In "Whose Dream? Gender and the American Dream", Sandra L. Hanson analyzes the gender differences in education, occupation and many other aspects that eventually lead to the inequality in the American Dream as a whole. In this article, Hanson conducts an experiment where she takes polls of how each gender perceives the American Dream and why they do so. Before brining up gender, she mentions in the background information that "the definition of the American Dream is multifaceted" (78). This means that there are many ways people can perceive the American Dream which is why people can not really generalize it as one aspect, and one major difference is how women are treated differently than men.One of the claims that Hanson makes is that many women tend to take majors that will ensure a lower-status, lower paying jobs rather than men who mainly take STEM majors. There has always been an imbalance ratio between men and women in the STEM field and I believe that most women do not enter it not because they can not handle it but rather they are more comfortable and interested in doing other things and taking the role of being a teacher. Later on, Hanson also claims that "about three-fourths of women workers have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace" (79). This idea of women not wanting to major in heavily-male dominant fields is probably because of how they are treated at work. With such a high statistic alone, it is surprising that many women have to face this at a workplace, a place where people should be professional and doing their job. If women enter a field mainly composed of men, they have a higher change of being discriminated, yet sexual harassed in the work environment. Why risk it when they can major and work somewhere else where they can feel safe? I do believe it is important to sometimes stand out and not follow the norm but there are factors that can overshadow the good.
Another claim that Hanson make is that women of color experience the most backlash. As people may think there is equal opportunity for all, being a person of color and female degrades the possibilities. According to statistics, colored women have a higher percentage of being in poverty which also affect their children`s lifestyle. I find this very interesting because I can not understand the reason behind it. Is it because of where they live? Is it because of the limited opportunities and resources? I feel like there are many factors that lead to this but most of it is because of who they are by appearance. Regarding the experiment conducted, Hanson asked several questions to both genders regarding the American Dream and the results show that there is quite a big difference of perspectives. One of the polls that stood out to me were the ones regarding Obama`s presidency. Based on the results of the polls, women tend to be more democratic than men and had hope in Obama. I believe that it is because Democrats focus on issues such as health care and education that many women pay close attention to. Also, because Obama was the first colored president, it seemed like a stepping stone for women as well, to show that there can still be progress.
Overall, there are many questions I have regarding the gender inequalities within the American Dream. What is the reason for colored women experiencing poverty more? Why are women being paid less when they are doing the same thing as men in a workplace? I have always been aware of this issue however I never knew it was this bad. The American Dream should not be based on characteristics that we can not necessarily control but our ability to work hard and getting the job done.
