Gender , Age, and Health

1. Gender, Age, and Health

2. Introduction • Race and Ethnicity are not the only factors that affect a person’s standing in society. • Individuals social structure is influenced by whether he or she is male or female, young or old, able-bodied or disabled • To be female, old or disabled is be in a position o lesser power in society

3. Examples • 8% of America’s engineers are female • 20% of nations doctors, lawyers and judges are female • Only 60% of the medical bills of the elderly are covered by Medicare and Medicaid • More than 14% of Americans are not covered by health insurance • Most Americans with disabilities want to work, only 42% of working-age men with disabilities and 20% of working age women with disabilities are employed

4. Gender • Behavioral and psychological traits considered appropriate for males and females • Unlike biological traits, which are the same in all societies, gender traits are socially created and thus may vary from culture to culture

5. What are some examples of gender roles in your culture?

6. Gender continued… • It is gender, not biology that determines the majority of the roles males an females play in society

7. Gender Roles The specific behaviors and attitudes that a society establishes for men and women In a division of labor based on gender, women are generally assigned child-care and domestic duties. Men are often charged with providing economic support and physical safety for the family

8. Gender Identity What does it mean to be a boy or a girl? • Gender Identity is formed and how this identity influences social behavior • The identity is the awareness of being masculine or feminine as those traits are defined by culture • Cultural values that influence gender identity and roles are not static and have changed in recent decades • The degree in which a person takes on a gender identity affects his or her response to the gender roles established in society

9. ExampleBaby X-1

10. ExampleBaby X-2

11. Write down if the words are male or female • Strong, tough, leader, power, confident, mastered, skilled, cool, angry, fast • Love, delicate, soft, shy, doll, honey, caring, happy, dancing, crafty

12. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Prediction that results in behavior that makes the prediction come true

13. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Sexism • People who see women as incapable of holding positions of power make choices based on this belief  Men who see women as inferior oppose women entering powerful positions  Women who accept an inferior role do not pursue traditionally male roles  Thus, not enough women are in positions of power to push for greater access  The fact that few women hold positions of power is used to justify the opinion that women must be capable of holding such positions

14. The Good Wife’s Guide • 1955 Article in the magazine Housekeeping Monthly provided the following tips for wives to prepare for their husbands’ return from work. • Have dinner ready… • Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking… • Clear away the clutter • Make the evening his.. • Don’t greet him with complaints and problems • Make him comfortable...have a cool or warm drink ready for him. • Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice • A good wife always knows her place • How has American society changed?

15. Margaret Mead • Study of 3 New Guinea Societies • Found there are exceptions in societies to traditional men/women roles • In Tchambuli, men and women care for the children. Women provide food for the family. • Even more variation exists in the psychological characteristics considered appropriate for men and women. • Found that among Tchambuli, the women were bossy and efficient, while the men were gossipy and artistic • Men wore cosmetics and curled their hair

17. Gender Continued… • In the United States, a gender role is reinforced at birth • Infant girls dress in pink/ nursery's have pink, flowers, ruffles • Infant boys dress in blue/ nursery’s have blue, animals, cameo, more solid colors

18. Gender Continued… • Gender-typing is not as widespread as it was 20 or 30 years ago • Most people no longer discourage girls from playing with traditionally male toys such a model trucks, cars and airplanes • Boys rarely dress in pink, or in clothing that has ribbons, lace or other frills • Boys are more encouraged to NOT play with dolls or other traditionally feminine toys

19. Physical Trappings of Gender are the Expectations that most people hold for Boys and Girls • 1800’s Nursery Rhyme: • What are little boys made of? What are little boys made of? Frogs and snails, and puppy-dog tails, That’s what little boys are made of. • What are little girls made of? What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and all that is nice, That’s what little girls are made of.

20. Gender Roles and Social Inequality • Different and Unequal • To be female is to be in a position of lesser power in society • Growth of primitive societies depends on the birth and survival of children • Women spent many adult years in pregnancy or nursing young children • Resulted in roles that made them stay close to home • Men were hunters and gathers; traveling for work, protecting the group through fighting and wars

21. What are some TV shows or movies in today’s society that reinforce patriarchy?

22. Examples

23. Gender Roles and Social Inequality • Men who see women as inferior often oppose the entrance of women into powerful positions in business, politics, and the professions • Women who accept this stereotype do not attempt to pursue careers in traditionally male fields • Not enough women in positions of power

25. Gender Inequality in the United States • Less than 150 years ago, women in the United States were very much second-class citizens • Had few rights. • Could not vote, sign contracts, or sit on juries • Few opportunities for higher education • Jobs not available/lower wages

26. Sufferin’ til Suffrage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGHGDO_b_q0

27. Suffrage • The right to vote • Women chained themselves to public buildings, harassed public officials and when imprisoned, went on hunger strikes. • 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution adopted in 1920, gave women the vote

28. The Political Arena • Women make up 52% of the voting-age population, outnumbering men by some 7 million • More likely to vote than men • Men dominate the political arena

29. Women’s Movement • Some American women took steps to end gender discrimination • Women’s Movement-Held that the sexes were socially, politically and economically equal • July 1948, delegates at women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY, issued a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. • Called for reforms to strengthen women’s standings in society • Allowed women to control their own property and earnings

30. Women’s Movement

31. The Feminine Mystique • Betty Friedan • Sparked the movement into action once more • Rejected notion that women were content with the roles of wife and mother • Argued in the media there is a glorification of these roles • Simply a way to keep women in a secondary position in society • Book struck a chord with women in society and began to demand greater educational opportunities and fairer treatment at work

32. Education • Today women make up 57% of total college population • Earn 56% of all bachelor’s degrees awarded • Earn 58% of the master’s degrees awarded each year

33. Education • In early 1970s funding for women’s athletics was nonexistent at most coeducational colleges and universities • Education Amendment Act of 1972: Title IX of the act bars any discrimination on the basis of gender in any program, receiving federal funds • 40% of all college athletes are women

34. What is this?

35. The World of Work • Wage gap: • Level of women’s income relative to that of men • 75 cents to the dollar • Difference in the yearly median earning of female and male full-time workers is nearly $10,000 • Exists in all age groups and at every level of education

36. The World of Work

37. Glass Ceiling • Invisible barrier that prevents women from gaining upper-level positions in business • 12% of corporate officers in America’s 500 largest companies are women • Men in traditionally female occupations (nursing, social work, library administration) do not face a glass ceiling

38. Arlie Hochschild • Married women face a gender inequality • After their day at work, they also have household duties to complete, such as cooking, cleaning and child care • Most wives feel that their husbands should share in these tasks

39. Second Shift • Hochschild observed that most husbands adopt “strategies of resistance” to avoid them • If husbands do undertake a task, some may make a mess of it in that hope they will not be asked again • Where husbands DO share the second shift, wives still do most of the work • Women in the United states have on average at least 10 hours per week less leisure time than men

40. The Media’s Influence on Gender

41. Jean Kilbourne: “Killing Us Softly” • Looks at men and women in the media and gender discrimination • Double Standard in society for portrayal of women • Sets unrealistic expectations for men and women in our society

42. The Good Men Project • “Guys, are you comfortable in your own skin?” • Paving the way for men is Dove • Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p8LkuWIRs8&feature=relmfu

43. Dove Body Image Campaign • Paving the way for real images for women is Dove • Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U