Gender in the Economy SG

What is sex?

Biological assignment at birth.

What is gender?

Characteristics that are socially constructed.

What is biological determinism/essentialism?

The belief that sex predicts gender.

What is heteronormativity?

A social construct suggesting heterosexuality is normal or typical.

What is intersectionality?

A framework considering how social categories like race, class, and gender intersect to create systems of disadvantage.

What does the global gender gap index measure?

Inequality through economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.

Explain the concept of the invisible hand/efficient markets.

How individuals acting in their own self-interest can produce socially beneficial outcomes.

What is the concept of comparative advantage according to Gary Becker?

Women have a comparative advantage in the household due to their ability to give birth.

What is the capitalist mode of production?

A mode of production with private property and a small group owning the means of production, while others work for wages.

What is the class structure?

The bourgeoisie (capitalists) own the means of production, while the proletariat (workers) work for wages.

What is the labor theory of value?

The value of an item is due to the human labor involved in its production.

What is surplus?

The capacity to produce more than what is needed for subsistence.

What is exploitation?

Workers are paid less than the value of what they produce because capitalists own the means of production.

How is wage related to labor power?

Workers must be paid a wage sufficient to reproduce their labor power.

What is required for the reproduction of labor power?

Basic needs such as sleep, food, healthcare, and clothing.

What are the three types of control to ensure labor is expended?

Simple control, technical control, bureaucratic control.

What are the methods of increasing surplus?

Increasing the length of the working day, decreasing wages, intensifying work, raising prices.

What are the four types of alienation in the production process?

Alienation from the product, production process, others, and ourselves.

What is the reverse army of the unemployed?

The supply of unemployed or underemployed individuals who can replace current workers.

What is the crisis of accumulation?

Capitalists aim to accumulate surplus by keeping wages low.

What is the immiseration of the working class?

The worsening economic conditions of the working class in the pursuit of surplus.

What is the revolution stage?

A phase where workers initiate a revolution to establish socialism and eventually communism.

What is socialism?

A system where the state owns the means of production.

What is communism?

A system where the state withers away and everyone collectively owns the means of production.

How do you prohibit class consciousness?

By separating and deindividuating workers so they cannot identify as a group.

Explain commodity fetishism.

The relationship and perceived value between items purchased and individuals.

What did Marx and Engels say about the Woman Question?

The root of women’s oppression is men’s accumulation of private property.

How does the private sphere function as an area of degradation?

Men control women’s sexuality for monogamy and strict labor division.

Why were proletariat women considered better off than bourgeoisie women?

Proletariat men were less controlling of women's sexuality, and the public sphere offered more opportunities.

What is the theoretical basis of first wave feminism?

Based on classical liberal ideologies focusing on individual rights and freedoms.

What were the areas addressed by first-wave feminism?

Legal and political inequalities, women's suffrage, property rights, education access, and early reproductive rights.

What is the theoretical basis of radical feminism?

The idea that the personal is political.

What were the five areas of radical feminism?

Household labor, appearance, reproduction, sexuality, and violence.

What is the theoretical basis of Marxist feminism?

Social reproduction theory, emphasizing that capitalism depends on unpaid labor for the working class.

What are the areas of oppression identified by Marxist feminism?

Unpaid domestic labor, waged labor, reproductive control, state and law interactions.

What is the theoretical basis of dual systems?

Capitalism and patriarchy create oppressive systems of class and gender.

What is the difference between modernism and postmodernism?

Modernism asserts one true truth, while postmodernism emphasizes interpretation through language and media.

What is the girl power movement?

A movement focused less on academic analysis and more on mainstream activism.

What does orientalism refer to?

A perspective that views 'the other' in a cultural context.

What are the theoretical basis of transnational feminism?

Oppressive factors in one context can be empowering in another.

What methods are used in transnational feminism?

Protests, legislation, education, business, consumption choices, and political participation.

What is Lacan's concept of the self?

Our sense of self is unstable, leading to anxiety.

What is Lacan's concept of lack?

The separation of women, leading to the portrayal of an inferior mother.

What is Lacan's concept of the gaze?

The idea that there is power through the act of looking.