 GENDER
RISK IN STRATIFIED
SOCIETIES
© Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri, 2015
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
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1. Major Concepts
2. The Gender Story
3. The Gender Gap and Gender Risk
4. The Old Gender Gap: Gender role stigma, gender
role norms, men own and run the world
5. The New Gender Gap: End of Men
6. Sociological Standpoint on the Gender Gap
7. Application of Sociological Paradigms
8. Intersectionality
9. Conclusion: Any hope for eliminating the Gender
Gap?
10. Appendix
MAJOR CONCEPTS
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Sex Type and Sex Difference
Gender Difference
Gender Gap
Gender Risk
Gender socialization
Gender-role expectations
Gender Norms
Hegemonic Masculinity
Emphasized Femininity
Gendered Bodies
Gender Differentiation
Gender Stratification
Gender Oppression
Gender Relations
Intersectionality
Patriarchy
Gender Identity
THE GENDER STORY:
America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A
WpsOqh8q0M
“If I were a boy”—
Beyonce Knowles
THE GENDER STORY
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India: Jyoti’s Story:
On the evening of 16 December 2012, Jyoti Singh
Pandey, a 23-year old physiotherapist student,
went out with her boyfriend to see The Life of Pi in
a suburb of Delhi, India. After the movie, the
couple hopped on a minibus for the trip home. Six
men were aboard, including the driver. They
taunted the woman for going out in the evening.
To them, she had failed to behave with
appropriate modesty. The men beat the boyfriend
unconscious with an iron rod and gagged and
bound him. They then dragged Jyoti to the back of
the bus, raping her repeatedly and penetrating her
with the iron rod. They threw Jyoti and her
boyfriend from the moving bus onto the road. The
driver backed up, intent on killing her, but her
boyfriend somehow managed to get her out of the
way. Nonetheless, Jyoti died of her injuries on 29
December (Robert Brym 2015, p. 107)
THE GENDER STORY
(1) India
(2) China
FEMALE INFANTICIDE STORY:
The phenomenon of female infanticide is as old as many cultures, and
has likely accounted for millions of gender-selective deaths throughout
history. It remains a critical concern in a number of "Third World"
countries today, notably the two most populous countries on earth, China
and India. In all cases, specifically female infanticide reflects the low
status accorded to women in most parts of the world; it is arguably the
most brutal and destructive manifestation of the anti-female bias that
pervades "patriarchal" societies. It is closely linked to the phenomena of
sex-selective abortion, which targets female fetuses almost exclusively,
and neglect of girl children
(http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html)
THE GENDER STORY:
REHTAEH PARSONS, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA
Adding to Parson's humiliation, and a criminal act in its own right, was the
posting of a photo of the assault to social media several days later by one
of the alleged assailants. The photo played a crucial role in the later
suicide because it provoked an endless string of taunts and threats
against Parsons
THE GENDER STORY
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Audrie Pott, California
Police in California
recently arrested
three young men in
connection to the
suicide of Audrie Pott
in September 2012.
She, too, suffered a
gang sexual assault.
(http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/8
09.php#continue)
THE GENDER STORY: FEMICIDE IN CANADA
THE GENDER STORY
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It has only been five years since Pakistani
schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai wrote an
anonymous diary about life under Taliban
rule in north-west Pakistan.
Since then she has been shot in the head by
the militants and become the youngest
person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
She first came to public attention through
that heartfelt diary, published on BBC Urdu,
which chronicled her desire to remain in
education and for girls to have the chance to
be educated.
When she was shot in the head in October
2012 by a Taliban gunman, she was already
well known in Pakistan, but that one
shocking act catapulted her to international
fame.
She survived the dramatic assault, in which a
militant boarded her school bus in Pakistan's
north-western Swat valley and opened fire,
wounding two of her school friends as well.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23241937
Malala Yousafzai,
Pakistan
THE GENDER STORY
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BANGLADESH:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B
hodyt4fmU
THE GENDER STORY
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KAKENYA NTAIYA: A Girl Who
Demanded School:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U
fdbEPlL-II
https://www.google.ca/#q=kakenya+
ntaiya+a+girl+who+demanded+schoo
l
THE GENDER STORY
 GLOBAL
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https://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_wu
dunn_our_century_s_greatest_injustic
e
The Gender Gap
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Both the Old Gender Gap
and the New Gender Gap
