Sociology Chapter 10 - Gender Stratification

What term refers to an invisible, yet real, barrier that prevents many women from rising beyond middle-management positions?

"glass ceiling"

Instrumental qualities

-Gender plays an important part in socialization -boys are taught labor force, rational, self-assured, competitive

The Costs of Sexism

-Limits the talents and ambitions of half the human population - women -Masculinity in U.S. culture encourages men to engage in high-risk behaviors

Quid pro quo (sexual harassment)

-One thing in return for another - violation of civil rights

For which of the categories of the U.S. population is it true that women do most of the housework?

-employed people -married people -people with children

The chapter argues that gender is not a matter just of difference, but also a matter of:

-privileges -wealth -power

expressive qualities

-such as emotional responsiveness and sensitivity to others -prepare girls for child rearing

Women earn less than men in the U.S. workplace, on average, because:

-they have different types of jobs. -of gender discrimination. -women take on more family responsibilities

In about what share of all cases of rape and attempted rape on U.S. college campuses does a woman know her attacker?

90 percent

Matriarchy ("Rule of Mothers")

A form of social organization in which females dominate males

Patriarchy ("Rule of Fathers")

A form of social organization in which males dominate females

Female genital mutilation is most common in:

Africa

Minority

Any category of people distinguished by physical or cultural difference that a society sets apart and subordinates

Which of the following statements is the best reason to see women as a minority in the United States?

At every class level, women have less income, wealth, education, and power than men do.

gender roles (sex roles)

Attitudes and activities that a society links to each sex

Radical Feminism

Believe that patriarchy is so firmly entrenched that even a socialist revolution would not end it

Socialist Feminism

Capitalism increases patriarchy by concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a small number of men

Type A Personality

Cause of heart disease and almost a perfect match with behavior U.S. culture considers masculine

Margaret Mead's Research

Concluded that culture is the key to gender distinction

In athletics, the performance gap between male and female athletes is getting bigger.

False

In her famous study, Margaret Mead compared gender patterns in four African societies.

False

In the United States, a majority of bachelor degrees are earned by men.

False

In the United States, women gained the right to vote in 1820.

False

Margaret Mead argued that gender was mostly a matter of biology rather than culture.

False

Most women in the United States think of themselves as a minority.

False

On average, males live longer than females.

False

Patriarchy provides advantages but not disadvantages to males.

False

Research shows that young males seem to have less mathematical ability but greater verbal ability than young females.

False

The global area in which women have the least social power is North America.

False

Today in the United States, a larger share of women than men are in the labor force.

False

Unmarried women do less housework than unmarried men.

False

Women did not serve in the U.S. military until World War II.

False

Liberal Feminism

Individuals should be free to develop their own talents and pursue their own interests

In which of the following nations do women have the greatest political power in relation to men?

Norway

hostile environment

Occurs when unwelcome sexual conduct has the effect of unreasonably interfering with job performance

Genital mutilation

Painful and dangerous surgical procedure performed in more than 40 countries and the U.S.

gender

Refers to the personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female or male.

Pornography

Sexually explicit material that causes sexual arousal

beauty myth

Society teaches women to measure their worth in terms of physical appearance

Feminism

The advocacy of social inequality for women and men, in opposition to patriarchy and sexism

Sexism

The belief that one sex is innately superior to the other

Intersection theory

The interplay of race, class, and gender, often resulting in multiple dimensions of disadvantage

gender stratification

The unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women

A social-conflict account of the history of gender stratification was developed by Friedrich Engels.

True

Almost all of all secretaries in the United States are women.

True

Evidence from the Israeli kibbutzim suggests that cultures have considerable latitude in defining what is masculine and feminine.

True

Gender affects the opportunities and constraints each of us encounters throughout our lives.

True

In the United States today, women working for income is the rule rather than the exception.

True

Intersection theory looks at how the interplay of class, race, and gender effects patterns of social inequality.

True

Intersection theory looks at the interplay of class, race, and gender.

True

Like race or social class, gender is a major dimension of social stratification.

True

Minority women earn less, on average, than white women.

True

Most sociological research suggests that gender is largely a matter of culture, and thus is subject to change.

True

Over the course of the last century, it is probably correct to say that there was more change in women's labor force participation rate than in men's.

True

People in the United States are reluctant to see women in military combat.

True

Talcott Parsons described gender in terms of complementarity.

True

The question "Is it a boy or a girl?" is commonly asked of new parents, a fact that shows the importance of sex in shaping a child's entire life.

True

While playing in peer groups, girls tend to avoid "win-lose" games favored by boys.

True

Structural-Functional Approach

Views society as a complex system of many separate but integrated parts

Which of the following statements about women in the U.S. labor force is correct?

Women now own more than 9 million small businesses, more then one-third of the total.

Plays

a part in gender stratification

In observing children at play, Janet Lever concluded that:

boys favor games with clear winners and losers.

"Pink-collar" work refers to what type of jobs?

clerical

Friedrich Engels claimed that expanding capitalism tends to turn women into:

consumers

Which of the following job categories has mostly women as workers?

elementary school teachers

In the United States, the costs of sexism for men include:

engaging in many high-risk behaviors.

kibbutzim/kibbutz

equality is one of its stated goals; men and women share in both work and decision making.

Which of the following concepts refers to attitudes and activities that a society links to people of each sex?

gender roles

Looking back over U.S. history, we see a general trend by which women:

have gained opportunities and power.

Most violence against women occurs:

in the home.

Institutional sexism

is found throughout the economy, with women highly concentrated in low-paying jobs

Power

issue because it dehumanizes women

What type of feminism accepts the basic organization of U.S. society, but seeks to give women the same rights and opportunities as men?

liberal feminism

Men show greater ________ ability than women; women show greater ________ ability than men.

mathematical; verbal

What is the form of social organization in which females dominate males?

matriarchy

gender gap

men are somewhat more likely than women to favor conservative positions, such as building a stronger military

In U.S. schools, courses in sociology typically enroll:

more women than men.

All of the following are goals of feminism EXCEPT for one. Which is it?

opposing the Equal Rights Amendment

All of the following except for one are goals of feminism. Which is NOT a goal of feminism?

opposing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

hierarchy

placing men and women in different positions in terms of power, wealth, and other resources

What type of feminism seeks to end patriarchy by eliminating the idea of gender itself?

radical feminism

What type of feminism links the social disadvantages of women to the capitalist economic system?

socialist feminism

Margaret Mead's research on gender in three societies showed that:

societies may define both "masculine" and "feminine" differently.

Sexual harassment became a public issue in the United States in:

the 1990s.

Structural-functional analysis points out that industrialization encourages:

the lessening of gender differences and a trend towards gender equality.

Over the last century, which has been a cause of the rising share of women in the U.S. paid labor force?

the rising divorce rate

The point of describing gender in the Israeli kibbutzim is:

to show that cultures define gender in different ways.

Margaret Mead's research on gender in three societies in New Guinea illustrates that:

what is feminine to one society may be masculine to another.

In the U.S. work force,

women are still concentrated in several categories of jobs.