Social Disparities and Inequality

Some groups in society have disadvantages based on their race, gender, and class. This has created great income inequalities and fewer opportunities for these groups. The University of Memphis’s mission is to be a learner-centered university providing high quality educational experiences while pursuing new knowledge through research, artistic expression, and interdisciplinary and engaged scholarship. To advance this mission, all participants within the learning context should be aware of and recognize inequalities and inequities between these groups.

The following are some examples of disparities in the United States:

The median income for white households was $56,866 for the year 2014. It was $35,398 for black households, $42,491 for hispanic households, and $74,297 for asian households.
In 2014, female full time workers made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 21%, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
Rural residents are less likely to have employer-provided health care coverage or prescription drug coverage.
The 2014 poverty rate was 2.3 percentage points higher than in 2007, the year before the most recent recession. The poverty rate for non-Hispanic White population was 10.1 percent, the rate for the Black population was 26.2 percent, the rate for the Asians population was 12.0 percent, and the rate for the Hispanic population was 23.6 percent.

SOURCES