Gender Stratification and Ethnic Stratification By: Nhung Ho, Tiffany Tang, and Truong Nguyen

Gender Stratification

 Gender stratification: Inequality of status between males and females  Gender stereotypes: preconceived ideas/guidelines on how to act (based on gender)  Role in society  Cultural concept—not biological  Therefore, gender stratification = culturally defined  Gender stratification—similar to social stratification  In equality in terms of access to:  Power  Wealth  Prestige What is it?

Inequality between gender  Anthropologists measure the overall status of women in any cultural group through :  The social and political position they hold  Economic importance  Cultural value attached to their work  How much they have to put off for the males in their lives  The control they have over their own bodies  HOWEVER is not fully accurate because religion, politics, economic systems and social factors come into play

Why do all groups have gender inequality to some degree?  Two factors  Economy  Welfare  Economy:  May be primary factor—through control of production strategies and resources  Welfare  Men who are regularly involved in welfare ex. Yanomami, bring aggression home and women tend to defer them  HOWEVER women tend to have higher status when men are gone for long periods of time (war) ex. the Iroquois 18 th

Why are men mostly always in control?  Answer: division of labour  Women tend to spend most of their time:  Taking care of children  Completing domestic duties  Men tend to spend most of their time doing jobs outside the home  These apply to earlier times in westerns society (not as much modern)  Also doesn’t fit with a hunter and gatherer lifestyle

Purdah  women are observing the ancient custom of purdah, or female seclusion, that requires women, past the age of puberty to wear a concealing chador outside the privacy of their homes  opinions on modern dressing varies significantly among the Qur’an’s  Some examples include:  women in Pakistan who are commonly dressed in comfortable clothing when they leave their homes  Saudi Arabian women are expected to cover up their entire body in face veils and body cloaks

 Under the rules of purdah, women must keep their distance from men to maintain their modesty  Women who broke purdah risked punishment such as a nose cut off, or even execution by their husbands  Westerners generally view purdah as a symbol of Middle Eastern patriarchy, female oppression and male supremacy  However, women still choose to wear their traditional clothing even after immigrating to North America

 Westerners generally view purdah as a symbol of Middle Eastern patriarchy, female oppression and male supremacy  However, women still choose to wear their traditional clothing even after immigrating to North America  But, Muslim women in Canada have constantly been fighting for the right to wear their traditional attire

Ethnic Stratification

Ethnicity  Definition: A groups of people who share a common identity, history, and territory of origin.  May exhibit distinctive language, dress, cuisine, and religious practices.  Race is based on fallacious reasoning, while ethnicity is reliable  Ethnicity changes with circumstance (ex. Immigration) and not completely homogeneous

Pluralistic Society  Definition: a situation in which people of different social classes, religions, races, etc., are together in a society but continue to have their different traditions and interests (ex. Canada)  Ideally, immigrants are free to retain their culture while also benefiting from becoming a member of their new country's society  But one must conform or risk being considered an outsider/non-assimilable  Difficulty due to being “visible” minorities

History of Canadian Immigration  is filled with Intolerance and Discrimination  Initially just 2 ethnic groups (French and English)  Later waves brought in immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America  Most groups experienced unequal opportunities, discrimination, exploitation (ex. Ukrainian Immigration)

Ukrainian Immigration  Were unwanted when they were first immigrating to Canada  Ukrainians were paid lower wages, worked in horrible and dangerous conditions  Deemed “enemy aliens” in WWI  6000 Ukrainians in internment Camps ( )  Precedent for 1941 Japanese internment

Ethnicity serves as a metaphor for class distinctions  Ex. African State of Rwanda: Belgian colonial authorities mistook class distinctions as ethnic differences  Magnification of differences destroyed the country  Proclaim their “superior status” and attempt to convert it into respect from lower status groups  Laura Nader: “Systems of thought develop over time and reflect the interests of certain classes or groups in the society who manage to universalize their beliefs and values”  Hope that those with lower status will “know their place” and not challenge the domination of the elite

The End!