1. Chapter 4 Gender Inequality

2. What is Gender?
Gender: the meaning a society attaches to being male or female
Sex: the biological distinction between females and males

3. Gender Stratification and Patriarchy
Gender is an important dimension of social inequality.
Gender stratification frequently takes the form of patriarchy (social patterns by which males dominate females)
Patriarchy is widely evident in the U.S. and around the world
Sociologists see patriarchy - and the entire range of gender - as the creation of society itself

4. Gender Stratification and Patriarchy
Gender stereotypes rigidly divide humanity by constructing femininity and masculinity in opposing terms.
Critics conclude that gender stereotypes overlook the fact that people are much more complex than stereotypes allow for.

5. The Problem of Sexism
Sexism is the assertion that one sex is innately superior or inferior to the other
Sexism supports patriarchy by claiming that men are “better” than women and therefore should dominate them.

6. Gender and the Family
The importance of gender to family life begins with the fact that most expectant parents prefer a son to a daughter.
The influence continues in the childhood socialization process.
After reaching adulthood, gender makes marriage two distinctive relationships
Jesse Bernard’s “his” marriage and “her” marriage

7. Gender and Education
Even before starting school, children are exposed to gender bias in children’s books.
By 2000, 57.3% of college students were women
social pressures still steer women toward majors in English, dance, drama, or gender issues
men still are directed toward physics, economics, math, computer science, and engineering

8. Gender and Education
Research indicates that the social aspects of campus life discourages the career aspirations of many women
Despite the passage of Title IX in 1972, equality in athletic programs is more the exception than the rule

9. Gender and the Mass Media
By 2000, there were more than 200 million televisions in the United States
TV directs its advertising toward women but ignores them in TV programming
While gender biases in advertising is more subtle than in programming, it’s still very much in evidence

10. Gender and Religion Religion has traditionally been patriarchal
In recent decades, more liberal denominations have moved toward greater gender equality
This liberal trend includes revising prayers, hymnals, and even the Bible to reduce sexist language, as well as ordaining both men and women as priests
Orthodox Judaism, Islam, and Roman Catholicism have retained traditional male leadership

11. Gender and Politics
Women have played only a marginal role in this nation’s political history
Thousands of women now serve at the local levels as mayors and council members
In 2001, 59 of 435 members of the House of Representatives and 13 of 100 Senators were women

12. Gender and Work
By 2000, 60 percent of the adult labor force that worked full-time were women
This increase has been due in part to a reduction in the time spent doing housework and the drop in average number of children born compared to a century ago

13. Gender and Work
Even though more women work for pay, their range of jobs is still limited
Gender discrimination was outlawed by the Federal Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but even today, it continues to be an issue

14. Gender Stratification
Inequality between men and women is reflected in differences in income and in responsibility for housework, as well as in patterns of violence and even reproductive issues
Gender income inequality is the result of men holding different kinds of jobs, family life, and gender discrimination

15. Violence Against Women
Perhaps the most serious problem linked to patriarchy is men’s physical violence against women
Assault, rape, and murder are common
Why is violence a gender issue?
Physical aggressiveness is a key element of the cultural definition of masculinity.
Gender violence is not so much sexual as an expressions of power
When it comes to serious violence, the most dangerous setting for women is the home

16. Sexual Harassment
Sexual Harassment:comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature that are deliberate, repeated, and unwelcome
Sexual harassment that is blatant and direct is a violation of civil rights
Other forms involve more subtle behavior
they are still wrong if they create a hostile environment

17. Sexuality, Beauty and Reproduction
Men define women in sexual terms to gain power over them
Social norms encourage females to wear attractive clothes and to be attentive to men
Women’s reproduction has been regulated
regulation of birth control
restricted access to abortion clinics

18. Women: A Majority-Minority
Numerically, women are a slight majority of the U.S. population
Women meet the test of being both a physically distinctive and disadvantaged category
women have less income, wealth, and power than men

19. Minority Women Minority women are doubly disadvantaged
They earn less than white women
Minority women earn less than minority men
In 2000, African American women earned 64 percent as much as white men and Hispanic women earned 51 percent as much

20. Structural-functional analysis: Gender and Complimentarity
Functionalists contend that differences between men and women help build families and integrate society as a whole
The structural-functional analysis of gender was quite influential twenty-five years ago but is far less today

21. Structural-functional analysis: Gender and Complementarity
Critics contend that:
functionalism ignores how men and women can and do relate to one another in a variety of ways that do not fit any norm
functionalism fails to take into account the personal strains and social conflicts produced by rigid gender patterns

22. Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Gender in Everyday Life
The symbolic-interaction paradigm provides a micro-level analysis of gender at work in the everyday lives of individual people
Gender directly affects personal behavior, the use of space, and the language we use
Critics point out that symbolic-interaction overlooks the fact that gender is a basic part of social organization

23. Social-Conflict Analysis: Gender and Inequality
Friedrich Engels expanded Marx’s theory to include gender, arguing that the same process that allows a ruling class to dominate a worker places men in a dominant position over women
patriarchy is a system by which wealthy men transmit their wealth to their sons.
the double problem of capitalism lies in exploiting men in the factories and exploiting women in the home

24. Social-Conflict Analysis: Gender and Inequality
Critics of this perspective point out that conflict theorists minimize the extent to which women and men live together cooperatively and in many cases quite happily.

25. Feminism
Feminism:
the study of gender with the goal of changing society to make women and men equal
involves both theory and action

26. Feminist Foundations
There is no one version of feminism but almost all feminists agree on:
the importance of gender;
the importance of change;
the importance of personal choice;
the need to eliminate patriarchy;
the need to eliminate violence; and
the importance of sexual autonomy

27. Types of Feminism Types of feminists:
liberal feminists - want women and men to be treated as individuals but want change to occur within existing social institutions
socialist feminists -claim that a Marxist-style class revolution is needed to secure equality for all people
radical feminists -argue that patriarchy is built into the concept of gender itself and nothing short of erasing gender will bring about equality

28. Politics and Gender: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions
Conservatives focus on the value of families
While most conservatives are willing to support women in the workplace and even in positions of national leadership, most also support policies to strengthen families

29. Politics and Gender: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions
Liberals contend that patriarchy is alive and well in the U.S. and is a serious social problem
Liberals seek government support for the kinds of families that exist today.
They support affirmative action and comparable worth policies

30. Politics and Gender: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions
Radicals argue that, at a minimum, basic change must come to the economic and political system
Some radical feminists promote the elimination of gender itself