Transcript PowerPoint Presentation - Women as a Minority Group

Women as a Minority Group
Chapter 13
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Questions We Will Explore
How can we consider women a minority
group?
 Discuss sociological explanations of sexrole behavior.
 Give examples of sexual discrimination in
education, work, income, and law.
 How do the three major sociological
perspectives explain sexism?
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Considering Women as a Minority Group
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U.S. society has only recently recognized sexism as a
social problem, although it has existed for centuries.
Minority group characteristics—ascribed status, physical
and cultural visibility, unequal treatment, and sharedgroup awareness—apply to women just as they do various
racial and ethnic groups, even though they are not a
numeric minority.
Women are born into their sexual identity (ascribed
status) and are easily identifiable by physical and cultural
characteristics.
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Considering Women a Minority (continued)
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Women now recognize their commonality with one
another as victims of an ideology (sexism) that, like
racism, attempts to justify unequal treatment.
Domination-subordination lines in marriage.
Traditional marriage ceremonies provide for the man to
cherish his wife while she promises to obey her husband.
For many decades, property laws, credit regulations,
social-security benefits, divorce laws, and even telephone
listings reinforced this less than equal status until recent
changes occurred in most of these areas.
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Sociological Explanations of Sex- Role
Behavior
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Although gender identity is an ascribed status, society
shapes that identity through socialization.
In the process of learning traits and activities that are
desirable and correct, individuals internalize approved
gender-role behavior as a real part of themselves. These
cultural dictates of appropriate male-female conduct
sometimes vary from one society to another.
In much of the world, male dominance has long existed,
reinforced by the writings of male philosophers and
religious leaders.
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Sex Role Behavior (continued)
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Studies show mothers and fathers touch, handle, speak
to, play with, and discipline children differently
depending on the child’s sex.
Children learn to play differently, girls more often in
exclusive dyadic relationships and boys more often in
larger groups.
Children also learn from other adult role models,
assuming their attitudes and evaluations.
The impact of parents, family, friends, school, and the
media in shaping differences in sexual behavior extends
to personalities as well.
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Sex Role Behavior (continued)
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The impact of advertising in reinforcing traditional sex
roles and stereotypes is very pervasive.
Research on television advertising reveals four
significant patterns. Men do most of the commercial
voiceovers; women tend to perform typical family
activities, usually in the home and benefiting men, but
men carry out a wide variety of activities; women are
younger than men; and fewer girls and women appear
than boys and men.
Advertisers emphasize the strengths of emancipated
women to sell their products, but more often they
contribute to role entrapment by depicting women in
stereotypical or sex-object ways.
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Sexual Discrimination in the U.S.
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Despite educational attainment parity, the choice of
fields of study reflects significant sexual differentiation.
Women are underrepresented in male-dominated majors,
computer and information services, engineering,
physical sciences. They are overrepresented in
traditional female career areas of education, home
economics, health services, psychology. But, advanced
degrees conferred in medicine, dentistry, law, and
theology show a lessening of the sex-ratio imbalance.
60+ % of women are employed, up from 43% in 1970.
Despite women’s increases in labor and in previously
male dominated occupations, significant differences in
male-female career categories remain.
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Sexual Discrimination (continued)
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Female occupational ghetto: over 60% of working women
in traditional low-paying, low-status jobs.
Male-dominated jobs tend to be higher-paying, higherstatus.
Another problem is the glass ceiling, a real but unseen
discriminatory policy among companies that limits the
upward mobility of women, keeping them out of top
positions, high-profile transfers, and key assignments.
Ever since pay equity became a civil-rights goal in the
1970s, minorities and women have made some progress
toward it, but a significant gap remains. Generally, the
median earnings across all educational categories of fulltime workers are higher for men than for women.
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Sexual Discrimination (continued)
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Stereotyping women as passive & in need of protection
infused English common law from which U.S. law arose.
Labor laws intended to prevent the exploitation of women
became a means of restricting their job opportunities and
income potential.
Laws have changed but compliance does not necessarily
follow. Women do not know their legal rights, or find the
difficulties in securing them outweigh the rewards.
ERA (Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution)
failed ratification, only 35 out of required 38 states voted
for it. Failure was caused by opposition of numerous
groups (many women, labor leaders, conservatives,
religious groups, and insurance companies).
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3 Perspectives of Sexism
Functionalist:
 Sex-based division of labor was efficient in the past.
Such was the case in the early 19th century U.S.
 Traditionally, men performed the instrumental tasks—
goal-oriented activities necessary for family survival,
such as earning a living and finding food to supplement
what the female agriculturalists and herbalists provided.
Women handled the expressive tasks—providing
harmony, love, emotional support & stability within the
family.
 Social changes caused by the Industrial Revolution threw
the sex-based social structure out of balance.
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Perspectives (continued)
Machines curtailed men’s advantage of greater strength
for work tasks.
 Lower infant-mortality & smaller families & laborsaving appliances freed women from spending most of
their lives doing chores and raising small children.
Values, attitudes, & expectations about women’s roles
did not change as rapidly as socioeconomic conditions.
This cultural lag caused strain.
 Redefined sex roles and adjustments in the family and
other social institutions are needed to eliminate sexism.
Conflict theory:
 Oppression of women is economically based and
beneficial to male status and power.
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Perspectives (continued)
High degree of equality when economic contributions of
the 2 sexes were fairly even (hunting and gathering
societies). Sexual inequality increased in agrarian and
pastoral societies where male strength is needed for labor.
Women in an inferior position in industrial societies with
dependence on male breadwinners.
 Male domination evolves from changing economic
contributions of the 2 sexes, reinforced by sexist ideology.
This benefits males themselves and employers who reap
bigger profits by paying women less.
Interactionist:
 Examines social definitions, shared expectations, and the
emerging new male-female interaction patterns.
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Perspectives (continued)
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Socialization shapes sense of identity based on cultural
values about sex roles. Socialization agents promote sexrole identity & norms by example, reinforcement etc.
In socially constructed reality of shared expectations
about the capabilities and proper behavior of men and
women, people interact with one another on the basis of
their cultural conditioning. But, men do not consciously
and deliberately subjugate women, and women do not
passively submit to men.
Technology altered social structure and life expectations.
Traditional sex roles no longer find acceptance among
many women. Changing the content of the socialization
process will eliminate sexual inequality.
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Summary
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U.S. society has only recently recognized sexism as a
social problem.
Sex role behavior, according to sociological
explanations, is a result of society’s definitions of
gender identity and internalized sex role behavior
resulting from the socialization process.
In education, employment, income, and legal status,
women’s status has improved but remains far from
parity with men.
Three major sociological perspectives provide
explanations for sexism.
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