Sociology 125
Lectures 18 & 19
Gender
November 6 & 8, 2012
I. GENDER & NATURE
1.Definitions of Sex & Gender
Sex = a biological distinction based on roles in the
process of biological reproduction
Gender = a social distinction between roles and
expectations linked to sex.
• Gender is the social transformation of a biological
difference – sex – into a social difference.
• Gender norms are the rules of appropriate
behavior and roles for men and women.
2. What is Natural?
I. Existing distribution of
caregiving in a world with
strong gender norms
Gender gap in
caregiving
Men
Low
Women
High
The intensity of caregiving behavior
2. What is Natural?
I. Existing distribution of
caregiving in a world with
strong gender norms
II. Hypothetical distributions of
caregiving in a world with weak
gender norms
Gender gap in
caregiving
Gender gap in
caregiving
Men
Low
Men
Women
High
The intensity of caregiving behavior
Low
Women
High
The intensity of caregiving behavior
II. THE EMPIRICAL
STORY: MASSIVE
TRANSFORMATIONS IN
THREE GENERATIONS
Seven important elements of
transformations of gender relations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Legal Rights
Labor force participation
Occupational Structure & Income
Power
Family structure
Domestic division of labor
Sexuality
1. Legal Rights
Legal Rights gained by women
in 20th Century
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Right to vote (1920)
Right to own passport (early 1930s)
Equal right to divorce (gradually since 1940s)
Reproductive rights (1973, but eroding)
Equal rights to university admission (1960s)
Equal rights to all jobs (1960s)
Equal rights to participate in sports (1972)
2. Labor Force Participation
2. Labor Force Participation Rates
of Married Women with Children, 1950-2007
3. Occupational Structure &
Income
% of People in Selected Traditionally Male Professions
who are Women, 1930, 1960, 1990, 2000, 2007
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Architects
1930
Lawyers &
judges
1960
Physicians &
surgeons
1990
2000
Policemen &
detectives
2007
% Enrollments in Medical & Law Schools who are women, 1949-2007
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1949-'50
1959-'60 1969-1970 1979-'80
Medical School
1989-'90
Law School
1999-'00
2006-'07
% of Women in
Selected Highly Gender-Segregated Jobs
secretary
RN
Dental Assistant
Carpenter
Airline pilot
auto mechanic
1970
2007
98.1%
97.8%
98.6%
1.6%
1.6%
1.6%
96.1%
91.2%
97.1%
1.9%
4.9%
1.7%
Men’s and Women’s median wages, 1973-2004
$18
$16
$14
$12
$10
men
women
$8
$6
$4
$2
$0
1973
1979
Women’s wages =
63% of men’s wages
1989
1995
2000
2005
Women’s wages =
82% of men’s wages
4. Power
% of Large Corporations with at least
one woman on board of directors
1969
1981
1988
1999
% of corporate officers and CEOs who are women
18.0%
16.0%
14.0%
corporate officers
in largest 500 firms
12.0%
10.0%
8.0%
6.0%
4.0%
CEOs in largest 1000 firms
0.0%
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2.0%
Women elected officials, 1979-2009
Women in national legislatures, 2009 (%)
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
5. Family Structure
% of Households that consist of a Married Couple
90%
80%
76.0%
78.2%
74.3%
70.5%
70%
62.1%
60%
56.0%
52.8%
50%
50.0%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2008
% of Women ages 30-34
who have Never Married, 1940-2000
30%
27.3%
25%
20%
14.3%
15%
10%
6.9%
5%
0%
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2007
6. Domestic Division of Labor
Time devoted by mothers and fathers to
routine housecleaning
20
18
Hours per week
16
Ratio
23.3:1
14
12
Ratio
13.5:1
10
8
Ratio
4.4:1
6
4
2
0
1965
1975
mothers
fathers
2005
Time spent per week on child care for
fathers and mothers in homes with children
16
Ratio
2.0:1
14
Hours per week
12
10
Ratio
4.1:1
Ratio
3.2:1
8
6
4
2
0
1965
1975
mothers
1985
fathers
1995
2005
7. Sexuality
% Endorsing Same-Sex Marriage
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2009
III. EXPLAINING
TRANSFORMATION
The Question
Women have always tried to increase their
autonomy and reduce their subjection. But
throughout most of history these struggles
have produced at best minimal change.
