Women and Society Midterm

Intersectionality

An analytical framework examining how multiple social identities

(In this case specifically race and gender) interact simultaneously rather than

operating as distinct, mutually exclusive categories.

What is the single Axis Limitation?

Dominant legal doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics rely

on a “single-axis framework” that treats race and sex as separate

silos, effectively erasing Black women from legal protection and

theoretical analysis.

Legal Example #1 DeGraffenreid v. General Motors

● Background: Five Black female employees challenged GM’s seniority-based layoff policy

because GM did not hire Black women prior to 1964, causing all Black female employees

hired after 1970 to lose their jobs during a recession.

● Judicial Ruling: The court granted summary judgment for GM, refusing to recognize

Black women as a protected combination class and declaring that Title VII did not

contemplate a “super-remedy”.

● Legal Blind Spot: Because GM hired white women prior to 1964 and Black men for plant

jobs, the court found no “pure” sex or race discrimination, obscuring the company’s

specific historical exclusion of Black women.

Legal Example #2 Moore v. Hughes Helicopters, Inc.

● Background: Plaintiff brought a class-action suit alleging race and sex discrimination in

promotions to supervisory and upper-level craft roles.

● Judicial Ruling: The Ninth Circuit refused to certify Moore as a class representative for

all female employees because she specified her race as a Black female, raising doubts

about her ability to represent white women.

● Legal Blind Spot: The court implicitly treated white female experiences as the default

standard for “sex discrimination,” dismissing Black female claims as “hybrid” or too

narrow to represent the general category of females.

Legal Example #3 Payne v. Travenol Laboratories

● Background: Two Black female plaintiffs proved extensive plant-wide racial

discrimination at a pharmaceutical facility.

● Judicial Ruling: The court restricted the class to Black women only, refusing to extend the

back-pay and seniority remedies to Black men out of concern for potential “conflicting

interests” between Black men and women.

● Legal Blind Spot: Black women are forced into a political and legal dilemma, either

suppress the gendered aspects of their claims to represent all Black people or risk dividing

the community and leaving Black men without legal remedies.

Marginalization in Feminist Theory: “Ain't I a Woman?”

● Sojourner Truth’s Challenge: Truth’s 1851 speech exposed the contradiction

between ideological myths of female frailty and the real experiences of Black

women under slavery, challenging white feminists to relinquish racial privilege.

● Universalizing White Experience: Feminist analyses of “separate spheres”

and rape law incorrectly generalize white female experiences, failing to

acknowledge that historical rape laws regulated white female chastity rather

than protecting Black women from white male sexual violence

Exclusion in Antiracist & Public Policy Debates

● Anti-racist Single-Issue Focus: Antiracist politics frequently anchors its agenda

around Black male experiences, viewing gender-specific critiques within the

Black community as divisive or secondary.

● Critique of Policy Reports (Moynihan & Wilson): Public policy discussions

on Black female-headed households either frame them as “pathological”

(Moynihan/Moyers) or propose economic reforms aimed solely at providing jobs

for Black men (Wilson), ignoring systemic workforce subordination faced by

single Black mothers.

Other Examples of Intersectionality: Women and Sexuality

Women experience discrimination differently depending on their sexual orientation.

Lesbian and bisexual women may face both sexism and homophobia, creating forms

of discrimination that cannot be understood through gender or sexuality alone.

Traditional feminist movements have historically centered heterosexual women's

experiences, sometimes overlooking the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+

women.

Intersectionality recognizes that sexuality and gender interact to shape women's

experiences, opportunities, and access to legal protection.

Other Examples of Intersectionality: Gender and Nationality

Nationality influences women's access to education, employment, political

participation, and personal freedoms.

Gender inequality manifests differently depending on a country's legal system,

cultural expectations, and political environment.

Comparing women across different national contexts demonstrates why women's

experiences cannot be treated as universal.

What is gender?

Gender is a social category that shapes how we perceive ourselves and others.

Women’s Studies → Gender Studies

• Women’s studies is an academic movement to understand historical treatment and exclusion of women from academic research

  • late 1960s and 1970s, alongside second-wave feminism.

• This studied women’s lives, experiences, and achievements because the research was concentrated on men

• Then some argued women’s studies was inadequate without looking at gender as a whole, so only studying women was incomplete 

• So researchers also needed to examine men, masculinity, femininity, the relationships between genders, and power dynamics.

Current definitions of Gender

• Gender as Sex Roles

  • Women are expected to care for children, while men are expected to be financial providers.

• Gender as a Way to Refer to Women

  • A study of the “gender wage gap” might focus primarily on women's earnings.

• Gender as a Cultural Structure

  • Based on how society is organized in ways that often give men more power and value than women.

• The Social Construction of Gender

  • differences in how men and women behave are not necessarily natural. Many are created by society and culture.

