Gender Inequality

What is sex?

Biological characteristics commonly used to classify people as female, male, or intersex.

What is gender?

Socially constructed expectations, identities, roles, and relations associated with gender categories.

What is sexual orientation?

A person's pattern of romantic, emotional, or sexual attraction.

What is biological essentialism?

The belief that biological differences naturally determine social roles, behaviour, and inequalities.

What is a structural approach to gender?

An approach examining how institutions, social arrangements, and power relations produce gendered outcomes.

What does West and Zimmerman mean by "doing gender"?

Gender is produced through everyday interactions in which people perform actions judged against gender expectations.

What are Risman's three levels of gender?

Individual, interactional, and institutional levels.

What is the individual level of gender?

How gender shapes identities, socialization, expectations, and individual behaviour.

What is the interactional level of gender?

How gender expectations are produced and reinforced through social interactions.

What is the institutional level of gender?

How organizations, laws, policies, and social structures reproduce gender inequality.

What is a deep structure in the study of gender?

Underlying social arrangements that make gender inequality appear normal or inevitable.

How does a relational approach understand gender?

Gender is shaped through relationships and social arrangements, rather than being only an individual attribute.

What are Tilly's four mechanisms of durable inequality?

Exploitation, opportunity hoarding, emulation, and adaptation.

What is exploitation in Tilly's theory?

Powerful groups benefit from the labour or resources of less powerful groups.

What is opportunity hoarding in Tilly's theory?

A group restricts access to valuable opportunities and resources to maintain its advantages.

What is emulation in Tilly's theory?

Existing organizational patterns of inequality are copied in other settings.

What is adaptation in Tilly's theory?

Routines and practices develop around existing inequalities, helping them persist.

How can exploitation reproduce gender inequality?

Women's labour, including unpaid care work, can benefit others without equal compensation or recognition.

How can opportunity hoarding reproduce gender inequality?

Powerful groups can restrict access to influential positions, networks, and opportunities.

What is radical feminism?

A feminist perspective that examines patriarchy and gendered power relations as fundamental sources of inequality.

What is patriarchy?

A social system in which men as a group hold disproportionate power and authority.

What is Firestone associated with?

A radical feminist analysis of sex-based inequality and the role of reproduction in women's oppression.

What is O'Brien associated with in feminist theory?

A feminist analysis connecting reproduction, social arrangements, and women's subordination.

What is social reproduction?

Activities and processes that maintain people and society, including caregiving and domestic labour.

What do Laslett and Brenner emphasize about social reproduction?

Social reproduction is essential to society and the economy, yet much of it is unpaid or undervalued and gendered.

What is heterosexism?

The assumption or institutional privileging of heterosexuality over other sexual orientations.

What is heteronormativity?

The assumption that heterosexuality and conventional gender relations are normal or expected.

How can heteronormativity shape institutions?

Rules, practices, and expectations can privilege heterosexual relationships and marginalize other identities.

What is postmaterialism in discussions of social attitudes?

A shift toward values such as self-expression and individual rights as material security increases.

What is socialist feminism?

A perspective examining how gender inequality is connected to economic systems, class relations, and patriarchy.

What is Hartmann's dual-systems approach?

An approach treating capitalism and patriarchy as related but distinct systems that shape women's inequality.

What is the family wage?

The idea that a male worker should earn enough to support a family while a woman performs unpaid domestic work.

How can the family wage reproduce gender inequality?

It privileges men's paid employment and reinforces women's economic dependence and unpaid caregiving.

What are Walby's six structures of patriarchy?

Household production, paid work, the state, male violence, sexuality, and cultural institutions.

What is Acker's approach to gender inequality?

A single-system approach examining how gender is embedded in organizations, institutions, and social relations.

How does Acker differ from Hartmann?

Acker emphasizes gender and class as intertwined within one system, whereas Hartmann distinguishes patriarchy and capitalism as related systems.

What are relations of distribution in Acker's framework?

Relationships involving the allocation of resources, opportunities, and rewards, including personal, marital, and state relations.

How do gender, class, race, and age intersect?

Their interaction shapes access to resources, power, opportunities, and experiences of inequality.

How does functionalism explain gender roles?

Gender roles may be explained as contributing to social stability and coordination among social institutions.

What is a key criticism of functionalism's explanation of gender?

It can treat traditional roles as necessary and overlook unequal power, conflict, and social change.

How does conflict theory explain gender inequality?

Groups with greater power and resources can maintain advantages through institutions and unequal distributions.

How might conflict theory explain the gender pay gap?

Work structures and unequal power can maintain pay differences and women's concentration in lower-paid jobs.

What does symbolic interactionism emphasize in gender?

How gender is created, interpreted, and reinforced through everyday interactions and shared meanings.

How does doing gender connect to symbolic interactionism?

People reproduce gender through routine actions that others interpret against gender expectations.

How do feminist perspectives explain gender inequality?

They examine gendered power relations, patriarchy, institutions, unpaid work, and structural barriers to equality.

What is intersectionality?

An approach examining how systems of inequality, such as gender, race, and class, intersect and shape experiences.

Why is intersectionality different from studying gender alone?

It examines how inequalities interact rather than assuming all women or men experience inequality identically.

How could two theories explain the same gender inequality differently?

They may emphasize social stability, unequal power, everyday interactions, patriarchal structures, or intersecting systems of inequality.

How should you apply a theory to a gender scenario?

Identify the theory's central focus, connect it to evidence, and explain the mechanism behind the outcome.

How does socialization shape gender-related choices?

It teaches gender norms and expectations that influence interests, behaviour, roles, and perceived opportunities.

How can workplace expectations shape gender-related choices?

Expectations about availability, flexibility, leadership, and commitment can advantage some workers and constrain others.

