02-03-2013, 12:28 PM
Gender disparity
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Disparity in general refers to inequalities in some quantity between two or more groups (a common economic indicator is the "income disparity," which measures the gap between rich and poor people, and is generally considered to be a bad thing if it's large).
Gender disparity refers, then, to statistical differences in the possessions, statuses, and opportunities between men and women. For instance, the raw statistic on the average income of men and women somewhat famously has women making around three quarters of the income of men, on average (of course, this is before factoring in things like culturally advocated voluntary unemployment, differences in types of careers, and other important "in between" factors - some will argue that these factors are significant, while others will argue otherwise).
Gender income disparity isn't the only type of gender disparity, of course. Opportunity disparity, which might be measured in things like available college scholarships (in which women actually have a 3-to-1 advantage over men), success-encouraging social attitudes (which is arguably the most significant social factor still actively oppressing women in the US), or gender-biased business hiring and promotion practices play at least as big a role in gender disparity as a raw income disparity does.