Traditional Gender Roles

• Instrumental roles are roles focused on achieving practical goals, earning money and providing material support for the family. In the traditional family model described by sociologist Talcott Parsons, men were associated with the instrumental role because they were expected to work outside the home and act as the family’s breadwinner.

• Expressive roles are roles focused on emotional support, caring for family members, raising children and maintaining relationships within the household. In Parsons’s model, women were associated with the expressive role because they were expected to stay at home, care for children and provide emotional stability for the family.

Evidence of Gender Inequalities

1. Occupational segregation Women and men are concentrated in different jobs (horizontal segregation), while women are less represented in senior roles (vertical segregation). These patterns can limit pay and progression.

2. The glass ceiling

Invisible barriers can restrict women’s promotion into senior leadership, even when they have relevant qualifications and experience. Access to a job does not guarantee equal advancement.

3. Gender pay gaps

The average earnings of women and men differ. Occupational segregation, fewer women in senior roles and the undervaluation of women-associated work can contribute to this gap.

4. Unpaid labour

Housework, childcare and caring are essential but often unpaid and undervalued. Holmes notes that women continue to do a disproportionate share, creating a ‘double burden’ for many women in paid work.

5. Poverty

Unequal earnings, caring responsibilities and restricted work opportunities can increase women’s risk of poverty. Single mothers and divorced women may face particular financial pressures.

6. Political representation Women’s voting rights are important, but voting alone does not ensure equal influence. Women remain underrepresented in some political institutions; presence does not automatically guarantee policy influence.

“Because You Are a Girl” – Ijeoma

• Growing up in Lagos, Nigeria: Ijeoma describes how gender expectations shaped her childhood and family life.

• Different expectations for boys and girls: 

  • Her brothers enjoyed greater freedom, while she was expected to complete household chores.

• Education and responsibility: Despite her academic success, she was still expected to prioritize domestic responsibilities.

• Gender roles are learned: Her experiences demonstrate how family and cultural traditions teach girls what is expected of them.

4 commandments of womanhood: Place is in the kitchen, household duties, responsibility over children, male authority

“Making Masculinity” — C. J. Pascoe

• Research at River High School: Pascoe examines how teenage boys construct and demonstrate masculinity through everyday interactions.

• “Revenge of the Nerds” Skit: Two boys, Brent and Greg, perform a skit in which they transform from nerds into muscular, dominant men.

• Masculinity as a Performance: They gain recognition by demonstrating physical strength, and heterosexual success as seen in the audience response.

• Masculinity is not simply something boys possess. Instead it is something they actively perform and reinforce through social interactions.

Peer Pressure: Boys reinforce expectations of masculinity by judging and monitoring one another's behavior.

• Heterosexuality: Demonstrating attraction to girls becomes an important way of establishing masculine status.

• Toughness: Boys gain social recognition by appearing strong, confident, and powerful.

• Ridicule and Exclusion: Boys who do not conform to masculine expectations may face homophobic insults or social rejection.

What is feminism?

• Definition: Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression (Hooks)

• Often understood as women seeking equality with men, but Hooks suggests this definition is too narrow

  • Feminism must challenge the systems and beliefs that sustain oppression

  • Feminism must recognize how women participate in the oppression of other women through racism and class inequality 

• Feminism is NOT about men being the enemy, it is about ending sexism

Sexism

• Definition: “Cultural and economic structures which create and enforce the elaborate and rigid patterns of sex-marking and sex-announcing that divide the species along the lines of sex into dominators and subordinates” (Frye)

  • Originally believed sexism is that which promotes irrelevant distinction between sexes, but realized the deeper is that sex is made relevant

• Sex-announcing and sex-marking are constant in sexist society

  • Men announce their membership to dominant group

  • Women reveal their membership to subordinate group

• These patterns reinforce a hierarchy in which men hold power and women are expected to occupy subordinate positions

Oppression

• Definition: A system of interrelated barriers that restrict the choices and movement of a group (Frye)

• Women’s oppression is a fundamental claim of feminism

• Double-bind situation: regardless of what choice you make, you face ridicule

  • Engaging in Sexual Activity

  • Stay-at-Home Mother or Working

• Birdcage Metaphor

  • If focus on one wire, cannot understand restriction

  • Macroscopic view: surrounded by a network of systematically related barriers

• Is it oppression?

  • Men’s restraint from crying

  • Women’s cramped physical postures and dainty strides

Patriarchy - The System

• Definition: Patriarchy is a system of inequality organized around culturally created gender categories (Johnson)

• Does not mean all men are oppressive: system involving cultural beliefs, social relationships, and unequal distributions of power and resources

• Socialization: We learn society's gender expectations and how to participate in social systems.

