Chapter 4 Gender as a Social Problem

Question 1

Sex

Answer 1

Sex is based on fixed, inherited physiological characteristics.

Question 2

Gender

Answer 2

Gender is based on changeable, learned cultural and social characteristics.

Question 3

Sexism

Answer 3

Sexism refers to prejudice or discrimination based solely on someone’s sex.

1. Only thirty-five women have served as senators throughout the history of the U.S. Senate.
   a) . There is nothing automatic at birth which makes men more suited to become senators than women.

Question 4

Functionalist perspectives on gender inequality

Answer 4

Functionalists argue that it is appropriate for men, not women, to pursue certain positions in society based on their perceived ability to successfully do the job.

Question 5

Conflict perspectives on gender inequality

Answer 5

Conflict and Feminist theorists believe that our social and political structures are created to maintain the dominance of men.
1. Patriarchy refers to a system where men are dominant over women.

Question 6

Interactionist perspectives on gender inequality

Answer 6

Interactionists believe that we socially construct our values through things such as language.

Question 7

The consequences of gender inequality.

Answer 7

Occupational sex segregation, horizontal sex segregation, vertical sex segregation

Question 8

Occupational sex segregation

Answer 8

Occupational sex segregation refers to the continuation of women to dominate traditional female occupations.

1. Secretaries (96.1 percent are women), childcare workers (94.7%), receptionists (92.7%) and teacher assistants (92.4%)
   - –Occupational sex segregation is a worldwide phenomenon.

Question 9

Horizontal sex segregation

Answer 9

Horizontal sex segregation represents the separation of women into non-manual labor and men into manual labor sectors.
a). Employer and institutional discrimination, child socialization, and internalized sex-typed expectations can all lead to horizontal sex segregation.

Question 10

Vertical sex segregation

Answer 10

Vertical sex segregation identifies the elevation of men into the best paid and most desirable occupations in non-manual and manual labor sectors while women remain in lower paid positions with no job mobility.
a). Vertical sex segregation is base on deeply rooted and widely shared cultural beliefs that men are more competent than women and are better suited than women for positions of power.

Question 11

Income inequality

Answer 11

Income inequality research shows that for every dollar earned by man, a woman earns 77 cents.
1. Why do men earn more than women?
a). Human capital theory suggests that women earn less because of the
differences in the kind and amount of skills workers acquire through education and work experience.
b). A higher societal value is placed on males over females and this is reproduced within the workplace.

Question 12

Educational attainment

Answer 12

Educational attainment earned by women has been increasing for many years.
1. Some gender segregation occurs according to major such as theology (77 percent men), MBA (59%), non-education doctorate programs (55%), law (54%), and master’s of science (52%).

Question 13

Feminist movements and social policies

Answer 13

1. Historians mark the beginning of the feminist movement (i.e., the first wave) in the U.S. and throughout the world to the 1800s.
2. The second wave focused on expanding legal rights for women including Title VII and Title IX.
3. The third wave began in the 1990s which globally expanded the fight for rights for women to also include race and ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation.
4. Recently, a fourth wave synthesizes the second wave’s emphasis on equality and the third wave’s focus on global inequality.

Question 14

Responding to gender inequalities

Answer 14

Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 prohibits the exclusion of any person from participation in an educational program or the denial of benefits based on one’s sex.