Gender Stratification and inequality

Question 1

what does gender stratification refer to

Answer 1

the unequal distribution of power, opportunities, resources, and privileges between men and women in society

Question 2

patriarchy

Answer 2

a society dominated by men, the structures and institutions in society systematically advantage men

Question 3

examples of social/political/legal changes that demonstrate greater equality in society

Answer 3

the equality act (2010)
legal abortion - abortion act 1967
1970’s equal pay act

Question 4

examples of inequalities that exist in today’s society

Answer 4

FGM
70% of women say they experiences sexual harrassment in public
1/4 women experience domestic abuse
2 women killed per week by current or ex partner

Question 5

police misogyny and femicide - sarah everard

Answer 5

Police officer Wayne Couzens used his status to kidnap, rape and kill Sarah Everard

he already had 2 rape allegations of rape, demonstrating the failure of the police by having him as a part of it

left her remains scattered across kent and now has life in prison

Question 6

Sylvia Walby - theorising patriarchy (1990) - 6 sources of patriarchal control in contemporary society

Answer 6

paid work - gender pay gap
housework - unpaid domestic labour benefitting men
culture - patriarchal cultural norms
sexuality - different social standards
violence - male violence against women serves to control and enforce male judgement
the state - politics remains male dominated, and women are unrepresented in in decision making roles

Question 7

Liberal feminism - facts

Answer 7

men are socialised to exploit women

advocates for changes in the law, such as equal rights legislation

changes in education - determining factor in the outcomes of women

central to campaigns to reduce gender bias in education in terms of teacher bias

central to legislation in the 1970’s, such as the sex discrimination act 1974 and the equal pay act 1975

Question 8

liberal feminists - examples

Answer 8

Oakley - critiques traditional gender roles and highlights how societal expectations of femininity and masculinity contribute to inequality within the family

Somerville - criticises some radicals as they fail to recognise societal progress.

Frieden - ‘the Feminine Mystique (1963)’ - criticises the idea that women’s fulfillment comes solely from domestic roles - also advocated for women’s rights in education, employment and personal fulfillment

Question 9

radical feminism - facts

Answer 9

men exploit and dominate women

patriarchal ideologies operate in society to keep women in a weakened position

proposed actions to take: ‘seperatism’, political lesbianism or celibacy, living without men, reproduction without men through medical technologies

Question 10

radical feminism - examples

Answer 10

Dobash and Dobash - don’t call themselves radical feminists but their work aligns with radical feminism - their research on DV and power dynamics in relationships (view DV flashcards)

Greer - The whole Woman (2000) - the family is oppressive to women, because men need marriage more than women, and therefore benefit from it more

Question 11

marxist feminism - facts

Answer 11

women are forced to serve the needs of capitalism, by reproducing the workforce, acting as a safety valve and being the reserve army of labour

need to overthrow capitalism, as communism will bring equality

Question 12

marxist feminism - examples

Answer 12

Ansley - women are the ‘safety valve’ in the family, and provide emotional support to the husband who is fustrated by his position in the capitalist workforce

Benston - women’s unpaid domestic labour supports the capitalist system by reproducing the workforce and maintaining social stability

Duncombe and Marsden - triple shift

Question 13

Black feminism - facts

Answer 13

women from different ethnic groups experience sexism differently from white women

white feminists accused of being guilty of racism and stereotyping

Question 14

Black feminism - examples

Answer 14

‘double oppression’ - sexism and racism increase the exploitation experienced by a woman of colour - Patricia hills-Collins

Question 15

intersectional feminists - facts

Answer 15

widely used idea in the consideration of the multiple disadvantage that women may suffer

Question 16

intersectional feminists - examples

Answer 16

Crenshaw - intersectionality examins how multiple forms of oppression, including those based on gender, race and class, intersect and compound to produce unique experiences of inequality

bell hooks - Ain’t I A Woman: Black women and feminism (1981) - she critiques mainstream feminism for its failure to adequately address the specific concerns and struggles faced by black women

