Gender Inequality
Introduction to Sociology
Ninth Edition
Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier,
Richard P. Appelbaum, & Deborah Carr
Chapter 10
Gender Inequality
• In the year 2012, what percentage of
all CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies
were women?
– (a) 4 percent
– (b) 24 percent
– (c) 54 percent
– (d) 74 percent
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Learning Objectives
• Basic Concepts
– Understand the ways that differences between women
and men reflect biological factors, sociocultural
influences, and the complex interplay between the two
• Sociological Theories of Gender
Inequalities
– Recognize and contrast competing explanations for
gender inequality
– Learn some feminist theories about gender equality
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Learning Objectives
• Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
– Learn the forms that both between and within-gender
inequalities take
– Understand the ways in which women worldwide
experience economic and political inequality
• Unanswered Questions: Why do Gendered
Inequalities Persist?
– Learn about gender-based inequalities in the workplace
and violence against women
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Basic Concepts
• Sex
– The biological and anatomical
differences distinguishing females from
males
• Gender
– Social expectations about behavior
regarded as appropriate for the
members of each sex
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Hegemonic masculinity is the gender practice that
guarantees the dominant social position of men,
and the subordinate social position of women.
Basic Concepts
• Gender role socialization
– The learning of gender roles through
social factors such as schooling, the
media, and family
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Basic Concepts
• Social construction of gender
– The learning of gender roles through
socialization and interaction with others
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Basic Concepts
• Sex Differences: The Role of Biology
– Field of sociobiology
– Not nature versus nurture, but nature
AND nurture
– Cross-cultural historical differences
between men and women are too great
for nature alone to explain behavior
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Basic Concepts
• Gender Socialization: How Gender
Differences are Learned
– Positive and negative sanctions for
practices of masculine or feminine
behavior
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Basic Concepts
• The Social Construction of Gender:
How We Learn to “Do” Gender
– Everything is involved when we “do
gender,” from our actions to our clothing,
mannerisms, speech, and body language
– Society functions in a more orderly
manner when gender is clearly marked
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Basic Concepts
• The Social Construction of Gender:
How We Learn to “Do” Gender
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Basic Concepts
• Social Construction of Gender in
Other Cultures
– The !Kung
– The Bacha Posh in Afghanistan
– Multiple genders
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Basic Concepts
• Social Construction of Gender in
Other Cultures
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Sociological Theories of
Gender Inequalities
• Functionalist approaches
– Men and women specialize in different
tasks to achieve social solidarity and
integration
– Talcott Parsons saw family as efficient
with women in expressive roles and men
in instrumental roles
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Sociological Theories of
Gender Inequalities
• Feminist theories
– Emphasizes the centrality of gender in
analyzing the social world and
particularly the uniqueness of the
experience of women
– Liberal, radical, black, and postmodern
feminism
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Sociological Theories of
Gender Inequalities
• Feminist theories
– Liberal feminism
• Believes that gender inequality is produced
by unequal access to civil rights and certain
social resources, such as education and
employment, based on sex
• Seeks solutions through legislation
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Sociological Theories of
Gender Inequalities
• Feminist theories
– Radical feminism
• Believes that gender inequality is the result of
male domination in all aspects of social and
economic life
• End inequality by overthrowing patriarchy
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Sociological Theories of
Gender Inequalities
• Feminist theories
– Black feminism
• Highlights the multiple disadvantages of
gender, class, and race that shape the
experiences of nonwhite women
• Gender equality rests on racial and class
equalities
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Sociological Theories of
Gender Inequalities
• Feminist theories
– Postmodern feminism
• Challenges the idea of a unitary basis of
identity and experience shared by all women
• Celebrates the “otherness” of different
groups and individuals
• No overarching solution to gender inequality
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Patriarchy
– Dominance of men over women
• Gender inequality
– The inequality between men and women
in terms of wealth, income, and status
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in Education
– Gender roles through activities, games,
and books
– Teachers interact with boys and girls
differently
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in the
Workplace
– In 1910, women who worked were young,
single, poor immigrants or ethnic
minorities
– Women outnumbered men in the
workforce for the first time in 2010
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in the
Workplace
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in the
Workplace
– Gender typing
• Women holding occupations of lower status
and pay, such as secretarial and retail
positions, and men holding jobs of higher
status and pay, such as managerial and
professional positions
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in the
Workplace
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in the
Workplace
– The “glass ceiling”
• A promotion barrier that prevents a woman’s
upward mobility within an organization
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in the
Workplace
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in the
Workplace
– Sexual harassment in the workplace
• The making of unwanted sexual advances by
one individual toward another, in which the
first person persists even though it is clear
that the other party is resistant
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in the
Workplace
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Global Gendered Inequalities
– Occupational sex segregation
– Women work longer days than men
– Women make up 60 percent of the
world’s working poor
– Persistent gender pay gap
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Family Gendered Inequalities
– Housework
• In 1976, women performed 26 hours and men
performed 6 hours per week of housework
• By 2005, this had changed to 16.5 hours for
women and 12 hours per week for men
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in Politics
– Women are underrepresented in all
levels of government
– More women involved in local rather than
national politics
– The Democratic Party has the highest
number of women politicians
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Research on Gender Today: Documenting
and Understanding Gendered Inequalities
• Gendered Inequalities in Politics
– Women are underrepresented in
governments everywhere
– The U.S. ranks 70th out of 187 countries in
women’s political representation
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Unanswered Questions:
Why Do Gendered Inequalities Persist?
