after getting pregnant. They also encounter many challenges getting into Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) courses. Sassler and Pamela support these findings, saying that there are fewer women who currently work in STEM-related jobs and they earn about 82% of what men earn (1). In other sectors, gender inequality and the wage gap are even wider and women face worse disparities.
Application (Lived Experience)
The gender wage gap is not a purely theoretical issue since it happens in real-world scenarios. A good example shows that gender inequality worsened during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. According to Durygin, the gender disparities issues that occurred during the pandemic are similar to what Simone de Beauvoir spoke about more than seventy years ago. The global health crisis placed women at a higher risk of losing their jobs or falling back to low-paid and part-time work. Those who lost their jobs went back to homeschooling and child-rearing practices. The pandemic peeled back many years of progress in women’s empowerment. Economic inequalities affected the large number of women working in low-wages jobs in tourism, hospitality, education, and leisure sectors. The pandemic brought to light all the things Simone de Beauvoir wrote in her book, The Second Sex. The gender wage gap disproportionately affected women during the pandemic and gender inequalities and the marginalization of women increased significantly.
Recommendations to Dealing with the Gender Wage Gap
Simone de Beauvoir argues that dealing with gender inequality and potentially ending the wage gap issue would occur through three stages: domestic equality, electoral equality, and then employment equality. Although employment equality is more important that electoral equality, the employment landscape is not yet equal. Male-dominated jobs in the STEM industry have higher wages than female-centric industries, such as hospitality and the service industry. Moreover, women are less likely to be in executive positions of large companies, they experience slow upward mobility and promotions, and are paid less for the same jobs. Society must systematically deal with gender inequality from the domestic level; within homes and families, before extending to the electoral and employment domains. Women in arts perform exceptionally well and they have attain some degree of equality in pay. Other sectors should replicate what happens in the arts industry to help address the gender wage gap.
Simone de Beauvoir argues that women in literature could potentially play an important role in the liberation from the chains of gender inequality. These women could use their work to dismantle traditional gender roles and stereotypes. However, the book reveals that there is a huge divide between writing about a better world and actually building a better world. Although feminist literature is important in highlighting the gender wage gap and the plight of women, policymakers in positions of power must create laws that address the differences in pay directly. Unfortunately, the issues that Beauvoir wrote about more than seven decades ago are persistent to date. More effort is required to mobilize feminists, women, and the entire society to address gender inequality and the wage gap.
Conclusion
Simone de Beauvoir’s book, The Second Sex speaks about women’s oppression caused by gender roles and stereotypes that lock them outside the job market and make them subservient to men.She calls for women’s liberation and equality between the sexes.
The essays in this course require you to take a theory from the course and apply it to a current event, a lived experience, or an empirical journal article. Her essentialist feminist theory is essential to arguing that gender differences between men and women are social constructs that can be broken down to improve women’s welfare. Simone de Beauvoir concluded that society must confront the systemic issues that lead to inequality, for instance by addressing the gender wage gap. Creating more work opportunities for women, increasing their representation in leadership posts, and improving their wages and benefits could end the disparities in pay between men and women.
Works Cited
Bodkin, Ronald G. “The Economic Thought of Simone De Beauvoir in the Second Sex.” The Journal of Business Inquiry 10.1 (2011): 33-40. https://journals.uvu.edu/index.php/jbi/article/view/224/196
De Beauvoir, Simone. The second sex: Simone de Beauvoir. Singapore Books, 1953. https://newuniversityinexileconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Simone-de-Beauvoir-The-Second-Sex-Jonathan-Cape-1956.pdf
Durygin, Małgorzata. “Simone de Beauvoir and a period of transition.” Prospects 51.1-3 (2021): 185-191. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7556556/pdf/11125_2020_Article_9513.pdf
Jiang, Qirui. “An Introduction to Beauvoir’s “Other” Theory and an Application to the Contemporary Chinese Context.” 2021 4th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2021). Atlantis Press, 2021. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.atlantis-press.com%2Farticle%2F125967179.pdf&embedded=true&chrome=false&dov=1
Sassler, Sharon, and Pamela Meyerhofer. “Factors shaping the gender wage gap among college-educated computer science workers.” Plos one 18.10. 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10615266/pdf/pone.0293300.pdf
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