Age, gender, and status: demographic variables in social analysis

¶ … Gender & Status

Relationship of Status to Gender and Age in United States and Japan

As defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, status is a person's position or rank relative to others. It also refers to the condition of a person as seen by society. In general, people refer to socio-economic status or income status when talking about status. According to Dev Mukherjee (1999), socio-economic status is a measure of a person's or a group's position in the society. It is also generally linked to a person's or a group's income, occupation, educational attainment, and wealth (Mukherjee, 1999).

This paper will look into the relationship of socio-economic status to age and gender in the United States and in Japan. Japan was chosen primarily due to its stereotypical image of being a homogenous nation; a deeper look into the nuances that exist across different ages and between the male-female genders will provide an interesting comparison with the United States, which is a nation that is composed of different races. This paper will look into the income inequality, educational attainment, and health-care disparities in United States and Japan in illustrating the relationship of socio-economic status to age and gender.

Income is one of the primary indicators of socio-economic status and income inequality is a usual concern. In the United States, race, gender, age, and educational attainment are usually considered when looking at income inequality. It was found that the median income of females in the United States is lower compared to that of males. While the median income of men is about $46,000, the median earnings of women are only at around $36,000. The U.S. Census Bureau data further reveals that the female to male earnings ratio is at 77%. However, United States fares better in the gender income gap in 2007 compared to Japan. United States is reported to have a grade class "B" while Japan is reported to have a grade class "D" in gender income gap (the Conference Board of Canada, 2009). According to the United Nations Statistics Division, the wages of Japanese women working in the manufacturing industry are only 60% of the wages of Japanese men. Closely related to a person's income is educational attainment, which is considered as one of the indicators of socio-economic class. The OECD Family database reveals that Japan has a higher percentage of 25-34 years old who have attained tertiary education compared to the United States. Furthermore, in both countries, there is a higher percentage of women aged 25-34 who have completed tertiary education compared to men.