Unit 6: Stratification by Gender

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Unit 6 Stratification by Gender

• Topic 1 - The Social Construction of Gender

Aim To what extent are conceptions of gender a
social construct? How do we do gender everyday
of our lives?
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Gender defined
Social agreement as to what is male or female
- helps construct social meaning. This agreement
is vastly different in different cultures and
different historical times. -Signifies
relationships of power -Most likely to be
accepted as natural (biological)
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Sociological Perspectives on Gender
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The Interactionist Approach
We do gender everyday with our common
interactions with one another - we can either
confirm or go against gender roles, but our
actions dictate messages about gender.
Interactionsts study language, dress, actions.
E.g., men interrupt women more than the converse
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Functionalist Perspective
Maintains that gender differentiation has
contributed to social stability. In particular,
family functions most effectively when adults
specialize in particular roles (Parsons Bales,
1955). They argued that women take expressive,
emotionally supportive role, while men take the
instrumental, practical roles.
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Conflict Theorists say that
Gender roles contribute to the subjugation of
women - Marx/Engles argued this began with
capitalist industrialization - prior to that it
was more egalitarian.
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The Feminist Perspective
Similar to conflict theorist viewpoint - however
feminists noted that the female voice was missing
in most scholarship on gender (including
Sociology). Contemporary feminists recognize
subjugation for women not just by gender, but by
race, class, and other social factors as well.
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Theories of Gender nature versus nurture/nature
and nurture

• Nature Biology determines our action. In other
  words, boys are simply born with male
  characteristics, and vice-versa, or
• Nurture Society and our environment determine
  our actions. In other words, we are taught what
  is male or female

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Binary Gender System

• Idea that only 2 genders exist male and female
• Rejected by the gender queer/gender neutral
  community
• Further complicated by biological factors-
  chromosomal disorders and physiological birth
  defects (i.e.-hermaphrodites)

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The David Reimer Story
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What are some genuine physical/physiological
differences between men and women?
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Gender Development

• Children develop a concrete understanding of
  gender by age 7, but this develops in stages from
  birth
• 7 months distinguish male/females faces
• 1 year distinguishes male/female voices
• 2 years understands gender stereotypes (dress,
  behavior, etc)
• 2-3 develop a sense of gender identity
• By 7, children believe that gender is a constant,
  permanent thing that cannot change (if mommy
  wears pants, shes still a girl!)

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• Mens brains 8-10 larger - section linked to
  arithmetic abilities larger in men (however,
  women are better at straightforward math like
  addition/subtraction, men better at reasoning
  problems)
• Womens brains mature sooner - 2 key language
  centers larger in women
• Women process pain signals in the parts of their
  brains that handle emotion, while men process
  same signals in the analytic regions

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• Women
• Has 70 more body fat, possesses 40 less muscle
  and are 5 inches shorter
• Enter puberty 2 yrs. sooner
• More likely to smell faint odors, express
  emotions freely, speak more words per day
• 2x more vulnerable to depression anxiety, and
  10X for eating disorders
• Men
• 4X more likely to be diagnosed with autism,
  color-blindness, hyperactivity, and antisocial
  personality disorder
• More likely to offer opinions, speak assertively,
  interrupt, smile less, and stare more while
  women are more likely to express support.

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How would you define a gender role?
Expectations regarding the proper
behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and
females - these expectations exist largely
unrelated to biological differences. Where do we
learn these?
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Pottery Barn Kids Christmas Catalog
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Gender-Role Socialization in the United States
Homophobia is a key element of rigid gender-role
socialization since many associate male
homosexuality with femininity and lesbianism with
masculinity.
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Masculinity is gendered - women are supposed to
attract - men to be attracted - when this
predator/prey model is shifted men often feel
threatened by it.
What point is this making?
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• Activity
• We will split into male/female groups
• It will then be your task to come up with
• TEN terms/phrases that you associate with
• A.) Your own gender (so female if youre female)
• B.) The opposite gender (so male if youre
  female)

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FEMALE/FEMALE FEMALE/MALE
MALE/MALE MALE/FEMALE
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Multiple Masculinities (Connell, 1987) men play
a variety of gender roles, including a
nurturing-care role and an effeminate gay role,
in addition to their traditional gender roles of
domination - society nonetheless reinforces
traditional roles

• Interviewed 400 men mostly white, from the East
  Coast, and college educated -Guyland social
  space where guys live by guy code emphasis on
  drinking, hooking up, and other behaviors. Very
  tied to video games, sports, and frequent (but
  disconnected) sexual conquests
• Bitch or Babe - Women in Guyland must drink,
  be thin, and willing to hook up.