• Paths of least resistance: Social systems encourage certain behaviors and make others more difficult or uncomfortable

Feminist Theories: Marxist feminism

• Marxist feminism focuses on capitalism and economic exploitation. Women’s unpaid domestic labor sustains the workforce, while women may face the double burden of paid work and household responsibilities.

  • Women mainstay of capitalist economy: take care of home and children to guard next gen workers

    • Women capitalist chief consumers

  • Viewing situation of women from political economy say mainstream western feminism fails to benefit women, and exhausts them instead, adding additional expectations in workforce and public sphere without removing cpaitilast home mainstay role

    • Middle-class feminists can affort handing off home jobs, so they dont see this issue

Feminist Theories: Psychoanalytic feminism

• Explores how identity, unconscious desires, and language reinforce patriarchy. The reading discusses how language and symbols associate power with masculinity, making inequality difficult to challenge through laws alone.

  • Jacque Lacan’s theory

    • Mirror stage personality formation, if separated from mother (who is viewed as part of baby’s self) is distressed and searches for wholeness throughout life

    • Phallus as a part of identity

      • Represents desire and power, associated with male

      • Women lack ohallus, and want it

      • Power of phallus activated in language -> cannot escape the patriarchal world of language in which we were born

Feminist Theories: Race Theory

• Challenges the assumption that white women’s experiences represent all women. It emphasizes intersectionality, or how race and gender interact, and recognizes that lived experiences of oppression can produce different kinds of knowledge.

  • Black women often reject feminism as having to do with their lives, suggest “womanism” instead

    • Courageous, lover of spirt, lover of women or men

Feminist Theories: Postmodern theories

• Examine how social norms, rules, and repeated behaviors shape our identities. Rather than seeing individuals as completely free to choose who they are, these theories emphasize how society influences how we act and understand ourselves. They question whether equal rights alone can dismantle inequality if the underlying norms and power structures remain unchanged.

Feminist Theories: Postcolonial feminism

• Examines how colonial power persists within feminism itself. It criticizes Western feminists speaking for non-Western women in ways that can silence their voices, even when the intention is to help.

  • Post colonial theory reminds women around the world to consider the position from which they speak and impact of colonialism on that speech

Critiques and Debates

1. Whose experience does feminism represent?

   1. Mainstream feminism has sometimes prioritized white, middle-class women's experiences.

   2. Intersectionality: Race, class, sexuality, and other factors shape experiences of gender inequality.

2. Reforming v. Transforming the System

   1. Reformist: Pursues equality within existing institutions.

   2. Revolutionary: Seeks deeper changes to systems that reproduce oppression.

3. Who gets to speak for women?

   1. Western feminist perspectives have sometimes treated women's experiences as universal.

   2. Postcolonial feminists challenge portrayals of non-Western women as a group needing rescue.

Kelly Reading: Hookup culture

• A “hookup” is anything from kissing to sex, with no expectation of a relationship

• Students say hookup culture gives them freedom and independence

Kelly’s verdict: it’s really “sexism in practice.” It’s unfair to women.

He points to four problems: no commitment, vague language, alcohol, and peer pressure.

No commitment Most students still want relationships, and the guy usually decides if one happens.

Vague language People think others are doing more, so they push themselves further.

Alcohol Used as an excuse, raises the risk of assault, and women get blamed.

Peer pressure It feels like everyone does it, and skipping it leaves you out.

Sexual Assault Survivors Tell…

- Transition: “Kelly looked at the culture. Banyard looks at what happens after something goes wrong.” - The 2% to police, 4% campus officials, and 70% to a friend numbers come from a national study of college women. - Survivors often don’t report because of shame, fear, embarrassment, feeling it’s private, or worrying it wasn’t “really” rape. - That makes friends the real first responders. - Bad reactions, like blaming or not believing someone, are linked to worse PTSD. - What helps is being believed, emotional support, and practical help like a ride to the hospital or a place to stay. - Most research studies survivors. This study flips it and studies the friend. - Ask the class: “Why do you think so few survivors go to the police?”

Perry’s Idea for Preventing Sexual Violence

• Perry worked on preventing sexual violence in Virginia

• He uses his own teenage years to show how boys learn about sex from friends and media

• Boys are taught sex is a game to win, boys vs. girls, and that mindset leads to sexual violence

• Empowering women matters, but it won’t end sexual violence unless boys learn differently too

• “Rapists are created, not born.”

• SOLUTION: Teach healthy sexuality and violence prevention together

  • Example: countries like the Netherlands teach honest sex ed in every grade, with a focus on respect

Multiculturalism

The idea that people from different cultural backgrounds should be able to maintain their own traditions, beliefs, and identities while living together in the same society.

•  It recognizes and respects cultural differences instead of expecting everyone to act the same.

Cultural Defence:

Using someone's cultural background, beliefs, or traditions to help explain or defend their behavior, especially when their actions are judged by another culture's standards. 