Patricia Hills-Collins - see black feminism flashcard

Question 17

dual system feminism

Answer 17

Heidi Hartmann put the idea forward in her paper ‘The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism’ (1979)

an attempt to combine both radical and marxist feminism

the oppression of women comes from both the exploitation under capitalism and the patriarchy

Question 18

Post- colonial feminism

Answer 18

it is an intervention into problematic frames of thought in hegemonic Euro-American feminism

Euro-American feminists tend to universalize the forms of oppression they face in their own lives, a tendency which ignores the crucial differences in the way women from various national, ethnic and religious backgrounds experience gender

women in the ‘East’ are often perceived as victims of ‘backwards’ religious and patriarchal structures

believe that feminisms should emerge locally from regional knowledge instead of being imposed by Euro-America

primarily concerned with the representation of women in once colonised countries

Question 19

what is ‘malestream’ and how do feminists use this to criticise traditional sociological theories

Answer 19

malestream - created by men, for men, and about men

shows there is a male bias within social sciences

women were often views in terms of biology and having the same problems as men

Question 20

functionalist views of gender

Answer 20

men and women perform different, but complimentary roles, based on their biology

these roles are essential for social order

feminists argue that this fails to recognise how these roles disadvantage women and maintain male dominance

Question 21

New Right views of gender

Answer 21

argues the feminist movement has undermined traditional family values

led to a breakdown of the traditional nuclear family - single mothers and women ‘married to the state’

Dennis and Erdos - boys lack role models ‘fatherless families’ - driven by feminist influenced social policy

‘crisis of masculinity’- men no longer understand her role/ position in society

Question 22

marxist views of gender

Answer 22

prioritise class struggle, often treating gender inequality as secondary to economic exploitation (marxist feminists also criticised) - feminists argue that this downplays the specific ways in which women are disadvantaged

Question 23

preference theory (2000) - Catherine Hakim

Answer 23

conducted a study in 2000 to find out which choices women were more likely to make when it came to work and home

shows that once genuine choices are open to them, women at all levels of education ad social class choose one of three lifestyles

home centred - 20%
adaptive - 60%
work centred - 20%

Question 24

British Social Attitudes Survey (2023) - evidence for gender inequality in the family

Answer 24

statement - ‘ a man’s job is to earn money and a woman’s job is to look after the home’
- 1980’s - 48% agreed
- 2023 - 9% agreed

63% of women in mixed-sex households said they did more than their fair share of the housework

more than three quarters of respondants to the BSA said that domestic work should be split

Question 25

BSA (2023) - evidence from other studies/ other concepts that can be used to support this evidence

Answer 25

Duncombe and Marsden - triple shift Oakley (1974) - men only did 15% of the housework and 30% of the childcare - women still do most of the housework and childcare despite increased workforce participant Oakley - 4 processes of gender socialisation Kan (2008) - women who earn more tend to do slightly less housework, still undertake more domestic labour than men do. issue of 'lip service' where men express support for equality but do not significantly increase their contribution to housework

Question 26

ONS (2016) analysis of time-use data - evidence of gender inequality in the family

Answer 26

men do 16 hours per week of unpaid work and women do 26 hours per week of unpaid work only area where men put in more unpaid work hours than women is in the provision of transport

Question 27

ONS (2020) - parenting in lockdown

Answer 27

women carried out two thirds more childcare duties per day than men women spent 77% more time on non-developmental childcare than men a child under 5 years women performed 78% more childcare than men men spent an average of 45 minutes more per day on paid work than women did

Question 28

ONS (2020) & (2016) - other evidence/ concepts that can support this data

Answer 28

Hoschild (1989) -'The Second Shift' - after a full day of paid work, women often return home to perform a 'second shift' of housework and childcare Duncombe and Marden (1993) - women perform housework but also manage the emotional needs of the family (emotion work) involving nurturing, organising family relationships and maintaining emotional well being

