Sex, Gender, Childhood, Power, Leadership, Achievement, Justice, Equity, Social Change, and Workplace Issues

Constructing Gender

• Parents play a role in constructing gender roles from before birth.
  • Female fetuses are rated as softer, littler, calmer, weaker, more delicate, and more beautiful compared to male fetuses.
  • Within 24 hours after first birth, girls are described as softer and more delicate, while boys are described as hardier, stronger, and better coordinated.
  • Objective measures show no actual differences.
• Culture reinforces stereotyped perceptions through congratulatory cards, verbal messages of emotional expressiveness for girls (sweetness), and more active images for boys.

Gendered Experiences & Expectations

• Experiences and expectations are gendered through clothes, toys, room decorations, and household chores.
• Goals of socialization:
  • To prepare children for the future.
  • To help them become successful adults.
  • Household chores contribute to this preparation.
• Parents' gendered interactions with infants:
  • Experimental design: babies in blue vs. pink outfits.
    • In the boy condition, mothers were more likely to offer a train.
    • In the girl condition, mothers were more likely to offer a baby doll, smile more, and hold the baby more closely.
  • Interactive science museum example:
    • Parents were three times more likely to explain science to boys than girls.

Media

• Media Messages:
  • Message 1: Males are the authorities.
    • Commercials: 90% of narrators are male.
    • News: soft vs. hard news coverage; interviews of experts.
  • Message 2: Women are peripheral.
    • 13% of news stories focus specifically on women.
    • More male characters on prime-time TV.
• Children’s TV & Books:
  • Portray genders in stereotypical ways.
  • Males characters outnumber females.
  • Geena Davis is bringing this issue to the forefront.
• Media & Physical Appearance:
  • Commercials stress physical appearance more for girls.
  • Prime Time TV & Tween Shows: girls are portrayed as more attractive and interested in appearance compared to boys.

Implications for Children (TV): Experimental Designs

• Body Satisfaction:
  • Viewing TV ads with ideal types leads to lower satisfaction with one's own body.
  • Viewing TV ads about traditional women leads to more traditional attitudes toward women’s roles.
  • Viewing TV ads about non-traditional women leads to less traditional attitudes toward women’s roles.

Implications of Books: Experimental Designs

• Achievement:
  • Reading about achievement behavior leads to working harder on a task in the lab, especially if the character is the same-sex child.
  • Reading another book not related to achievement behavior leads to not working as hard on a task in the lab.
• Toy Selection:
  • Reviewing a gender-stereotypical picture book makes children more likely to choose gender-stereotypical toys.
  • Viewing a gender-neutral book makes children less likely to choose a gender-stereotypical toy.

Social Media

• Girls are more likely to use social media than boys.
• Social media use is associated with poorer mental health.

Teachers’ Influence on Self-Confidence

• Girls:
  • Punished more for academic mistakes.
  • Praised more for good appearance or conduct.
  • When answering incorrectly, told not to worry.
• Boys:
  • Punished more for being unruly.
  • Praised more for good academic performance.
  • When answering incorrectly, encouraged to keep trying until they get it right.
  • Teachers allow boys to interrupt them more.

Achievement Self-Esteem & Self-Efficacy

• Boys generally report feeling more positive about themselves than girls do.
• Boys predict more successful task outcomes.
• Expectancy-value theory of achievement
  • Belief can be successful.

Power, Leadership, & Achievement

• What is achievement?
  • Earning a law degree?
  • Getting a raise at work?
  • Being a good friend?
  • Raising two kids?
• Social Consensus of Achievement in a Male-Centered Culture:
  • Value of Accomplishments: Often values traditionally male accomplishments more than female accomplishments
  • Visibility of accomplishments: History books
  • Impact of accomplishments: North American history book - “The pioneer and his wife…”
  • Often values traditionally male accomplishments more than female accomplishments.