represent high gender
risk for girls and women.
In other words, the new
gender gap is just a
variation of the old
gender story—female
gender risk is still higher
than male gender risk.
Gender Risk
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Gender risk is the particular
constellation of dangers associated
with being a woman or a man
(Hannah-Moffat and O’Malley 2007,
cited in Robert Brym 2015, p. 108)
HIGH GENDER RISK FOR
GIRLS AND WOMEN
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Physical insecurity
Domestic violence
Sexual violence and sexual harassment
Kidnapping of girls and young women
Genital cutting/mutilation
Honor killing
Femicide
Poverty
Strict body image expectation
Restricted Dress Code
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OLD GENDER GAP:
– GENDER ROLE STIGMA
GENDER ROLE STIGMA
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[Gender Role] Stigma is driven by the
patriarchal ideology of sexism and operated
through the mechanisms of gender-specific
“discrimination, expectancy confirmation,
and automatic stereotype activation” against
the roles women play in patriarchal societies
(Brenda Major and Laurie T. O'Brien 2005).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NswJ4k
O9uHc
GENDER ROLE STIGMA:
SEX TYPE: Gendered Sexes
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SEX AS BIOLOGICAL CATEGORIES:
–
Primary Sex Characteristics (Genitalia differences) and Secondary sex characteristics related to
hormonal differences)
PATHOLOGICAL
MALE
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FEMALE
HERMAPHRODITE
PATHOLOGICAL
TRANS-SEXUAL
OTHER
Hermaphrodites: combination of female and male internal and
external genitalia: Western culture tends to be intolerant and even
hateful of such sex-type
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexuality; Homosexuality and
Bisexuality; Transgendered Individuals (Transsexuals &
Transvestites)
–
Transsexuals: people who feel they are one sex when biologically they
are the other; they feel trapped in the wrong body
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Sexism: the belief that one sex category is innately superior to the
other(s)
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PLASTIC SURGERY
GENDER ROLE STIGMA:
SEX TYPE: Gendered Sexes
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Usually sex types/differences are
translated into gender differences and
transformed into interrelated:
– Unequal gender statuses and roles
– Unequal gender oppression
– Unequal gender relations
GENDER ROLE STIGMA:
SEX TYPE: Genderized Sexes
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“The evidence increasingly show that
gender differences tend to override
sex differences—that social
expectations, for example, are much
more powerful determinants of
people’s behaviors than their physical
attributes” (McIntyre 2006: 241).
THE OLD GENDER STORY:
GENDER ROLE STIGMA:
Is it a boy or is it a girl
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THE PINK WORLD vs. THE BLUE WORLD
THE OLD GENDER STORY: GENDER
ROLE STIGMA
BLUE=HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY
& PINK=EMPHASIZED FEMININITY
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Male babies get blue blankets, while female
babies get pink ones. Boys are expected to
play with trucks, blocks, and toy soldiers;
girls are given dolls and kitchen goods. Boys
must be masculine—active, aggressive,
tough, daring, and dominant—whereas girls
must be feminine—soft, emotional, sweet,
and submissive. These traditional genderrole patterns have been influential in the
socialization of children in North America
(Schaefer and Haaland 2009, p. 264).
THE OLD GENDER STORY: GENDER ROLE STIGMA
BLUE=PATERNAL & PINK=MATERNAL
PARENTING
MATERNAL
PATERNAL
SEXUALITY
Female/Woman
Male/Man
EMPHASIZED
FEMININIITY
HEGEMONIC
MASCULINITY
Mild, Responsive,
Responsible,
Nurturing,
Supportive,
Attractive,
Enthusiastic
Violent, Aggressive
Impersonal ,
Less Responsible,
Driven, Ambitious ,
Capable, Successful
Powerful
THE OLD GENDER STORY: GENDER ROLE
STIGMA
BLUE=PATERNAL & PINK=MATERNAL
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In the past 35 years, inspired in good
part by the feminist movement, some
changes are occurring in the
traditional gender role pattern.
Nevertheless, the traditional male and
female gender roles remain well
entrenched as an influential element
of our culture (Messner 1997, cited in Schaefer and
Haaland 2009, p. 266)
GENDER: WHAT IS IT?
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"Gender is a social, not a
biological, construction: that
is, it is the result of social
definition rather than the fact
that females have two X
chromosomes while males
have an X and Y chromosome"
(O'Kelly, C.G.; L. S. Carney,
1986. p.3).
GENDER: WHAT IS IT?
 It
is the cultural roles and
social inequality society
assigns the biological
categories or sex-types of
male and female.
GENDER RELATIONS
SEX
DIFFERENCES
Culture and Social Structure
FEMININITY
MUSCULINITY
UNEQUAL GENDER
RELATIONS
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OLD GENDER GAP: GENDER
NORMS
OLD GENDER GAP:
GENDER NORMS
 Different
rules for female
and male behaviors in
Canada?
QUIZ FOR MEN:
Masculinization of Men
