Unit 6: Stratification by Gender
Topic 1 - The Social Construction of Gender
Aim: To what extent are conceptions of gender a social
construct? How do we ‘do’ gender everyday of our lives?
Gender defined…
Social agreement as to
what is ‘male’ or
‘female’ - helps
construct social
meaning. This
agreement is vastly
different in different
cultures and different
historical times.
-Signifies relationships
of power
-Most likely to be
accepted as natural
(biological)
Sociological Perspectives
on Gender
The Interactionist Approach
We ‘do gender’ everyday
with our common
interactions with one
another - we can either
confirm or go against
gender roles, but our
actions dictate messages
about gender.
Interactionsts study
language, dress, actions.
E.g., men interrupt women
more than the converse
Functionalist
Perspective
Maintains that gender differentiation has contributed to
social stability. In particular, family functions most
effectively when adults specialize in particular roles
(Parsons & Bales, 1955). They argued that women take
expressive, emotionally supportive role, while men take the
instrumental, practical roles.
Conflict Theorists say that…
Gender roles contribute
to the subjugation of
women - Marx/Engles
argued this began with
capitalist industrialization
- prior to that it was
more egalitarian.
The Feminist Perspective
Similar to conflict theorist
viewpoint - however
feminists noted that the
female voice was missing in
most scholarship on gender
(including Sociology).
Contemporary feminists
recognize subjugation for
women not just by gender,
but by race, class, and other
social factors as well.
Theories of Gender: nature
versus nurture/nature and
nurture
•Nature: Biology determines our action. In other words, boys are
simply born with male characteristics, and vice-versa, or…
•Nurture: Society and our environment determine our actions. In
other words, we are taught what is ‘male’ or ‘female’
Binary Gender System:
• Idea that only 2 genders
exist – male and female
• Rejected by the gender
queer/gender neutral
community
• Further complicated by
biological factorschromosomal disorders
and physiological birth
defects (i.e.hermaphrodites)
The David Reimer Story:
What are some genuine
physical/physiological differences
between men and women?
Gender Development:
• Children develop a concrete understanding of
gender by age 7, but this develops in stages
from birth:
• 7 months – distinguish male/females faces
• 1 year – distinguishes male/female voices
• 2 years – understands gender stereotypes (dress,
behavior, etc)
• 2-3 – develop a sense of gender identity
• By 7, children believe that gender is a constant,
permanent thing that cannot change (if
mommy wears pants, she’s still a girl!)
• Men’s brains 8-10% larger - section linked to arithmetic
abilities larger in men (however, women are better at
straightforward math like addition/subtraction, men better at
reasoning problems)
• Women’s brains mature sooner - 2 key language centers larger
in women
• Women process pain signals in the parts of their brains that
handle emotion, while men process same signals in the
analytic regions
•
•
•
•
•
•
Women:
Has 70% more body fat, possesses 40% less muscle and are 5
inches shorter
Enter puberty 2 yrs. sooner
More likely to smell faint odors, express emotions freely, speak
more words per day
2x more vulnerable to depression & anxiety, and 10X for
eating disorders
Men:
4X more likely to be diagnosed with autism, colorblindness, hyperactivity, and antisocial personality
disorder
More likely to offer opinions, speak assertively, interrupt, smile
less, and stare more; while women are more likely to express
support.
How would you define a ‘gender role’?
Expectations regarding the proper behavior,
attitudes, and activities of males and females these expectations exist largely unrelated to
biological differences. Where do we learn these?
Pottery Barn Kids Christmas
Catalog
Gender-Role Socialization in the United States:
Homophobia is a key element of rigid gender-role
socialization since many associate male homosexuality
with femininity and lesbianism with masculinity.
Masculinity is gendered women are supposed to
attract - men to be
attracted - when this
‘predator/prey’ model is
shifted men often feel
threatened by it.
What point is this making?
Activity:
1. We will split into male/female groups
2. It will then be your task to come up with
TEN terms/phrases that you associate with:
A.) Your own gender (so female if you’re female)
B.) The opposite gender (so male if you’re female)
FEMALE/FEMALE:
FEMALE/MALE:
MALE/MALE:
MALE/FEMALE:
Multiple Masculinities (Connell,
1987): men play a variety of gender
roles, including a nurturing-care role and
an effeminate gay role, in addition to
their traditional gender roles of
domination - society nonetheless
reinforces traditional roles…
•Interviewed 400 men – mostly white, from the East Coast, and
college educated -“Guyland” – social space where guys live by
‘guy code’ – emphasis on drinking, hooking up, and other
behaviors. Very tied to video games, sports, and frequent (but
disconnected) sexual conquests
•“Bitch or Babe” - Women in ‘Guyland’ must drink, be thin, and
willing to hook up.
