• Gender inequalities caused and perpetuated by gender stereotyping and gendered division of labour • Achieve gender equality through:
Removing gender stereotyping and discrimination in workplace and education, and Changing laws to allow for equal opportunities in labour force and politics*
Persistence of polarized gender stereotypes is supported by research
• Yet , gender-related identities and behaviours largely socially constructed and continually altered through social interaction*
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EXPLAINING GENDER INEQUALITY
• Feminism: Body of knowledge about causes and nature of women’s subordination to men in society, and various agendas - often involving political action - for removing that subordination
7-6
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DIMENSIONS OF INEQUALITY: POWER, MATERIAL WELLBEING, AND PRESTIGE
1. Power: Capacity to impose your will on others, regardless of any resistance 2. Material wellbeing: Involves access to economic resources required to pay for necessities of life and other possessions and advantages 3. Prestige: Average evaluation of occupational activities and positions arranged in a hierarchy*
7-3
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GENDER INEQUALITY
• Social roles: Behaviours expected of people occupying particular social positions • In 20th century, enormous change in attitudes, expectations, behaviours, and social roles of men and women in Canada • But persistence of gender inequalities: Hierarchical asymmetries between women and men in terms of distribution of power, material wellbeing, and prestige*
Need not be congruent with sex assigned at birth Are not polar opposites (despite notion of “opposite sex”), but can operate on a continuum of masculinity and femininity*
7-5
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
GENDER STEREOTYPES
• Socially constructed nature of gender identities means gender identities:
Are not stabl1 by Nelson Education Ltd
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GENDER STEREOTYPES
• Gender inequality is reinforced by gender stereotypes: Set of prejudicial biologically-based generalizations about men and women in terms of personality traits and behaviour
PowerPoint Presentation prepared by Terri Petkau, Mohawk College
CHAPTER SEVEN Gender Inequality: Economic and Political Aspects
Monica Boyd
INTRODUCTION
• Feminist theories: 1. Liberal feminism
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
2. Marxist feminism 3. Socialist feminism…*
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1. LIBERAL FEMINIST THEORIES
• Will examine: Explanations for gender inequality Gender inequality in the home, the labour force, and politics Recommendations for reducing gender inequality*