Section 1: Sex and Gender Identity
Section 2: Theoretical Perspectives on Gender
Section 3: Gender Inequality
 …distinguish the concepts of sex, gender, and gender
identity.
 …summarize the perspectives on gender taken by
functionalists, conflict theorists, and symbolic
interactionists
 …compare/contrast the ways in which functionalism,
conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism approach
ageism.
 …discuss inequality experienced by America’s elderly.
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and Spice
And everything nice.
That’s what little girls are
made of.
What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails
And puppy dog tails
That’s what little boys are
made of.
 If men and women behave
differently, it is assumed it
is because of their sex –
classification of people as
male/female based on
biological characteristics
 Men more
masculine/aggressive
 Women more
passive/nurturing
 Biological determinism –
 Gender Identity – a sense
the belief that behavioral
differences are the result
of inherited physical
characteristics. (Men are
born to act one way and
women another)
of being male or female
based on learned cultural
values.
 Nature vs. Nurture
 Biology may create
tendencies, but they are
overridden by
cultural/social
influences
 Are male/female brains
different?
 Slightly, in structure and
activity
 Do these differences lead
to different social
behavior?
 Continued debate
 Female babies are more
sensitive to sound
 Male children more active
in play
 Men tend to prefer
younger women, Women,
older men
 Sociologist view on
behavior
 Gender-related behavior
not primary the result of
biology, rather culture and
socialization
 Studies suggest gender
roles are not fixed at birth
 Safe to conclude that
human behavior is the
result of multiple causes
 Functionalism and Gender
 Any patter of behavior that does not benefit society will
become unimportant
 Division of responsibilities and labor benefits society
 Women more valuable than men in the sense of
reproduction
 Traditional divisions of labor has created problems for
modern society (inequalities)
 It is to men’s advantage to prevent women from
gaining equal resources
 Traditional gender roles are outdated
 Women who prefer careers in fields formerly reserved
for men have every right to make that choice,
regardless of its functionality
 Focus on how boys/girls
learn to act the way they
are “supposed to act.”
 Gender socialization – the
social process of the
learning to act as a boy or
girl.
 Parents are vital to this
process; begins at birth
 Gender taught through
chores, etc
 The role of the school
 Different behaviors
encourage in first years of
schools for boys/girls
 Studies suggest that the
educational system often
shortchanges females and
dampens female
competitiveness –
systematically taught to be
passive, dislike
math/science and defer to
boys
 Peers Influences
 Gender Wage Gap
 What stands in the way of women being equal to men?
BBC News
 Women as a Minority Group
 Sexism – a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values
used to justify sexual inequality
 Sexist Ideology – belief that men are naturally superior
to women – Does it exist?
 Isn’t sex discrimination disappearing?
 Positions of power, closing gap in equality
 2004 – 59% of women worked outside the home,
making up over 46% of the workforce
 Married women w/children under age of 6 – 19% in
1960, 37% in 1975, 59.3% in 2004.
 Kinds of Jobs
 Occupational sex segregation – the concentration of
women in lower-status positions
 Women occupy nearly all “pink-collar” jobs (support
jobs)
 Do women earn less?
 $.80 to every dollar a male earns
 Worse for women of minority race/ethnicity
 Some states refused women the right to keep their own




surnames after marriage
Protective legislation restricting women’s right –
limiting the number of hours women could work. Also
limited the conditions in which they could work, and
limiting the kinds of work women could do by
regulating such matters as amount of weight a would
could be permitted to lift
Title VII (Civil Right Act of 1964) nullified such laws
Women more likely to take maternity leave
How does this impact the hiring process
 Women have increased political representation over
the years, but still hold a relatively small proportion of
important political positions.(15.4% of the seats in the
House of Rep. in 2005, 14% of senate seats)
 European countries have greater representation
 Power elite is no longer exclusive, but still limiting to
females – many who do join the power elite come from
upper-class backgrounds
 Political Cartoon Analysis
 Google Classroom