Evidence - Gender Inequalities

Question 1

Workplace - Adkins (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 1

Found evidence of horizontal and vertical segregation in the workplace disadvantaging the roles of women. In theme parks males worked as ride operators whilst women worked in catering. In these roles women faced regular sexual harassment from other staff and customers.

Question 2

Workplace - The Fawcett Society (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 2

The gender pay gap stands at 13.7% in 2019 - In 2015 is was 13.9% showing that the gap has closed but only slightly - Meaning there is little or no change occurring. For every £1 a man earns a woman earns 86p…that equates to 2 months of ‘free labour’ every year. Although in previous years the pay gap reduce, it has not improved since 2015.

Question 3

Workplace - Laura Bates (Everyday Sexism Project) (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 3

In the UK parliament men outnumber women by 4 to 1. Also only 18 out of 108 High Court Judges are female.

Question 4

Workplace - Mac an Ghail (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 4

The Crisis of Masculinity. Deindustrialisation and feminisation of the labour market has led to increased unemployment for men.

Question 5

Workplace - Willis (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 5

States that working class ‘Lads’ are fatalistic about their futures due to following in their father’s footsteps – Leading them into low status, low paid, basic manual labour jobs.

Question 6

Workplace - Doyal (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 6

Claims that as males dominate in high risk industrial jobs, they are more likely to suffer workplace accidents.

Question 7

Education - Kelly (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 7

Suggests that Science is packaged as a boys subject – Boys are allowed to dominate science classrooms and examples in textbooks are male relates e.g. cars and footballs in examples. This leads to girls being disengaged from the subject.

Question 8

Education - Colley (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 8

Argues that subject choices are negatively influenced by:

• Perception of gender roles
• Subject preferences
• Learning environment

Question 9

Education - Skelton (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 9

Suggests that the hidden curriculum (such as attitudes of teachers) negatively influences subject choices.

Question 10

Education - Willis (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 10

States that working class ‘Lads’ are fatalistic about their futures due to following in their father’s footsteps – Leading them into low status, low paid, basic manual labour jobs – This means that they developed anti-school attitudes in education as they did not see the value in achievement (they did not need qualifications to get these jobs).

Question 11

Education - Mitsos and Browne (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 11

States that teachers treat males and females differently and that this can cause inequality for boys – They state that teachers are too lenient on ‘laddish’ behaviour of boys and that this can do them a disservice leading to their lack of achievement. Whereas they are hard on girls who are seen as breaking both the school rules and gender norms – ‘doubly deviant’ – This ensures that they achieve.

Question 12

Education - Department for Education (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 12

Statistics show that…
In 2019, 71.9% of female students achieved a C/4 grade or higher in comparison to 62.9% of male students who achieved a C/4 grade or higher in the United Kingdom.

Question 13

Media - Mulvey - (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 13

Notes that typical examples of the male gaze include medium close-up shots of women from over a man’s shoulder, shots that pan and fixate on a woman’s body, and scenes that frequently occur which show a man actively observing a passive woman. Women in the media are viewed through the eyes of heterosexual men (male gaze). Women are therefore presented as passive objects for male desire.

Question 14

Media - Sewell - (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 14

Found that black Afro-Caribbean boys turned to rapper role models due to a lack of father figure within the home, when they were from matriarchal backgrounds. This negative role model then lead these boys into deviant anti-school subcultures which lead to their lack of achievement.

Question 15

Media - Billington - (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 15

Argues that the media presents masculinity as dominant and femininity as subordinate. Although this more so links to females it could be applied that boys feel pressure to look and act in a particular way.

Question 16

Media - Easthorpe - (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 16

Argues that a variety of media, especially Hollywood films and computer games, transmit the view that masculinity based on strength, aggression, competition and violence is biologically determined and, therefore, a natural goal for boys to achieve.

Question 17

Crime - Harding (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 17

Studied girls in gangs in South London - He found that girls took the role as “fixers” and were used by males to hide weapons and drugs. He also found that they were subjected to sexual abuse and harrassment from male gang members.

Question 18

Crime - Home Office (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 18

Only 6% of rapes reported result in a conviction.

Question 19

Crime - Leonard (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 19

Claims that judges label females as ‘doubly deviant’ and judge that they have not only broken laws but also gender roles meaning that they should be punished more harshly.

Question 20

Crime - Faludi (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 20

Males are not ‘deviant’, they are ‘performing their masculinity’ and demonstrated qualities expected from males: toughness, bravery and strength

Question 21

Crime - Sewell (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 21

Young, Black Afro-Caribbean boys turn to hypermasculine culture - ‘Get rich quick’ attitudes

Question 22

Crime - Campbell (Male - Disadvantage)

Answer 22

Men are denied their masculinity through academic success or being the breadwinner (in a de-industrialised society) therefore they turn to violence and anti-social behaviour to express their masculinity

Question 23

Crime - Pollak - (Female - Advantage)

Answer 23

‘Chivalry Thesis’ - Judges are less harsh on girls - They have the view that they couldn’t possibly commit crime - Girls are socialised into less deviant values.

Question 24

Media - Ferguson - (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 24

conducted a content analysis of women’s magazines, and counted the number of times a certain topic was covered. She concluded that women’s magazines were based around a ‘cult of femininity’, which promotes the idea that excellence is achieved through caring for others, the family, marriage and appearance. The impact of this is that women are socialised through the media into traditional gender roles

Question 25

Media - Billington - (Female - Disadvantage)

Answer 25

illustrated what roles men and women take within media texts. Women are portrayed as subordinate, e.g. housewives, and in need of being rescued by men, whereas men are portrayed as dominant, e.g. aggressive, breadwinners.