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Gender Role Activity - Describe the rituals of
dating/engagement/marriage from start to finish
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Now, consider how these gender roles/stereotypes c
ontribute to global and domestic
gender discrimination and stratification
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Gender Transgressions engaging in actions,
behaviors, or feelings that seem to transgress
from defined gender social normsexamples?
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Terms defined - trans mean acrossdifferentiate
the following terms which are often used
interchangeably
Someone who dresses in opposite gender of
their (not cross dresser)
Transvestite
Someone who believes they are born into the wrong
body
Transgender
A transgendered person who has undergone
gender reassignment surgery
Transsexual
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The Transgendered Community

• General term for those whose behaviors deviate
  extremely from traditional gender roles
• Feel they were born in the wrong body
• Diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder
• Gender Reassignment surgery hormone treatment
  to change biological sex

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Trans-Man Someone who is born physiologically
female, but identifies as male
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Trans-woman a person who is born
physiologically male, but identifies as female
(e.g, Lavern Cox of Orange is the New Black)
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The Gender Queer Community

• Think of themselves as both male and female,
  neither male or female, or outside the gender
  binary completely (androgyny)
• Challenges traditional views on both gender and
  sexuality

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Gender in other cultures

• Bugis people of Indonesian island of Sulawesi
  have 5 gender categrories
• Oroane (masculine male)
• Makkunrai (feminine female)
• Calalai (masculine female)
• Calalai (feminine male)
• Bissu (embodying qualities of both male and
  female)
• Calalai are anatomical males who adhere to
  responsibilities of women. They engage in
  homosexuality and dress as women, yet they dont
  follow all cultural suggestions

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vK9VmLJ3niVo Taboo
- 3 mins
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Access to Power

• Patriarchy Society in which men dominate
• Matriarchy Society in which women dominate

Quick Activity - list 3 advantages and 3
disadvantages of being the opposite gender than
you are (anything, from social to political)
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A Thought Experiment
Imagine that you wake up tomorrow and the United
States Is now a Matriarchy (not a patriarchy)so,

• Politically Women hold the highest political
  offices (including the presidency- there hasnt
  been a male president in 30 years). Women have
  better access to jobs, and are generally thought
  of as controlling the course of national events.
  
• Socially women always ask men out, propose
  marriage to men, and make higher salaries than
  men in every state. Men are primarily responsible
  for the raising of children (they stay home and
  the woman goes back to work after childbirth).
  Men do dishes, clean, and cook every night for
  their wives. When couples go out, women drive
  the cars, pay for things, and make all major
  decisions about the family.

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Sex-Typed Activities

• Associating activities or forms of work as being
  either male or female in nature.
• Finish the following prompts and explain your
  answers
• Because of my gender I would never ________
• Because of my gender I would never do ______ for
  a living
• Because of my gender I would never wear
  _________

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What do you think are some theories as to why and
now patriarchies came to be the dominant societal
arrangement?
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Theories of Patriarchy

• Because women gave birth to children, early in
  human societies women were bogged down with child
  birthing/rearing, while men hunted and gathered
• Subsequently, men came to dominate society

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How do you think living in a patriarchal
society impacts the social policy and social
debates we have in the U.S. - such as
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Gender Stratification

• Inequalities in access to power, prestige, and
  property
• Politics - Globally women lack equal access to
  decision making
• The Pay Gap - In every nation, women are paid
  less than men
• Violence - examples include witch burning, suttee
  (burning a woman with her dead husband), rape,
  beatings, female infanticide.

Can you personally think of any instance in life
where you had a particular advantage or
disadvantage just because of your gender?
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Social Consequences of Womens Employment

• Juggling of work and family
• Maternity leave
• Housework responsibilities

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• Hochschilds Second Shift - Men still resist
  doing housework, forcing working women pick up
  slack at home after working full time jobs
• Wives who average 8 hour work day average 11 more
  hours of housework weekly than their husbands do.
  
• Wives are 8 times more likely to feel that
  division of housework is unfair.

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Husband Strategies of Resistance to Housework
(Hochschild, 1989)

1. Waiting it out Many men wont volunteer, but
   wait till their wives do things.
2. Playing dumb men will do housework poorly so as
   to force their wives to see them as incompetent
   and do the work themselves.
3. Needs reduction Men felt things didnt need to
   get done - i.e., kids dont need ironed
   clothes. Forces wife to step in.
4. Substitute offerings praising wife for being
   able to do it all subtlety encourages her to
   continue to do so.

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The Good Housewifes Guide
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The Emergence of a Collective Unconscious -
Feminism
The belief in social, economic, and political
equality for women. First wave feminism began in
1848 with womens suffrage. Second wave feminism
took hold in the 1970s with the publication of
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• Potential Topics
• Rape culture on college campuses
• Islamic garb
• Abortion
• The Pay Gap/Discrimination in the workplace