social inequalities: gender, kmr, paper 2

Question 1

gender pay gap 2024

Answer 1

7% (ONS)

Question 2

reasons for gender pay gap: canalisation (gender role socialisation)

Answer 2

• career choice
• mother role
• girls are primary socialised into cooking and dolls
• boys: leaders, take risks, dominant
• girls: passive and obedient

Question 3

reasons for gender pay gap: biology

Answer 3

• new right belief
• men are born leaders
• functionalists take on the ‘instrumental’ role, breadwinners
• feminists: women have the ‘burden of childcare’, women give birth
• functionalists: women do the expressive role (3 c’s)

Question 4

reasons for gender pay gap: discrimination

Answer 4

• feminists: women dont get promoted (glass ceiling)
• employers opinion

Question 5

li and devine and upward mobility

Answer 5

• women are still less likely to be upwardly mobile and more likely to be downwardly mobile than men

Question 6

heath and li and upward mobility

Answer 6

• chinese women (46.8%) were found to experience lower rates of upward mobility than black Caribbean women (67.3%)
• study also showed that for second generation south asian groups in the uk, men had benefited more from upward occupational mobility than women

Question 7

feminisation of poverty

Answer 7

• pensioners poverty, life expectancy is longer
• harder for women to get out of cycle of poverty, career consists of children and family, job prospects are limited, more likely to be careers
• more likely to be single parents (poverty trap)
• invisibility of female poverty, put family first
• period poverty
• pink tax: more expensive to be a woman
• gender pay gap, lower paid jobs

Question 8

ruth lister and feminisation of poverty (2004)

Answer 8

• high rates of both official and hidden poverty for women reflect, ‘on the one hand structural factors associated with women’s economic dependance and make power and on the other hand, the agency of women who will sacrifice their own needs on behalf of other family members, especially their own children
• women are not just more likely to suffer poverty, they also have more responsibility with dealing its effects
• ‘it tends to be women who manage poverty and debt as part of their general responsibility for money management in low income families
• may lead to extra stress or ill health
• women may suffer from ‘time poverty’ because of their continued responsibility for most domestic labour

Question 9

wilmott and young and symmetrical family

Answer 9

• in modern society, we have a symmetrical family where men now spend an equal amount on domestic areas, join decision making and spend lots of leisure time as a family unit
• they said it was evident in middle class families and trickling down to working class families
• this is called the principle of stratified diffusion

Question 10

ann oakley and domestic labour

Answer 10

• interview 40 married women in 1974, to get their opinion on conjugal roles
• only 15% of men ‘highly participate’
• majority of women did not enjoy their housewife role and found it tedious, boring and unfulfilling
• oakley puts this down to early gender socialisation/ canalisation

Question 11

hardill and power and decision making

Answer 11

found that men still make the important, ‘life changing’, decision

Question 12

pahl and money decisions

Answer 12

• men still made the important family decisions eg. where to live, major financial problems
• women still managed shopping and smaller household bills
• tells us that power is still not important in families

Question 13

is the new housewife coming back into fashion?

Answer 13

• # tradwife all over social media, people wanting to go back to traditional roles
• can be seen as a demonstration of successful feminism
• women seem to now have a choice if they want to be at the home or work

Question 14

why did girls underachieve in the past?

Answer 14

• differential access: girls had to study a different ciriculum to boys, even if they were not interested. this meant that girls underachieved. girls could go to university in 1887
• patriarchy: canalisation (gender into socialisation) why education girls if there just going to be housewives?
• ideology of romance: girls prioritised getting married and having children
• invisible girls in the classroom: boys dominated, girls are ignored by teachers
• differences in confidence: girls underestimate ability
• hidden ciriculum: suttle sexism and messages eg. reading books, patriarchy taught in schools eg. ‘big strong boys’

Question 15

why has girls achievement now improved?

Answer 15

• equal rights legislation and feminism, women are now seen as role models
• increase in divorce, women cannot depend on their partners, need to be financially independant, canalisation and social attitudes have changed
• coursework, girls do better in coursework, boys do better in exams
• national ciriculum, everyone learns the same thing
• economy has changed, jobs are now more based around teamwork, which targets more women, factories on decline
• media, successful females, role models