Horner’s Theory – Fear of Success

• Women may not be rewarded for succeeding; rather, they may be penalized for being unfeminine and thus may fear success.
• Developed based on everyday observations.
• Horner’s Research:
  • Fear of success: anticipate negative consequences.
  • Complete the story: “After first-term finals, finds herself at the top of her medical class.”
    • Girls: Anne
    • Boys: John
• Who is in Power in the U.S.?
  • CEOs Fortune 500: 10.4% women, 89.6% men
  • Senate: 25% women, 75% men
  • House of Rep: 29% women, 71% men
• High Political Positions Worldwide:
  • Women in Parliament World Rank:
    • Rwanda
    • Sweden
    • Canada
    • U.S (28.8%)
    • Japan

Horner’s Research Results

• Females
  • 65% told stories that incorporated negative consequences.
  • Attributed it to an error, cheating, etc.
• Males
  • <10% incorporated negative consequences.
• Horner’s Conclusion: Women fear Success.
• Media treated it as a personality disposition.
• Evidence Against Horner’s Theory on Fear of Success:
  • Evidence it was not a stable internal motive.
  • Anne v. John
  • Type of situation important: Gender-typical v. atypical
• Overall Results of Research:
  • Women do NOT have lower motivation to succeed.
  • People are aware of social consequences of their achievement behavior.

Consequences of Success: Research Method Example

• Research Lab Manager – Dept. of National Defense _was evaluated very highly by all reviewers. He/she was highly praised for his/her research output, commitment to work, mathematical competence, and overall ability to control and coordinate the activities of the lab. He/she has been identified as one of a small group of rising stars. His/her performance is in the top 5% of all employees at her level. Rate how abrasive, pushy, insensitive, tough, unkind, selfish, likable.

Consequences of Success

• Successful women in male-dominated jobs are rated as more hostile and less likable (compared to successful men).
• Female evaluators are just as critical – if not more – than male evaluators. Why????
• Consequence of Success: Loneliness?
  • Double marginality
  • Alienation from other women because of their unusual job.
  • Alienation from male colleagues.
  • Individuals earning more than $100,000/year:
    • 49% of women childless v. 19% of men.
    • 57% of women married, v. 83% of men.

Once Women Get to Positions of Power, it can be Frustrating

• Female v. Male Leaders
  • People listen/are influenced by male leaders more.
• Experiment to manipulate expertise & legitimacy of leader
  • Male group members told female was randomly assigned as leader
• Conditions
  • 1 - Appointed-only leader
  • 2 - Appointed and trained leader
  • 3 - Appointed, trained, & legitimated as credible
• Results
• Advice to get more women in leadership positions: Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO)
  • Sit at the table-show yourself
  • Have an equal partner for everything
  • Don't leave before you leave.

Influence Strategies

• PERSON X AND PERSON Y ARE GOING TO EAT DINNER TOGETHER. PERSON X WANTS TO EAT AT CHIPOTLE FOR DINNER. LIST ALL THE POSSIBLE WAYS THAT PERSON X CAN GET PERSON Y TO EAT AT CHIPOTLE.
• Influence Strategy Dimension #1: Direct v. Indirect
  • Direct: Uses power openly
  • Indirect: Trying to get an outcome without the other person realizing they are trying to get the outcome
• Influence Strategy Dimension #2: Personal v. Concrete Resources
  • Personal
    • Resources that depend on personal relationships
    • Ex. Liking & approval
  • Concrete
    • Ex. Money, knowledge, physical strength
• Influence Strategy Dimension #3: Helplessness v. Competence
  • Competence
    • You know what you are doing, so you (for ex.) give orders
  • Helplessness
    • Act incompetent to get others to do things for us

What does Research Say about Gender Differences in Influence Strategies?

• 1.Expectations about influence strategies men and women will use
• 2.Do men and women actually use different influence strategies?
• 1. Expectations:Research Methods Activity
• 1. Expectations about Influence Strategies: Results
  • People Expect Men to Use:
    • Concrete resources
    • Competence based on legitimacy or expertise
    • Direct
    • Use informational personal resources
  • People Expect Women to Use:
    • Expertise
    • Helpessness
    • Sexuality
• 2. Actual Use of Influence Strategies?
  • Self-Reports of Hypothetical Situation: What Method Would you Choose?
    • Males: Concrete, direct, competence
    • Females: Personal, indirect, helplessness
  • Self-reports don’t always match with behavior.

Why Might Men and Women Use Different Influence Strategies

• Access to Resources
  • Wage gap
  • Time gap
  • Women more likely to live in poverty
  • Less political power
• Gender Roles
  • Who is viewed as more competent?
  • Disapproval when go against gender roles
• Again – Context Matters!
  • In what situations are women viewed as the experts?
  • When in a situation that someone is an expert, they are more likely to use direct forms of influence.