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1. How many of the men in this class
a) wear fingernail polish?
b) throw tupperware party?
c) have pedicure?
d) shave their leg/arm hair?
QUIZ FOR WOMEN:
Masculinization of Women
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2. How many women in this class
a) send men flowers?
b) open car doors for men?
c) pay for dinner when on a date?
d) talk knowledgeably about
cars?
GENDER DIFFERENTIATION :
NORM VIOLATIONS IN CANADA
Norm Violation by
Women
Send men flowers
Spit in public
Use men’s bathroom
Buy/use jock strap
Buy/chew tobacco
Talk knowledgeably about cars
Open doors for men
Source: Nielsen 2000, p. 287
Norm Violations by
Men
Wear fingernail polish
Needlepoint in public
Throw Tupperware party
Cry in public
Have pedicure
Apply to babysit
Shave leg/arm hair
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OLD GENDER GAP:
– Men Own and Run the World
THE 2013 UN GENDER GAP REPORT
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The gender gap report for 2013 shows
that globally the highest areas of
inequality are economic and political.
It’s vital to bring awareness to the
fight that women still face for equal
pay, land and business ownership, and
political power (NEXUS, “Campaign
aims for equality”, October 15, 2014,
p. 15).
OLD GENDER GAP: Men
Own and Run the World
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Are there inequalities against and oppression of
women in the 21st century Canadian society in the
following five vital areas of society?
1. ECONOMIC
– Employment
– Income and Wealth
2. POLITICAL
– Female Presidents/Prime Ministers/Premiers
– Women in Parliament
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3. HOUSEWORK
OLD GENDER GAP:
Men Own the World
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Gender inequality at Work
Women still positioned primarily in
lower-paying, traditionally female
occupations: "pink-collar" positions in
health and human services, sales,
teaching, humanities and social
sciences
Men dominate in all other job
categories (See statistics on next two
slides)
OLD GENDER GAP:
Men Own the World
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Women entering the job market find their
options restricted in important ways.
Particularly damaging is occupational
segregation, or confinement to sex-typed
“women’s jobs”. ..Entering such sex-typed
occupations places women in “service” roles
that parallel the traditional gender-role
expectations [constructed in 19th century
Europe] of housewives “serving” their
husbands and children (ibid.: p. 274).
OLD GENDER GAP: Men Own the
World
(Statistics Canada data 2006)
Underrepresented
Trades, transportation, and construction
6.9%
Natural and applied sciences
21.8%
Senior management
23.8%
Overrepresented
Nursing, therapy, other health-related
86.5%
Clerical and administrative
69.1%
Cashiers
85.2%
Retail sales
58.6%
Roughly equal representation
Business and finance
Professional health occupations
Tour and travel occupations
49.7%
53.5%
51.4%
THE OLD GENDER GAP: Men
Own the World
(SILICON VALLEY)
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Women in Silicon Valley do not live in such a shiny
detached bubble that they don’t recognize sexism. You
would have to be blind to walk through the offices of
Facebook or Google everyday and not notice the sea of
mostly male programmers, or the “frat house”, as
Sheryl Sandberg, CEO of Facebook, calls it…It’s an
omnipresent and unpleasant fact of life, but it
shouldn’t keep you from going about your
business…Dwelling on sexism is “complete waste of
time”, Lori Goler, Facebook’s human resources
director, said in a New Yorker profile of Sandberg. “If I
spent one hour talking about how I’m excluded, that is
an hour I am not spending solving Facebook problem’s
(Hanna Rosin 2012, p. 197).
Ten Highest Paid Occupations
in Canada
Percentage Women
Judges
22.9
Physicians
25.6
Dentists
17.9
Senior Managers
10.9
Lawyers
27.2
Investment Dealers
33.6
Petroleum Engineers
6.5
Chiropractors
15.6
Engineering. Science & Architect
Managers
9.3
University Professors
26.1
Ten Lowest Paid Occupations in
Canada
Percentage Women
Estheticians and related
96.4
Sewing Machine operators
91.8
Cashiers
70.4
Ironing, Pressing and related
83.9
Artisans and Craftspersons
51.7
Bartenders
54.5
Harvesting Labourers
53.5
Service Station attendants
20.0
Food Services
75.8
Babysitters, Nannies
97.9
OLD GENDER GAP:
Men Own the World
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Discrimination against women at
the workplace: the glass ceiling
Women hold less than 6 percent
of senior management jobs in the
world. The International labour
Organization estimates that, at
the present rate of progress
worldwide, it would take 475
years for parity to be achieved
between women and men in top
managerial and administrative
positions.
OLD GENDER GAP:
Men Own the World
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Gender Inequality in Income and Wealth:
At all levels of completed education women
earn less than men
The majority of women earn, on average,
about three-fourths of the male wage for the
same work outside the agricultural sector, in
both developed and developing countries
(Source: Un Urn. 1996. More and Better Jobs
for Women: An Action Guide. Geneva: The
