2) Functionalist Explanations Of Gender Inequality Flashcards
Functionalist view on gender inequality
- functionalists argue that males and females have separate social roles that are based on biological differences
- differences between genders help society run smoothly
These differences may show signs of gender inequality
Functionalists argue:
- females give birth and raise/ socialise children
- females have a role of domesticity e.g. stay at home, cook meals
- females have less opportunity to work
- males have a more dominant and economic role e.g. breadwinner
This leads to division between males and females (e.g. females looked down upon)
Research by Murdock
- studied gender roles in 200 pre-industrial societies
- he found females were located at home due to their biological function of child-bearing, less able to do physically strenuous or economic tasks
- females expected to be nurturing and caring for children
- males located out the house, e.g. working/ providing for the family
- Murdock concluded that these gender differences are due to biological differences, and genders should perform tasks that are physically suited to them (females more suited to stay at home, males more suited to go to work)
Evaluation of Murdock
(+) supports the idea of isolated nuclear family by Parsons
(+) research conducted by Mead supports the idea of separate gender roles e.g. tribe in Papua New Guinea have separate gender roles - males hunt and females stay at home
(-) Mead’s research in Papua New Guinea tribes found contradictory evidence, e.g. both males and females are aggressive and females performed the same tasks as men
This contradicts Murdock, and suggests there could be gender equality in society
Talcott Parsons research
Instrumental vs expressive roles
Parsons focused on the role of family in socialising children and stabilising adult personalities
Gender roles people are socialised into:
1) instrumental roles: performed by males/ fathers. Focuses on tasks such as providing food, shelter, money. This role is dominant in the family.
2) expressive roles are performed by mothers. Focuses on emotion and caring and is less dominant than instrumental roles.
Both of these roles are equal but different according to parsons
The expressive role can lead to gender inequality that limits female career choices, as they’re expected to stay at home and take care of children
Socialisation of children:
- moulded by their parents to integrate into society
- socialisation of children is mainly the responsibility of the mother as they spend more time with children than fathers
Stabilisation of adult personalities:
- males reply on their wives for emotional support after work
- females provide an emotional and caring environment in the family to help tabilise adult personality for males
- this is the warm bath theory (when men come home from work women prepare a warm bath- metaphor) - could lead to gender inequality as it link to the ‘triple shift’ of females idea
Evaluation of Parsons theory
(-) Leech argues Parsons ignores the dark side of the family whereby gender inequality occurs frequently e.g. domestic abuse, whey the victims are females
(-) Parson’s theory has been criticised for being outdated and lack temporal validity in contemporary society, e.g. more now work 47% of workforce is female
(-) feminists criticise the idea of isolated nuclear family as they argue its a patriarchal idea (e.g. women get little praise for their expressive role compared to males who are seen as break winner, and females have no emotional support)
(+) Marxists support as males have an instrumental role which supports the capitalists system as males have to work as hard as they can to support their family
Human capital theory by Rastogi
Human capital is based on knowledge, education, skills a person has which will enable them to do a certain job
E.g. a male may earn more money than a female doing the same job as they have a higher level of education e.g. masters degree (so males have more human capital)
- it is likely males have a more human capital because they have more opportunity to study (not limited by children or pregnancy) and more experience in the job (e.g. no maternity leave)
- human capital theory supports functionalist views of meritocracy
- males tend to be more work orientated and committed to their jobs than females who focus more on caring for their family
Results in gender inequality:
- employers less likely to employ females as they might leave due to pregnancy
- females less likely to be promoted (less human capital)
-
Evaluation of Human Capital Theory
(+) Sloane found evidence that there is a 30% difference in salary for people that were doing the same job, but one was more qualified than the other
(-) Sloan found some evidence that contradicts the human capital theory, males seemed to earn 29% more than females on average doing the same job with no difference in training or education
(-) human capital theory ignores the causes of inequality between genders (e.g. could be due to the structure of the labour market - primary vs secondary)
Sex Role Theory
Socialisation process starts at birth.
Ann Oakley stated that babies ate treated differently at birth according to their sex
Sex is a biological concept i.e. reproductive biological characteristics, whilst gender is a social expectation reflecting the way people are expected to behave from birth
Sex role ideology: this socialisation process is a social expectation - ideas about what’s considered masculine and feminine
Gender roles: how people should behave according to their gender (expected characteristics)
Eichler stated that such roles include girls expected to be quiet, gentle, caring, whereas boys are expected to be much the reverse.
Norman et al: children’s toys and play establish their attitudes and future aspirations which enforce stereotypes (e.g. girls play with kitchen sets). Link to Ann Oakley ideas of canalisation and manipulation
Schooling/ hidden curriculum reinforce gender roles
Scott suggest that the main priority in life, especially for those with low ability, is to marry, have children and care for their family
Evaluation of sex role theory
(+) Kelly found evidence that supports sex role ideology by subject choices males and females make at school. E.g. science considered masculine
(+) Licht found that female students explained their academic success as luck, convincing themselves they were incapable of succeeding (less likely wanting to be ambitious in their career), whereas males blamed their failure on external factors e.g. poor teaching
(-) everyone experiences socialisation differently (its not homogenous) e.g. boys raised by single mothers may be socialised to be more caring
