Transcript Gender roles

GENDER ISSUES
ACADEMIC YEAR 2014-2015
Prof.Maria
Maria A.Confalonieri
A. Confalonieri
Prof.
Prof. Enrica Chiappero Martinetti
Course’s aims and contents
Aims
•to provide the conceptual instruments to analyzing and evaluating the
dimensions of gender inequality and to understanding , thanks to the
comparative analysis of welfare states , the political strategies to
promote gender equality .
•to discuss the linkage between gender equality and development
issues in a globalized world
Characteristics
•Interdisciplinary (economic theory and political science/policy
analysis)
•Comparative perspective: North (Europe and OECD countries) and
South (developing and emerging countries).
Two main modules + seminars
Module #1
Gender equality policies and welfare states
development (10 lectures)
– three policy paradigms of gender equality policy
(equal treatment, equal opportunities and gender
mainstreaming)
– the relation between welfare state regimes and
“gender regimes” , illustrating national cases
(mainly from the EU) and focusing on the case of
Italy .
Module #2
Gender and development (6 lectures)
• Gender inequalities and gender progress
around the world
• Measuring gender inequalities
• The impact of globalization and development
on gender (in)equality
Further info
Course readings
•readings will be provided during the course
Students’ assessment
•a 9-10 pages paper on a subject agreed with
one of the teachers
Introduction to gender issues: the
roots of the gender debate
• The Oxford Dictionary:the state of being male or
female (typically used with reference to social and
cultural differences rather than biological ones)
• Wilkipedia :The distinction between sex and gender
distinguishes sex, the biological makeup of an
individual's reproductive anatomy or secondary sex
characteristics, from gender, an individual's lifestyle
(often culturally learned) or personal identification of
one's own gender (gender identity)
Gender is socially constructed
• Gender is used to describe those
characteristics of women and men, which are
socially constructed, while sex refers to those
which are biologically determined. People are
born female or male but learn to be girls and
boys who grow into women and men. This
learned behavior makes up gender identity
and determines gender roles” (World Health
Organization, 2002, p. 4).
Gender as a dynamic concept
• Gender as a social practice not an individual’s
characteristic (which wouldn’t move us far from biology)
• Thinking of gender as a social practice moves us away
from the essentialism of biology towards a dynamic idea
of gender , considering the agency role of individuals and
collectivities.
• As a social practice gender is continually constructed and
re-constructed by the activities of women and men and of
institutions like family, church, school and the welfare
state.
Gender as a relational concepts
• We may use “gender” as a shorthand but what we must
have in mind are
gender relations
Not biological dichotomies but norms and relations
embedded in a certain society and culture.
Gender studies don’t intend to study women but rather
compare males and females.
Gendered practices have consequences for the relationships,
both public and private, between women and men.
The analysis is focused on differences while the access to
resources is analyzed in terms of inequality.
Social construction of feminity is
complementary to te social
construction of masculinity
• “Constructing ideals of masculine behavior in any
culture cannot be accomplished without
constructing ideals of femininity that are
supportive and complementary . “ (Enloe,
2004,107)
Constructing gender roles
• Social political religious institutions are the
responsible for the construction of gender
roles .
• C.Enole (
• Ex: nationalism and militarism: men as
soldiers women as soldiers’ mothers and
wives.
• Ex: constructing women’s labor as cheap labor
• Ex: redefining”the good daughter” in South
East Asia
Dimensions of gender relations (Daly,
Rake 1993)
• Gender relations are composite of three
elements.
• -resources
• -social roles
• Power relations
Resources
• Resources refer to goods and capacities at one’s
disposal, that are fundamental for status and well
being.
• Regarding women, time and opportunities are
crucial resources, as crucial as financial resources.
• Resources must come in the right combination: to
take up a job a mother needs both a wage sufficient
to make worthy to take up a paid job and somobody
to take care of the child
Roles
• Gender roles are the expected attitudes and behaviors a society
associates with each sex.
• A role is the expected behavior associated with a status. Roles are
performed according to social norms, shared rules that guide people’s
behavior in specific situations. Social norms determine the privileges and
responsibilities a status possesses.
Females and males, mothers and fathers, and daughters and sons are all
statuses with different normative role requirements attached to them. The
traditional role of mother calls for expected roles involving love,
nurturing,self-sacrifice, home-making, and availability.
The traditional role of father calls for expected roles of breadwinner,
disciplinarian, home technology expert, and ultimate decision maker in
the household.
The norms regarding gender roles prevailing in a society influence state’s
policies and in particular social and labour market policies . The policies
tend to both mirror and reinforce the prevailing definition of gender role
(gendered policy logic)
Gender roles and public policy
• Policies about housing, land ownership, population
control, labour markets, etc. rest upon presumptions
about masculinity and femininity .
• Conducting public policy research requires gender
awareness because
• (1)any policy choice make distinction between
women and men
• (2) most of the policies concerning men could not be
rationalized without supporting arguments
concerning women
Gender roles and public policy
• Ex. POSTWAR RECONSTRUCTION
• “critical junctures” in the development of
European welfare state and political system.
• How to cope with the competing claims of
war veterans and women mobilized into work
during the war ?
Power relations
• Are closely associated with roles.
• Most obviousThey influence how public
policy is shaped and who benefits from
distributive and redistributive decisions.
(resources).
• Reducing gender inequalities implies changing
gender power relations
Gender inequalities
• We will compare differences in
• Resources
• Roles
• Power
between women and men and discuss how
public policies and development policies
impact on these differences