1. Ch. 13 Gender Stratification

2. Gender stratification
Gender is more than differences in how women and men are expected to behave
Gender is also an important dimension of social stratification
Men have traditionally been and are placed in positions of power over women to this day

3. Definitions
Gender: personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being male or female
Gender Stratification: the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women

4. Gender differences?
We must be careful not to think of social differences in biological terms
Differences in abilities reflect both biology and socialization
Women have a greater life span. Why?
Overall intelligence: no difference.
Differences in physical abilities, but in athletics the gap is smaller today.

5. Marathon times

6. Why are there differences?
Margaret Mead reasoned that if gender is based on biological differences people everywhere should define “feminine” and “masculine” in the same way but found that definitions varied
George Murdoch: Gender is too variable across cultures to be a simple expression of biology
Patriarchy and sexism as explanation

7. Patriarchy, matriarchy, sexism
Patriarchy: a form of social organization in which males dominate females
Matriarchy: a form of social organization in which females dominate males (has never been documented)
Sexism: belief that one sex is innately superior to the other

8. The Cost of Sexism and Stratification
Male privilege comes at a price:
More high risk behaviours
Higher suicide rates, aggression, violence and stress-related diseases
Problems with trust/ intimacy
Masculinity and femininity are social constructions

9. Cost of Sexism (cont.) Women pay the price too:
Fewer opportunities in work force
dominate sales work and service occupations while men dominate senior positions and trades
Lower pay for similar work
Marginalized in sports and media

10. Gender and Socialization
Patriarchy exists through learning of gender roles
Learning gender in the family:
Pink and blue worlds for girls and boys
Girls treated tenderly, boys more roughly
Men independent and women cooperative
Gender and the Mass media:
Men play more interesting characters than women
Ads traditionally show women in domestic roles and men in occupational roles
Men are photographed to appear taller than women and the latter most often lay down in beds or sofas or in the floor

11. Committed relationships
Common stereotypes
Men are/should be
Women are/should be
Masculine
Feminine
Dominant
Submissive
Strong
Weak
Aggressive
Passive
Intelligent
Intuitive
Rational
Emotional
Active
Communicative
Men like
Women like
Cars/technology
Shopping/makeup
Getting drunk
Social drinking
Casual sex
Committed relationships
advertising conveys cultural ideals of each sex
• sometimes in a subtle form
• other times more explicitly
The following opposing lists illustrate how men and women are seen to be different:
MEN are / should be - WOMEN are / should be:
Masculine - feminine
Dominant - submissive
Strong - weak
Aggressive - passive
Intelligent - intuitive
Rational - emotional
active (do things) - communicative (talk about things)
Men and women are also seen to like different things. For example:
MEN like - WOMEN like
cars / technology - shopping / make up
getting drunk - social drinking with friends
casual sex with many partners - committed relationships 12

12. Media influence on roles and occupations
Media has profound influence on how we view men and women and their suitability for important roles and occupations.
Watch: Why are women misrepresented in the media? (from Miss Representation 2011)
Miss Representation trailer (by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “…explores how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in influential positions by circulating limited and often disparaging portrayals of women.”)

13. Occupation and Income
Women and girls accounted for just over half (50.4%) of the total population on July 1, 2014
Recent blurring of the distinctions between men’s work and women’s work
More women are moving into business, finance, sciences, and medicine
Male nurses are now 7 % (recently, 10%) of the total
In education, women hold more than half of under- and postgraduate degrees
But…women still dominate in clerical and service jobs at the low end of the pay scale with limited opportunities for advancement
Read: 'It's either overt or covert hostility': Why only 2 women made list... (CBCNews Jan. 4/2017)

14. Gender Gap in Occupation and Income (see text box p. 320)
Why? Traditional explanations:
Women choose occupations that are poorly paid
Women take time out from jobs to have children
Women are more likely to work part‐time
But…Women still shut out of traditional male occupations ie engineering and if make it in, paid less
Women are less likely to be promoted
Women earn 71-72% of male income (down from 74% in 2009)
Eg: truck drivers (the majority male) paid $45,417 per year, while Early Childhood Educators (majority women) paid $25,252 per year (Oxfam Canada report 2016)

15. The Second Shift: Housework
Taking care of the home and children has always been considered “women’s work”
Today women work full-time, and also do most of the housework and child care
Men do more in the home, but in Canada, women still do approx. twice as much work
Women also pay more for similar products and services (“pink tax” and gender gouging)
Read: Women's wage gap getting wider in Canada, new report says (CBC News Mar. 7, 2016)

16. Where do we stand globally?
Global Gender Gap Report 2016 (WEF)
Calculated on disparities in economic, political, educational and health criteria for each country between genders
In 2016, Canada ranked 35th
US was 45th
Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Rwanda ranked 1st to 5th respectively
Check out the Global Gender Map

17. Does height make a difference?
Humans are getting taller: last 150 years the average height of people in industrialized nations has increased approximately 10 cm.
Better childhood nutrition not natural selection.
Underfeeding during childhood affects stature and other traits like intelligence
Class differences in height well documented.
But…Dutch study: Dutch have gained 20 cm. over last 150 years
Researchers found taller Dutch men = more children.

18. Height….
Tall Dutch men higher incomes, better health, higher ratings from potential sex partners.
However, for Dutch women, those with average height have more children.
In U.S. height for men correlated with higher income, occupational advantage, even being elected as president, but not more children
But data also show Americans on average are getting shorter – researchers blame poorer nutrition and greater inequality

19. Global Height…

20. Height and Gender Inequality
Not as much historical data for women on height.
Canada: women generally getting taller, but not as fast as northern European women where gender equality higher
Canada ranks behind European countries in terms of gender equality (Global Gender Gap, 2016)
Gender schemas skew perceptions and evaluations of men and women and affect judgments of competence, ability and worth
College students judged women as shorter than they really were, and men as taller when they were identical in height (Valian in Wadley, 2003)
How does this impact gender stratification?
Do we judge worth and ability based on height?

21. Women in Politics: Party Standings in House of Commons 2017

22. Senate, Supreme Court and Provincial Premiers
Senate: 43% women
Supreme Court: 3/9 or 33% women
Two provinces have female premiers in 2017
Ontario Kathleen Wynne
BC Christy Clark
Equal Voice says “there is still stereotyping of women’s role and abilities; media imbalances in the treatment of women politicians; and a rampant sexist perception of women’s conduct and behaviour”

23. Women as a minority group
Minority: People distinguished by physical or cultural difference that a society sets apart and subordinates
At every class level, women typically have less income, wealth, and power
Patriarchy makes women dependent on men for their social standing

24. Intersection theory
Interplay of race, class, and gender resulting in multiple dimensions of disadvantage
Especially true for disadvantages linked to race and gender
Aboriginal women earn less than other Canadians

25. Gender and violence: The dangerous ways ads see women (2014)
Jean Kilbourne, activist and cultural theorist discusses images of women and men in advertising and illustrates how these images affect us as well as the implications for inequality and violence in our culture.
Watch her 2014 TedX talk at Lafayette College in the U.S….

26. Theoretical perspectives on gender
Structural functionalism: Gender functions to organize social life
i.e. Talcott Parsons instrumental vs expressive traits learned in family
Conflict theory: Capitalism and private property led to male domination (Engels)
Symbolic interactionism:
Sex roles define the way a society expects women and men to think and behave

27. Feminism Social equality for men and women
Increase equality
Expand human choice
Eliminate gender stratification
End sexual violence
Promote sexual freedom
Types of feminism: liberal, socialist, radical, cultural and postmodern