International Labour Organization, pp. 11,
14).
Women make up nearly 70 percent of the
world's poor
Wage Gaps between male and female earnings: 19691990
Reproduced by authority of the Minister of Industry, 1996, Statistics Canada,
from Earnings of Men and Women 1990, Cat. no. 13-217.
OLD GENDER GAP: Men Own
the World
Actual and Projected Wage Gaps: Male &
Female Earnings
1994
2001
2011
2031
All Ages
27.5
29.2
26.5
21.9
Age 25-44
20.9
21.3
17.6
16.9
Age 45-64
42.9
43.6
38.8
29.0
Source: Kelly Ruthie. Economist Ltd. Spring 2002, Volume 7 No. 1
OLD GENDER GAP:
Men Own the World:
Earning Gaps in Selected Countries
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Russia
Japan
China
Argentina
Mexico, Uruguay
Brazil, Portugal, Germany
Poland, Zambia, Greece
Italy, Egypt
Hungary
Sweden
Sri Lanka, Iceland
Australia
Tanzania, Vietnam
Canada, USA
92%
91%
90%
89%
82%
80%
78%
76%
75%
65%
59%
41%
40%
25%
Source: Seager (1997): The State of Women in the World Atlas (2nd Ed.),
London: Penquin Reference, pp. 68-69.
OLD GENDER GAP:
GENDER INEQUALITY AT HOME
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Did you know?
Married mothers spend about twice as
much time per week on child care and
housework as married fathers.
Mothers spend about 13 hours per
week on child care and 19 hours on
housework compared to 7 and 10,
respectively, for fathers (Witt &
Hermiston 2010, p. 269).
OLD GENDER GAP:
Men Rule the World
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Gender inequality in Politics:
Before 1918 women could not vote in Canadian
federal elections
By 1940 all eligible women could vote in both federal
and provincial elections
Today Canadian women are involved in politics at all
levels but primarily at the municipal level
In 2007-2010 the leader of the NDP in BC was a
woman, and many women have taken dominant roles
in both federal and provincial cabinets.
Currently Premier (unelected) of BC is a woman.
There has been one unelected Female Prime Minister
in the history of Canada
OLD GENDER GAP:
Men Rule the World
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Canada continues to lag behind other
countries in the world in terms of the
number of women in its national
legislature. Women in Wales recently
gained 50% of their Assembly, and
women in Sweden are 45%, and in
Rwanda 48.5%. Canada ranks way
down the list - 36th in the country
rankings by the number of women in
our last Parliament (Dateline, Tuesday
June 29, 2004).
OLD GENDER GAP:
Men Rule the World
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The representation of women in Canada’s Senate is
considerably higher than in the House of Commons,
with 35% of Senate seats held by women.
The representation of women on municipal councils
(21.7%)
In provincial/territorial legislatures the proportion is
(20.6%), similar to that at the federal level.
With 32% of seats in the National Assembly held by
women, Quebec has become first among the
federal/provincial/territorial jurisdictions in Canada
to meet the critical threshold of 30%.
OLD GENDER GAP: Men Rule the
World:
WOMEN IN CANADIAN HOUSE OF COMMONS SINCE 1984
YEAR
TOTAL
NUMBER OF
SEATS
SEATS HELD
BY WOMEN
PROPORTION
OF SEATS
HELD BY
WOMEN
1984
228
27
9.6%
1988
295
39
13.4%
1993
295
53
18.0%
1997
301
62
20.6%
2000
301
62
20.6%
2004
308
65
21.1%
2006
2008
308
308
64
68
20.8%
22.1%
GENDER RELATIONS
SEX
DIFFERENCES
Culture and Social Structure
FEMININITY
FEMININE
MUSCULINITY
MUSCULLINE
UNEQUAL GENDER
RELATIONS
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SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE OLD
GENDER GAP
GENDER GAP IS SOCIALLY CONTRUCTED AND
THEREFORE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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Did you know that in the mid-nineteenth
century Britain organized a phobic campaign
to “feminize” women? (McNally 2006, p.
173)
Did you know that there was a concerted
effort to stop women from working in the
mines, and that this had little to do with
concerns for their safety and much to do
with anxieties created by women covered in
dirt and sweat, wielding shovels—dangerous
beings who posed a threat to the totality of
bourgeois civilization? (ibid.).
GENDER GAP IS SOCIALLY CONTRUCTED AND
THEREFORE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Did you know that up to the
eighteenth century women in Europe
were integral part of what are now
male-dominated trades and
professions? (McNally 2006).
GENDER GAP IS SOCIALLY CONTRUCTED
AND THEREFORE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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CROSS-CULTURAL EVIDENCE:
Did you know that there is standardized male
personality and standardized female personality in
each culture. But the differences in the standards
across cultures are amazing? (Margaret Mead 1935:
205).
1. Arapesh (Papua New Guinea): Mild, gentle,
nurturing, responsive man and mild, gentle, nurturing,
responsive woman.
2. Mundugumor (Pappua New Guinea): Competitive,
fierce, violent, aggressive man and competitive, fierce,
violent, aggressive woman
3. Tchambuli (Papua New Guinea): Dominant,
impersonal, assertive, managing woman and less
responsible, emotionally dependent man dressed up in
frilly clothes, wearing makeup, and even giggle a lot .

