1. Social Problems:
Sexism and Gender
Inequality

2. Gender Inequality as a
Social Problem
Sexism: the subordination of one sex, female,
based on the assumed superiority of the other
sex, male
Patriarchy: a hierarchical system of social
organization in which cultural, political, and
economic structures are controlled by men
Though women comprise 51% of Canadians,
they are called a minority group because they
don’t have the resources of men. Women
 Are victims of sexual assault
 Earn 71 percent of what men earn

3. Defining Sex and Gender
Sex: biological differences between males and
females.
Gender: the culturally and socially constructed
differences between females and males based
on meanings, beliefs, and practices that a group
associates with femininity or masculinity
Intersexed: having unrecognizable genitalia or
both male and female genitalia
Transgendered: one’s gender not the same as
biological sex

4. Sexism and Gender Inequality
 Sexism refers to the range of attitudes,
beliefs, policies, laws and behaviors that
discriminate on the basis of gender
 Results in a system of gender inequality
 Power and Male Hegemony
 Male hegemony refers to the political and
ideological domination of woman in society

5. Sexism and Gender Inequality
 Power and Male Hegemony
 Males have greater access to:
 Cultural prestige
 Political authority
 Corporate power
 Wealth
 Material comforts
 Ideology plays a role in legitimizing male
hegemony

6. Biological and Social Bases for
Gender Roles
Gender roles: rights, responsibilities,
expectations, and relationships of women and
men in a society
At birth, males and females are distinguished by
primary sex characteristics
At puberty, hormonal differences produce
secondary sex characteristics

7. Biological and Social Bases for
Gender Roles
To what extent are differences culturally
determined?
 Gender ideology: ideas of masculinity and
femininity that are held to be valid in a particular
society and time
 Gendered division of labour : the process
whereby productive tasks are separated on the
basis of gender

8. Gender Inequality and Socialization
Agents of socialization:
 Parents and family: treatment, clothes, toys,
or chores
 Peers: pressure for behaviour and aspirations
 Religion
 Media and language
 Education:
 Gender bias: favouritism toward one gender,
e.g., aggressive boys and dependent girls get
attention

9. The Family
 Traditionally,the role of wife and mother has
been a subordinate role in society
 Increase in working wives and moms and the
juggling of work and family
 See Table 5.1 on Unpaid Housework (p.190)
 On average, women do 4.3 hours daily while
men do 2.8 hours
 Women also responsible for bulk of senior
care

10. Language and the Media
 Language often reinforces traditional sex role
stereotypes :
 i.e. Policeman vs. police officer, or calling women “girls”
 Media portrays men and women in traditional roles
 Underrepresent women, and
 Reinforce stereotypical ideas about women and physical
attractiveness
 Stereotypes are a source of prejudice and
discrimination
 Feminine mystique
 Masculine mystique
 Stereotypes place limits on us and on our behaviour

11. Organized Religion
 Religion has reinforced secular traditions and
gender roles in many cultures, including our
own
 Religion has been male dominated
 In the last few decades some religions have
begun to ordain women as ministers
 Episcopalians
 Presbyterians
 Reformed Jews

12. Sexism in Schools
 Today, there is more focus in schools on
 Female achievement
 Girl’s sports
 More involvement in school politics
 Gender gap in higher education and in
certain disciplines is narrowing but still
persists today
 However, research show sexism still a
significant factor in schools

13. Sexism in Schools (cont.)
 Research results on sexism in schools shows
that generally,
 Teachers pay less attention to girls than boys
 Girls lag behind in math and science scores
 Girls tend not to choose careers in math and
science
 Textbooks and gender stereotypes still persist
 Biased tests
 Minority girls tend to be ignored
 School counselors still channeling girls into sex
typed occupations

14. However…
 “The Gender Gap” (2004) text p. 197
 Montreal study on gender differences in
achievement in school
 Boys falling behind especially in language skills
 More likely to drop out or not continue
 Have more behavioural, learning and social
problems in school
 Study notes that girls see educational
achievement as key to better life, whereas
boys rely on traditional masculinity to get
ahead

15. Contemporary Gender Inequality
Gender inequality is maintained by:
 Individual sexism: anti-female prejudice by
individuals
 Institutionalized sexism:discrimination engaged
in at the organizational level
 Also, when inequality, prejudice and
discrimination exist, the imbalance in power
leads to sexual harassment

