Ch. 8 Gender

Question 1

Sexual Dimorphism

Answer 1

SEXUAL DIMORPHISM refers to the differences in male and female besides the contrasts in breasts and genitals. Such as height and weight.

Question 2

Gender Roles

Answer 2

GENDER ROLES refer to the tasks and activities that a culture assigns to each sex.

Question 3

Gender Stereotypes

Answer 3

GENDER STEREOTYPES refer to the oversimplified but strongly held ideas about the characteristics of males and females.

Question 4

Gender Stratification

Answer 4

GENDER STRATIFICATION refers to the unequal distribution of rewards between men and women, reflecting their different positions in the social hierarchy. (UNEQUAL PAY)

• Gender Stratification DECREASED when men and women made roughly EQUAL CONTRIBUTIONS to SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES.
• In Hunter-Gatherers, When GATHERING (by women) is the more prominent source of food, gender status tends to be MORE EQUAL than when hunting and fishing (by men) are the main subsistence activities.
  
  • This is perhaps due to the humility evoked in men who produce less than the women.

Question 5

Sex vs. Gender

Answer 5

SEX refers to the BIOLOGICAL DIVISION of MALES and FEMALES based on chromosomes, genitals, and secondary sexual characteristics (breasts).

GENDER refers to the ROLES and BEHAVIORS ATTRIBUTED to one GENDER or another such as cognitive abilities, sexual behavior, hair length, clothing, and preference for jobs.

• There may be MORE THAN TWO GENDERS recognized in a society.

Question 6

Economic Determinants of Gender Status (Ann Stoler)

Answer 6

FREEDOM /AUTONOMY (control over one’s labor and its fruits) and SOCIAL POWER (Control over others) are the ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS of GENDER STATUS according to Stoler.

• In other words, GENDER STRATIFICATION DECREASES when MEN and WOMEN have SIMILAR FREEDOM OVER THEIR LABOR and CONTROL the products and labor of others.

Question 7

Gender Stratification in Stateless Societies

Answer 7

In STATELESS SOCIETIES (tribes, clans), gender stratification often is more obvious in REGARD to PRESTIGE than it is in regard to wealth.

• Ex: In the LLONGOT tribe in Northern Philippines, MALES were given high status (PRESTIGE) due to their WORLDLINESS from travel (in which women did not partake) regardless of their level of wealth.

Question 8

Cross-Cultural Division of Labor by Gender

Answer 8

Across 185 cultures, there was found a GENERAL division of labor by gender.

• But these divisions of labor were GENERALITIES, NOT UNIVERSALITIES, meaning there was a strong tendency for these divisions of labor (e.g. men build boats, women forage), but there are exceptions.
• Farming chores, in particular, tend to be “SWING ACTIVITIES” meaning a culture may assign the fieldwork to either men or women.
• Time spent on SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES (Necessary to stay alive) was about EQUAL for men and women.
• Half of all males do virtually NO DOMESTIC WORK. The other half only do SOME. Women almost always do most of the domestic work.
• Authority for children under 4 years old lies mostly with WOMEN (66%) to only 18% of MEN having more say.
• WOMEN tend to WORK MORE HOURS than men when you add subsistence activities with domestic work.

Question 9

Domestic-Public Dichotomy

Answer 9

DOMESTIC-PUBLIC DICHOTOMY (Also known as the PUBLIC-PRIVATE contrast) refers to the contrast between WOMEN’S ROLE in the HOME and MEN’s ROLE in PUBLIC LIFE, with a corresponding SOCIAL DEVALUATION of WOMEN’S WORK and WORTH.

• GENDER STATUS is MORE EQUAL when the DOMESTIC (home) and PUBLIC spheres are NOT sharply separated.
• When domestic and public spheres are clearly separated, public activities are given GREATER PRESTIGE than domestic ones.
• This PUBLIC-PRIVATE dichotomy is LESS pronounced in FORAGING societies, so HUNTER-GATHERERS (FORAGERS) have LESS GENDER STRATIFICATION than Food Producers, particularly when the FORAGING (done by women) provides more sustenance than HUNTING (done by men).

Question 10

When is Gender Status MORE EQUAL (i.e. Gender Stratification is LESS)?

Answer 10

Gender Status tends to be more equal (in other words, there is LESS GENDER STRATIFICATION) when:

1. MEN and WOMEN have SIMILAR FREEDOM OVER THEIR LABOR and the fruits of their labor.
2. MEN and WOMEN make roughly EQUAL ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTIONS.
3. The DOMESTIC and PUBLIC spheres are NOT SHARPLY SEPARATED.
4. MEN and WOMEN have access to equal PRESTIGE.

Question 11

Matrilineal and Matrilocal Societies

Answer 11

With MATRILINEAL DESCENT and MATRILOCALITY (Residence after marriage with the wife’s relatives), female status tends to be high and GENDER STRATIFICATION is REDUCED.