Gender Role Activity - Describe the rituals of
dating/engagement/marriage from start to finish…
Now, consider how these gender roles/stereotypes
contribute to global and domestic gender
discrimination and stratification…
Gender Transgressions: engaging in
actions, behaviors, or feelings that seem to
transgress from defined gender social
norms…examples?
Terms defined - ‘trans’ mean across…differentiate the
following terms which are often used interchangeably
Transvestite
Someone who dresses
in opposite gender of their
(not ‘cross dresser’)
Transgender
Someone who believes they
are born into the wrong
body
Transsexual
A transgendered person
who has undergone gender
reassignment surgery
The Transgendered Community:
• General term for those
whose behaviors deviate
extremely from traditional
gender roles
• Feel they were ‘born in the
wrong body’
• Diagnosed with Gender
Identity Disorder
• Gender Reassignment:
surgery & hormone
treatment to change
biological sex
Trans-Man:
Someone who is
born
physiologically
female, but
identifies as male
Trans-woman: a person
who is born physiologically
male, but identifies as
female (e.g, Lavern Cox of
“Orange is the New
Black”)
The Gender Queer Community:
• Think of
themselves as both
male and female,
neither male or
female, or outside
the gender binary
completely
(androgyny)
• Challenges
traditional views on
both gender and
sexuality
Gender in other cultures:
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
•
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=K9VmLJ3niVo
Taboo - 3 mins
Bugis people of Indonesian island
of Sulawesi have 5 gender
categrories:
Oroane (masculine male)
Makkunrai (feminine female)
Calalai (masculine female)
Calalai (feminine male)
Bissu (embodying qualities of
both male and female)
Calalai are anatomical males who
adhere to responsibilities of
women. They engage in
homosexuality and dress as
women, yet they don’t follow all
cultural suggestions
Access to Power:
• Patriarchy: Society in which men dominate
• Matriarchy: Society in which women dominate
Quick Activity - list 3 advantages and 3 disadvantages of
being the opposite gender than you are (anything, from
social to political…)
A Thought Experiment…
Imagine that you wake up tomorrow and the United States
Is now a Matriarchy (not a patriarchy)…so,
• Politically: Women hold the highest political offices (including the
presidency- there hasn’t been a male president in 30 years). Women
have better access to jobs, and are generally thought of as controlling
the course of national events.
• Socially: women always ask men out, propose marriage to men, and
make higher salaries than men in every state. Men are primarily
responsible for the raising of children (they stay home and the
woman goes back to work after childbirth). Men do dishes, clean,
and cook every night for their wives. When couples go out, women
drive the cars, pay for things, and make all major decisions about the
family.
Sex-Typed Activities:
•
Associating activities or forms
of work as being either “male”
or “female” in nature.
• Finish the following prompts
and explain your answers:[
1. “Because of my gender I
would never ________”
2. “Because of my gender I
would never do ______ for a
living”
3. “Because of my gender I
would never wear _________”
What do you think are some theories as to why and now
patriarchies came to be the dominant societal arrangement?
Theories of Patriarchy:
• Because women gave
birth to children, early
in human societies
women were bogged
down with child
birthing/rearing, while
men hunted and
gathered
• Subsequently, men came
to dominate society
How do you think living in a patriarchal society
impacts the social policy and social debates we have in the
U.S. - such as…
Gender Stratification
•
•
•
•
Inequalities in access to power, prestige, and property
Politics - Globally women lack equal access to decision making
The Pay Gap - In every nation, women are paid less than men
Violence - examples include witch burning, suttee (burning a
woman with her dead husband), rape, beatings, female
infanticide.
Can you personally think
of any instance in life
where you had a
particular advantage or
disadvantage just
because of your gender?
Social Consequences of Women’s Employment:
•Juggling of work and
family
•Maternity leave
•Housework responsibilities
• Hochschild’s ‘Second Shift’ Men still resist doing housework,
forcing working women pick up
slack at home after working full
time jobs
• Wives who average 8 hour work
day average 11 more hours of
housework weekly than their
husbands do.
• Wives are 8 times more likely to
feel that division of housework is
unfair.
Husband “Strategies of Resistance” to Housework
(Hochschild, 1989):
1. Waiting it out: Many men won’t volunteer, but wait
till their wives do things.
2. Playing dumb: men will do housework poorly so as
to force their wives to see them as incompetent
and do the work themselves.
3. Needs reduction: Men felt things didn’t ‘need’ to get
done - i.e., kids don’t ‘need’ ironed clothes. Forces
wife to step in.
4. Substitute offerings: praising wife for being able to
‘do it all’ subtlety encourages her to continue to
do so.
The Good Housewife’s Guide:
The Emergence of a Collective Unconscious Feminism
The belief in social, economic,
and political equality for
women. First wave feminism
began in 1848 with women’s
suffrage. Second wave
feminism took hold in the
1970’s with the publication
of…
Potential Topics:
•Rape culture on
college campuses
•Islamic garb
•Abortion
•The Pay
Gap/Discrimination
in the workplace