2. Why Study Gender?
Women’s gains have been slow. They are still not
complete.
Women are over-represented in some occupations while
being under-represented in others.
The United States never ratified the Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) guaranteeing full equality to women.
(The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it
was introduced in the Congress for the first time. In 1972,
it passed both houses of Congress and went to the state
legislatures for ratification. -- But not all of the needed 38
states ratified the amendment.)
2
3. Gender
Women’s gains have been slow. They are still not
complete.
The United States never ratified the Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) guaranteeing full equality to women.
Women are over-represented in some occupations while
being under-represented in others.
3
5. Gender Inequality
. . . when we abolish the slavery of half of humanity,
together with the whole system of hypocrisy that it
implies, then the 'division' of humanity will reveal
its genuine significance and the human couple will
find its true form. . . To gain the supreme victory, it
is necessary, for one thing, that by and through
their natural differentiation men and women
unequivocally affirm their brotherhood.
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex 1949
5
7. 7
“No woman can call herself free who does not own and control
her body.
No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously
whether she will or will not be a mother.”
Margaret Sanger
8. Sex & Gender
Three Minute Writing (f2f classes):
In a few short sentences,
1 Define Sex
2 Define Gender
8
9. Sex & Gender
If sex is biological, and gender is
social (cultural and largely a
construction), then why study sex?
Why study gender? And where
might they meet or overlap?
9
11. Sex
With only a hint of irony, Anne
Fausto- Sterling (1993) maintained
that there are five sexes.
What might they be?
The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough
11
12. The Five Sexes
Male (two testis and no ovary)
Female (two ovaries testis and no testis)
Hermaphrodite “herms” (one testis and one ovary)
Male pseudohermaphrodite “merms” (who have
testes and some aspects of the female genitalia
but no ovaries)
Female pseudohermaphrodite “ferms” (who have
ovaries and some aspects of the male genitalia but lack
testes )
12
13. Why Study Gender?
There is still a great deal of inequality between males and
females in our society.
Women’s occupations typically receive less in wages and
compensation than men’s.
Women make only about 77cents to the dollar compared
to men.
Women still constitute a great minority of seats in
government (17 percent of congressional membership).
13
15. Gender Identity:
Conceptions we have about ourselves as
being male or female.
This is part of one’s self-concept and the
product of social interaction. This
emerges as we enact gender roles and
are reacted to by others as being either
male or female.
15
16. Gender Role
“… a set of prescriptions and
proscriptions for behavior—
expectations about what
behaviors are appropriate … in
a particular social context.”
16
17. 8 Examples of Gender Roles (do you
agree?)
1. How people speak
2. Dress
3. Walk
4. Engage in courtship
5. Get angry
6. Play sports
7. Deal with stress
8. Choose a career
17
18. The Nature Nurture Debate
Continues:
While sex is biologically determined, gender is
not.
Gender is socially constructed. It is part of the
socialization process. It is cultural.
18
19. The Nature Nurture Debate
Continues:
Just what is it that is fixed in our makeup and what is
socially constructed?
How much of our gender-being is changeable.
Consider the following:
19
22. The power to is power that is directed
towards a task. We have the power TO do
many things with the physical world. As
such, it is benign.
22
23. The power over is power that is used to
dominate an individual or a group. In the
case of gender, it is general the power of
the male over the female.
This might be considered a misuse of
power.
23
24. The practice of giving males more status,
power and authority than women.
24
Patriarchy
26. Glass Ceiling: The invisible barrier to women’s
advancement in the corporate world. The women can SEE
opportunities, but is ignored because of her gender.
Reasons given for deliberate failure to promote women
often have to do with their presumed role as a mother.
26
27. Patriarchy in the Workplace
27
Glass walls: The barriers
that prevent women from
accessing experience
laterally—the process
of gaining experience by
working in different
departments in preparation
for promotion.
29. Moms and the Workplace
What kind of issues affect mothers in
the context of work, employment,
and career development?
29
30. Moms and the Workplace
Consider:
Job security after giving birth.
Length of maternity leave.
Breast feeding in the workplace.
Role conflict (good mom or good worker?
Career interruption. (Nancy Pelosi and her statement regarding her first run
for congress and the question “but who will take care of your children?”)
Any others?
30
31. Moms and the Workplace
Should mothers be compensated under
the Family and Medical Leave Act
(FMLA) designed to provide
employees job-protected and unpaid
leave for qualified medical and family
reasons.
The Supreme Court says no.
31
32. Examples of Patriarchy:
Men dominating a conversation
Men assuming a controlling role such as in business or the
household.
Men assuming that women are less competent.
Men excluding women from “men’s” events such as
business or recreational activities.
Consider golf.
32
33. Golf
Gentlemen Only
Ladies Forbidden
33 Click on image for John Boehner Women and Golf Story
34. Sexism
Individual sexism: The belief that one’s sex is superior to
the other.
Institutional sexism: Policies, practices and procedures
that result in unequal outcomes for men or women.
34
35. Gender is a cultural, or social,
construction. Like any other institution,
it is part and parcel to the “social
construction of reality.”
(Refer to Berger and Luckman’s work by
the same name.)
35
36. “If this sociological position is correct—
that culture, not anatomy, is our
destiny—how do we become the ‘way
we are?’”
36
37. Media, Colors, clothing and
toys!
Becoming labeled and
learning to label ourselves.
37
Socialization: how it works
44. Views of Gender
Functionalism
Conflict Theory
Interactionist
44
45. Consider the family as organized
along “instrumental-expressive”
lines. That is, men specializing in
instrumental tasks such as having a
job and making money, while women
focus on expressive tasks such as
raising children and supporting their
husbands.
45
Functionalist Approach
46. Where do gender differences give
advantages to one group over
another? Who benefits? How do
conflict outcomes resemble the
current status quo?
Do gender differences play out in the
household the same as in the
workplace?
46
Conflict Perspective
47. Interactionist Perspective:
While sex is a given in nature, gender is a social
construction. We create a social context which
exacerbates differences between the sexes.
If that is the case, can we undo what we have
created?
47
48. Feminist Perspective
This perspective stresses the differences in
class-subject position emphasized by the
dominant social structure.
Both in the workplace and in the home
social status is differentiated with the male
maintaining dominance.
48
56. States Scott M. Lewis:
The basic premise of THE BEAUTY MYTH is that forced
adherence to standards of physical beauty has grown
stronger for women as they gained power in other societal
arenas. Wolf argues that this standard of beauty has taken
over the work of social coercion formerly left to myths about
motherhood, domesticity, chastity, and passivity, all of which
have been used to keep women powerless. … However, Wolf
contends that the beauty myth is really not about women, it
is about men’s institutions and power.
56
58. Body Dysmorphic Disorder
dysmorphia |disˈmôrfēə|noun
Medicine deformity or abnormality in the shape or size of
a specified part of the body: muscle dysmorphia.
Body dysmorphic disorder is a type of chronic mental illness
in which you can't stop thinking about a flaw with your
appearance — a flaw that is either minor or imagined. But to
you, your appearance seems so shameful that you don't
want to be seen by anyone. Body dysmorphic disorder has
sometimes been called "imagined ugliness." (Mayo Clinic
staff)
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59.
60.
61.
62. Real Women – looking backward
The Three Graces, Peter Paul Rubens, 1639 62