How can public policy shape gender-related choices?

Policies affect access to childcare, parental leave, employment opportunities, and the ability to combine paid work and care.

How do caregiving responsibilities constrain choices?

Care demands can limit paid hours, job flexibility, career advancement, and access to higher earnings.

Why are individual choices not always completely free choices?

Choices are shaped by socialization, resources, institutional rules, workplace expectations, and caregiving responsibilities.

How can gender stereotypes reproduce inequality?

They influence expectations about suitable jobs, leadership, parenting, and who should perform unpaid care.

What is horizontal occupational segregation?

The concentration of women and men in different occupations, industries, or fields.

What is vertical occupational segregation?

The concentration of women and men at different levels of authority, status, or seniority.

If women and men work in different sectors, which segregation is this?

Horizontal occupational segregation.

If men dominate senior management while women dominate lower ranks, which segregation is this?

Vertical occupational segregation.

What is the glass ceiling?

Invisible or systemic barriers that restrict advancement into senior positions.

What is the glass escalator?

An advantage men may experience in women-dominated occupations when they advance more readily into higher-status roles.

How can occupational segregation contribute to the gender pay gap?

Women and men are concentrated in different jobs and sectors that may have different pay, status, and advancement opportunities.

What did the cited labour-force figures show about goods-producing industries in 2000?

Men accounted for more than 75% of employment in the goods-producing sector.

What did the 2018 labour-force figures show about goods-producing employment?

Men accounted for approximately 78% of employment in the goods-producing sector.

What did the 2018 labour-force figures show about women's employment?

Women accounted for approximately 78% of employment in service-sector jobs.

In which sectors did women outnumber men by at least 15% in the cited 2018 figures?

Finance and insurance, education, accommodation and food services, and healthcare and social assistance.

What was notable about healthcare and social assistance employment in the cited figures?

Women outnumbered men by more than four to one.

What were the cited 2018 manufacturing employment figures?

Approximately 1,728.4 thousand workers.

What were the cited 2018 construction employment figures?

Approximately 1,437.5 thousand workers.

What were the cited 2018 forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil, and gas employment figures?

Approximately 340.6 thousand workers.

What were the cited 2018 agriculture employment figures?

Approximately 277.2 thousand workers.

What were the cited 2018 healthcare and social assistance employment figures?

Approximately 2,406.7 thousand workers.

What were the cited 2018 education employment figures?

Approximately 1,325.4 thousand workers.

What were the cited 2018 accommodation and food services employment figures?

Approximately 1,235.0 thousand workers.

What were the cited 2018 finance and insurance employment figures?

Approximately 828.8 thousand workers.

What did the cited occupational figures examine for 2016?

The ten most common occupations for women and men, including comparisons among people aged 25–34 with postsecondary qualifications.

Which three occupations were among the top occupations for university-educated women since 1991?

Elementary school teacher, registered nurse, and secondary school teacher.

What is the gender wage gap?

The difference between women's and men's earnings, commonly expressed as women's earnings relative to men's.

What did the cited figure report about women's earnings per dollar earned by men?

Women earned approximately 87 cents per dollar earned by men in that cited measure.

What did Figure 9.4 examine?

Women's total earnings as a percentage of men's earnings from 1980 to 2015.

What was identified as a primary reason for the gender pay gap?

The different kinds of work women and men do.

What is the difference between hourly wages and annual earnings?

Hourly wages measure pay per hour; annual earnings reflect pay accumulated over a year.

Why can annual earnings show a larger gender gap than hourly wages?

Annual earnings also reflect hours and weeks worked, employment interruptions, and time spent outside paid work.

How can two people with equal hourly pay have different annual earnings?

They may work different hours or weeks, or experience different periods out of paid employment.

What is the difference between mean and median earnings?

The mean is the arithmetic average; the median is the middle value in an ordered distribution.

Why compare mean and median earnings?

The mean is affected by very high or low values; the median identifies the middle earner.

What does an unadjusted gender wage gap measure?

The overall earnings difference between women and men without accounting for other characteristics.

What does an adjusted gender wage gap attempt to do?

Compare earnings after accounting for selected factors, though it may not capture all structural inequalities.

Why does adjusting for occupation not necessarily remove structural inequality?

Occupational segregation itself may reflect unequal opportunities, stereotypes, and gendered expectations.

How can the valuation of occupations reproduce gender inequality?

Work associated with women may be undervalued even when it requires substantial skill, responsibility, or effort.

What does equal pay for equal work mean?

People doing the same or substantially similar work should receive equal pay.

What does equal pay for work of equal value mean?

Different jobs of comparable value should receive comparable pay, even when their tasks differ.

What is the difference between access to work and rewards for work?

Access concerns who can enter and advance in jobs; rewards concern the pay and benefits attached to work.

How can occupational segregation affect access and rewards simultaneously?

It can channel groups into different jobs and concentrate them in occupations with different pay and advancement opportunities.

How can education narrow the gender earnings gap?

Education can improve opportunities, but segregation, caregiving, and unequal advancement can continue to affect earnings.

How can increased labour-force participation narrow the gender earnings gap?

More paid-work experience can increase women's employment experience and earnings.

How can continuous employment experience affect the gender earnings gap?

Continuous experience can support earnings and advancement, while career interruptions can reduce them.

How can movement into professional occupations affect the gender earnings gap?

Access to professional occupations can increase earnings, although segregation and unequal advancement may persist.

How can anti-discrimination policies affect the gender earnings gap?

They can reduce formal barriers, though institutional practices and unequal care responsibilities may remain.

What is the motherhood penalty?

The earnings or career disadvantage mothers may experience because of caregiving expectations and interruptions.