1. WOMEN: THE OPPRESSED MAJORITY
CHAPTER 15
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2. Women and Minority Status
Subordinate status means confinement to subordinate roles not justified by a person’s abilities
Biological differences between males and females
Must separate differences of gender from those produced by sexism
Feminist movement has a long history
Child care and housework still disproportionately responsibilities of women
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3. Men and women find it difficult to conceptualize women as a subordinate group
Not all women live in ghettos
No longer attend inferior schools
Freely interact and live with their allege oppressors – men
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4. Five properties of a subordinate or minority group
1. Women experience unequal treatment
2. Women have physical and cultural characteristics that distinguish them from the dominant group – men
3. Membership in the subordinate group is involuntary
4. Women are aware of their subordinate status and have a sense of solidarity
5. Women are not forced to marry, yet many feel subordinate status defined within marriage
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5. Sexism Androgyny The ideology that one sex is superior to the other
The view that there are few differences between the sexes
Permits people to see that humans can be both aggressive and expressive depending on the situation
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6. Gender Roles Gender Roles
Society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females
Socialization has powerful impact on development of females and males in US
Origin of gender roles are not clear
Animal studies and gender
Cross-cultural studies and gender
Acceptable behavior for men and women change over time in a society
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7. Sociological Perspective
Gender differences maintained in our culture through systematic socialization
Gender differentiation in US culture embedded in social institutions
Family, education, religion, politics, economy, medicine, and mass media
Functionalist
Sex differentiation contributes to overall social stability
Persuasive in explaining the way men and women are brought up is US society
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8. Functionalists and conflict theorists
Conflict Theory
Relationship between females and males is one of unequal power with men being dominant over women
Functionalists and conflict theorists
Acknowledge it is not possible to change gender roles drastically without dramatic revisions in a culture’s social structure
Functionalists see potential social disorder or unknown social consequences
Conflict theorists contend no social structure is desirable if maintained through oppression
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9. The Feminist Movement
Women activists and sympathetic men who spoke of equal rights were ridiculed and scorned
Emerged during the early part of the nineteenth century
Evolved out of the oppression of women and children within the colonial family and society
Role of women in the abolitionist movement and its influence on the development of the women’s movement
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10. Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1919)
The Suffrage Movement
Suffragists
Worked for years to get women the right to vote
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Seneca Falls women’s rights convention of 1848
Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1919)
Remarkable achievement because it had to rely on male legislators to do so
Movement faded and regained prominence in the 1960’s
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11. The Women’s Liberation Movement
Role of the civil rights movement and the re-emergence of feminism
Several events delayed progress in 1960’s
Civil rights movement and the antiwar movement slow to embrace women’s rights
New Left as sexist as the rest of society in practice despite talk of equality
Protest groups rejected women leaders
Eventually civil rights movement, New Left, and established women groups endorsed feminist movement
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12. Feminist movement underwent significant change Betty Friedan
Founder of National Organization for Women (NOW)
Feminine Mystique
Recognizing that society saw women only as their children’s mother and their husband’s wife
Called for restructuring the “institution of home and wife”
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13. The Economic Picture Occupational segregation of women
Women are concentrated in low paying occupations
Increase in female labor force participation over the last century
Sexism in employment
Bureau of Labor Statistics segregation index
54% of women and men workers would need to switch jobs to create a labor force without segregation
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14. Occupational Segregation and Discrimination
Occupational segregation by gender continues, but women have increased participation in labor force
Women earnings have increased significantly over the last quarter century
From 62 cents to 80 cents for every dollar earned by men
Show little further narrowing through 2012
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15. Sources of discrimination
Primary cause is segregating influences in the labor market
The social and occupational roles of men and women have become segregated
Ideologically
Physically
Socially
Ideological devaluation of the occupational roles of women
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16. Efforts to eliminate discrimination as it applies to women
1964 Civil Rights Act
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Address cases of sex discrimination
Pay Equity (Comparable worth)
Calls for equal pay for different types of work that are judged to be comparable by measuring:
Knowledge
Skills
Effort
Responsibility
Working conditions
Primary goal of feminists-eliminate sex discrimination in labor force and equalize job opportunities
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17. Glass Ceiling
Refers to the invisible barrier blocking the promotion of a qualified worker because of gender or minority membership
Despite debate over affirmative action, consensus is that there is little room at the top for women and minorities
Mommy Track
An unofficial career track that firms use for women who want to divide their attention between work and family
Can’t be applied to all women
Implies that men are not interested in maintaining balance between work and family