Why do these struggles produce big
changes sometimes and not others? Why in
second half of the 20th century was there
such massive transformation?
The general answer
While women have tried throughout
history to increase their autonomy and
reduce their subordination, they could
only succeed in doing this on a large
scale once social conditions had
changed in ways that made existing
gender power relations fragile.
Three basic processes
1. Decline in a coherent interest among men
to defend male domination
2. Erosion of institutional system of female
domesticity which eroded women’s interest
in traditional gender relations
3. Increase in capacity for challenge by
women
1.The decline of coherent male interests
in male domination
Central explanation:
The rapidly increasing economic demand for literate
labor by male employers undermined male interest in
excluding women.
2. The Crisis of Female Domesticity
Traditional social supports for domesticity =
a coherent system
• Stable marriage/personal relations fostered domesticity
• blocked work opportunities increased the attractiveness of
domesticity
• A family wage made domesticity economically feasible
• dense social networks supported domesticity (neighbors,
churches, communities, etc.)
• cultural norms and sexism reinforced identities and
expectations
Collapse of the system of coherent domesticity
beginning in the 1960s
• decline of stable marriage means women cannot count of support
of husbands
• expansion of work opportunities increased the viability of
alternatives to domesticity
• decline of the family wage made domesticity economically difficult
• erosion of dense social networks makes domesticity more isolated
and difficult
• challenge to cultural norms and traditional sexism contributes to
new identities
3. The Women’s movement & Feminism
V. THE WORLD TODAY:
DILEMMAS AND
PROSPECTS
1. Imagine two possible worlds
World #1
World #2
• Average wages of men and women
• Average wages of women are 75-80%
are about the same
of wages of men
• Good quality childcare is provided by
• No childcare is provided by
the government or employers free or at government or employers; private
low cost
daycare is expensive or of poor quality
• Generous paid parental leave for
• no paid parental leave for caregiving
caregiving emergencies and early
emergencies or early infant care
infant care
World #1 is like Sweden
World #2 is like the United States
2. IRREVERSIBILITY OF
FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES
• Dramatic decline in family size unlikely to be reversed:
permanent erosion of lifetime domesticity as an ideal
• Traditional marriage stability unlikely to be restored
• Women’s labor force participation unlikely to be reversed
• Women’s participation in powerful and influential positions
unlikely to decline
3. The problem of Winners & Losers
• Gender equality imposes costs on some women and erodes some of
the security that comes with traditional female dependency.
• Certain ways of life, valued by many women and men, are threatened
by gender equality.
• Men have contradictory interests with respect to gender inequality:
men have much to gain from gender equality, but some losses as well.
Gains for men = opening up of choices around parenting &
work; the cult of masculinity blocks the full development of
personhood in men.
Losses = more competition for higher jobs; end of genderbased privileges.
4. Three reforms
1. Pay Equity: equal pay for comparable work
2. Quality public provision of childcare in
neighborhoods and workplaces
3. Generous paid parental leaves
Paid Parental Leaves in Various Countries
Weeks
50
46.9
46.7
45
40
35
27.5
30
25
21.8
18.0
20
13.0
15
10
5
0.0
0
Sweden
Germany
Canada
France
Spain
United
Kingdom
United
States
The Family Ideals and Fallback Positions of
Young Men and Women
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Women's ideals
Egalitarian family ideal
Men's ideals
Women's fallback
position
Neo-traditional family ideal
Men's fallback
position
Self-reliant family ideal