• Gender Pay Gap
– Sex segregation
• The concentration of men and women in
different occupations
– Jobs dominated by men are paid more
than jobs dominated by women
– 1963 Equal Pay Act
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Unanswered Questions:
Why Do Gendered Inequalities Persist?
• Gender Pay Gap
– Human capital theory
• Argument that individuals make investments
in their own “human capital” in order to
increase their productivity and earnings
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Unanswered Questions:
Why Do Gendered Inequalities Persist?
• Gender Pay Gap
– Sociological explanations
• Gender socialization
• Discouragement and discrimination
• Ineffective policies to ensure equal pay for
equal work
• Women’s work is devalued
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Unanswered Questions:
Why Do Gendered Inequalities Persist?
• Gender Pay Gap
– Comparable worth
• Policies that attempt to remedy the gender
pay gap by adjusting pay so that those in
female-dominated jobs are not paid less for
equivalent work
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Unanswered Questions:
Why Do Gendered Inequalities Persist?
• Targets of Violence
– Physical and sexual abuse, mutilation, or
murder
– Rape
• The forcing of nonconsensual vaginal, oral, or
anal intercourse
• Many rapes go unreported
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Unanswered Questions:
Why Do Gendered Inequalities Persist?
• Targets of Violence
– Rape
• Often accompanied by other forms of
violence
• Many victims of rape know their
perpetrators; acquaintance rapes
• Rape can also be an instrument of war
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!
Approximately 40% of California women experience
physical intimate partner violence in their lifetimes.
!
Younger women, 18-24 years of age, were significantly
more likely (11%) to be victims of physical intimate partner
violence than women in other age groups.
!
Of those experiencing physical intimate partner violence,
75% of victims had children under the age of 18 years at
home.
!
!
Source: The California Women's Health Survey (CWHS)
!
!
!
Profile of Abusers
!
!
Although both men and women can be abusers,
most batterers are men.
!
Abusers do not differ from non-abusers in race, religion, or
economic status.
!
Abusers come from every profession, every level of
education, every income level, every ethnic group, and
every location.
Profile of Domestic Violence Victims
!
!
!
Simply being female is the single greatest factor that
increases one's risk of becoming a victim of domestic
violence.
!
Victims are of every age, class, race, religious, geographic,
sexual orientation, and personality group.
Women are over 4 times more likely to be beaten,
6 times more likely to be slammed against something,
and 9 times more likely to be hurt by choking or
suffocating.
!
81% of women who experienced rape, stalking or
physical violence by an intimate partner reported
significant short or long term impacts related to the
violence experienced in this relationship such as PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms and injury,
while 35% of men report such impacts of their
experiences.
Am I a Victim?
!
- I am frightened by my partner's temper.
- I apologize when I am treated badly.
- I have been hit, kicked, bitten, shoved, burned, choked
and/or had objects thrown at me.
- My partner controls whom I see and where I go. My partner
is jealous of my relationships with friends, family, and
coworkers and isolates me from those people.
- My partner has injured or threatened to injure the children,
pets, or special property.
- I am given an allowance to spend and/or my partner
controls the finances and will not allow me to purchase
necessities such as food and clothing.
- I have been forced to have sex or perform sexual acts.
- My partner has destroyed or broken my possessions.
PROFILE OF AN ABUSER
- Pushes for quick involvement. Claims “love at first sight,” and
pressures for commitment.
