WOMEN: THE OPPRESSED MAJORITY

CHAPTER 15

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Women and Minority Status

• Subordinate status means confinement to subordinate roles not justified by a person’s abilities

• Biological differences between males and females• Must separate differences of gender from those

produced by sexismo Distinctions result from socialization

• Feminist movement has long history beginning in 1800s

• Child care and housework still disproportionately responsibilities of women

• Both men and women find it difficult to conceptualize women as a subordinate groupo Not all women live in ghettoso No longer attend inferior schoolso Freely interact and live with their alleged oppressors – men

• Five properties of a subordinate or minority groupo 1. Women experience unequal treatmento 2. Women have physical and cultural characteristics that

distinguish them from the dominant group – meno 3. Membership in the subordinate group is involuntaryo 4. Women are aware of their subordinate status and have a

sense of solidarity o 5. Women are not forced to marry, yet many feel

subordinate status defined within marriage

• Stereotypes of Womeno Considered emotional, irresponsible, weak, or inferioro Fight subtly against the systemo Allegedly try to outwit men with feminine wiles

Sex and Gender Roles

• Sexismo The ideology that one sex is superior to the other

• Androgynyo The view that there are few differences between the sexes

• Permits people to see that humans can be both aggressive and expressive depending on the situation

• People do not have to be locked into masculine or feminine behavior

• Gender Roleso Society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes,

and activities of males and femaleso Origin of gender roles are not clear

• Animal studies and gender• Cross-cultural studies and gender

o Socialization has powerful impact on development of females and males in U.S.

• Boys are admired for athletic ability, coolness, toughness, social skills, and successful relationships with girls

• Girls are admires for parent’s economic status, physical appearance, social skills, and academic success

o Gender differences are maintained in our culture through systematic socialization

o Acceptable behavior for men and women change over time in a society

• Gender differentiation in U.S. culture embedded in social institutionso Family, education, religion, politics,

economy, medicine, and mass media

• Functionalisto Sex differentiation contributes to overall social stabilityo Persuasive in explaining the way men and women are

brought up is US society

• Conflict Theoryo Relationship between females and males is one of

unequal power with men being dominant over women

• Functionalists and conflict theoristso Acknowledge it is not possible to change gender roles

drastically without dramatic revisions in a culture’s social structure

• Functionalists see potential social disorder or unknown social consequences

• Conflict theorists contend no social structure is desirable if maintained through oppression

Sociological Perspective

The Feminist Movement

• Women activists and sympathetic men who spoke of equal rights

• Often were ridiculed and scorned• Emerged during the early part of the nineteenth

centuryo Seneca Falls, NY 1848

• Evolved out of the oppression of women and children within the colonial family and society

• Role of women in the abolitionist movement and its influence on the development of the women’s movement

• The Suffrage Movemento Suffragists

• Worked for years to get women the right to voteo Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Seneca Falls

women’s rights convention of 1848o Susan B. Anthony arrested in 1872 for attempting to

vote in the presidential electiono Opposition to the women’s vote

• Liquor interests and brewers afraid of anti-alcohol women• South feared my Blacks (women) voting

• Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1919)o Amendment was introduced in 1879o Remarkable achievement because it had to rely on male

legislators to do soo Many of the most prominent female suffragists died

before ever getting the right to voteo The nineteenth Amendment did not automatically lead

to other feminist reforms

The Women’s Liberation Movement

• After voting rights were achieved the women’s movement faded then regained prominence in the 1960’s

• Encouraged by the civil rights movement there was a re-emergence of feminism (Women’s “Lib”eration)o Women felt unfulfilled with homemaking and guilty about

being in the labor force• Several events delayed progress in 1960’s

o Civil rights movement and the antiwar movement slow to embrace women’s rights

o New Left as sexist as the rest of society in practice despite talk of equality

o Protest groups rejected women leaders• Eventually civil rights movement, New Left, and

established women groups endorsed feminist movement

• The women’s movement has also brought about a reexamination of men’s roleso “male liberation” from masculine value system

• Expected to achieve physically and occupationally regardless of their values or other’s values

o Men must redefine their roles as workers, husbands, and fathers

• Feminist movement underwent significant change in 1970so Betty Friedan (1921-2006)

• Founder of National Organization for Women (NOW) 1966• Feminine Mystique

o Women had to understand that society saw them only as their children’s mother and their husband’s wife

• 1980s called for restructuring the “institution of home and wife”o Recognized women’s frustration with being unable to do it all:

career, marriage, and motherhood

The Economic Picture

• Occupational segregation of womeno Women are concentrated in low paying occupations

• Increase in female labor force participation over the last century

• Sexism in employment• Bureau of Labor Statistics segregation index

o 54% of women and men workers would need to switch jobs to create a labor force without segregation

• Occupational segregation by gender continues, but women have increased participation in labor force

• Women earnings have increased significantly over the last quarter centuryo From 62 cents to 80 cents for every dollar earned by meno Show little further narrowing through 2012

