Slide 1
SOCIOLOGY
Richard T. Schaefer
12
McGraw-Hill
Stratification by
Gender
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 2
12. Stratification by Gender
•
•
•
•
•
The Social Construction of Gender
Explaining Inequality by Gender
Women: The Oppressed Majority
Intersection of Gender, Race, and Class
Social Policy and Gender Stratification
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
The Social Construction
of Gender
• Gender Roles
– Expectations regarding proper behavior,
attitudes, and activities of males and
females
– Evident in work and in how we react to others
– Most people do not display strictly
“masculine” or “feminine” qualities all the
time
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 4
The Social Construction
of Gender
• Gender-Role Socialization
• Boys must be
masculine:
–
–
–
–
–
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Active
Aggressive
Tough
Daring
Dominant
• Girls must be
feminine:
–
–
–
–
Soft
Emotional
Sweet
Submissive
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 5
The Social Construction
of Gender
• Gender-Role Socialization
• Homophobia: fear of and prejudice against
homosexuality
Parents normally first
and most crucial
agents of socialization
McGraw-Hill
Other adults, older
siblings, mass media,
religious institutions,
and educational
institutions also exert
important influence
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 6
The Social Construction
of Gender
Table 12-1. An Experiment in
Gender Norm Violation by
College Students
Source: Nielsen et al. 2000:287
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 7
The Social Construction
of Gender
• Gender-Role Socialization
– Women’s Gender Roles
• Traditional gender
roles have
restricted females
more than males
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 8
The Social Construction
of Gender
• Women’s and Men’s Gender Roles
– Men’s Gender Roles
• Attitudes toward parenting changing, but
studies show little change in tradition male
gender role
• Boys who successfully adapt to cultural
standards of masculinity may grow up to be
inexpressive men who cannot share their
feelings with others
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 9
The Social Construction
of Gender
• Cross-Cultural Perspective
– Gender stratification requires:
• Individual socialization into traditional gender
roles within family
• Promotion and support of traditional roles by
other social institutions
– Every society has men and women who
resist and successfully oppose stereotypes
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Slide 10
Explaining Inequality
by Gender
• The Functionalist View
– Gender differentiation contributes to overall
social stability
• Instrumentality: emphasis on tasks, a focus
on more distant goals, and concern for external
relationship between one’s family and other
social institutions
• Expressiveness: concern for maintenance of
harmony and internal emotional affairs of
family
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Slide 11
Explaining Inequality
by Gender
• The Conflict Response
– The relationship between men and women
traditionally one of unequal power
• The Feminist Perspective
– Very discussion of women and society
distorted by exclusion of women from
academic thought
McGraw-Hill
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Slide 12
Explaining Inequality
by Gender
• The Interactionist Approach
– Study micro level of everyday behavior
• Men more likely than women to:
–
–
–
–
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Change topics of conversation
Ignore topics chosen by women
Minimize ideas of women
Interrupt women
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 13
Explaining Inequality
by Gender
Table 12-2. Sociological Perspectives on Gender
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Slide 14
Women: The Oppressed Majority
• Sexism and Sex Discrimination
– Sexism: ideology that one sex is superior
to the other
• U.S. society run by male-dominated institutions
The power and privilege men enjoy are no
guarantee of well-being
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Slide 15
Women: The Oppressed Majority
• Sexual Harassment
– Occurs when work benefits are contingent
on sexual favors or when touching, lewd
comments, or appearance of pornographic
material creates a “hostile environment” in
the workplace
Must be understood in the context of continuing
prejudice and discrimination against women
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Slide 16
Women: The Oppressed Majority
• The Status of Women Worldwide
– Women’s and men’s worlds differ in access
to education and work opportunities
• Women in the Workforce of the U.S.
– Women’s participation in paid labor force in
U.S. increased steadily throughout the 20th
century
• Census bureau found 2 occupations out of 821 in which
women typically earn about 1% more income than men
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Slide 17
Women: The Oppressed Majority
Figure 12-1. Gender
Inequality in
Industrial Nations
Source: Fuwa 2004:757
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Slide 18
Women: The Oppressed Majority
Figure 12-2. Trends in U.S. Women’s Participation in the Paid Labor
Force, 1890—2003
Sources: Bureau of the Census 1975; 2004a:396
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Slide 19
Women: The Oppressed Majority
Table 12-3. U.S. Women in
Selected Occupations, 2003;
Women as Percentage of All
Workers in the Occupation
Source: Bureau of the Census 2004a:385—388
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Slide 20
Women: The Oppressed Majority
• The Social Consequences of
Women’s Employment
– Second Shift: women work outside the
home followed by child care, sometimes
elder care, and housework
Women spend 15 fewer hours each week in
leisure activities than their husbands
• Women: Emergence of a Collective
Consciousness
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Slide 21
Women: The Oppressed Majority
Figure 12-3. Why Leave Work?
Source: Hewlett and Luce 2005:45
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Slide 22
Intersection of Gender,
Race, and Class
• Women must add the effects of their
race and social class to disadvantages
of being a woman
– Activist minority women do not agree on
which goal they should give priority to:
• Gender equality
• Racial, ethnic equality
• Class issues
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Slide 23
Social Policy and
Gender Stratification
• The Battle over Abortion in
a Global Perspective
– The Issue
• In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court granted
women the right to terminate pregnancies
• Pro-choice groups believe women have right to
make decisions about their bodies
• Pro-life believe life begins at the moment of
conception, so abortion is an act of murder
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Slide 24
Social Policy and
Gender Stratification
• The Battle over Abortion in a
Global Perspective
– The Setting
• Parental authority becoming important issue
• RU-486 “day-after” pills approved
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Slide 25
Social Policy and
Gender Stratification
• The Battle over Abortion in a
Global Perspective
– Sociological Insights
• Gender and social class defining issues
surrounding abortion
– Feminists tend to support abortion; antiabortion
activists tend to believe men and women are
different
– Poor have less access to legal abortions
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Slide 26
Social Policy and
Gender Stratification
• The Battle over Abortion in a
Global Perspective
– Policy Initiatives
• Supreme court continues to hear cases
• Most decided on a 5-4 basis
• Most European nations liberalized abortion laws
beginning in the 1970s
• Through 1980s and 1990s, Congress often
blocked foreign aid to countries that might use
the funds to encourage abortion
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Slide 27
Social Policy and
Gender Stratification
Figure 12-4. Restrictions on Public Funding for Abortion
Source: NARAL Pro-Choice America 2005
McGraw-Hill
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Slide 28
Social Policy and
Gender Stratification
Figure 12-5. The Global Divide on Abortion
Sources: Developed by author based on Gonnut 2001; United Nations Population Division 1998, 2004
McGraw-Hill
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