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Gender I. Sex and Gender A.

Sex is the biological distinction between male and females based on difference in the reproductive organs B. Gender is the personal traits and social positions that members of a society attaches to being male or female. gender is a social creation Organizing principle of society. First thing we teach kids is gender; children will organize themselves using gender before race and gender. C. Gender stratification is the unequal distribution of wealth, power and privilege between men and women. 1. Patriarchy -- a social system in which males dominate 2. Matriarchya social system in which females dominate males
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3. Sexismbelief that on sex is innately superior to the other a. institutional sexism is embedded in the structures and institution of a society

II. Gender socialization is the process of teaching gender


A. gender roles are attitudes and activities that a society links to a

specific sex 1. traditional attitudes see the male as the breadwinner or provider, and the female as the caregiver 2. egalitarian attitudes see both sexes as equal. B. Agents of Gender socialization 4 5 6 7 8 9 1.Family is an agent of gender socialization Jessie Bernard said that kids are socialized into the pink world of girls and the blue world of boys. From birth kids are taught gender. Parents treat boys and girls differently. With girls they are more verbal, more affectionate, more gentle. With boys they are less verbal and more aggressive with their behavior.

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Toys that we buy for children are very gender specific. Kids also learn gender for the example of their parents 2.Peer Group boys and girls play and interact differently Boys team sports, clear goals to win, and score points. This teaches boys to be dominant and aggressive and prepares them for the provider role Girls play less competitive games, more interpersonal skills and cooperation. This teaches girls about caregiving and cooperation. This prepares them for the caregiver role 3. Education a. Hidden curriculum value preferences that children are taught in schools, which is an implicit part of the formal curriculum. Teaches children the value of gender and which sex has greater value. Girls were pushed into literature and English, boys were pushed into science and mathematics. b. Title IX Education Amendment as 1972-forbids sexual discrimination in any educational program of activity that receives federal funding. 4. Media TV often times promotes traditional gender roles. With TV the message is sometimes very implicit. I Love Lucy, JC Penney Commercial, Flu Mist, Most TV show and movies have strong male characters who are the hero. Very few have female in the lead who are heroes of the movie. There are some exceptions to this Buffy Zena C. Enculturated Lens Theory of Gender Formation- Sandra Bem The Lens of Gender theory says that society is composed of a set of hidden assumptions about how members of that society should look, feel, think, and act. Bem calls these assumptions Lenses. They are embedded in the social institutions and cultural discourses of society. Every culture has a wide assortment of lenses. Bem identified 3 gender lenses present in the United States and other industrialized nations.

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1. Gender polarization is the view that males and females are considered fundamentally different. These differences constitutes a central organizing principle of society. 2. Androcentrism is the notion that males are superior to females, and males and the male experience are the normative standard against which women are judged 3. Biological Essentialism rationalizes and legitimizes gender polarization and androcentrism, by portraying them as natural and inevitable products of inherent biological difference between males and females. ** women and voting ** tv dinners

III. Gender and Stratification 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 A. Working 1900 only about 20% of females worked outside the home, today 60% of females work outside the home of those female 70% work full time. Over half of all married couple depend on dual income B. Occupation Occupation are segregated by sex with females being concentrated in occupations with low prestige and salary. This has with occupation that women are associated with. These occupations tend to be subordinate to another position, and these occupations have some aspect of the caregiver role ( which is undervalued and ignored). Men are concentrated in high income high prestige position. 1. Pink collar work is secretarial work 79% of those who work in the secretarial field is women. There is also a high concentration of females in Service (food serv, child care, health care)

C. Income 53 The median income for female working full time is $31000, for male 54 the median income is $41000 Women earn 77% of what males do. 55 Reasons for difference in male and female income is the type of work 56 that women do, family responsibility and discrimination 1. Mommy Tax The price of Motherhood by Ann Crittenden. Talks about what she calls the Mommy Tax. The mommy tax is reduced earnings of mothers throughout there employment years. Crittenden also talks