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18. Sexual Harassment
Recognized as any unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances that interfere with a person’s ability to perform a job and enjoy the benefits of a job
Sociocultural theory of sexual harassment
Rooted within patriarchy and male dominance
Takes place where the hierarchy of authority finds White men at the top and in which women’s work is valued less than men’s
African American women 3 times more likely than White women to experience sexual harassment
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19. Power theory of sexual harassment
Rooted within the distribution of power within organizations
Function of the difference in power relations
Conflict Perspective
Women, especially women of color, are most likely to be victims of sexual harassment
These groups typically are an organization’s most vulnerable employees in terms of job security
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20. Feminization of Poverty
Poverty and women
Increase in the number of female headed households
Increase in divorce
Displaced Homemaker
Defined as women whose primary occupation had been homemaking but who did not find full time employment after divorce, separation, or widowhood
Declining alimony and the lack of child support
Lack of family friendly Federal policies
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21. Education Sex-segregated classrooms (structure and tracking by gender)
Discrimination in admissions and financial aid by sex
Increase in the number female faculty on campuses
Equal access to educational resources
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22. Education Act of 1972 and Department of Health, Education, and Welfare guidelines of 1974 and 1975
Collectively called Title IX provisions
Regulations designed to eliminate sexist practices from almost all school systems
Schools must make changes or lose federal assistance
Eliminate all sex-segregated classes and extracurricular activities
Cannot discriminate by sex in admissions or financial aid; cannot inquire if applicant is married, pregnant, or parent
Schools must end sexist hiring and promotion practices among faculty members
Although women do not have to be admitted to play on all-men’s athletic teams, schools must provide more opportunities for women’s sports, intramural and extramural
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23. Family Life US society equates work with wages
Women who do household chores and volunteer work are given little status
Sociologist Susan Walzer (1996)
Mothers are much more involved than fathers in the invisible mental labor associated with taking care of a baby
Media attention (21st century)
Focused on high profile women who choose not to climb the last steps of corporate ladder
“opting out” led to generalization on all women
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24. Seventy-two percent of care givers are women
Psychologist Mary Clare Lennon and Sociologist Sarah Rosenfield (1994)
67% men suggested uneven distribution of housework fair to both spouses
Married women with fewest alternatives and financial prospects most likely to accept unequal household arrangements
Women who view unequal housework as unjust experience more depression
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25. Sociologist Arlie Hochschild
Second Shift
Describes the double burden – work outside the home followed by child care and housework that many women face and few men share equitably
Issue increasingly important as more mothers work outside the home
Mommy Tax
Economic cost of “second shift”
Lower salaries women receive over their lifetime because they have children
Lose job experience
Trade off higher wages for following mommy track
Discriminated against by employers
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26. Abortion Controversial subject affecting family life in US
Roe v. Wade (January 22, 1973)
Applauded by pro-choice groups and condemned by pro-life
Social class issues and abortion
Abortion issue centers on the distribution of power and the (control) over the roles and rights of men and women in society
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27. In terms of social class, right to terminate pregnancy affected poor people
1976 Hyde Amendment
Banned use of Medicaid and other federal funds for abortion
Another obstacle – access to abortion providers
Fewer hospitals allowing doctors to perform abortions except in extreme cases
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28. Political Activity Women constitute 53% of the voting population
Under-represented in National political offices
More representation on Local and State level
Lack of representatives is a function of a number of factors.
1. Fewer women in business and law– the grooming ground for a political career.
2. Fewer women in political organizations and decision making.
3. Some women may feel that a political career may interfere with family responsibilities.
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29. Matrix of Domination: Minority Women
African American Feminist Patricia Hill Collins (1990)
Matrix of Domination
Whites dominate non-Whites; men dominate women; and the affluent dominate the poor
Gender, race, and social class not only systems of oppression
Profoundly affect women and people of color in US
Double Jeopardy: Minority Women
Subordinate status twice
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30. QUESTIONS
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31. How is women’s subordinate position different from that of oppressed racial and ethnic groups? How is it similar?
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32. Explain the “Double-Jeopardy” status of minority women in America
Explain the “Double-Jeopardy” status of minority women in America. How is this explained by the Matrix of Domination?
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33. What are the special challenges facing women of subordinate racial and ethnic groups?
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34. How has the focus of the feminist movement changed from the suffragist movement to the present?
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35. How do the patterns of women in the workplace differ from those of men?
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36. How has the changing role of women in the United States affected the family?
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37. How are men’s and women’s roles defined differently when it comes to such concepts as the mommy track, the second shift, and the displaced homemaker?
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