In my classes dealing with subjects about inequality, I have been exposed to vasts amount of information that I would not have ever been exposed to. In my gender and society class, I learned that gender is a social construction. This social construction and the ideas that pertain to gender have been used time and time again to allow those within society to maintain power. For example, most societies are patriarchal (run by men), and men will use the ideas of femininity and even masculinity to change narratives and to enforce social norms. These harmful ideologies and norms have great impacts on not only men and women alike, but also those who may identify as non-binary and those who are also members of the LGBTQ community.
In my race and racism in the united states, we have learned and mainly focused on how racism is still very much alive and present within our society. For example, we learned that it is the systems within society that continue racism. We learned that systems such as the healthcare and education system along with the criminal justice system. People of color are far too often not only discriminated against, but also these systems within society do nothing to prevent or fix racism. In the healthcare system people of color are more likely to be under and over-diagnosed for specific diseases and or mental illnesses and they are far more likely to become bankrupt due to medical costs as well as be more likely to not have medical insurance. In the education system, students of color are more likely to be suspended and expelled and they are more likely to not graduate and also not receive job offers later in life. Lastly, we learned that in the criminal justice system, people of color represent over half of those within prison and jail and are more likely to be arrested for the same crimes committed by a white person.
I greatly hope to use this knowledge and my experiences from these classes in my future career. I think the first step to combating disparities is through education. I hope in my future career I can use this knowledge to help eliminate any biases I may have towards clients. I also plan to help advocate against discrimination and disparities. I am now able to be more culturally and overall competent to those I may ultimately be assisting in my future career.