16. Gender Inequality and
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment: unwanted sexual advances,
requests for sexual favours, or other verbal or
physical conduct of a sexual nature
 Occurs at work and school
 Sexual harassment is also a growing problem in
schools
 The results of a recent U.S. survey found
that 83 percent of girls and 79 percent of
boys have been harassed
 Both boys and girls are limited by sexual harassment and
stereotypical notions

17. Gender Inequality and Work
Gendered division of paid work : women
have high labour force participation, but are
concentrated in different occupations.
 Pink-collar ghetto: jobs held by women that are
low-paying and semi-skilled.
 Contingent work: part-time work, temporary work,
and subcontracted work that offers advantages to
employers, but detrimental to workers.
 Years of work experience – women are more
likely to have interruption in their work histories
 Hiring and promotion practices
 For minority women, there is even a larger wage
gap

18. Gender Inequality and Work
 Wage gap: disparity between women’s and
men’s earnings
 Pay equity: equal pay for work of equal or
comparable (worth of the job) worth
 Sexual harassment: unwelcome sexual
attention at work

19. 2004 Census
 Approximately 58% of women worked full
time vs. 68% of men in Canada
 83% of 2 parent families have 2 income
earners
 Women made up 46.8% of workforce
 72.5% of women with children under 16 in the
home work

20. 2004 Census
 Average income
 women $36,500
 men $51,700
 In 2004 women made 70.5 cent for every $1 men
earned
 3.4% of “clout” positions (CEO’s, presidents, etc.) of
Fortune 500 companies held by women
 At age 40, 90% of working men vs. 35% of working
women had at least one child
 Women still concentrated in teaching, nursing, service
and clerical jobs (67% of employed women)

22. Gender Inequality and Work
“Glass Ceiling” and “Glass Escalator”:
 Glass Ceiling: invisible barrier constructed by
male management to prevent women from
reaching top positions. Women do advance in
the service sector
 Glass Escalator: upward movement of men in
women’s occupations disproportionate to their
numbers

23. Gender Inequality and Unpaid Work
 Double shift: women are wage earners and
also do most of unpaid household work, now
recorded in the census
 90% of Canadians do unpaid work, but the
majority, especially child care, is done by women

24. Gender Inequality and Unpaid
Work
 However, roles in homemaking have been
changing
 Women still continue to bear the primary
responsibility for homemaking
 Husbands and fathers with working wives
that support non-traditional roles are taking
on a larger share of homemaking
responsibilities

25. Perspectives: Symbolic
Interactionist
 Focus on socialization and labelling
 Also note existence of double standard
 Language is extremely important in defining
social realities
 Linguistic sexism: communication that ignores,
devalues, or makes sex objects of women.
 Genderlects : men’s and women’s styles and
contents of language differ.
 Non-verbal communication : men control more
space, than women, including sexual harassment

26. Perspectives: Functionalist
Early thinking (Parsons, Kingsley-Davis):
 Men are more suited to instrumental (i.e., goal-
oriented) tasks
 Women perform expressive tasks
 This was functional for society
More recently:
 Differences in human capital of men and
women (capital diminishes with time off for
child-bearing and childcare)

27. Perspectives
Conflict
Social life is a continuous struggle in which the
powerful seek to control economic and social
resources
 Gender inequality results from capitalism and
private ownership of the means of production
 A result of structural and historical relations
 Beneficial to capitalists to have unpaid female
workforce

28. Perspectives: Feminist
 Socialist: men gain control over property and
women
 Radical: men’s oppression of women is
deliberately supported by media and religion
 Liberal: inequality is rooted in gender-role
socialization
 Black, Indigenous, and other women of colour
face inequalities compounded by
racialization, class, and gender

29. Can Gender Inequality be Reduced?
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective:
 Redefine social realities with language
Functionalist Perspective:
 Redefine gender roles
 Educate women about how their decisions affect
human capital
 Enforce existing anti-discrimination legislation
and use the Canadian Charter of Human Rights
and Freedoms

30. Can Gender Inequality be Reduced?
Conflict Perspective:
 Marxist: abolish capitalism
Feminist:
 Socialist Feminists: abolish capitalism and create a
new economy
 Liberal Feminists: change gender socialization
 Radical Feminists: abolish patriarchy
 Black and other feminists: treat all women more
equitably