Discussion about gender inequalities theories. Which helps the student to gather knowledge about those theorists also their theories in their academic and also in their practical life knowledge.

1. Theories of
Gender
Inequality
Course No: Soc-4207
Course Title: Sociology of Gender
1

2. PRESENTED BYZ a n n a t u l M a w a
I d : 1 5 1 6 0 7
Z a n n a t u l F e r d a u s h
K e y a
I d : 1 5 1 6 3 0
R o z i n a P a r v i n
I d : 1 5 1 6 4 8
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3. GENDER
• Gender refers to the social, cultural and psychological differences between men and
women. (Giddens, 2015)
• Gender describes the role, rights and responsibilities that society consider appropriate
for men and Women (Wikipedia, 2019).
Transgender/ Third GenderFemale/GirlMale/ Boy
3

4. GENDER INEQUALITY
“Gender inequality is the denial of opportunities and equal rights to
individuals and groups based on gender that results from the normal
oppressions of a society.’’(Schaefer, 2015)
• Gender inequality acknowledges that men and women are not equal
and that gender affects an individual's lived experience. These
differences arise from distinctions in biology, psychology, and cultural
norms. (Wikipedia, 2019) 4

5. 5

6. C Conflict View
F
Feminist View
I
Symbolic
Internationalism
u
F
Functionalist Views
All Perspectives at a Glance
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7. THE FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVES OF
GENDER INEQUALITY
• The functionalist perspective sees society as a complex system whose parts
work together to promote solidarity and stability. (Wikipedia, 2019)
• This approach looks at society through a macro-level orientation and broadly
focuses on the social structures that shape society as a whole.
• Functionalist perspective of gender inequality suggests that gender
inequalities exist as an efficient way to create a division of labor, or a social
system in which a particular segment of the population is clearly responsible
for certain acts of labor and another segment is clearly responsible for other
labor acts.(Schaefer, 2015)
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8. THEORIST OF FUNCTIONALISM
o The functionalist perspective of gender inequality was most
robustly articulated in the 1940s and 1950s, and largely
developed by ‘Talcott Parsons’ model of the nuclear family.
o In their view, it is a way of socializing children and regulating
the relationship between sexes.
o Structural functionalist view of gender inequality applies the
division of labor to view predefined gender roles as
complementary: women take care of the home while men
provide for the family.
o Thus gender, like other social institutions, contributes to the
stability of society as a whole.(Schaefer, 2015)
Talcott Parsons
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Robert Bales

9. They believe that the modern family needs two people in two
different capacities(Schaefer, 2015)
InI
Instrumentality
InI
Instrumentality Expressiveness 9

10. SOME CRITICISM
Functionalism was criticized
for focusing too much on the
stability of societies.
This theory ignore women’s
obstacle of being dominated as a
second gender.
It ignores inequalities
including race, gender, class
which causes tension and
conflict.
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11. CONFLICT VIEW OF GENDER
INEQUALITY
• According to conflict theory, society is defined
by a struggle for dominance among social
groups that compete for scarce resources.
• Societies are divided into two groups-
a) Bourgeoisie, and
b) Proletariat.
(Wikipedia, 2019)Karl Marx (1818 –1883)
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12. CONFLICT VIEW OF GENDER INEQUALITY CONT.….
• Conflict theories draw attention to power differentials.
• Conflict theorist contended that the relationship between females and males
has traditionally been one of unequal power, with men in a dominant position
over women.
• Conflict theorists emphasize that men’s work is uniformly valued, while
women's work is devalued.
(Schaefer, 2015)
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13. CONFLICT VIEW OF GENDER INEQUALITY
• Friedrich Engels, a German
sociologist, studied family structure
and gender roles.
• Engels suggested that the same
owner-worker relationship seen in
the labor force is also seen in the
household, with women assuming
the role of the proletariat.
(Smelser, 2000)
Friedrich Engels (1820-1895)
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14. CONFLICT VIEW OF GENDER INEQUALITY
• Men, like any other group with a power or wealth
advantage in Conflict Theory, fought to maintain
their control over resources (in this case, political
and economic power).
• Conflict between the two groups caused things like
the Women’s Suffrage Movement and was
responsible for social change.
(Smelser, 2000)
Women’s Suffrage
Movement
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15. CONFLICT VIEW OF GENDER INEQUALITY
• Randall Collins (1975) believes sexual inequality is
based on conflict between a dominant group
(men) and a subordinate group (women).
• The original basis for male domination of females
was that males, being bigger and stronger, were
capable of forcing themselves on women for
sexual gratification.
(Smelser, 2000)Randall Collins 15