- If male, believes in stereotyped gender roles and male
supremacy. Dominates partner, requires conformity to traditional
roles.
- Blames victim for “provoking” abuse.
- Abusive in past relationships. Abuse is not situational, it carries
over from one relationship to the next.
- Very jealous and possessive. Isolates victim from friends and
family. Accuses victim of flirting, infidelity. May refuse to let
victim work.
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Others see abuser as a good partner
and parent; behind closed doors, abuser is angry and
aggressive.
- Experiences most emotions in the form of anger. Difficulty in
communicating other emotions. Expresses anger with
aggression.
- Violent temper, may include hitting or throwing objects.
- Uses sex as a form of aggression. Sex is imposed rather than
mutual.
- Dependent on victim for all emotional needs, blames others for
own feelings. Unrealistic expectations of relationship.
- Easily insulted, takes small setbacks as personal attacks.
- Hypersensitive. Is always right.
- Cruel to animals and/or children. Punishes them brutally, has
unrealistic expectations of their abilities, insensitive to their
suffering.
- Quickly changing moods. Charming one minute, abusive the
next. Depressed.
- Checks up on victim’s whereabouts, activities, spending, etc.
Claims to be concerned for victim’s safety, but intent is to
monitor behavior and control decisions.
- Minimizes the seriousness of abuse.
LEARNED RESPONSES OF THE VICTIM
- Doesn’t like herself; tries to justify the batterer’s behavior.
Low self-esteem, places little importance on her own
feelings and needs.
- Believes abuser will change; is controlled by the abuser.
- Blames self for abuser’s actions; attempts to change own
actions to control the violence. Feels responsible for abuse.
Guilt.
- Isolated and kept away from friends and family, or
resources for help. May also withdraw from people because
of feelings of shame or embarrassment.
- Denies the extent of the problem in order to survive;
generally suppresses anger because it is too dangerous.
- Helplessness. This feeling is reinforced if victim tries to
leave abuser and fails.
- Learned that society condones violence against women
either in childhood home or in later attempts to get help.
!
Domestic Violence Help
!
- Locally, call Haven Hills Crisis Line,
24 hours a day/7 days a week at: (818) 887-6589.
Email: safe@havenhills.org
!
- For outside of the San Fernando Valley area of
California, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline:
(800) 799-SAFE (7233) for a domestic violence
program near you.
!
!
Unanswered Questions:
Why Do Gendered Inequalities Persist?
• Gender Inequality Index
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Concept Quiz
What is gender?
!
(a) the biological and anatomical differences
distinguishing females from males
(b) innate differences in character and ability
between men and women
(c) social expectations about behavior regarded as
appropriate for males and females
(d) an aspect of personal identity defined by sexual
preference
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Concept Quiz
The learning of gender roles through social
factors such as schooling, the media, and
family is known as ____ .
!
(a) gendering
(b) social construction
(c) gender education
(d) gender socialization
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Concept Quiz
A woman putting on makeup and a man
yelling at someone when he really wants to
cry are both examples of ______.
!
(a) “doing gender”
(b) instinctual behavior
(c) self-restraint
(d) the importance of gender
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Concept Quiz
While Joni used to enjoy reading magazines like
Cosmopolitan, she recently canceled her
subscription after coming to the conclusion that the
magazine was not actually for women but for men,
as most of the articles were geared towards helping
women become more attractive to men. Joni’s
perspective most closely resembles ______.
!
(a) a functionalist approach to gender
(b) liberal feminism
(c) radical feminism
(d) postmodern feminism
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Concept Quiz
A group of women professionals and
managers who gather together to plan ways
to challenge the glass ceiling phenomenon
are most likely to ascribe to tenets of ______.
!
(a) postmodern feminism
(b) liberal feminism
(c) functionalist theories of gender
(d) black feminism
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Concept Quiz
What is one of the basic assumptions of
human capital theory?
!
(a) Women chose low-level jobs because they are
uninterested in developing their talents and skills.
(b) Women’s primary role in society should be caring for
children and fulfilling household responsibilities.
(c) An individual’s occupation is a result of a conscious,
rational, and free choice.
(d) Women are discouraged from challenging jobs by
guidance counselors and college advisers.
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Discussion Question: Thinking
Sociologically
What does cross-cultural evidence from tribal
societies in New Guinea, Afghanistan, Africa,
and North America suggest about the
differences in gender roles? Explain.
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