Exploring Gender Roles and Inequality in Society

1. CHAPTER 11Gender, Age, and Health Section 1: Gender Section 2: Age and Disability Section 3: Health

2. Section 1: Gender Objectives: • Analyze how gender rolesaffect the opportunities available to men and women in society. • Explain how gender roles are affected by socialization.

3. What is Gender? • Gender: comprises the behavioral and psychological traits considered appropriate for men and women: VS. • Sex: Biological identity

4. Universal? • Sex characteristics are SAME in ALL societies. • Gender traits …are socially created and vary from culture to culture.

5. Gender Roles and Identity: • Gender roles: • The specific behaviors and attitudes that a society establishes for men and women. • EX: • Women: child-care and domestic duties • Men: Economic support and physical safety for family.

6. What are sociologists concerned about? • Gender identity: • The awareness of being masculine or feminine as those traits are designed by culture. • However, cultural values influence gender identity and roles…have changed over the years.

7. Between Cultures:Back to FRONT of handout! • Margaret Mead studied 3 New Guinea societies…discovered differences in culture.

8. Tchambuli Society: • Men & women care for children. • Women provided food for family. • Women were bossy and efficient. • Men were gossipy and artistic. • Men wore cosmetics and curled hair.

9. Mundugumor Society: • Aggressiveness was the norm for men ANDwomen.

10. Arapesh Society: • Both men ANDwomen were expected to be passive and emotionally warm.

11. What does this mean? • Gender roles are sociallycreatedrather than biologically based.

12. Gender Identity and Socialization: • Learn appropriate gender-role behavior through socialization. • Begins at birth. • HOW?

13. Is this nursery rhyme true today? What are little boys made of? What are little boys made of? Frogs and snails, And puppy-dogs’ tails, That’s what little boys are made of.

14. Expectations of Little Boys: • Adventuresome • Aggressive • Physically active • Good at math and science • Encouraged to prepare for career

15. 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.

16. Expectations of Little Girls: • Polite, gentle, passive • Excel in reading and social sciences • Creative in arts • Look for marriage and family. • HOWEVER, more young women encouraged to pursue careers.

17. The family is the most powerful agent of socialization!!

18. Gender Roles and Social Inequality: • Women: • Adult years in pregnancy/nursing babies. • Took on roles allowed them to stay close to home. • Men: • Required strength and travel away from home base. • Hunters, traders, warriors • Gained much prestige…source of power within group. Patriarchy: men are dominant over women.

19. Conflict Perspective on Gender Roles: • Gender roles = reflection of male dominance. • Through their control of economic and political spheres of society, men have established laws and customs that project their dominant position. • In so doing, men have blocked women's access to power.

20. Sexism: • The belief that one sex is by nature superior to the other. • Can become a self-fulfilling prophecy: • People who believe that women are in some way incapable of occupying positions of power make choices based on this belief. **Copy Image from marker board!** • Result lack of women in business, political, and professions.

21. Gender Inequality in the United States: The Women’s Movement Education The World of Work The Political Arena

22. The Women’s Movement: • Sexes were socially, politically, and economically equal. • Suffrage: the right to vote. • Nineteenth Amendment (1920)

23. Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique • She REJECTED the notion that women were content with roles of wife and mother. • She argued that the “feminine mystique” – the glorification of these roles – was simply a ploy to keep women in a secondary positions in society. • Women began to demand greater opportunities and fairer treatment.

24. Other gains in equality: • Congress passed several acts outlawing gender discrimination in education and in the workplace.

25. Education: • In today’s American education: • 57% women make up in total college population. • 56%  women earning all bachelor's degrees awarded.

26. Differences in Degrees: • Men: • Engineering, physical science, architecture. • Women: • Education, humanities, library science.