Question 29

ONS (2024) - gender pay gap - evidence of gender inequality in employment

Answer 29

women's gender pay gap was 7.0% in april 2024, down from 7.5% in 2023 gender pay gap is the largest for employees aged 40 and over those aged 30-39 - 4.4% those aged 40-49 - 9.1% gender pay gap highest in skilled trades and lowest in caring, leisure and other service occupations

Question 30

women and the economy (2020) - evidence of gender inequality in employment

Answer 30

employment rate from october - december 2020 men: 78%, women:72% women are more likely thanmen to be in part-time work 38% of women in employment were working part time 13% of men in employment were working part-time part time work tends to be lower paid and more insecure, and harder to progress in a career industry - women most commonly work in the health and social work sectors, followed by retail and education - which are lower paid jobs

Question 31

supporting evidence/ concepts for evidence of gender inequality in employment

Answer 31

Walby (1990) - paid work is an element of the patriarchy, and women experience a 'glass ceiling' blocking their progression Benston (1972) - women's unpaid domestic labour makes them economically dependent on men , and forces many women into lower-paid part time work Oakley (1974) - gender role socialisation pushes women into lower paid jobs Somerville (2000) - men's reluctance to share domestic labour, limiting women's career progression Barron and Norris - dual labour market - discrimination by employers, distrupted career development and weak legal and political framework

Question 32

Womens aid (2021) - evidence of gender inequality in crime

Answer 32

77% of domestic homicide victims from March 2017-2019 were women 92% of defendants in domestic abuse related prosecutions in the year ending March 2020 were male women are considerably more likely to experience repeated and several forms of abuse from April 2016 to March 2019, 222 were killed by a partner or ex partner

Question 33

other supporting evidence/ concepts for the findings for Womens Aid (2021)

Answer 33

Ansley (marxist feminist) - women are the 'takers of shit' (safety valve theory) Walby (dual-systems feminist) - the household, violence, sexuality and culture are all elements of the patriarchy Dobash and Dobash (radical feminist) - identified several causes of disputes and violence - women failing to service their partners personal needs (e.g. cooking) - money - women failing to fulfil their partners physical, emotional and sexual needs - possessiveness jealousy and control - violence often occurs when women challende traditional gender roles, such as disobeying their partner, as a result of the patriarchy

Question 34

The Femicide Census - evidence of gender inequality in crime

Answer 34

1425 women killed by a man over a 10 year period starting in 2009 relationships with the killer - 62% were current or ex partners and 8% were strangers 89% of women who had left or had taken steps to leave an abusive relationship were murdered in the first year, and 38% in the first month

Question 35

supporting evidence/ concepts for The Femicide Census

Answer 35

'When men murder women' - study which found that men used themes of possessiveness, jealousy, separation and alcohol abuse in the justification for murdering women Andrea Dworkin (radical feminist) - men used physical power and intimidation to oppress women into a lower social status in the family, to maintain their control

Question 36

UN women and YouGov (2021) - prevalence and reporting of sexual harrassment in UK public spaces

Answer 36

71% of women of all ages have experiences some form of sexual harrassment in public spaces more than 80% of women aged 18-34 have experienced some form of sexual harrassment in a public space over 95% of all women did not report their experiences of sexual harrassment the main reason for not reporting was that women did not think the incident was serious enough to report the second most common reason is that they did not think that reporting would help

Question 37

supporting evidence/ concepts for UN women and youGov 2021

Answer 37

Laura Mulvey (1975) - the 'male gaze' describes the way women are portrayed in video media through the heterosexual male perspective - women are displayed as sexual objects for both the characters in the film and the audience, and this objectification results in women being seen as sex objects rather than whole people - often done through the camera focussing on women's bodies and lingering on certain areas when it isn't necessary Laura Bates (liberal feminist) - 'Men who hate women' - identifies a link between male violence and gender stereotypes - men who possess traditional ideas about marriage, children and gender roles tend to blame women for breaking expected dutiful and submissive behaviours