Issues in the Workplace

• Outline:
  • Gender Wage Gap
  • Reasons for the Gender Wage Gap
  • Working in Gender Atypical Occupations
  • Combining Work & Family

The Gender Wage Gap Myths & Misconceptions about Working Women

• Their wages are non-essential to the family’s survival
• they are unreliable
• They leave the workforce to go have kids
• They are too expensive to provide benefits for things like maternity leave, child care, etc.
• The wage gap has been getting smaller quickly

Reasons for the Gender Wage Gap

• 1.Discrimination
• 2. More childcare responsibilities
• 3. “Choose” lower paying occupations
• 4. Consequences for success

Discrimination

• Past – It used to be acceptable to pay men more than women for the exact same job
• Present-equal pay for equal work 1970
• Difficult to determine what is equal work…
  • Professor #1:
    • Teaches one Intro Psych class of 200 students
    • Teaches one Counseling class of 30 students
    • Advises 40 undergrad students
    • Serves on 3 committees
  • Professor #2
    • Teaches three sections of Abnormal Psychology (30 students per section)
    • Advises 3 graduate students and guides them while they write theses
    • Wrote and published one book
  • Is this equal work? Should they get paid the same amount?
  • Female-Typed Jobs
    • Child care worker (30,370)
    • Home health & personal care aides (33,530)
  • Male-Typed Jobs
    • Helpers – pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters (37,650)
    • Cement masons & concrete finishers (50,720)
  • De-valuing women’s work
    • When women are the majority the pay Decreased.

Stereotypes Influence Hiring Decisions

• In high paying occupations, men tend to be preferred over women
• Assumed will be more committed to work
• Higher competence rating
• More likable
• Experimental: It was mostly college students
• Most people chose Mela
• Also see this with race/ethnicity:
  • Sarah v. Niailah

Discrimination in Promotions

• Sample: 1000 top female & male managers (top 20 U.S companies)
• Males and females were quite similar (e.g., education, job tenure, work experiences)
• Results
• Employment context matter - male domatic - women received smaller salary increase over a 5 year period

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (2009)

• 60 days to file a complaint-start when they got their last paid.
• Pre- and post- act differences
• Problem?

More Childcare Responsibilities

• The wage gap is even larger when you compare mothers to fathers
• Responsibilities can lead to:
  • working fewer hours outside the home
  • difficulty traveling for work etc
  • discrimination against mothers
    • Assume will be more expensive, less competent, & less committed
  • v. Fatherhood premium
  • Often times “choose ” more flexible occupations

Lack of Paid Parental Leave in U.S.

• U.S. Companies
• <30 % of workers have access to paid parental leave
• FLMA-have R months off wo pay

Vertical Segregation

• Within an occupational sector, men and women are disproportionately represented at different levels
• Example:
  • Surgeons
  • Physician Assistants
  • Registered Nurses

Horizonal Segregation

• Men and women concentrate within different occupations
• Example:
  • Registered Nurse
  • Receptionists
  • Aerospace Engineers

Glass Ceiling

• A barrier that keeps women from prestigious and top paying occupations
• Is this a good metaphor?
• Glass ceiling v. labyrinth ~ more like a maze

Consequences for Success: The Double-Edged Sword

• Gender roles make it hard for women to succeed in male-typed occupations.
• Competence
• Likability

Working in Gender Atypical Occupations Tokenism (numerical minority)

• Tokens v. Dominants
• Ex. 85 to 15
• Kanter - research female tokens in work places ~ Researcher
• Findings
  • Find it difficult to relax - very visible
  • Stress may impair performance
  • Perceived as members of the outgroup, not as an individual

Women in Male-Dominated Jobs

• Sexual Harassment- High rates of attrition
• “I got tired of being propositioned by senior officers who thought you were a lesbian if you didn’t or a slut if you did”
• Networking can be difficult
• stag effects
• Double duty
• Male modes of communication & shared experiences

Male Tokens

• Tokens often associate with other “tokens”
• other tokens are often in position of power
• may help then move up the ladder faster
• Difficulties
  • Suspicion
  • Assumptions abut masculinity
• Advantages
  • Glass escalator
  • Get paid more – even in similar positions & qualifications

Combining Work & Family

• Childcare
  • U.S.
    • ~8-20% of household income goes to childcare (per kid)
    • individualistic values
    • community style approach
  • Japan: Government subsidized day care system

What are the Negative Results of Combining Work & Family?