GENDER GAP IS SOCIALLY CONTRUCTED
AND THEREFORE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
–Hence the New Gender Gap
NEW
GENDER GAP
– The End of Men
– Women’s Wellbeing/Happiness
NEW GENDER GAP:
The End of Men
NEW GENDER GAP:
The End of Men

The changes in the global political economy
are affecting men and women very
differently. In fact the most distinctive
change is probably the emergence of an
American matriarchy, where the younger
men especially are unmoored, and closer
than at any other time in history to being
obsolete—at least by most traditional
measures of social utility. And the women
are left picking up the pieces (Hanna Rosin
2012, p. 82).
NEW GENDER GAP:
The End of Men

Since 2000, the manufacturing economy has lost
almost six million jobs, more than a third of its total
workforce, and has taken in few young workers.
The housing bubble masked this new reality for a
while, creating work in construction and related
industries. But then that market crashed as well.
During the same period, meanwhile, health and
education have added about the same number of
jobs. But those sectors continue to be heavily
dominated by women, while the men concentrate
themselves more than ever in the industries—
construction, transportation, and utilities—that are
fading away (ibid., p. 83).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE UNDERACHIEVING

More boys (10.3%) than girls (6.6%)
are dropping out of High School in
Canada (Maclean’s Magazine, October
25, 2010).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE UNDERACHIEVING
 University
graduation rates of
women in Canada is 18
percentage points higher than
men (43% versus 25%) –
(Maclean’s Magazine, October
25, 2010, p. 68).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE UNDERACHIEVING

The education gap is widening not just in the United States
[and Canada], but all over the world. Each year the
organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
publishes data on college graduation rates in thirty-four
industrial democracies. In twenty-seven of those countries,
women have more college degrees than men…The same is
true in less prosperous countries as well, according to a
UNESCO report. In Latin America, the Caribbean, Central Asia,
and the Arab States—nearly everywhere except Africa—
women outnumber men in college. In some surprising
countries—Bahrain, Qatar, and Guyana—women make up
nearly 70 percent of college graduates (Hanna Rosin 2012,
p. 150-151).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE UNDERACHIEVING

Schools have in effect become
microcosms of the larger economy.
Richard Whitmire, author of Why Boys
Fail, summarizes the trend this way:
“The world has gotten more verbal;
boys haven’t” (Ibid., p. 162).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE UNDERACHIEVING

