Chapter 12
Gender Inequality
In Conflict and Order:
Understanding Society, 11th edition
This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are
prohibited by law:
any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;
preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images;
any rental, lease, or lending of the program.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Gender
Sex refers to
the
biological
differences
between
females and
males
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Gender
refers to the
social and
cultural
meaning
attached to
femininity
and
masculinity.
Women and Men are
Differentiated and Ranked
• Gender Stratification
– Refers to the ranking of the sexes in such a
way that women are unequal in resources,
power, and opportunities
• Scientists have competing explanations
for gender differences.
– Sociologists treat gender as a feature of
social structure.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Is Gender Biological or Social?
• Biological Bases for Gender Roles
– Chromosomal and hormonal differences
make females and males physically different.
– Biological differences that do exist between
women and men are only averages.
• Social Bases for Gender Roles
– Every society transforms biological females
and males into socially interacting women
and men.
– Cross-cultural evidence shows a wide
variation for the behaviors of the sexes.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Gender and Power
• Male dominance refers to the beliefs
and placement that value men over
women and that institutionalize male
control of socially valued resources.
• Gender inequality is tied to other
inequalities such as race, class, and
sexuality to sort women and men
differently.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Gender Stratification
from the Order and
Conflict Perspectives
• The Order Perspective
– From the order perspective, biology, history,
and society’s needs combine to separate
men and women into distinctive gender
roles.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Gender Stratification
from the Order and
Conflict Perspectives
• The Conflict Perspective
– According to the conflict view, gender roles
are not neutral ways of meeting societies’
needs but are part of the larger system of
power and domination.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Learning Gender
• Children at home
• Children at play
– Girls and boys are
treated differently
from the moment of
birth.
– One of the
strongest influences
on gender role
development in
children occurs in
the family setting.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
– Children teach
each other to
behave according
to cultural
expectation.
– Toys play a major
part in gender
socialization.
Learning Gender
• In 1972 Congress outlawed sex
discrimination in public schools, however,
research indicates schools shortchange girls
in every dimension of education.
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Curriculum
Textbooks
Teacher-student interactions
Sports
Female Role Models
Counseling
Socialization as Blaming the Victim
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Reinforcing Male Dominance
• Male dominance is both a force that
socializes and a force that structures the
social world.
– Language
– Interpersonal behavior
– Mass communications media
– Religion
– The law
– Politics
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
• Insert Table 12.2 Here
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Structured Gender Inequality
• Today, women make up nearly half the
workforce.
– Gender segregation refers to the pattern whereby
women and men are situated in different jobs
throughout the labor force.
• In 2004, women who worked full-time, yearround earned 77 cents for every dollar men
earned.
• Women of color make up 14% of the private
sector workforce in the U.S.
– They are the most segregated group in the
workforce.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
• Insert Table 12.3 Here
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Structured Gender Inequality
• Since 1980, twenty states have implemented
pay-equity programs that reduced the gender
wage gap.
• Many organizational features block women’s
advancement.
– In the white-collar workforce, the well-documented
phenomenon of women going just so far is called
the glass ceiling.
• Economic globalization is altering gender
relations around the world by bringing women
into the public sphere.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Fighting the System
• Three stages of feminist social
movements
– The first stage grew out of the abolition
movement of the 1830s.
– The second stage gave priority to voting.
– The third stage focused on equality in the
1960s and beyond.
• The women’s movement is not over.
– It is one of the most influential sources of
social change.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007