about Social Security of women and how their social security has missing years in which no contribution was made when they were raising children. Ctrittenden says the Mommy tax is a heavy personal tax paid by those who care for children that women pay a heavy personal tax. D. Household Labor Caring for children and the home has traditionally been considered A females domain. It is considered on of the most important jobs but it is devalued and unnoticed. The amount of housework that women do has declined but their share of the house work has remained the same. The amount of time women spend on housework is around 17 hours per week / men 9 1.Second Shift is the disproportionate amount of time women spend doing family work. Hochschild Women do spend less time on house work. Some researchers have found that women have lessened their standards of cleanliness. Your book notes that men support the idea of women working outside the home and count on the income but resist taking an equal share of the housework. Time, power, income, gender role attitudes 2. Third shift The Time Bind in which she talks about the Third Shift. The third shift is the emotional work involved in dual income families. Today families do not spend the amount of time together that families once did. Family jobs are outsourced because family members do not have the time to do the jobs. F. Politics 1920 19th amendment gave women suffrage, right to vote Hattie Caraway was the first women to sere in the senate in 1931 60 female representatives and 14 senators G. Violence against Women 413,000 aggravated assaults, 1.5 million simple assaults 179,000 rape and sexual assault. The actual number of rapes and sexual assaults is not known because most women do not report. Most violence against women occurs in the home. In most cases the victim knows the assailant. Dianne Herman- maintains that the tendency toward sexual

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violence is built into our way of life. She calls this a Rape Culture. Because it is about the domination of women. Rape is about power not sex. Sexual Harassment
Comments, gestures, or physical contact, of a sexual nature that are deliberate, repeated and unwelcome. Most victims of sexual harassment are women. Because men are taught to be sexually assertive. Also most people in positions of power and authority are men. (CEO, supervisors, managers etc, are positions filled by men, ) Sexual harassment can blatant or subtle. Subtle forms of sexual harassment include photos, off color jokes, calendars ,etc. This creates a hostile working environment. F. Pornography is sexually explicit material that causes sexual arousal, Greek word porne a woman kept as a mans sexual slave. People are opposed to pornography on moral grounds. In reality porn dehumanizes and demeans women. Women are viewed as objects to be owned and controlled. There is also concern because porn threaten women, encourages violence.

73 74 75 Theories on Gender Are women a Minority 76 a minority is defined as any category of people distinguished by physical or cultural difference that a society set apart an subordinates 77 most white women do not identify themselves as a minority, but at every class level women have less education. income, 78 intersection theory- investigation of the interplay of race class and gender that result in multiple dimensions of disadvantage 79 double minority hold more than on minority status Structural Functionalism 80 gender is a means of organizing society. In early hunting and gathering societies the care of small children was the female responsibility, while the men hunted. This sex based division of labor became

institutionalized over time. Today modern societies allow for less traditional gender roles, however change is very slow. 81 Parsons traditional gender roles were complementary roles. Boys are socialized into the instrumental role (competitive, rational, self assurance) Females are socialized into the Expressive Role ( sensitive emotional responsive) These two role work well together 82 Allows for male domination, middle class view of world, ignores strain caused by rigid gender roles. Social Conflict There is an unequal distribution of power between males and females. Traditional gender roles benefit men who will want to maintain the status quo. Engels As cultures evolved, from hunting and gathering to industrialization, men began to amass wealth, land, and power. They demanded monogamy. Expected women to be virgins (of course men did not have to be virgins) so they could control female sexuality and assure themselves that it was their child who inherited. Capitalism- Creates wealth owned by men. Perpetuates traditional gender roles so men are free to work. Society assigns women the role of caring for the home. Criticisms Social conflict minimizes the extent that men and women work cooperatively. Blame gender stratification on capitalism, but patriarchy was present before capitalism. Feminism The advocacy of social equality for man and women in opposition to patriarchy and sexism. Feminism began in the 1840s with women who were opposed to slavery. Womens movement worked to abolish slavery. Then they work on the right of suffrage for black males. They assumed that they would get the vote, when black men did. Women did not get the right to vote until 1920 with the 19th amendment. There was a second wave of feminism that began in the 1960s. The womens movement was working toward the passage of the ERA (equal rights amendment) ERA amendment died in the states. There were not enough states that passed ERA. This was also the beginning of the sexual revolution.

There are 5 main tenants of Feminism. 1. The importance of change, change toward social equality, 2. Expanding human choice. Cultural conceptions of gender limit how we develop. 3. Eliminating gender stratification 4. Eliminating sexual violence, including sexual harassment 5. Promoting sexual freedom, the right to choose and availability of birth control. Types of Feminism Liberal Feminist Believe that everyone should be allowed to develop their own talents and pursue their own interest. Seeks to expand the rights and opportunities of women and minorities. Socialist feminism They promote a state centered economy that takes care of the needs of all. Maintains that liberal feminism did not go far enough. They maintain that capitalism increased patriarchy. Family today must change to avoid domestic slavery. Radical Feminism They call for an egalitarian and gender free society. They promoted the use of technology to separate women form child birth Criticisms. Ignores the fact the men and women do think and feel in different ways, so complete equality between makes and female may not be possible. Devalues the role of women in raising the next generation. Much of the criticism aimed at feminism is directed at socialist and radical forms of feminism.

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