The Core8e

1. Sociology The Core8e Michael Hughes Carolyn J. Kroehler

2. chapter 8 Gender Inequality • Gender Stratification • Sources of Gender Differences • Sociological Perspectives on Gender Stratification Chapter Outline reserved.

3. Definition of Terms Sex – whether one is genetically male or female; determines role in reproduction Gender – sociological distinction between males and females Gender identity – one’s self-concept of being male or female Gender roles – sets of cultural expectations about the behavior each sex should exhibit reserved.

4. Gender Stratification Sexism • Individual level – the belief that one sex is superior to the other • Inherent biological differences mean that men and women naturally have different roles • These roles are the primary cause of differential distribution of power, status, and income • Institutional level – policies, procedures, and practices that produce unequal outcomes for men and women reserved.

5. Gender Stratification Are women a minority group? From Chapter 7: Five properties of a minority group • Experiences discrimination from a dominant group and lacks power to change the situation • Distinguishing physical or cultural traits • Self-conscious social group; sense of group identity • Generally not voluntary • Typically endogamous reserved.

6. Gender Stratification Patriarchy • A system of social organization in which men have a disproportionate share of power • Lorber: early societies were egalitarian • Davis-Kimball: archaeological evidence of female military and social power reserved.

7. Gender Stratification World Gender Inequality • U.S. State Department Annual Human Rights Report (2006) – 196 nations • Sex trade and forced labor (e.g., Ghana) • M. East and N. Africa – honor killings • Underage prostitution • Sex-selective breeding • Female circumcision • Literacy and education reserved.

8. Gender Stratification Source: Figure generated by the authors using data for the lower, or single, House of each country; data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s website, www.ipu.org. Women Legislators around the World reserved.

9. Gender Stratification U.S. Gender Inequality • Today, marriage and family have become less of an organizing force in the lives of contemporary women • Families today likely to delay childbearing • U.S. women’s labor-force participation: 59.2% (2004) • More than 60% of women with children under the age of one are employed reserved.

10. Gender Stratification Women’s Labor-Force Participation Rates for Selected Countries reserved.

11. Gender Stratification Source: U.S. Census Bureau, March Current Population Surveys, available at: http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/p36ar.html. Disparities in Earnings Remain Significant reserved.

12. Gender Stratification Source: Calculated by the authors from data in Bureau of Labor Statistics news release, “Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: Third Quarter 2003,” available at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/wkyeng_10172003.pdf. Disparities in Earnings Remain Significant (continued) reserved.

13. Gender Stratification Disparities in Earnings Remain Significant (continued) Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2005 Annual Social and Economic Supplement, available at: http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032005/perinc/new03_000.htm. reserved.

14. Gender Stratification U.S. Gender Inequality • The Glass Ceiling • Number of women top executives and board directors increased over the years, but positions at the top still elude women executives • Disparities in Pay • Women earn less than men reserved.

15. Gender Stratification • The Second Shift • The burden of housework falls disproportionately on women, working or not • Career Patterns: Out of Sync with Family Life • Women who have children encounter substantial career disadvantages • Equal opportunity for women in public sphere remains substantially frustrated by gender-role differentiation within the family reserved.

16. Gender Stratification • Sexual Harassment and Rape • Sexual harassment remains common workplace hazard • Rape is the most violent form of sexual victimization • Culture and gender inequality influence the prevalence of rape and sexual aggression reserved.

17. Gender Stratification • Politics and Government • Number of women in politics in U.S. increased in recent years • Still difficult • Low “supply” of candidates • Low “demand” for female candidates • Ideology affects women’s political representation • The Women’s Movement • Substantial impact on way Americans think and act; legal and social equality reserved.

18. Gender Stratification • Persistence and Change • Opportunities for women changed dramatically over the past several decades • Women are still significantly disadvantaged • As more women reach positions of economic, political, and social power, changes may occur at more rapid pace reserved.

19. Sources of Gender Differences • Gender and Biology • Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) • Beginning about age 11, girls show greater verbal ability than boys • Boys are superior to girls on visual-spatial tasks in adolescence and adulthood • At about age 12 to 13, boys move ahead in mathematical ability • Males are more aggressive • Hyde (2005) – picture not that simple reserved.

20. Sources of Gender Differences • Gender and Culture • All are born into societies with well-established cultural guidelines for behavior of men and women • Great variation in gender roles from one society to another • Gender roles largely a matter of social definition and socially constructed messages reserved.

21. Sources of Gender Differences • Gender Identities • Freudian Explanations • Gender identity result of Oedipal conflict that emerges between 3 and 6 • Largely discredited by empirical research • Cultural Transmission Theory • Acquisition of gender identities and behaviors is gradual process of learning that begins in infancy • Children given cues to their gender roles reserved.

22. Sources of Gender Differences • Cognitive Development Theory • Children label themselves “boys” or “girls” between 18 months and 3 years of age • Use stereotyped images to organize behavior and cultivate gender-based attitudes and actions • Self-Construals and Gender • Independent self-construal model describes men better than it does women in U.S. • Interdependent self-construal model describes U.S. women best reserved.

23. Sociological Perspectives on Gender Stratification The Functionalist Perspective • Gender division of labor retained because it promoted the survival of the species • Critics say this view becomes powerful justification for the existence of gender inequality reserved.

24. Sociological Perspectives on Gender Stratification The Conflict Perspective • Gender inequality benefits men, so they attempt to perpetuate it • Exploitation of labor • Availability of sexual gratification • Availability of tools for procreation • Acker (1992): production > reproduction reserved.

25. Sociological Perspectives on Gender Stratification The Interactionist Perspective • Gender is socially constructed and internally based • Societal behavior follows internal meanings of gender • Example: linguistic usages of gender terms such as “men”, “he”, “she”, “boys”, and “girls” reserved.

26. Sociological Perspectives on Gender Stratification The Feminist Perspective • Johnson — this patriarchal culture favors instrumental functions over expressive ones • Ferree and Hall — grouping process is socially costly repression of individual variation and potential • Ridgeway and Smith-Lovin – Everyday interactions recreate the gender system reserved.