While professional women are ready
for marriage many men their age are
still playing video games (Hanna Rosin
2012, p. 40).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE MARGINALIZED

In 2010, market researcher James Chung stumbled on a data
set that seemed to illuminate a whole new future America. He
looked at two thousand metropolitan regions in the United
States, covering 91 percent of the population. In 1,997 of
them, the young women had a median income higher than
the young men. This held true in big cities and small ones,
richer and poorer. Chung’s findings made the cover of Time
magazine, with Chung becoming an oracle for a fastapproaching gender upheaval. “These women haven’t just
caught up with the guys,” he said. “In many cities they’re
clocking them. We’ve known for a long time that women are
graduating at higher rates than men, and the question was;
Did that translate into greater economic power? Now we have
our answer. This generation of women has adapted to the
fundamental restructuring of the economy better than their
male peers.” (Hanna Rosin 2012, p. 107).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE MARGINALIZED

According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, as of 2011, women hold
51.4 percent of managerial and
professional jobs—up from 26. 1
percent in 1980. They make up 61.3
percent of all accountants…In France
women make up to 58 percent of
doctors under age thirty five, and in
Spain, it’s 64 percent (Rosin 2012, p.
117).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE MARGINALIZED

The number of women with six-figure
incomes is rising at a much faster pace
than it is for men (Hanna Rosin 2012,
p. 198).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE MARGINALIZED

The Gold Misses: Asian Women
take over the World” (ibid., p.
211).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE MARGINALIZED

For the first time in history, the global
economy is becoming a place where women
are finding more success than men…because
this new economy requires what economists
call “people skills” and “creative ideas”; new
workers—”caring agents” who go far beyond
giving and receiving instructions. They
display a talent for successfully interpreting
feelings and ideas which technology cannot
make obsolete and cannot be done by
someone overseas (Rosin 2012, pp. 117-120)
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE MARGINALIZED

Women have written the blueprint for
the workplace of the future. The only
question left is, will the men really
adapt? (Rosin 2012, p. 141).
NEW GENDER GAP: BOYS
ARE MARGINALIZED

Sarah works because she has the
‘more ready skills set’ to succeed as a
lawyer, and Steven stays home
because in this modern economy
‘testosterone has been marginalized’
(Hanna Rosin 2012, p. 75)
TRANSITION TO A NEW ERA

Transition not yet complete:
– Steven stays home during the day, but in
fact Sarah is in charge of both realms. By
deciding to work full-time she has not
actually ceded the domestic space, but
only doubled her load (Hanna Rosin
2012, p. 76).
NEW
GENDER GAP
– Women’s Wellbeing/Happiness
– Globally women are emerging from the
economic and educational domination.
However, the patriarchal ideology is not
changing fast enough to facilitate women’s
liberation. This CULTURAL LAG is
contributing to the distress and
unhappiness of women.
NEW GENDER GAP:
Professional Women’s Distress

In short, the minute I found myself in a job that is
typical for the vast majority of working women (and
men), working long hours on someone else’s schedule,
I could no longer be both the parent and the
professional I wanted to be—at least not with a child
experiencing a rocky adolescence. I realized what
should have perhaps been obvious: having it all, at
least for me, depended almost entirely on what type of
job I had. The flip side is the harder truth: having it all
was not possible in many types of jobs, including high
government office—at least not for very long
(http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-itall/309020/).
NEW GENDER GAP:
Professional Women’s Distress


I am hardly alone in this realization. Michèle Flournoy
stepped down after three years as undersecretary of
defense for policy, the third-highest job in the
department, to spend more time at home with her
three children, two of whom are teenagers. Karen
Hughes left her position as the counselor to President
George W. Bush after a year and a half in Washington
to go home to Texas for the sake of her family. Mary
Matalin, who spent two years as an assistant to Bush
and the counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney
before stepping down to spend more time with her
daughters, wrote: “Having control over your schedule
is the only way that women who want to have a career
and a family can make it work.” (ibid.).
Yet the decision to step down from a position of
power—to value family over professional
advancement, even for a time—is directly at odds with
the prevailing social pressures on career professionals
in the United States. (ibid.).
NEW GENDER GAP:
Professional Women’s Distress

t is time for women in leadership positions to
recognize that although we are still blazing trails
and breaking ceilings, many of us are also
reinforcing a falsehood: that “having it all” is, more
than anything, a function of personal
determination. As Kerry Rubin and Lia Macko, the
authors of Midlife Crisis at 30, their cri de coeur for
Gen-X and Gen-Y women, put it:
– What we discovered in our research is that while the
empowerment part of the equation has been loudly
celebrated, there has been very little honest discussion
among women of our age about the real barriers and
flaws that still exist in the system despite the opportunities
we inherited (Ibid.).
NEW GENDER GAP:
Professional Women’s Distress

