Sex And Gender

Issues of sex and gender

• When we consider how females and males differ, we think of sex; the biological characteristics.

• Primary sex characteristics consist of a vagina and penis

• Secondary sex characteristics are the physical distinctions between males and females that are not directly connected with reproduction.

Issues of sex and gender

• Gender consists of whatever behaviors and attitudes a group considers proper for its males and females. Consequently, gender varies from one society to another.

• You inherit you sex, but you learn your gender as you are socialized into the behaviors and attitudes your culture asserts are appropriate for your sex.

Kenya

India Mexico

MoroccoBerber

PolynesiaMoran, Kenya

Tibet

Altamira, Brazil

Issues of sex and gender

• The sociological significance of gender is that it is a device by which society controls its members. It opens and closes doors to power, property, and even prestige.

• Gender stratification: males’ and females’ unequal access to power, prestige, and property on the basis of their sex

Dominant Position Sociology

• Social factors, not biology, are the reasons we behave the way we do.

• Each human group makes its own interpretation of these physical differences and on this basis assigns males and females to separate group.

• There, people learn what is expected of them and are given different access to their society’s privileges.

How Females Became a Minority Group

• Around the world, gender is the primary division between people. Every society sets up barriers to provide unequal access to power, property, and prestige on the basis of sex. Consequently sociologists classify females as a minority group.

How Females Became a Minority Group

• Minority group applies to people who are discriminated against on the basis of physical or cultural characteristics, regardless of their numbers.

The origins of Patriarchy

• Origin of patriarchy-men dominating society-points to social consequences of human reproduction.

• In early history, life was short, and to maintain the population, many children had to be born. Women became tied to the children and assumed tasks that were associated with the home and child care.

The origins of Patriarchy• Men took over hunting, trading,

quarreled and waged war became dominant.

• Men came to think of themselves as inherently superior-based on the evidence that they dominated society. They shrouded many of their activities with secrecy, and constructed elaborate rules and rituals to avoid “contamination” by females, whom they openly deemed inferior.

Is it protection or domination?

Sex typing of Work • Anthropologist George

Murdock (1937) studied 324 societies around the world and found that in all of them, activities are sex typed.

• Exception was metalworking, which was considered men’s work in all of the societies

• Anatomy does not have to equal destiny when it comes to occupations Pursuits that are considered feminine in one society may be deemed masculine in another, and vice versa.

Gender and the Prestige of Work• Universally, greater prestige is given to male

activities-regardless of what those activities are. • It is not the work that provides the prestige, but

the sex with which the work is associated.

Global Discrimination• Almost 1 billion adults around the world

cannot read: 2/3rds are women• Around the world, women lack equal access to

national decision making: No national legislature of any country has as many women as men. In Kuwait and United Arab Emirates, women can’t even vote.

• In every nation, women average less pay than men. In the US, full time working women average 68% of what men make

Global Discrimination• Violence against women: foot binding in China, witch

burning in Europe, and suttee in India. Today we have rape, wife beating, female infanticide, forced prostitution, and female circumcision.

• Honor killings are another form of violence against women. Women who is thought to have brought disgrace on her family is killed by a male relative. Could be from sex outside of marriage or even rape. Killing the girl or women removes the “stain” she has brought to the family, and restores the family’s honor in the community.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EkF4Vo80_M• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48s-d8l1ey0

Rise of Feminism • 1700s: In colonial times, all household members were

responsible fore contributing to the economic survival of the family, even children.

• • Women: sewing, gardening, and caring for children • Men: plowing, harvesting, taking care of the large

animals, and paid skill workers, carpenters and builders

Rise of Feminism

• In 1775, General Washington sponsored a bill, creating a hospital department for the Army. The pay for civilian women who worked as nurses was 25 cents a day. Sewing was one of their duties

Rise of Feminism • This hoop skirt represents the

traditional dress worn in the early to mid 1800s. Women often wore a corset made from whale bone, and a hoop skirt or crinoline was tubes made from steel. Activists in the early stages of the women’s movement preferred the less constructing shorter skirt, and wore pant like “bloomers” to maintain modesty.

Rise of Feminism • Until the mid 1800s American women

surrendered their property rights when they married. In 1848, the Married Women’s Property act was passed in New York City, allowing women to own property separate from their husbands.

Rise of Feminism

• 1900s: hemlines no longer reach the floor. However modesty in bathing attire is still a factor, for both men and women.

Rise of Feminism

• In 1920, three quarter of state legislature ratify the 19th Amendment, giving U.S. women full voting rights.

Rise of Feminism

• Women are granted full military rank in WW II. The Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps is admitted to full Army status in 1943. The Army Nurse Corps, established in 1901, is granted full military rank in 1944.

Rise of Feminism

• In the 1960s, women challenged their assigned sex roles. In 1964, The Civil Rights Act was passed, barring discrimination in voting, education, and employment on the basis of race or sex.

Rise of Feminism

• Today, women serve in all branches of the military. The Air Force has the highest percentage of women soldiers

Rise of Feminism

• Although women serve in the US Armed Forces in Iraq, as with this soldier, they are limited primarily to non-combat positions

Rise of Feminism

• Although great strides have been made, ender inequality still exists. An outstanding example is illustrated by this photo. Of the 100 US Senators, only 26 are women.

Rise of Feminism • The first wave of the women's movement was to win the

right to vote, which was done in 1920. • The second wave began in the 1960s, and its goals were

broad, ranging from raising women’s pay to changing policies on violence against women.

• A third wave is emerging– Concern for women in the Least Industrialized Nations– Values that dominate the work place should be replaced with

cooperation, connection, openness, and interdependence. – Removal of impediments to women’s love and sexual

pleasure.

Gender Inequality in Education • Until 1832, women were not allowed to

attend college with men. When they did they had to remain silent at public assemblies, do the men’s laundry, clean their rooms, and serve them their meals.

• Today women are underrepresented in most doctoral programs in science, and they are less likely to complete these programs. Fundamental change is indicated by the growing numbers of women in law and medicine.

Gender Inequality in the Workplace

• All occupations show a gender gap in pay. For college graduates, the lifetime pay gap runs over a million dollars in favor of men. Sexual harassment also continues to be a reality of the workplace.

Gender and Violence• Overwhelmingly, the victims of

rape and murder are females. Female circumcision is a special case of violence against females. Conflict theorists point out that men use violence to maintain their power and privilege

The Changing Face of Politics

• Traditional division of gender roles used to keep women out of politics. Women continue to be underrepresented in politics, but the trend toward greater political equality is firmly in place