Stratification By Gender

• Universal Feature of Human Societies
• Door Ceremony and Social Meanings (Gendered Spaces)
• Biological versus Sociological Reality

(picture thanks to Michael Kearl)

• Self-Concept=> male/female
• Gender Roles: proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females. Especially: Occupational.
• Distinctiveness:
  1. Identity=one's sense of self
  2. Role=socialization, norms of masculinity and femininity.
• The Beauty Myth

Shirley Weitz:

• Differential Treatment
• Differential Identification
  1. Socialization
  2. Role Models
  3. Mass Media

Male Roles:

• Measuring Up
• "New Man"

How Far American Women have Come in the last 20 Years (Washington Post, Wonkblog, March 11, 2015)

Cross Cultural:

• Mead--Arapesh, Tchambuli and Mundugumor:
  1. Arapesh: both feminine
  2. Mundugumor: both masculine
  3. Tchambuli: reversed

Explaining Gender Stratification

Functionalism:

• Instrumentality
• Expressivity
• Smooth and Efficient
• Fairness? Problems for those who do not fit, masking of power relations.
• Change==> Potential for DISORDER

• Anthropological data and early male dominance.
• Current Ideology--"Boys are Better."
• Control of resources: value of work performed
• Friedel and economic roles: Social status and control of vital resources
• Economic, yet also social subjugation:
  1. Rape
  2. Domestic violence
  3. Sexual harassment
• Change: drastic revision in social structure- Values, Norms, Statuses, Roles and Institutions
• Conflict assumption=> desirability and efficiency of existing system?
• Abortion in the USA

Feminist Theories

• Conflict at the individual level--Male Female conversational analysis (males interrupt, change topic, ignore female interests and downplay female contributions: even when female staus is significant)
• Interactional styles reflect and maintain broader patterns of inequality
• When respondents are informed of behavior, patterns of dominance and submission become more acute.

Theories of Age Stratification

• Political representation 2015:19.4% of US Congress, 6 of 50 govenors, 3 of 9 Justices (2 appointed since 2009). See more. [2013: Less than 18% of congress (up from 10% in 2000), 5 of 50 governors (up from 2 in 2000)].
• Physical and Cultural Stigma.
• Unequal treatment
  • Pay-median=3/4's of males (See update on gender, race, ethnicity and annual income for 2004).
  • Guide to Hiring Women, 1943
  • 2017: "The narrowing, but persistent, gender gap in pay", Pew rearch Center, Fact Tank, by Anna Brown and Eileen Patten, April 3, 2017.
• Ascribed status
• Collective Consciousness.
• Question of Endogamy

• Ascribed status
• Denied suffrage
• Property
• Civil rights struggle
• Stereotyped
• Menial work
• Ignored in history

Sexism and Institutional Discrimination

• Major Institutions controlled by Males
• Roles traditionally limited: Military, Business, Education, Medicine, Religion
• Criminal Justice: Defining and Responding to Rape

• Inequality even in egalitarian western societies
• PLUS; exploitation of developing nations=exploited labor of women
• Also: Even more devalued--Female children in India, China.

Women, Work and the USA

• Steady increase this century
  • 2009: 64% of single women and 62% of married women work in the paid labor force
  • 59% of all adult women (41% 1970).
  • Most dramatic rise for married women--1992: 59% (5% 1890).
• Restrictions: Sex-typing, Glass Ceilings, Pink-collar Ghetto, Mommy Tracking.
  • 2008: 46% of labor force, BUT: 9% Engineers, 32% doctors, 32% lawyers Vs >92% receptionists, wor processors, and nurses.
  • 85% top positions in business, Media=Males
  • "Double Jeopardy"
• Advancement is taking place, yet often status and pay still low: Women Doctors- dominate in lower paid and lower prestige specialties
• See update on gender, race, ethnicity and annual income for 2004.
• Gender Wage Gap 2012 (local copy)
• The New Economics of Marriage

Social Consequences

• Child Care
• Fast Food
• Self-Esteem
• Marital Power
• Role Sharing (Dads and child care: longest time father devoted to infant=10.5 minutes, average verbal interaction per day=38 seconds.
• Housework: 2:1, "Second Shift," Male's perceptions-women's work=leisure activity for men.

• Characteristics of Women in Pro versus Anti Abortion Organizations
• Social Change and the status of women
• Privacy and Individualism
• Social Roles and Motherhood