African-American men and women
have the greatest gender gap in
college/university graduation rates,
and Ebony magazine often laments
how difficult it is for a black woman to
find s suitable man (Hanna Rosin
2012, p. 88-89).
NEW GENDER GAP:
Professional Women’s Distress

Nearly 70% of black American women
are unmarried, and the racial gap in
marriage spans the socioeconomic
spectrum, from the urban poor to
well-off suburban professionals. Three
in 10 college-educated black women
haven't married by age 40; their white
peers are less than half as likely to
have remained unwed. (R.R. Banks
NEW GENDER GAP:
Women are Less Happy

Millions of other working women face much more
difficult life circumstances. Some are single mothers;
many struggle to find any job; others support
husbands who cannot find jobs. Many cope with a
work life in which good day care is either unavailable
or very expensive; school schedules do not match
work schedules; and schools themselves are failing to
educate their children. Many of these women are
worrying not about having it all, but rather about
holding on to what they do have. And although women
as a group have made substantial gains in wages,
educational attainment, and prestige over the past
three decades, the economists Justin Wolfers and
Betsey Stevenson have shown that women are less
happy today than their predecessors were in 1972,
both in absolute terms and relative to men (ibid.).
“HeForShe”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Dg226G2Z8

In response to the fact that the emergent new
gender gap fails to eliminate or minimize female
gender risk, the United Nations women have
launched a new campaign called HeForShe, the first
of its kind for the UN. The objective of the
HeForShe campaign is to involve men and boys
globally in the fight for gender equality. Over the
next year, the campaign intends to mobilize one
billion men and boys as advocates and agents of
change for gender equality (NEXUS, “Campaign
aims for equality”, October 15, 2014, p. 15).

THE SOCIOLOGICAL STANDPOINT ON
THE GENDER GAP
THE SOCIOLOGICAL
STANDPOINT


“If differences between men and
women were biologically determined,
then they would be the same across
cultures. But they aren’t” (McIntyre
2006: 240).
In other words, sex type (XY and XX)
doesn’t produce gender differences;
rather gender socialization and social
control are the factors that produce
the differences in the experiences,
behaviors, life chances, and destinies
THE SOCIOLOGICAL
STANDPOINT

Arguments that assign “an
evolutionary or genetic basis” to
explain gender status and
experiences are simplistic. They
rest on dubious data,
oversimplification in logic, and
inappropriate inferences (Cynthia
Fuchs Epstein 1989).
OLD GENDER GAP:
Sociological Standpoint

Gender Socialization & Social Control:
– A process of imposing gender image on people and
compelling them to incorporate gender into their
personal identities.

Gender roles are so reinforced by culture that
they feel natural before people reach
adulthood. At adulthood, men and women
often occupy such different realities that they
experience difficulty in the most basic of
human task: that is, communicating with one
another.
– Men are from ………. and Women
from………?
OLD GENDER GAP:
Sociological Standpoint




Gender Socialization and social control at
School:
At
At
At
–
Elementary School………
high school………
university……….
Sex-linked Majors: Females still tend to choose
different majors and new areas of study are
often sex-linked with males studying
computer/rocket science and females taking
gender studies/Nursing
– Unequal Student-Teacher Interaction
OLD GENDER GAP:
Sociological Standpoint




The Media and Gender
Socialization/social control:
Mass media place males (masculinity)
at center stage and females
(femininity) as sex objects.
– The "beauty myth" remains a part of
the culture of advertising
Workplace Gender Socialization:
“Pinkalization” of work, occupations,
and professions.

APPLICATION OF
SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGMS
WHAT IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF
GENDER INEQUALITY,
OPPRESSION & RELATIONS?