• Matrilinity and Matrilocatlity disperse RELATED MALES and CONSOLIDATES RELATED FEMALES.
• Political succession, inheritance, and social identity all come through the FEMALE LINKS.
• Although public authority nominally may be assigned to the men, much of the power and decision-making actually may belong to the senior women.
• MATRILINEAL and MATRILOCAL systems tend to occur in societies where population pressure on strategic resources is minimal and warfare is infrequent.
  
  • In other words, they occur in instances where there is NO NEED TO FIGHT for scarce resources.

Question 12

Matriarchy

Answer 12

A MATRIARCHY is a political system in which WOMEN play a much more prominent role than men do in social and political organizations.

• MATRIARCHIES exist but NOT as mirror images of PATRIARCHIES (Societies where MEN rule). Women do NOT hold the same, overarching power in a MATRIARCHY that men do in a patriarchy.
• The MINANGKABAU of Indonesia (western Sumatra) is a Matriarchal society of 4 million. And though WOMEN ARE CENTRAL to all facets of society, they do NOT have the power displayed by men in a patriarchal society. Instead, their decision-making is made by CONSENSUS, which includes both men and women.

Question 13

Patrilineal and Patrilocal Societies

Answer 13

With PATRILINEAL DESCENT and PATRILOCALITY (Residence after marriage with the husband’s relatives), male status tends to be high and GENDER STRATIFICATION is INCREASED.

PATRILINEAL-PATRILOCAL COMPLEX refers to the interrelated collection of PATRILINITY, PATRILOCALITY, WARFARE, and MALE-SUPREMECY.

• The DECLINE of MATRILINITY and the SPREAD of the PATRILINEAL-PATRILOCAL COMPLEX was attributed to the increased PRESSURE on RESOURCES (Martin and Voorhies).
  
  • In other words, as available RESOURCES GREW MORE SCARCE with rising human populations, there was a need to battle for the scarce resources available. The bigger size and strength of men required them to do the fighting. As societies necessarily put INCREASING VALUE on the ability to PROCURE SCARCE RESOURCES and PROTECT the SOCIETY from others seeking to steal their resources, Men came to power.
• In Patrilineal Societies:
  
  • There tends to be a SHARP DOMESTIC-PUBLIC DICHOTOMY.
  • Men dominate in the PRESTIGE HIERARCHY
  • Men then leverage their PUBLIC ROLES in warfare, trade, and GREATER PRESTIGE to further devalue the contribution of women.
  • These all bring about INCREASED GENDER STRATIFICATION.

Question 14

Patriarchy and Violence

Answer 14

PATRIARCHY is a political system ruled by men in which women have inferior social and political status, including fewer basic human rights.

• Patriarchoes extend from tribal societies such as the YANOMAMI (Amazon Rainforest) to state societies such as INDIA and PAKISTAN.
• Female-oppressive practices typical of Patriarchal Societies include:
  
  • Dowry Murders
  • Female infanticide
  • Clitoridectomies
• DOMESTIC VIOLENCE – Patriarchal societies, along with Isolated Families (families settle away from families of Orientation, called nonlocality) in industrialized nations, lead to higher levels of domestic violence against women as the women receive less value in patriarchal societies and are removed from potentially supportive kin through nonlocality in BOTH PATRILINEAL societies AND industrialized nations (through nonlocality).

Question 15

Gender in Industrialized Societies

Answer 15

• The idea that “a woman’s place is in the home” emerged in the USA as industrialism spread after 1900. Earlier, pioneer women in the Midwest and West had been recognized as fully productive workers in farming and home industry.
• With Industrialism, attitudes about Gendered work varied with CLASS and REGION.
  
  • Women accounted for a large portion of factory workers in the 1890s, but after 1900, European immigrants produced a male labor force willing to work for wages lower than those of American born men, so these male immigrants took the place of the low-paid women.
    
    • Machine tools and mass production further reduced the need for female labor with the notion that women were biologically unfit for factory work.
• During the World Wars, however, the notion that women were unfit for hard physical labor faded as men went off to war and the need for workers in factories rocketed.
  
  • Post-WWII, employers found they could increase their profits by paying women lower wages than they would have to pay returning male war veterans.

Question 16

Women’s Movement

Answer 16

The WOMEN’S MOVEMENT began in the 1960s with the publication of Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique in 1963, and the founding of the National Organization of Women (NOW) in 1966.

• The movement promoted expanded work opportunities for women and the goal of “equal pay for equal work”.
• Almost HALF of all Americans who work outside the home are women.
• Both Married women and Mothers have INCREASED their percentage of members employed.
• Increased FEMALE employment was spurred by:
  
  • Inflation
  • Culture of consumption
  • Baby Boom
  • Industrial Expansion

Question 17

Feminization of Poverty

Answer 17

The FEMINIZATION of POVERTY refers to the increasing representation of women (and their children) among America’s poorest people.