• It recognizes that people may act differently because of the values and rules they grew up with.

Multiculturalism in the Courtroom

Phillip’s Observations 

Police, social workers and judges are paralysed by cultural sensitivity, so they do nothing.

• Parents who beat their children are excused as following their culture.

• Men who have sex with underage girls escape punishment.

• Men who kill unfaithful wives win reduced sentences.

Phillips’s Response

Most defenders of multiculturalism reject the idea that all cultures are of equal moral value.

• How many harmful behaviors are ignored/ allowed to continue because people are afraid to criticize another culture

Four Objections to the Cultural Defence

1 · It creates different rules for different cultures

• People from certain cultural backgrounds might be treated differently under the law.

• Philips questions why someone's culture should excuse behavior that would be illegal for someone else.

2 · It invites opportunism

• Someone might claim that their actions are part of their culture just to receive a lighter sentence.

• It can be difficult to prove whether a cultural practice is actually common or if someone is just using it to their advantage.

3 · It sustains male power

• Cultural traditions can sometimes be used to excuse violence against women or control women's behavior.

• Men might use cultural beliefs about marriage, honor, or gender roles to defend their actions.
  
  

4 · It stereotypes the “other”

• Courts might assume that everyone from a certain culture behaves the same way.

• It can create unfair ideas about minority or non-Western cultures, especially stereotypes about men and women.

Philips’ takeaway on multiculturalism

Culture is a stereotype, like gender or class: a rough generalization. You can use culture to understand someone, but you should never assume that everyone from that culture is the same

Ignoring culture in court is not fair because it could hurt minorities and cause courts to overlook unfair gender rules in the majority culture.

Everyone should be held to the same standards of equality and safety, and courts should look closely at cultural claims rather than making assumptions.

Islamic Law: The puzzle

Headlines of misogyny “in the name of Islamic law”

• A women who had a child outside of marriage was sentenced to death by stoning.

• The puzzle: Many Muslim women still see Islamic principles as “the best guarantee of rights, privileges, and fairness for women”.

Layers of Islamic Law 

Each layer alone gives a misleading picture of Islamic law and women.

• Doctrine: jurists turn the texts into rules

• Institutions: judges, muftis and states apply and sometimes change them

• Ordinary people: choose doctrines and courts, and sometimes challenge the rules

Four Sources of Islamic Law

Qur’an (unchangeable)

• The holy book. Small part gives rules for behavior, but it covers marriage and inheritance 
  
  

Hadith

• Reports of what the prophet said and did  
  
  

Consensus (ijma‘)

• Agreement among leading scholars 
  
  

Analogy (qiyas)

• Applying an existing rule to a new case 

Islamic Law in Practice

Islamic law is not a fixed code that simply oppresses or protects women. It is a history of interpretation, and women took part in it.

Women had strong rights in some areas (property) and weaker ones in others (marriage, divorce, custody). The law was written by men. But women used the courts a lot, often successfully.

Do Muslim Women Need Saving: The Substitution Exercise

• The producer’s questions: Do Muslim women believe x? Are Muslim women y? Does Islam allow z for women?

• Replace “Muslim” with “Christian” or “Jewish”. Do the questions still make sense? What does that reveal about the category?

• Where have you seen a question asked of one group that nobody would ask of another?

Do Muslim Women Need Saving: Muslim Women as an Explanation

The invitations

After 9/11 she was flooded with invitations to speak as an expert on Muslim women, and felt uneasy about why.

The NewsHour call

A producer wanted background for a segment on Women and Islam. The questions were hopelessly general: Do Muslim women believe x? Does Islam allow z?

The pattern

Experts were asked for cultural explanations, not for history: The world split into West versus Muslims.

Do Muslim Women Need Saving: The Burqa

A local form of covering

There are many types of coverings depending on region/class representing a bunch of different things 

“Portable seclusion” (Papanek): women can move in public and keep their respectability.

Many meanings

Dr. Suheila Siddiqi refused the burqa but still covered her hair.

Educated women today wear Islamic dress to show religious devotion and respect.

Defining a “Muslim Woman”

• Category is far too big to mean much. Think about substituting it for Christian Women, etc

• Who makes “what we know”: Television programmes, news, magazines, blogs, academic articles, textbooks, conferences, publishing houses and bookstores are all part of an immense process of knowledge production about Muslim women. Corporate media and journalistic routines are another filter. In popular representations, Muslim women are seen in stereotypical stock photos of the veil, burqa and headscarf, and practices of headcovering are rarely contextualised. The struggles and debates around these sartorial symbols in Muslim countries are not part of the picture; what we see is an essentialised image of Muslim women as the victims of religion and tradition. Stories about feminist activism in Muslim societies remain invisible, leaving the impression that women’s lives have remained unchanged throughout centuries.

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