SEX DIFFERENCES & EVOLUTION:
Paradigm: Sociobiology
SOCIALIZATION FOR HOMEOSTASIS
Paradigm: Functionalism
COMPETITION FOR SCARCE RESOURCES
Paradigm: Social Conflict
DEFINITION OF THE SEXES
Paradigm: Interactionism
PATRIARCHAL NORMS:
Paradigm: Feminism
FEMINIST PARADIGM AND GENDER
PATRIARCHY
SOCIALIZATION,
DISCRIMINATION,
CONTROL, &
EXPLOITATION
INEQUALITY AGAINST WOMEN
&
OPPRESSION OF WOMEN
Liberal Feminism
SEXISM (socialization,
Labeling, discrimination)
Radical Feminism
MALE VIOLENCE (control)
Marxist/Socialist Feminism
Women of Color Feminism
CAPITALISM (exploitation)
RACISM (discrimination)
INTERSECTIONALITY:

Convergence of multiple inequities
and inequalities and oppression:
Gender, Class, Race, Ethnicity, Age,
Sexuality
– Womanism (show video clip): Women, like
men, come in all shades and hues—
complexly connected to social class,
education, race, ethnicity, religion,
nationality, sexuality, age, etc.
INTERSECTIONALITY


The tendency for class and ethnicity/race to
amplify the effect of gender on a range of
behaviours, including violence (Choo and
Feree 2010).
Example: Violence against women in lower classes
and in disadvantaged ethnic and racial groups is
higher than is violence against women in upper
classes and in privileged ethnic/racial groups, both
in Canada and other countries (Romero 2013).
– Gender risk is higher for girls/women of
color in the lower classes than white
women in the middle/upper classes
CONCLUSION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns
wJ4kO9uHc
CONCLUSION: The Gender
Gap: Is there any Hope?

The best hope for improving the lot of all women,
and for closing what Wolfers and Stevenson call a
“new gender gap”—measured by well-being rather
than wages—is to close the leadership gap: to elect
a woman president and 50 women senators; to
ensure that women are equally represented in the
ranks of corporate executives and judicial leaders.
Only when women wield power in sufficient
numbers will we create a society that genuinely
works for all women. That will be a society that
works for everyone.
(http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/201
2/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/) .
CONCLUSION

Sociology needs a new gender story to
counter-balance the old gender story
in order to avoid what a Nigerian
young female novelist, Chimamanda
Adichie , calls the “Danger of a Single
Story”
(http://www.ted.com/talks/chimaman
da_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_st
ory.html
APPENDIX
1. Sample Final Exam Questions
2. Diagrams
A SAMPLE FINAL EXAM QUESTION

1. A New Yorker cartoon depicts the
important distinction between “sex” and
“gender”, and remarks that “Sex brought us
together, but gender draws us apart”. To
what extent do you agree with this
perception of the difference between sex and
gender? What do you suggest to bridge the
stated gap and why? Relate your answers to
the sociological perspective of sex and
gender, linking this perspective to the
functionalist and feminist paradigms.
A SAMPLE FINAL EXAM QUESTION

2. There has been, and there is, unequal
distribution of wealth, power, prestige and
privilege between the genderized sexes. The
conclusion is that girls and women in most
parts of the world have fewer of their
society's valued resources than boys and
men. What program(s) and strategy(ies)
would you propose to change this pattern of
inequality in the global community and why?
Relate your answer to the concepts of social
stratification, sex, and gender. What would be
the responses of functionalist, social conflict, feminist,
and interactionist paradigms to your answer?
SOCIOBIOLOGICAL PARADIGM
OF GENDER
NATURAL
&
INEVITABLE
1. More intelligent
2. Superior visual and
spatial abilities
3. Mathematical
4. Aggressive; violent
XY
MALE
BOY/MAN
XX
FEMALE
GIRL/WOMAN
1. Maternal
Instinct
2. Intuitive
3. Tricky
4. Nurturant
5. Moral
FUNCTIONALIST
PARADIGM OF GENDER
SOCIAL CONFLICT PARADIGM
AND GENDER
EXPLOITATION & EXCLUSION
COMPETITION FOR SCARCE
RESOURCES
CONFLICT & CHANGE
INTERACTIONIST
PARADIGM AND GENDER
DEFINITION OF
SEX DIFERENCES &
LABELLING
SYMBOLIC/SOCIAL
INTERACTION
MALE/
BOY/MAN
FEMALE/
GIRL/WOMAN
GENDER DIFFERENCES,
IMAGES &
IDENTITIES