27. What About Graduate School? • More women attending graduate school. • Women make up more than 57% of those enrolled in graduate courses. • 58% earn Master’s degrees awarded each year. • HOWEVER, • Women are LESS likely to pursue doctoral or professional degrees. Turn to pg. 269

28. What about Athletics? 1970s: • Funding for women’s athletics practically nonexistent at most coeducational colleges and universities! • Female College athletes: 16% • Female High school athletes: 8%

29. Education Amendment Act of 1972: • Bans discrimination on the basis of gender in any program- including athletics – at any educational institution receiving federal funds.

30. Results: • About 40% of all college athletes are women. • HOWEVER: • Less than ¼ of funding for college sports goes to women's athletics • Female athletes receive less than one third of available scholarship money.

31. The World of Work: • Wage gap have changed among women: • The level of women’s income relative to that of men. • Glass ceiling: • The invisible barrier that prevents women from gaining upper-level positions in business.

32. What does sociologist Arlie Hochschild say? • Working wives work a second shift: • Have household duties to complete. • What about husbands?: • Normally, do NOT volunteer to help. • May purposely make a mess in hope that will not be asked again. • On average, women in U.S have at least 10 hours per week less leisure time than men.

33. The Political Arena: • Women are MORE LIKELY to vote in elections! • However, more men hold political positions. • Society is more accepting of women leaders: • EX: Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, etc…

34. Age & DisabilityChapter 11:2

35. Section 2: Age and Disability Objectives: • Discuss the effect that the aging of the population is having on society. • Explain how the aging of the population is affecting the life chances of older Americans.

36. Ageism: • Ageism: • The belief that one age category is by nature superior to another age category. • EX: TV commercials use elderly people for over the counter medications, dentures, insurance, burial plans, etc….

37. The Aging World: • About 606 million people aged 60 and older worldwide. • Europe: oldest region of the world. • Africa: youngest region of the world

38. Graying of America: • The phenomenon of the growing percentage of elderly Americans as part of the total U.S. population. Check out pg. 273

39. 2 main reasons for Graying of America 1. Advances in health care. 2. Variations in birthrates have changed the age structure of the U.S.

40. Births in U.S.  rose sharply in 1946 and stayed the same until 1960s. (baby-boom generation) • Today’s Age: late thirties to mid-fifties. • By 2030, will increase elderly population nearly 70 million.

42. The Politics of Aging: • Elderly have become both a political force and a topic of debate.

43. Bringing needs of elderly to national level: • AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) • THE LARGEST special-interest group in the U.S. • Provides financial advice & health-care insurance plans. • Travel and prescription –drug discounts • Modern Maturity- magazine

44. Concerns for Elderly:FYI • Social Security: • Funded by payroll or income taxes on workers, employers, the self-employed. • Current payroll taxes fund the benefits paid to current retirees. • Challenges: Declining birthrates and longer life expectancies mean fewer workers to support growing numbers of retirees.

45. Concerns for Elderly: • Social Security: • Dependency ratio: the number of workers for each person receiving Social Security benefits. • 1960: 5 to 1 • 2030: 2 to 1

46. “Old-Old” Challenges:(85+) • Medicare: • Government-sponsored health-insurance plan for elderly Americans and Americans with disabilities. • Medicaid: • State and federally funded health-insurance program for low-income individuals. • FYI: these programs are the sole sources of health insurance for close to one quarter of elderly Americans.

47. Is there hope for Social Security? • Raising retirement age • Cutting benefits • Increasing Social Security payroll taxes.

48. Age Inequality in the United States: • Social Security have made older Americans financially secure at the expense of younger generations. • Poverty rate for elderly: 10.2% • Poverty rate or general population: 11.3% • Poverty rate for children under age 18: 16.2 %

49. Elderly African Americans: 22% • Elderly Hispanics: 19% • Women are hit by poverty than are men! • Poverty levels increase with Hispanic & African American women. • Poverty levels often high among old-old (85+).

50. Americans with Disabilities: • Cover a wide variety of conditions: • Physical disabilities • Chronic health impairments • Mental retardation • Mental illness • Visual, hearing, and speech impairments. • Blindness, deafness, and paralysis