Occupational Segregation and Discrimination

• Sources of discrimination• Primary cause is segregating influences in the

labor market• The social and occupational roles of men and

women have become segregated o Ideologically o Physically o Socially

• Ideological devaluation of the occupational roles of women

• Efforts to eliminate discrimination as it applies to womeno 1964 Civil Rights Act

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commissiono Address cases of sex discrimination

o Pay Equity (Comparable worth)• Calls for equal pay for different types of work that are

judged to be comparable by measuring:o Knowledgeo Skillso Effort o Responsibilityo Working conditions

• Primary goal of feminists-eliminate sex discrimination in labor force and equalize job opportunities

• Glass Ceilingo Refers to the invisible barrier blocking the promotion of a

qualified worker because of gender or minority membership

• Despite debate over affirmative action, consensus is that there is little room at the top for women and minorities

• Mommy Tracko An unofficial career track that firms use for women who

want to divide their attention between work and family• Can’t be applied to all women• Implies that men are not interested in maintaining balance

between work and family

Sexual Harassment• Recognized as any unwanted and unwelcome

sexual advances that interfere with a person’s ability to perform a job and enjoy the benefits of a job

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• Sociocultural theory of sexual harassmento Rooted within patriarchy and male dominanceo Takes place where the hierarchy of authority finds White

men at the top and in which women’s work is valued less than men’s

• African American women 3 times more likely than White women to experience sexual harassment

• Power theory of sexual harassment o Rooted within the distribution of power within

organizationso Function of the difference in power relations

• Conflict Perspectiveo Women, especially women of color, are most likely to be

victims of sexual harassmento These groups typically are an organization’s most

vulnerable employees in terms of job security

Sexual Harassment

Feminization of Poverty

• Poverty and women• Increase in the number of female headed

households• Increase in divorce• Displaced Homemaker

o Defined as women whose primary occupation had been homemaking but who did not find full time employment after divorce, separation, or widowhood

• Declining alimony and the lack of child support• Lack of family friendly Federal

policies

Education• Sex-segregated classrooms

o structure and tracking by gender

• Discrimination in admissions and financial aid by sex

• Increase in the number female faculty on campuses

• Equal access to educational resources

• Education Act of 1972 and Department of Health, Education, and Welfare guidelines of 1974 and 1975o Collectively called Title IX provisions

• Regulations designed to eliminate sexist practices from almost all school systems

o Schools must make changes or lose federal assistance• Eliminate all sex-segregated classes and extracurricular

activities• Cannot discriminate by sex in admissions or financial aid;

cannot inquire if applicant is married, pregnant, or parent• Schools must end sexist hiring and promotion practices among

faculty members• Although women do not have to be admitted to play on all-

men’s athletic teams, schools must provide more opportunities for women’s sports, intramural and extramural

Family Life• U.S. society equates work with wages

o Women who do household chores and volunteer work are given little status

• Sociologist Susan Walzer (1996)o Mothers are much more involved than fathers in the

invisible mental labor associated with taking care of a baby

• Media attention (21st century)o Focused on high profile women who choose not to climb the

last steps of corporate laddero “opting out” led to generalization on all women

• Seventy-two percent of care givers are women• Psychologist Mary Clare Lennon and Sociologist

Sarah Rosenfield (1994)o 67% men suggested uneven distribution of housework fair

to both spouseso Married women with fewest alternatives and financial

prospects most likely to accept unequal household arrangements

o Women who view unequal housework as unjust experience more depression

• Sociologist Arlie Hochschildo Second Shift

• Describes the double burden – work outside the home followed by child care and housework that many women face and few men share equitably

• Issue increasingly important as more mothers work outside the home

o Mommy Tax• Economic cost of “second shift”

o Lower salaries women receive over their lifetime because they have children

o Lose job experienceo Trade off higher wages for following mommy tracko Discriminated against by employers

Abortion• Controversial subject affecting family life in US• Roe v. Wade (January 22, 1973)

o Applauded by pro-choice groups and condemned by pro-life

• Social class issues and abortion• Abortion issue centers on the distribution of power

and the (control) over the roles and rights of men and women in society

• In terms of social class, right to terminate pregnancy affected poor peopleo 1976 Hyde Amendment

• Banned use of Medicaid and other federal funds for abortiono Another obstacle – access to abortion providers

• Fewer hospitals allowing doctors to perform abortions except in extreme cases

Political Activity• Women constitute 53% of the voting population• Under-represented in National political offices• More representation on Local and State level• Lack of representatives is a function of a number of

factors.o 1. Fewer women in business and law– the grooming ground

for a political career.o 2. Fewer women in political organizations and decision

making.o 3. Some women may feel that a political career may

interfere with family responsibilities.

Matrix of Domination:

Minority Women• African American Feminist Patricia Hill Collins (1990)• Matrix of Domination

o Whites dominate non-Whites; men dominate women; and the affluent dominate the poor

• Gender, race, and social class not only systems of oppressiono Profoundly affect women and people of color in U.S.

• Double Jeopardy: Minority Womeno Subordinate status twice