Lecture Notes for Oct 28, 2008

Gender Inequality Sex: biological differences. Gender: Social and cultural differences attached to femininity and masculinity. Gender stratification: Unequal social ranking based on sex. Biological bases for gender roles: ? Average of biological differences between males and females ? More within-group differences than between-group differences ? Gender differences vary by culture when every society uses gender and age grades. Social bases for gender roles: ? Gendered institutions: organizations and activities of institutions are patterned by gender ? Patriarchy: male-dominant social organization ? Compulsory heterosexuality: negative sanctions on homosexuals or bisexuals What causes gender inequality? ? Gender roles approach: ? Gender roles socialization ? Early childhood development: ? Children's picture books ? Parenting ? Parent modeling for gender roles ? Children at play, gender-specific toys: gender roles by learning varies by culture ? Formal education: "The boy crisis" biases in curriculum, textbooks, teacher-student interactions, and sports in favor of males; lack of female role models; gender-biased counseling services ? Socializing as blaming the victim ? Gender structure approach ? Reinforcing male dominance ? Language: "he," "mankind" ? Interpersonal behavior: "doing gender" is an automatic practice on a daily basis, and women play active roles in it ? Mass communication media: more male role models and more male characters displayed in prime time. ? Religion: male-dominant ideology; women clergy occupy less prestigious positions. ? The law: ? 1963 Equal Pay Act ? Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act ? The 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act ? 1973 Roe v. Wade decision ? Enforcement is problematic in some areas ? State restricitons vary ? Abortion bans: Parental notification rules, mandatory waiting periods, teen endangerment bill ? Politics: 60% of the jobs are held by females, who are more likely to be clerical and support staff.Structured gender inequality: unequal division of labor, unequal values placed on men and women's labor, capitalist patriarchy ? Structured gender inequality: unequal division of labor, unequal values placed on men and women's labor, capitalist patriarchy. ? Occupational distribution: gender segregation at work ? The increase of female labor is more likely to be in clerical, service, manufacturing, or low-pay technicals jobs ? Only 30% of lawyers, 32% of doctors, and 39% of full-time university of college teachers were women ? The earnings gap: ? The pay gap between women and men: 80% of the male earnings ? Women were paid less than men in any job ? Men were paid more in women occupations, while women were paid less in male-dominated occupations ? Intersection of race and gender in the workplace ? White women were more likely to hold managerial or professional jobs than racial ethnic minority women ? Gender gap at work among racial/ethnic minorities is less than among white Americans. Minority women may do better than minority men. ? Equity Pay Act in 1963 ? How workplace inequality operates: ? Dual labor market theory: primary and secondary market ? Organization field: ghettoization ? Organization: homosexual reproduction, glass ceiling, glass escalator ? Genders in the global economy ? More manufacturing jobs available for young women in rural areas Costs and consequences of sexism: ? Who benefits? Transnational capitalists, individual men benefit through low-pay or unapid woman labor ? Social and individual costs: ? Feminization of poverty ? Psychological costs of sexism: low esteem among women ? Perfect female body (Saltzberg and Chrisler, 2000) ? The ideas of the perfect female body change over time: extraordinary nature ? Beauty ideals are created and maintained by society's elite. ? The social pressure for thinness can be directly linked to the increasing incidence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia among women ? Stereotypic male models ? The proofs of masculinity are culturally shaped and usually rituatlistic and symbolic ? Homophobia and American manhood (Kimmel, 2000) ? Homophobia is a central organizing principle of American cultural definition of manhood. ? The fear of bieng seen as a sissy dominates the culture definition of manhood ? Violence is often the single most evident marker of manhood ? Inconstrast to women's lives, men's lives are structured around relationships of power and men's differential access to power, as well as the differential access to that power of men as a group. ? Men have social power as a group, but might not have power as individuals (frustration or angry powerless men) ? Men's reaction: exclusion (sexism, homophobia) or escape ? Male inexpressiveness ? Feminist movements in the United States ? 1830s abolition movement ? 1920s suffrage amendment ? 1960s suffrage amendment ? 1960s feminist movement: either with broader focuses or with a focus of professional advancement