1. Gender Inequality Chapter 10 Anthony Giddens Mitchell Duneier
Richard P. Appelbaum

2. Gender Differences: Nature versus Nurture
What Is the Difference Between Sex and
Gender?
Sex indicates physical differences between men and women
Gender concerns cultural and psychological differences

3. Gender Differences: Nature versus Nurture
How Are Men and Women Different?
Are men and women biologically different or are dissimalirities socially constructed?
Animal behavior arguments are usually ambiguous
Variety of human societies show no conclusive evidence that gender is biological
Biological roles provide means of defining social roles

4. Gender Differences: Nature versus Nature
What Is Gender Socialization?
Learning of gender roles through social agents
Boys and girls are treated differently by parents from birth
Behavior interpreted based on parent’s expectations

5. Forms of Gender Inequality
What Is Patriarchy?
Male dominance in society is patriarchy
Few known societies that are not patriarchal
Degree of inequality between sexes varies across cultures
Women in the United States have made considerable progress but are still unequal in many ways

6. Fig. 10.1

7. Forms of Gender Inequality
Women and the Workplace
Women’s participation in workforce has risen
steadily
Especially among married women and in expanding areas of the economy
Until recently, women were overwhelmingly concentrated in routine, poorly paid occupations
Since the 1970s, women have made inroads into “men’s jobs” but are still unequal in many ways

8. Table 10.1

9. Fig. 10.2

10. Forms of Gender Inequality
The Gender Pay Gap
The “gender gap” in pay is widely recognized
Many sociologists view gender typing, or sex segregation, as a cause of the gender gap in earnings
Jobs pay less if they contain a higher proportion of females
Equal Pay Act requires employers to pay equally for the same job, doesn’t account for gender typing

11. Fig. 10.3

12. Forms of Gender Inequality
The Family and Gender Issues
Male perception is that for women work comes second to having children
Women still do majority of housework as well as having a career
Household obligations are like a “second shift”

13. Forms of Gender Inequality
Education and Unequal Treatment in the
Classroom
Schools foster gender differences in outlook and behavior
Dress codes encourage sex typing
Texts contain established gender images
Teachers treat girls and boys differently
Long history of specialized subjects for separate sexes

14. Forms of Gender Inequality
Violence Against Women
Violence by men against women occurs in many societies
Rape, sexual harassment, and spousal abuse
Some scholars argue that men are socialized to see women as sex objects and to feel sense of entitlement to women

15. Fig. 10.4

16. Gender Inequality in Global Perspective
Women and Work
Women worldwide work in lowest-wage jobs and make less than men doing similar work
Wage gap slowly decreasing in industrialized countries
In developing countries women experience exploitative working conditions
But jobs sometimes bring increased economic independence and greater social status

17. Gender Inequality in Global Perspective
Political Inequality
Women do not share same political power as men
Only make up 17 percent of national legislatures throughout the world
But since World War II, thirty-eight countries have been headed by women
The United States is about average among countries in terms of women’s representation in the national legislature but has never had a woman president

18. Gender Inequality in Global Perspective
Gender Inequality Across the Globe
Gender is one of the most important dimensions of inequality, though it was neglected in studies of stratification for a long time
Few societies where women have more wealth and status than men
Significant variations in value of women’s and men’s roles
Links among gender inequality, race, and class

19. Table 10.2

20. Analyzing Gender Inequality
Functionalist Approaches
Emphasize that gender differences and sexual division of labor contribute to social stability and integration
Women and men perform tasks for which they are biologically best suited
Division of labor ensures solidarity of family
Mother is crucial to socialization

21. Analyzing Gender Inequality
Feminist Approaches
Liberal feminists explain gender differences in terms of social and cultural attitudes
Sexism and discrimination
Radical feminists argue men are responsible for exploitation of women through patriarchy

22. Analyzing Gender Inequality
Feminist Approaches (cont)
Black feminists identify factors in addition to gender as essential for understanding oppression experienced by nonwhite women
Class and ethnicity
Postmodern feminists challenge the idea that all women share identity and experience

23. Why Gender Inequality Matters
Beijing Women’s Conference
When cultural traditions conflict with women’s rights, women’s rights should take precedence
Globalization is expected to enhance women’s roles in economics and politics
Resulting in greater gender equality worldwide

24. Review Questions
1. The process of internalizing the social norms and expectations that correspond with one’s sex through social agents such as the family, peers, and the media is called ________.
the social construction of gender
gender socialization
gender reductionism
gender typing
Answer: B
Reference: Gender Differences: Nature versus Nurture
Type: Vocabulary

25. Review Questions
2. With regard to work, gender typing refers to _________.
the use of discriminatory hiring practices
the way certain jobs and even fields come to be seen as either masculine or feminine and then become dominated by one gender or the other
how certain management techniques get labeled as “male” or “female”
how men and women are not rewarded equally for similar workplace achievements
Answer: B
Reference: Forms of Gender Inequality
Type: Vocabulary

26. Review Questions
3. Why has legislation such as the 1963 Equal Pay Act failed to make much of an impact on the gender pay gap?
The legislation set out many guidelines but did not include any strong measures for enforcing the guidelines.
It doesn’t acknowledge all the unpaid work done by women in the home.
It focuses much more on white-collar positions, which are dominated by men, than lower-level jobs, which are dominated by women.
It doesn’t address pay discrepancies between male-dominated and female-dominated professions.
Answer: D
Reference: Forms of Gender Inequality
Type: Conceptual

27. Review Questions
4. As women have almost gained parity with men in terms of their presence in the workforce, what changes have occurred in how responsibility for domestic tasks is divided up between men and women who live together?
Little has changed—working women spend a significantly greater amount of time on housework per week than their male partners.
More and more, men are shouldering an equal part of the burden for everyday chores such as doing the laundry, cooking, and cleaning.
Men and women generally share responsibility for domestic tasks, divvying them up according to personal preference and scheduling issues.
The notion that men are expected to be providers and women to be caretakers is fading away.
Answer: A
Reference: Forms of Gender Inequality
Type: Factual

28. Review Questions
5. Which of the following statements about gender and education is true?
Female students interact more with their teachers than male students do.
Teachers are more likely to engage male students in the problem-solving process.
Male students are more likely to be reprimanded for talking out of turn in class than female students.
Teachers are more likely to try to draw out quiet female students than quiet male students.
Answer: B
Reference: Forms of Gender Inequality
Type: Factual

29. Review Questions
6. Which of the following statements about gender and education is true?
Men are taught that women often resist initial sexual advances as a way to protect their reputation and honor, even when what they really want is for a man to continue to insist so that they can give in.
Men are taught that having sex is a physical need that must be met and that women don’t have the same kind of need so sometimes women aren’t as “into it” but will have sex anyway.
Men are socialized to think that women exist for their pleasure, an attitude that may encourage men to seek many sexual encounters and may limit their sensitivity to women’s feelings and desires about what happens in such encounters.
Men are more likely than women to be drunk during a sexual encounter, which can greatly affect their ability to assess what is going on and what a woman wants or doesn’t want.
Answer: C
Reference: Forms of Gender Inequality
Type: Conceptual

30. Review Questions
7. Which of the following statements would most likely be associated with a black feminist?
There is no single grand theory that can explain the oppression of women.
Men systematically dominate women.
It is important for women to have legal recourse to protect their rights.
All women are not oppressed in the same way.
Answer: D
Reference: Analyzing Gender Inequality
Type: Conceptual