Week 2: Theories of Gender

Week 2: Theories of Gender Team Awesome: David Chen Dennis Wong Erika Mota Amir Khan Tara Elsey 1910 “Videophone”

Sex vs. Gender • Sex - biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women. • Gender - socially constructed roles, behaviours, and activities that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. • Aspects of sex will not vary substantially between different human societies, while aspects of gender may vary greatly. Tara Elsey

Gender Socialization • Gender socialization is the process by which individuals learn how to behave according to their gender roles. • Begins immediately after birth Tara Elsey

How do we teach gender? • Toys and games • Fairy Tales • Chores and expectations • Role modeling Tara Elsey

Gender and Education Studies show that gender-bias is present in our education system • Shortchanging Girls; Shortchanging America • Girls did not receive as much attention from teachers • Boys were called upon to answer more abstract and complex questions than girls. • All too often, teachers and counselors track girls away from courses of study that lead to high-technology careers • Girls tended to have less self-esteem • A gender gap in interest in math and science increases with age Tara Elsey

Autumn Stanley • Freedom to explore the physical environment • Freedom to engage in rough-and-tumble play • Effects the development of spatial-visualization ability • Free time to play in general • This affects women's ability to invent new things, which leads to women having less power. Tara Elsey

Karl Marx’s Classic Theory Dennis Wong

Karl Heinrich Marx • (May 5, 1818– March 14, 1883) • German philosopher Dennis Wong

Friedrich Engels • November 28, 1820 – August 5, 1895 • German philosopher Dennis Wong

Marx and Engels first met in September 1844. • Shared similar views on philosophy and on capitalism. • Produced works mainly focus on communism Dennis Wong

Classical Marxism Mainly focuses on • Alienation • Class consciousness • Means of production • Political economy Dennis Wong

Social Class Marx describes several social class in capitalist societies, they are: • Proletariat • Landowner • Bourgeoisie Dennis Wong

Marx’s view on gender role • Woman's subordination cause by social relation under capitalism • Gender oppression is class oppression and the relationship between man and woman in society is similar to the relations between proletariat and bourgeoise. Dennis Wong

Marxist feminism • Although marxist feminists realized the imbalance of power between men and women, they failed to improve the issue. • Some marxists counterposed Marxism against feminism, rather than trying to combine them. Dennis Wong

Gender roles in Eastern Europe after Communism • Men and women normally both worked outside the home under Communist government • Women were encouraged to mainly take a role in domestic in the post-communist market Dennis Wong

Results from a survey taken of European women show: • 53% of these women said their relationships had become worse post-communism. • 78% admitted to also knowing other families whose marital relationships became worse Dennis Wong

Take Over Theory • Males realized their role in production • Advances in horticulture • Population explosion • War • Changes in Religion Dennis Wong

Women’s status in the society declined seriously after the raise of the take over theory • Examples are men take most of the women’s honor of invention • Women mainly focus on domestic works Dennis Wong

Power • Ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something. • The power to influence. • Power almost always comes with knowledge • The power struggle between men and woman will shift radically because of technology. David

Power (part 2) • Technology advancements will shift power to women. In reality Technology will shift power to the more under privileged population by default. • The main point in this shift is the power of commucation. • Communication is key to advancement in almost anything. David

Inventive capability • Inventive capability is only limited to surrounding factors of the inventor. • Inventive capability is effected by educational opportunities which was deprived to women and minorities ever since history • Which is why due to the advancement in civilian rights plus technologies, we have been able to get to where we are now. David

Inventive motive • Motivation gets people to use their talents to the max • Women are stripped of those motives since they normally are stripped of the credit • With less of a sense of accomplishment, women traditionally are turned away from fields such as engineering, bio med, and sciences in general. David

Inventive Achievenment • Men have reaped the benefits of their creative ideas and achievements much more and longer then their women counter part. • That is mainly true because women and minorities have been oppressed and stripped of these benefits in fear of them becoming level with the average male. David

Question • If women have equal inventive capacity with men, and were in the early days of human economic development probably the premiere technologists by virtue of their larger areas of work, why then, are there so few women inventors? David

The Matriarchy Perplex • Addresses the question of "whether or not women were ever 'in charge' their own work, if not, an entire society." • Relations between the sexes were considered to be equal. • Peggy Sanday's belief: • "women's status and power relations between the sexes are best where the economic contribution of the two is approximately equal." Erika Mota

Shift in Power 3 Male Specializations Projectile Hunting Procreation Population Surplus Examples Consists of stones, slings, spears, & bows and arrows Realizing a male was needed for a woman to have children Created wars over irrigated land Erika Mota

Women Inventors • Mothers and Daughters of Invention by Autumn Stanley • Proposes that women are responsible for many undocumented inventions in different fields • The original U.S. patent law was passed in 1790, meaning there were many undocumented inventions created before this time. Erika Mota

Examples of Undocumented Inventions • Food Inventions • Identifying Crops, such as, grains, fruits & herbs. • Digging Sticks, cultivators, hoes & early plows. • Clothing Inventions • Preparation of hides, weaving & sewing. • Preserving, weaving, softening, bleaching & dyeing methods for animal skins. • Medical Inventions • Infant care and physically disabled tools & childbirth techniques. Erika Mota

Documented Food Processing Inventions • Nancy Johnson (1843)- Hand crank ice cream freezer • Emeline Hart (1876)- Commercial Oven • Amanda Theodosia Jones (1873)- Vacuum canning process • Mary Engle Pennington- Developed industrial process to make frozen foods succesful products. Erika Mota

Documented Medical Inventions • Ann Pike (1760)- Anti-itch ointment • Justine Wanger- Developed resuscitation techniques and cryogenic therapy to destroy cancer cells. • Lillian Gilbreth (1940's)- Designed model kitchen for handicapped and the trashcan with step-on lever and the Barbie Doll. Erika Mota

Significance Criteria for Technological Advancements 1. Technological Impact2. Economic Impact Author Autumn Stanley, proposes a 3rd criteria... 3.Human Impact e.g. sophisticated weapon that no one really understands vs. an improved menstrual pad that contributes to women's comfort one week, each month Erika Mota

Rosalind Franklin • 1920 - PhD from Cambridge • “World expert” in graphite and carbon compound structures • DNA • Sugar-phosphate backbone • Double-stranded Amir Khan

How did she do it? • Developed form of X-ray crystallography • Single-crystal x-ray diffraction • More information • Needs a large crystal Amir Khan

Unfairly Recognized • Take-over theory • Men seem to dominate • Watson and Crick credited • Sources noted that she “served under” her lab partner/equal. • Franklin's permission not asked for • Nobel Prize Amir Khan

Week 2: Theories of Gender