Sex and Gender

1
Chapter 11

• Sex and Gender

2
What We Will Learn

• To what extent does biology influence maleness
  and femaleness?
• Are males dominant over females in all societies?
• How similar are gender roles throughout the
  world?
• Do women and men in the same culture communicate
  differently?
• How can extreme gender ideology lead to the
  exploitation of women?

3
Gender

• Refers to the way the two sexes are perceived,
  evaluated, and expected to behave.
• There is a wide range of ideas about what it
  means to be feminine or masculine.
• U.S. culture recognizes only two genders, male
  and female, but other cultures recognize a
  combined male/female gender.

4
Cultural Patterns of Homosexuality- U.S.

• Cultural definition of male homosexuality does
  not make a distinction between preference and
  activity.
• It is assumed that a man who chooses to engage in
  homosexual activity does so due to a dominant
  homosexual preference.
• 9.1 of males surveyed reported some
  homosexuality during their lifetime, only 2.8
  claimed a homosexual preference and identity.

5
Cultural Patterns of Homosexuality Azande

• Due to a shortage of women, Azande men sought
  sexual satisfaction, for a limited time, through
  homosexual activity.
• Unmarried men serving in military units often
  married boys between the ages of 12 and 20.
• These male wives performed household chores and
  served as sexual partners.
• When the husband was old enough to take a female
  wife, marriage to the boy-wife ended, and both
  were free to marry a woman.

6
Cultural Patterns of Homosexuality Sambia

• Defines male homosexuality as a requirement
  before men assume masculine roles and
  heterosexual relationships.
• Sambian women are viewed as sexually dangerous
  because they can sap a man of his semen.
• Before a boy can develop into a male adult, he
  must receive ingestions of semen from older men,
  for 6 to 8 years during adolescence.

7
Gender Roles

• Men have greater body mass and strength and are
  better equipped for hunting, warfare, and land
  clearing.
• Women do tasks that are compatible with
  pregnancy, breastfeeding, and child care.

8
Gender Inequality

• 2/3 of all the illiterate people in the world
  today are women.
• The worlds women are concentrated in the
  lowest-paid occupations and receive less pay and
  fewer benefits than men.
• Women are more likely to work part-time, have
  less seniority, and occupy positions with little
  or no upward mobility.

9
Gender Ideology

• Thoughts and values that legitimize gender roles,
  statuses, and customary behavior.
• In some African societies, mens physical
  well-being is thought to be jeopardized by
  contact with a womans menstrual discharge.
• In Bangladesh, men are associated with the right
  side and women with the left side, a dichotomy
  that also denotes puritypollution, goodbad, and
  authority submission.

10
Women and Inequality

• Women makeup 1/2 the worlds population but,
• do approximately 2/3 of the work.
• earn 1/10 of the worlds income.
• own less than 1 of the worlds property.

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Entrance of Women Into the Workforce Key Factors

• As industrialization became more complex, more
  clerical workers were needed, most were women.
• Women bore fewer children, increasing the number
  of years they could work outside the home.

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Entrance of Women Into the Workforce Key Factors

• Rising rate of divorce forced women to support
  themselves and their children.
• The baby bottle enabled women to work outside the
  home without jeopardizing their infants.
• Two salaries are often needed to make ends meet.

13
Occupational Segregation Along Gender Lines

• Majority of women in the U.S. are in low-paying
  jobs.
• Women make up
• 90 of nurses
• 80 of librarians
• 70 of teachers
• 1 of corporate CEOs
• 6 of partners in private law firms
• 8 of state and federal judges

14
Earnings Gap in the U.S.

• Wages for full-time female employees are only 74
  of wages for full-time male employees.
• This is up from 6 during the 1960s.
• The median income for full-time female employees
  was 26,855 in 2000 as compared with 36,252 for
  men.
• Even in professions that require high levels of
  training and education women earn less than their
  male counterparts.

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Quick Quiz
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• 1. _______ refers to cultural ideas concerning
  the way members of two sexes are perceived,
  evaluated, and expected to behave.
• Gender
• Masculine and feminine
• Sexual dimorphism
• Sex

17
Answer a

• Gender refers to cultural ideas concerning the
  way members of two sexes are perceived,
  evaluated, and expected to behave.

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• 2. In some cultures, ________ are rigidly
  defined, while in others they overlap to a
  considerable degree.
• gender definitions
• gender roles
• sexual roles
• sexuality rules

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Answer b

• In some cultures, gender roles are rigidly
  defined, while in others they overlap to a
  considerable degree.

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• 3. ______ is a system of thoughts and values that
  legitimize gender roles, statuses, and customary
  behavior.
• Gender ideology
• Gender asymmetry
• Gender identity
• Gender roles

21
Answer a

• Gender ideology is a system of thoughts and
  values that legitimize gender roles, statuses,
  and customary behavior.

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• 4. Gender and sex both refer to the same thing.
• True
• False

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Answer false

• Gender and sex do not refer to the same thing.

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• 5. Differences in the status of men and women, or
  _________________ , exists in some form in
  all cultures.

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Answer gender stratification

• Differences in the status of men and women, or
  gender stratification, exists in some form in all
  cultures.