Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Social Inequality

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Men and Women in Society

The Biological Perspective

Assumes that innate biological differences between men and women shape the contributions that each can make to society.

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The Functionalist Perspective

Talcott Parsons posited that sex roles became divided along the lines of instrumental tasks and expressive tasks. Functionalists argue that a problem exists when the sex-role division of labor is no longer consistent with the needs of a particular society.
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The Conflict Perspective

Sexual differentiation becomes a battleground for the struggle over scarce resources.

Conflict theorists view sexual inequality as a problem when some group, such as women, realizes it is being exploited and strives to do something to change the situation.
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The Interactionist Perspective

Interactionists emphasize social definitions and symbolic representations of appropriate behavior for males and females in trying to understand sexual inequality. Conversational styles of men and women can reflect and reinforce gender patterns of dominance and subordination.

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Socialization of Men & Women

Sex refers to the biological terms of male and female.

Gender refers to the learned behavior involving how we are expected to act as males and females in society.

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Agents of Socialization

The family
Parents are likely to treat male and female infants and young children in ways consistent with how they view masculinity and femininity. Parents today are more aware of the negative consequences of gender stereotyping.

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Agents of Socialization

The schools
From the beginning of school, children see men in positions of authority and dominance over women.
Evidence shows that sexist treatment in the schools does result in lower selfesteem for female grade school and high school students.
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Agents of Socialization

The media and the electronic world

Television
Perhaps the most significant form of media for the socialization of young people is television. It has been estimated that children watch from 10 to 25 hours of television a week. Despite the fact that television has cleaned up its act to some extent, this powerful medium still overwhelmingly portrays stereotyped gender roles.
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Agents of Socialization

The Media
Music
Although one can find practically any message, including strongly egalitarian and feminist ones, in some musical formats, the predominant portrayals tend to be of men who are dominant, strong, and aggressive, and of women who are young, physically attractive, and sexually alluring.

Internet and cyberworld

The e-world vastly expands the possibilities in terms of gender socialization for the young. It offers them contact with a vast array of socializing agents, other than the traditional ones (family, school, church).
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Extent of Gender Inequality in the U. S.

Women occupy a subordinate position in comparison to men on virtually every dimension of socioeconomic status (SES). Women face discrimination on the basis of sex in education, occupation, income, the military, and the courts.
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Global Perspective

Gender inequality is widespread throughout the U.S. and around the world.
In all parts of the world the rate of illiteracy is higher among women than men. Women are poorly represented in political positions where important decisions are made. Poor women in many developing countries have been among the victims of a capitalist world economy.
Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.