Gender Stratification

1. Introduction to Sociology Professor Castleberry Gender Stratification

2. Gender and Inequality • Gender refers to personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female and male • Gender stratification unequal distribution of wealth, power and privilege between men and women • Male-female biological differences Biology or culture? Physical abilities, Life expectancy, Intelligence

3. Gender in a Global Perspective • Israeli kibbutzim(geared towards equality between the genders; shared activities and decision making roles) • Margaret Mead’s research(3 New Guinea communities: 1. both cooperative and sensitive; 2. both selfish and aggressive; 3. reversed-women dominant and rational, men submissive, emotional and nurturing toward children) • George Murdock’s research (preindustrial societies: men –hunting and warfare; women –home-centered tasks. Technology facilitated the division of labor based on physical ability. Variations abound in different societies) • Gender and culture • What it means to be male or female is mostly a creation of society

4. Patriarchy and Sexism Patriarchy A form of social organization in which males dominate females • Matriarchy • Social dominance by women • A form of social organization in which females dominate males • Sexism • Belief that one sex or the other is innately inferior or superior • Institutional sexism • The costs of sexism (stunts talents, high-risk behaviors, need for control leading to accidents, poor health, suicide, violence) • Inevitability of patriarchy –pregnancy/childbirth and transition; biological factors wire the sexes with different motivations

5. Global Map 10-1 (p. 249)Women’s Power in Global Perspective

6. Gender and the Family • Is it a boy or girl? • Color-coding gender • Traditional notions of gender identity • Handling of children • Female: passivity and emotion • Male: independence and action

7. Gender and Peer Groups • Playing games Janet Lever(1978) • Boys favor team sports with • Complex rules and clear objectives • Girls team sports are different • Games teach interpersonal skills and the value of sharing and cooperation • Carol Gilligan’s gender based ‘Theory of Moral Reasoning’ (1982) • Schooling – educational choices High school: secretarial skills, vocational classes (girls) woodworking, auto mechanics etc. College: Humanities, arts and social sciences (girls) Math, Chemistry, Physics etc

8. Gender and the Mass Media • White males have center stage • Minorities of all kinds locked out • Women receive roles based on sex appeal • Advertising home care products • The “beauty myth” (turning women into objects to be possessed; pressures men to possess beautiful women)

9. The other side of “the beauty myth”

10. Questions! • How thin can we get and still look beautiful? • What are the standards of beauty? • Who determines what is considered beautiful?

11. Gender and Social Stratification • Almost 60% of all women work • Administrative support and service sector jobs make up the type of work done by 50% of all working women • Women hold primary responsibility for household duties • On average, women earn 73 cents for every dollar earned by men (2000) • Largely due to kind of work done and family responsibilities • Corporate women and the glass ceiling • Recently, 12% of richest Americans identified by Forbes were women

12. Figure 10-2 (p. 252)Men and Women in the U.S. Labor Force

13. Education, Politics & Military • Gender and education • 56% of all associate and bachelor degrees are earned by women; Since 1993, women also earned a majority of postgraduate degrees • Nineteenth amendment (1920) • Women active in local – state politics • 15% of all armed forces personnel were women (2001) • Culture influences our views of women in the military (nurturing vs. killing)

14. Minority Status of Women -MINORITY:Any category of people, distinguished by physical or cultural difference, that a society sets apart and subordinates. • At all levels in the class system, women have: • Less income • Less wealth • Less education, and • Less power than men • Minority women – Intersection theory (the investigation of the interplay of race, class and gender, often resulting in multiple dimensions of disadvantage) • Multilayered system of disadvantage for some and privilege for others

15. Violence Against Women • “Rule of thumb” 150 years ago • Sexual assaults, rapes, attempted rapes, and physical assaults • Campus and university gender violence • Wolf whistles and pinch to physical assaults “rape culture” –(attempt to dominate) • Female genital mutilation

16. Sexual Harassment -Comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature that are deliberate, repeated and unwelcome. -1990’s rules for workplace interaction Causes of Sexual Harassment • Culture encourages men to be sexually assertive and perceive women in sexual terms • Most people in positions of power are men • Under the effect standard a hostile environment involves different perceptions of the same behavior

17. Pornography – Derived from the Greek word ‘porne’ meaning ‘harlot who acts as a man’s sexual slave’ -Sexually explicit material that causes sexual arousal. • Moral issues • Power • Violence • Rights(free speech and artistic expression) (municipalities have the power to determine community standards of decency).

18. Theoretical Analysis of Gender • Structural-Functional analysis • Gender functions to organize social life Talcott Parsons:Gender and Complementarity Complementary roles for family units in order to carry out various tasks (instrumental vs. expressive) • Social-Conflict Analysis –involves differences in behavior and power. Gender benefits men; oppression of racial and ethnic minorities benefit whites. • Friedrich Engels: Capitalism intensifies male domination. (Hunting and gathering societies; Industrial – private property rights; )

19. Feminism The advocacy of social equality for men and women, in opposition to patriarchy and sexism. Basic Ideas: • Importance of change (social equality) • Expansion of human choice (reintegration) • Eliminate gender stratification (opposing laws and cultural norms that limit opportunities – equality under the law) • Ending sexual violence • Promote sexual freedom

20. Types of Feminism • Liberal feminism • Free to develop own talents and interests - individualistic • Socialist feminism • Pursue collective (male and female) personal liberation • Radical feminism • Eliminate idea of gender • Egalitarian, gender-free revolution

21. Opposition to Feminism • Threat to male status and self-respect • Growing body of evidence that men and women think and act in different ways • How should women improve social standing? Individual abilities or collective rights

22. Figure 10-4 (p. 264)Use of Contraception by Married Women of Childbearing Age

23. Gender Relations and the Future Are we tending towards a female-dominated society?

24. Gender Relations

25. Gender Relations

26. Gender Relations