16. NEO- MARXIST VIEW
• Heidi Hartmann (1976) suggests a complicated set of relations
among capitalism, patriarchy and the structure of economy. The
argument goes like this:
a) By providing lower wages for women than men, society
maintains male dominance.
b) Lower wages encourage women to marry.
c) Married women work for their husbands in the household.
d) Because of their household responsibilities, women are placed
at a further disadvantage in the labor market.
(Smelser, 2000)
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17. NEO- MARXIST VIEW
• Barron and Norris (1976) argue that subordination of women is
capitalisms way of achieving market flexibility.
• They divide the labor market into-
a) Primary sector, and
b) Secondary sector (Smelser, 2000).
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18. CRITICISM
Some social scientist criticize
conflict theory for stressing
disagreement and competition.
It did not say clearly how to
solve the problem in case of
gender inequality.
It ignores social unity based on
mutual interdependence and
shared values.
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19. INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE
• A symbolic interactionist perspective, gender is produced and reinforced through daily
interactions and the use of symbols.
• While functionalist and conflict theorist who study gender stratification typically focus
on macro level social forces and institutions, interactionist researchers tend to examine
gender stratification on the micro level of everyday behavior.
• According to interactionists, gender stratification exists because people act toward
each other on the basis of the meanings they have for one another.
• Interactionists believe that these meanings are derived through social interaction and
that these meanings are managed and transformed through an interpretive process
that people use to make sense of, and handle, the objects that constitute their social
worlds.(Schaefer, 2015) 19

20. INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE CONT.……
• As an example, studies show that men initiate up to 96 % of all interruption in cross-
sex (male-female) conversations.
• Men are more likely than women to change the topic of conversation, to ignore topics
to chosen by members of the opposite sex, and to validate their own contributions.
(Schaefer, 2015) 20

21. CHARLES HORTON COOLEY
Looking Glass Self
• Cooley argued that an individual’s perception of himself or herself is based primarily
how society views him or her.
• In the context of gender, if society perceives a man as masculine, that man will consider
himself as masculine.
• Men and women are expected to perform their gender to the point that it is naturalized
and thus, their status depends on their performance.
• Thus, when people perform tasks or possess characteristics based on the gender role
assigned to them, they are said to be doing gender (rather than “being” gender).
(Schaefer, 2015)
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22. According to Cooley (1902) in his work, ‘Human Nature and
the Social Order’, his Looking Glass Self involved three steps
You imagine how you
appear to the other person
You feel some sense of pride,
happiness, guilt of shame
You imagine the judgement
of the other person
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23. Confounding
Expectation
The woman in this
picture blurs the
boundaries between
the symbols that are
traditionally
considered masculine
or feminine.
While she has long
hair and is wearing
makeup, typically
feminine markers, her
clothes are much
more masculine in
nature 23

24. GOFFMAN’S THEORY OF IMPRESSION
MANAGEMENT/ SELF-PRESENTATION
/IDENTITY MANAGEMENT (1969)
• Impression management (IM) is the goal-directed attempt to influence others’
perceptions about a person, a group, and/or an organization regarding an object or
event by providing self-assessed beneficial information in social interactions
• We create impressions through what Goffman calls sign vehicles which includes both
our language as well as our body language. We create impressions by our expressions.
And there are two different kinds of expressions:
A. The expressions we give, primarily the things we say, and the intentional poses, facial
expressions (smiles, surprise, etc.) and other controlled body language we emit;
B. The expressions we give off, which are the elements of our expressiveness over
which we have less control; the inconsistencies between what we say and what we
actually do, the body language which “gives us away” in some situations. (Wikipedia,
2019)
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25. 25

26. DIAGRAM/SCHEMATIC OF THEORY
Discordant
Perceived
Reality
Resonant
Impression
+
_
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27. FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE OF INEQUALITY
• Most feminist share the assumption that women are disadvantaged in
comparison with men.
• They argue that these inequalities are not the direct result of natural
differences between men and women. Basically, they are socially constructed.
(Tong, 2009)
• Main feminist perspectives are
1. Liberal perspective
2. Radical perspective
3. Social perspective
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28. LIBERAL FEMINIST
• Liberal feminism seek equal rights to
men. Women should be allowed to
compete freely with men and should
enjoy the same privileges and
opportunities in the social and cultural
attitudes.(Tong, 2009)
• For Example, liberal feminist are
concerned with sexism and
discrimination against women in the
workplace, educational institution and
28

29. RADICAL FEMINIST
• Radical feminism focus on patriarchal
as the cause of women's inequality-
although most feminist touch on this
in some way.
• They encouraged women to become
‘androgyno’ persons, that is, persons
who embody with both masculine
(good) and feminine (good)
characteristics.
• Among the first radical libertarian
feminist to celebrate androgynous
women was Joreen Freeman.(Tong,
2009) 29

30. SOCIAL FEMINIST
• Social feminism is a feminist movement that advocates for social rights and special
accommodations for women. It was first used to describe members of the women's
suffrage movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who were
concerned with social problems that affected women and children
• Marxist feminism is a sub-type of feminist theory which focuses on the social
institutions of private property and capitalism to explain and criticize gender
and oppression(Tong, 2009).
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31. CRITICISM
They ignored positive aspects
of family life: That women may
enjoy running the home and
raising children.
They ignores the point that
some women choose their
expressive role and part time/
flexible work.
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32. REFERENCES
• Schaefer, R. T. (2015). Sociology (10th ed.). New York: McGRAW HILL.
• Jary, D. J. J. (2000). Collins Dictionary of Sciology (3rd ed.). Great Britain: HarperCollins
• Giddens, A. (2015). Sociology (5th ed.). Malden , USA: Polity Press.
• Sociological Perspectives on Gender Stratification. (2018). from
file:///C:/Users/user/Pictures/Sociological%20Perspectives%20on%20Gender%20Stratifi
cation%20_%20Boundless%20Sociology.html
• Tong, R. (2009). Feminist Thought (3rd ed.). Colorado: Westview Press.
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