Chapter 8, Gender Inequality

1. Chapter 8, Gender Inequality • The Global Context: The Status Of Women And Men • Sociological Theories Of Gender Inequality • Gender Stratification: Structural Sexism

2. Chapter 8, Gender Inequality • The Social Construction Of Gender Roles: Cultural Sexism • Social Problems And Traditional Gender Role Socialization • Strategies For Action: Toward Gender Equality

3. Gender Inequality Around the World • 500,000 women die each year from complications related to childbirth. • 2/3 of women worldwide are illiterate. • 1 in 3 women has been abused, beaten, or coerced into sex. • Millions of women have undergone female genital mutilation.

4. Gender Inequality in the U.S. Women in the U.S.: • Have lower incomes. • Hold fewer prestigious jobs. • Earn fewer academic degrees. • Are more likely than men to live in poverty.

5. Structural-Functionalist Perspective • Pre-industrial society required a division of labor based on gender. • Women nursed and cared for children. • Men were responsible for material needs. • Industrialization made traditional division of labor less functional, belief system remains.

6. Conflict Perspective • Continued domination by males requires a belief system that supports gender inequality. • Two beliefs • Women are inferior outside the home. • Women are more valuable in the home.

7. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective • Gender and gender roles are learned through socialization process. • Women are socialized into expressive roles; men are socialized into instrumental roles.

8. Education and Structural Sexism • Worldwide, women are less likely than men to be literate. • In U.S. men are more likely to have doctorate degrees. • Women are socialized to choose marriage and motherhood over career preparation.

9. Income and Structural Sexism • Women with same level of education will earn, on average, 60% of what men earn. • The higher the percentage of females in an occupation, the lower the pay. • Employers channel women and men into different jobs that have different wages.

10. Work and Structural Sexism • Women make up 1/3 of world’s labor force. • Women tend to work in jobs with little prestige in roles where they are facilitators for others. • Women are more likely to have little or no authority in workplace.

11. Occupational Sex Segregation: Reasons • Through socialization, females and males learn different skills and acquire different aspirations. • Women are given fewer opportunities in higher-paying male-dominated jobs. • Women have primary responsibility for childcare and choose professions withflexible hours and career paths.

12. Politics and Structural Sexism • U.S. women received right to vote in 1920 with passage of Nineteenth Amendment. • In 2001, women comprised only 10% of all governors and held only 13.5% of all U.S. Congressional seats. • 80% of U.S. women believe that by 2024, a woman will be in the White House.

13. Focus on Technology: Women, Men, and Computers • Study of top-selling video games found 54% contained female characters; 92% contained male characters. • Of female characters displayed, over 1/3 had exposed breasts, thighs, stomachs, midriffs, or bottoms, and 46% had “unusually small” waists. 

14. The School Experience and Cultural Sexism • 1990 study of storybooks used in schools: • Males were depicted as clever, brave, adventurous, and income-producing. • Females were depicted as passive and as victims in need of rescue. • Timed, multiple-choice tests favor males.

15. The Feminization of Poverty • Many female households are young women with children and women who have outlived their spouses. • “Report card” released by U.S. Women Connect gave U.S. an “F” for efforts to reduce female poverty.

16. International Women’s Bill of Rights • Adopted by united nations in 1979. • Establishes rights for women in education, politics, work, law, and family life. • Has not been ratified by required 2/3 vote of the U.S. Senate. • Every industrialized country except Switzerland and the U.S., has ratified the treaty.