• Women head over half of US households with incomes below the poverty line – more than double the rate in 1959.
• Married couples are MUCH MORE economically secure, making over twice that of households headed by a woman.
• This Feminization of poverty is a worldwide phenomenon. as single-parent households continue to grow in the percent of the overall population.
  
  • The US has the highest % of single-parent households (29.5%), but Ireland has had the greatest increase in single-parent households (up 3x, from 7.2% in 1980 to 22.6% in 2009).
  • Households headed by women tend to be POORER than households headed by men.
  • The percentage of single-parent families considered poor in each country looked like this:
    
    • Britain = 20% of single-parent households were poor
    • Italy = 20%
    • Switzerland = 25%
    • Ireland = 40%
    • Canada = 52%
    • USA = 63%
• A way to IMPROVE the SITUATION of POOR WOMEN is to ORGANIZE, in order to provide support and pool resources.

Question 18

Work and Happiness

Answer 18

Of the 13 Countries with the Greatest female labor force participation, 10 of them were also rated the “Happiest Nations” (out of 132 total). Factors that might lead to this correlation include:

• More money for the family, with less financial stress
• A greater sense of independence and control over their own lives for women
• Less gender stratification
• More tax revenue with which the nation can work to improve quality of life.
• More personal freedom
• A greater sense of fulfillment and satisfaction for women from work

Question 19

Beyond Male and Female

Answer 19

Unlike BIOLOGICAL SEX, GENDER is SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED. And societies may recognize more than two genders:

INTERSEX (Formerly known as Hermaphroditism) refers to a group of conditions reflecting a discrepancy between the external and the internal genitals – so there is actually a BIOLOGICAL difference between a BIOLOGICAL MALE or FEMALE and someone int he category of INTERSEX.

• Some people can be born with a mix of MALE and FEMALE biological features (such as a uterus AND testicles, or they may have male anatomy on the outside, but female anatomy on the inside, or vice-versa).
• KLINEFELTER’S Syndrome is the MOST COMMON sex chromosome combination (XXY) having two female chromosomes with one male chromosome – affects about 1/1,000 MALES. XXX occurs with about 1/1,000 FEMALES.
  
  • There is usually NO DISTINGUISHABLE PHYSICAL difference compared with other males (for XXY) or females (for XXX)
• TURNER’s Syndrome is a set of conditions where one of the sex chromosomes is missing (eg. X0).
  
  • Females with this syndrome are typically sterile because of non-working ovaries and the absence of a menstrual cycle.
• These conditions usually result in the person seeing themselves as either male or female rather than transgender (where gender doesn’t match sex).

HISTORY has shown that fluid GENDER CATEGORIES And ROLES have existed throughout time, with:

• Eunuchs (Castrated men)
• Berdache (Zuni man-woman) (male who adopted women’s social roles)
• Sworn Virgins (Females who assumed male gender roles to meet societal needs when men were in short supply)
• Hijras (Neither man nor woman ‘third gender’ in India)
• Fakaleitis (Tongan individual assigned male at birth who has a feminine gender expression)
• Fa’afafine (The ‘third gender’ in Samoa – faʻafafine are assigned male at birth, and explicitly embody both masculine and feminine gender traits in a way unique to Polynesia.
• Mahy

TRANSGENDER refers to those whose gender performance and identity contradict a binary gender structure (MAN or WOMAN) as well as the person’s biological sex.

Question 20

Sexual Orientation

Answer 20

SEXUAL ORIENTATION refers to the habitual sexual attraction to persons of the:

• opposite sex – HETEROSEXUAL
• same-sex – HOMOSEXUAL
• both sexes – BISEXUAL
• neither Sex – ASEXUALITY

Different societies may accept some but reject others.

• It is unknown what percentage of BIOLOGY or CULTURE accounts for the variances in Sexual orientation. Certainly, BIOLOGY is a large part of the orientation as sexual attraction is quite reflexive, but there may be some Cultural influence that accounts for some part of how that is expressed.

TRIBAL SEXUAL ORIENTATION:

• AZANDE men of Sudan warriors would have sex with their boy trainees. The Boy Trainees would become warriors and take their own boy brides. Upon retirement, they would take a female wife and have sex with her.
• ETORO men in Papua New Guinea encouraged homosexuality, finding heterosexual sex objectionable and allowed only for the purpose of procreation.
  
  • HOWEVER, though these cultures fashioned sexual interactions in this way by decree and threat, that does NOT indicate that there was a natural attraction between the men. NATURAL ATTRACTIONS were not taken into consideration. Referred to as RITUAL HOMOSEXUALITY.
  • This is an EXAMPLE of MALE-FEMALE AVOIDANCE widespread in Papua New Guinea and other Patrilineal societies.