Gender Inequality
Announcements • 1.Evaluations • 2. Quiz # 5 (Wednesday, December 3) • 3. Quiz # 6 is cancelled
Announcements
Announcements • Final Exam will be posted online on Friday • Due date for the Final exam is Monday (December, 8) • Review session on Friday?
Gender inequality • Gender inequality is the unequal and biased treatment between the two sexes in terms of wealth, income, and status
Gender roles • Gender is continuously created and re-created by all the social actions we perform daily • “Doing gender“ • Socially prescribed roles
Submissive Emotional Receptive Intuitive Passionate Caring Sensitive Cooperative Timid Weak Dominant Independent Rational Assertive Analytical Strong Brave Ambitious Active Competitive Gender Identity Traits
Gender as Master Status • Gender guides: • How females/males think about themselves • How they interact with others • What positions they occupy in society • Gender creates inequality
Of those who go to college how many receive a bachelor’s degree within 5 years?
Doctorates in Science, by Sex (Statistical Abstract, 2002)
Gender Differences in Professional Degrees
Expected Income
Expected income
Wage discrimination • Wage discrimination means that one group of people is paid less than another group of people when other characteristics of the group are the same • In the gendered case of wage discrimination, women are paid less as a group than men as a group are paid
Gender inequality circle • Jobs labeled "women's jobs" are not seen as avenues for advancement • Women response to such jobs by low commitment, few career ambitions • All that contributes to the view of women as suitable only for low-level jobs.
Pink-Collar Occupations • Pink-collar occupations-those that are predominantly female. • clerical workers, • retail sales workers, • sewers, • waitresses, • private household workers, • nurses, • and non-college teachers. • Women make up more than 70 percent of retail salespersons and of non-college teachers
Gender inequality • Despite more women moving into higher-ranking positions, pay between the sexes remains unequal
Inequality • There is also inequality between men and women in the opportunity for advancement in professions • Many professional women hit the glass ceiling, which prevents them from achieving upward mobility within an organization • Men in traditionally female jobs such as teaching find themselves riding the glass escalator to the top of the corporate ladder
Some of the facts • U.S. women do most of the household work and childrearing • Sexual harassment remains a common workplace hazard for women • Men still dominate U.S. political life
Why do gender inequalities exist? • Some argue that differences in human biology • Women have children • Less time for career
Functionalist approaches (Talcott Parsons) • Society as a system of interdependent parts • Family operates most efficiently with a clear- cut sexual division of labor • Females act in expressive roles • Males act in instrumental roles
Gender Roles (functionalism) • Expressive roles--providing care and security to children, offering children emotional support • Instrumental roles--being a breadwinner in the family • These two complement each other • Balance
The Conflict Perspective • Relationship between females and males has been one of unequal power • Men have dominant position over women • Preindustrial time: size, physical strength, freedom of childbearing duties made men more powerful
The Conflict Perspective • Contemporary society: physical strength is not important • Gender roles assign different qualities and behaviors • Similarity with Marx • Males are like bourgeoisie (control most of the society’s wealth, prestige, and power) • Females are like
The Interactionist Perspective • Interactionists argue that gender inequality persists because of the way we define men and women and their appropriate roles in society • Language helps perpetuate inequality
