Rituals, Cultural Constructs of Gender & Inequality

Question 1

Mead’s research was influential because it began to challenge notions of…

Answer 1

…biology and psychology determining gender roles and expectations

Question 2

What did Margaret Mead investigate?

Answer 2

the impact of culture on gender definitions.

She researched in New Guinea and found the Arapesh culture (female qualities), the mundugamor tribe (masculine qualities), & Tchambuli culture (men were nurtures & women were more aggressive)

Question 3

Navajo people (indigenous) has three genders called:

Answer 3

1. male
2. female
3. nadle (male sex but perform both gender roles)

Question 4

adopt the gender role of opposite biological sex

Answer 4

Berdache/Two-Spirited

Question 5

biologically male but assume female roles

Answer 5

muxes

Question 6

How does Sambia (papua new guinea) initiate boys into adulthood?

Answer 6

ritualized homosexuality

they believe that semen has masculine power

Question 7

Keraki (melanesia) practice homosexuality until boys reach puberty because?

Answer 7

to preserve young girls. They see male/female power in their reproductive fluids.

Question 8

various different practices are based on…

Answer 8

…different ideologies

Question 9

Understanding gender inequality means that we need to understand the…

Answer 9

…division of labour and what roles were historically assigned to men & women.

Question 10

Since gender division is a cultural universal, it must be necessary and inevitable. The gender division of labour is a functional necessity

Answer 10

Structural Functionalist Perspective

Question 11

Roots of early gender inequality: who do we determine as a civic ‘person’?

Answer 11

BNA (british north american act) did not include women as “persons”

Question 12

The “Famous Five” petitioned in 1928 to the Supreme Court of Canada.Why?

Answer 12

women petitioned to be declared as persons. the court denied but the decision was appealed in 1929.

Question 13

What commission was established to ensure equality for all women in Canada in 1967?

Answer 13

The Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, also known as the Bird Commission

Question 14

What is a Marxist explanation for gender inequality?

Answer 14

The roots of gender inequality lie in the capitalist system/private property

Question 15

Symbolic interactionist explanations of gender inequality

Answer 15

Interactionists are concerned with gendered norms & roles in interaction

Question 16

when a woman’s primary role is a child-bearing role, men see womanhood as “different” than men. what theory is this from?

Answer 16

descent theories (relationship explanations from the symbolic interactionist perspective)

Question 17

because women give birth and are in the household, how we organize our daily lives become very different: mother/childrearing vs father/protector. what theory is this from?

Answer 17

alliance theories (organization of daily life from the symbolic interactionist perspective)

Question 18

How are gender roles established in society?

Answer 18

through rituals that are practiced

Question 19

what is it called when some cultures have practices that invert gender roles?

Answer 19

Inversions practices

Question 20

Gender inequality is lessened when men and women work together with little separation/segregation or division of labor

Gender inequality is more pronounced when one gender controls material resources

Gender inequality is lessened when men participate in child care

Gender inequality is strengthened by rituals that separate the genders

Answer 20

Cross-cultural research on gender and sex rituals