Gender and Society Final Exam

Gendered Institution

Any sort of long-standing place that fulfills a function in society, in which gender is used as an organizing principle. In a gendered institution, men and women are channeled into differently valued social spaces or activities and their choices have different and unequal consequences.

 

Example: Home, Work, Sport Teams, Restaurants

Socialization Hypothesis

Idea that because of the way men and women are socialized, they pick up trades, skills, etc that draw them to find what is considered feminine/masculine jobs in the workforce

Network Hypothesis

People tend to hear about job opportunities from friends, coworkers, close social networks—And these networks tend to be gendered

Employer Selection Hypothesis

It is the case that employers tend to prefer hiring women/men for the jobs they consider feminine/masculine

Selective Exit (Desertion) Hypothesis

People in occupations dominated by the opposite gender are more likely to leave that occupation and move to one that aligns better with gender expectations

Masculinization of wealth

concentration of men in high-earning occupations

Example: CEOs of fortune 500 companies still overwhelmingly men

Feminization of poverty

overrepresentation of female-headed households among the poor

Example: single motherhood and divorced women

Ideal Worker Norm

someone 100% dedicated to their job and has no other priorities is the preference (makes most sense when the worker has someone, a partner, who allows them to focus totally on their job)

Motherhood penalty

Women tend to see a decrease in wages after becoming mothers (through taking time off, not going for leadership positions)

Fatherhood premium

Wages tend to increase for men once becoming a father (expectation that men have more to provide for)

Hooking up

a casual sexual or romantic encounter without explicit commitment or exclusivity

Strategic Ambiguity

An impression management strategy to protect sexual and social identity. In the case of sexuality, it is when men and women use the term ‘hookup’ to describe their sexual activities rather than give details about their sexual activities

Second Shift

Work that greets us when we come home from work. Used to describe how women are essentially working two jobs, one paid at work, and one unpaid at home through feminized labor, or housework.

Ideology of intensive motherhood

Belief about what ideal motherhood should looks like. Includes that (1) Mothers should be the primary caretakers (2) Child-rearing should take up a lot of time, energy, and material resources (3) Child-rearing should be the mother’s #1 Priority

Outsourcers

When both parents are heavily focused on work, and so rely on domestic outsourcing, paying nonfamily members to do family-related tasks.

Examples: nannies, daycare, babysitter, housekeepers, handymen, restaurants (can also outsource cooking)

Dual-nurturer Couples

Both parents de-emphasize work and focus on their children. This is more common in higher-income families

Governance of gender

How gender is used to produce distinctions and regulate residents accordingly

 

Examples: Tax laws incentivize one breadwinner, Welfare policy discourages stay-at-home motherhood

Gender of governance

Who holds political office and whether it matters.  

Ex. does it makes a difference to be a woman represented by a woman

Gender-aware policy making

a practice of carefully considering the likely effects of a policy on people of all genders, as well as the intersectional differences among them.

Sexism

Prejudice people may engage in, discriminating against someone based on their biological sex

Examples: Valuing males over females “males are naturally more suited for political office because they are more rational”

Androcentrism

Prejudice people may engage in, discriminating based on gender.

Examples: Valuing what we consider masculine over what we consider feminine. Competitive sports getting better funding than the arts

Subordination

Any unequal relationship that places a female role underneath or submitting to a

male role. This requirement that women submit. Often seen with a subordinate role being

feminized (secretary, flight attendant, nurse) or dominant masculinized (boss, pilot, doctor)

Examples: Doctor-Nurse, Pilot-Flight attendant

Equal Access

aims to end sexism by dismantling legal barriers and reducing sex discrimination

Equal values

Designed to tackle the problem of androcentrism by raising the value of the feminine to match the value of the masculine.

Example: Policy to increase the value of feminine activities would do this (higher minimum pay for childcare)

Equal sharing

Targets subordination by attempting to ensure that men and women participate equally in masculine and feminine spheres.

Example: Policy to have men and women equally expected to act as parents (equal maternity and paternity leave)

Symbolic Representation

Women’s presence in government

Substantive representation

Policies important and helpful to women

Example: a policy that actually advances rights for women (ie equal pay)

Liberal Feminism

Mainstream institutional and legislative feminism that works towards the belief that gender should not be a factor in education, housing, employment, etc.

Example: Suffrage, Title IX

Radical Feminism

Arose in late 1960s aiming to abolish power relations (dismantle the system). Said that traditional gender roles (and the patriarchy) set people up for certain problematic and unequal power dynamics.

Examples: Anti-porn and queer feminism

Cultural Feminism

(aka essentialist feminism) Says that women are naturally and biologically different than men. Women are naturally more nurturing and maternal and therefore should be politicians.

Example: We would have less wars if women were in the dominant positions of power

Third-wave feminism

Intersectional approach which pays attention to how movements are connected and encourages broader participation in movements and members. Made up of largely young ,college-age women, but spans members of difference races, classes, and genders.

Examples: Girlie feminism (women reclaiming feminine ways of presenting themselves, femininity is valuable and we don’t (and shouldn't) have to act masculine in order to be respected the same as men). As well as pro-sex feminism