Understanding Gender Inequalities: Social, Biological, and Cultural Perspectives

1. Chapter 10: Inequalities in gender and age

2. Sex and gender identity

3. DEFINING MALE AND FEMALE • SEX: the classification of people as male or female based on biological characteristics • BIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM: the principle that behavior differences are the result of inherited physical characteristics • Males are assumed to be more aggressive and are built for providing protection • Females are believed to be naturally passive and in need of protection • This lacks scientific proof

4. GENDER IDENTITY • Def: a sense of being male or female based on learned cultural values • Girls and boys gradually learn to behave as their parents expect • Nature vs. nurture debate continues in this area---does biology or socialization play a greater role in gender

5. DIFFERENCES IN MALE AND FEMALE BRAINS • Men show more activity in region of the brain thought to be tied to adaptive evolutionary responses, like fighting • Women have more activity in a newer, more highly developed region thought to be linked to emotional expression • Female brain is less specialized than the male brain (women tend to use both sides of the brain when performing a task)

6. BIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR • Certain differences do exist between males and females that cross many cultures • This may point to biological cause but the debate is ongoing • Biological determinism does not account for transsexualism or physical intersexualtiy

7. SOCIOLOGISTS AND GENDER-RELATED BEHAVIOR • Margaret Mead demonstrated the influence of culture and socialization on gender-role behavior in a study of indigenous people of New Guinea • The Arapesh teach both sexes to be cooperative, unaggressive, and empathetic (traditionally female from our perspective • The Mundugumor trained both sexes to be traditionally male • Tchambuli: women were dominant and aggressive and men were dependent and submissive • Mead’s conclusion: human nature is flexible enough to rule out biological determinism

8. CONCLUSIONS ABOUT MALE AND FEMALE BEHAVIOR • Biological influences do exist but they can be modified through social influences • Men and women learn by mirroring the behaviors of their influential role models • Behavior has multiple causes

9. SECTION 2: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER

10. FUNCTIONALISM AND GENDER • Division of responsibilities between male and female benefited human survival • Early humans: men were more expendable and stronger (physically) • Traditional divisions of labor are now the cause of dysfunction in modern society

11. CONFLICT THEORY AND GENDER • It’s to men’s advantage to prevent women from gaining access to political, economic, and social resources • See traditional gender roles as outdated • Men maintain their controlling status to keep their own power • This amounts to unfair exploitation of women • Even conflict theorists believe that women taking traditionally male roles makes for a more functional society

12. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM AND GENDER • Focus on GENDER SOCIALIZATION: the social process of learning how to act as a boy or girl • Gender is acquired through interaction with parents, teachers, and peers • Mass media also plays a powerful role

13. PARENTS AND GENDER SOCIALIZATION • Parents transfer values and attitudes regarding how boys and girls should behave • Begins at birth and is well-established by 2 ½ • Toys and clothing • Girls are cuddled more, talked to more, and handled more gently than boys • This is to discourage boys from becoming “clingy” • Family chores also assign gender roles

14. SCHOOLS AND GENDER SOCIALIZATION • Boys tend to be more allowed to simply call out answers, rather than raise their hand (elementary school) • Junior and high school: things like dress code differentiate gender roles • Females typically outperform males in early years of schooling • Transmission of gender roles dampens female competitiveness (girls are systematically taught to be passive) • This carries on into adulthood and the workplace

15. PEERS AND GENDER SOCIALIZATION • Adolescents are searching for identity • The need to be liked is very strong • While it is changing, boys and girls who mirrored traditional gender roles tend to be more liked • Peer group pressure encourages teens to conform to idealized role models

16. SECTION 3: GENDER INEQUALITY

17. Women as a minority group • SEXISM: a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify sexual inequality • Uses biological determinism to create the sexist ideology that men are naturally superior to women • This has been used to justify men’s leadership and power positions in various spheres of society

18. Occupational and economic inequality • There has been a dramatic increase in the number and proportion of women in the workforce • Today, women make up 47% of the overall American labor force

19. Types of women’s jobs • Women occupy the majority or “pink-collar” jobs • These are jobs involving office and/or administration support (think secretary) • OCCUPATIONAL SEX-SEGREGATION: concentration of women in low-status positions

20. Women’s earnings • Women, on average, make 81 cents for every dollar a man earns • BE CAREFUL WITH THIS FIGURE • There are many factors that go into figuring out the wage gap • Equal Pay Act of 1963: No employer…shall discriminate…between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs[,] the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions • Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on sex

21. THE EFFECT OF RACE AND ETHNICITY ON EARNINGS • African American and Latino women tend to earn similar amounts compared to men in the same racial/ethnic group • White women do the worst

22. SOME BIASES IN LAW • Women were refused the legal guarantee of health insurance benefits for pregnancy-related medical costs • These include: contraception, lactation, and breast-feeding • The Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Obamacare) ended this bias in 2014 • Recent presidential administrations and Congress are working to overturn that change

23. Law bias continued • State laws have been passed that restrict the types of jobs women can work • Some laws have unintended negative effects • Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 makes employers give hiring preference to men because women are more likely to take maternity leave

24. Women in politics • Women have increased their role in politics • They are still grossly underrepresented • 84 women in House (19%) • 23 women in Senate (23%) • 107 total in the 535 members of Congress • 3 Supreme Court Justices (30%) • Women make up slight majority of total U.S. population (50.5%)

25. SECTION 4: AGEISM

26. ageism • Def: set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify prejudice and discrimination against a particular age group • Rationalized through AGE STRATIFICATION: unequal distribution of scarce resources based on age

27. FUNCTIONALISM AND AGEISM • Median age of U.S. is moving up • Industrialization has changed the view of the elderly • In a technical society, an adult’s value lessens when he/she no longer contributes to the common good

28. CONFLICT THEORY AND AGEISM • Competition over scarce resources is central • An industrial society usually has more workers than it needs • It saves scarce resources by replacing high priced older workers with loss cost younger workers

29. Symbolic interactionism and ageism • If we label elderly as less-abled, it’s easier for society to dismiss them • Through socialization, young people learn negative stereotypes of elderly • Elderly are seen as senile and forgetful rather than useful and/or knowledgeable

30. SECTION 5: INEQUALILTY IN AMERICA’S ELDERLY POPULATION

31. MEASURING POVERTY FOR OLDER PEOPLE • 2011: National Academy of Sciences develops new measure for poverty in elderly • About 40% of elderly rely on Social Security for more than 90% of their income • SS covers roughly 55% • This means they have very little to live on in retirement

32. Other factors affecting elderly Americans • Racial and ethnic minority elderly are generally worse off than whites • Elderly women make up one of the poorest segments of U.S. • Single women who never married are more likely to live in poverty • Life expectancy is getting longer

33. Political power: voter turnout • People 65 and older are the most active voters • 70% of this age group vote • They do not speak with a unified voice though • This prevents them from being as powerful as they could be

34. POLITICAL POWER: INTEREST GROUPS • INTEREST GROUP: a group organized to influence political decision making • AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) and Gray Panthers have been very effective in protecting programs that benefit older Americans • Like Medicare and Social Security