• Workers
  • Health
  • Job satisfaction
• Families of workers
• Companies/Businesses
  • Turnover
  • Lower job performance

Work-Family Facilitation

• work and family can benefit each other
• Skills, positive emotions, behaviors, etc. may transfer from one domain to the other
• Examples? Nurses

JUSTICE, EQUITY, & SOCIAL CHANGE

• Outline
  • The Legal System, Gender, & Sex Workers
  • Gender Differences in Reward Allocation
  • Rationalizing Inequality
  • Taking Action: Making a Difference
• Few women are involved in law/Judicial systems

JUSTICE IS BLIND?

• Unfortunately the legal system reflect and perpetrators gender stereotypes and prejudice
• Examples
  • Marital rape was not illegal until 1970s
  • Rape shield laws (1994 federal act)
  • Rape victim v. defendant on trial
  • Women who kill their rapist v. men

TRAFFICKING

• ~11.4 million girls/women are bought & sold worldwide into forced labor, including sex work
• 10,000 Nepali women/girls every year to brothels in India
• Role of poverty( why they do it)

SEX WORKERS IN THE U.S.

• ~1-2 million sex workers in U.S. (1% of American women)
• Estimate of prostitution arrests in U.S
  • 70% female prostitutes
  • 20% male prostitutes
  • 10% customers

READ LLOYD’S CHAPTER EXCERPT LLOYD’S BOOK EXCERPT

• What were common themes among the girls in terms of:
  • Background prior to prostitution?
  • How their “pimps” recruited them?
  • Alternatives to prostitution?

PHASES OF SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

• Scouting
• Manipulation
• Trapping

OTHER REASONS IT IS DIFFICULT TO QUIT

• Pimps’s mind games
• No alternative methods to earn money
• No support system (stable family)
• Negative past experiences when trying to seek help

SEX WORKER LAWS & AGE

• John v. Prostitute Laws
• Statutory rape
• Safe harbor laws

REWARD ALLOCATION GENDER DIFFERENCES IN REWARD ALLOCATION

• Method:
  • Give participant a task
  • Record how long they work on the task
  • Ask them how much they should receive for their work
• Results
  • Women work longer on the task and
  • Pay themselves less money

WHY ARE WOMEN REWARDING THEMSELVES LESS, EVEN WHEN THEY WORK LONGER? IMPLICATIONS FOR SALARIES

• Women are less likely to negotiate initially salaries
• Experimental designs – role playing & negotiating salaries
  • For Self
  • For Friend
• Conclusion:it is not women’s negotiations skills that are the problem
• Person A
  • Initial: 25,000
• Person B
  • Initial: $30,000</li> <li>Initial Gap:$5,000
• Both increase 3%/year
• End of Career Gap:

REWARD ALLOCATION & COMPARING SELF TO OTHERS

• Research shows that individuals often decide how much they should earn by comparing to same-sex others

RATIONALIZING INEQUALITY

• Happy thought: the word is fair
• Often explain victims’ situations by rationalizing – i.e., they must deserve it
• Rationalization for why women are discriminated against
  • Work is less valuable
  • Less competent
  • Need money less
  • Less interested in work
• These rationalizations are NOT based on facts
  • WHEN INDIVIDUALS SPEAK OUT ON INEQUITIES ABOUT RESOURCES, THEY ARE OFTEN TREATED AS IF UNREASONABLE AND MEET DISAPPROVAL

TAKING ACTION: MAKING A DIFFERENCE Collective Action

• Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995) (A huge number of people come together to make a change)

Individual Resistance

• Elon James White
  • If complimentary, why don’t men do it to other men?
  • #DudesGreetingDudes
• GOLDIBLOX
  • ~11-14% of engineers are women
  • Teach skills
  • Hinges and levers
  • Pulleys
  • DOWNFALL TO MARKETING TOYS FOR GIRLS
    • Example legos
    • Not getting the same experience from toys
    • They've bleeding a different part of for different Gender

TITLE IX (1972)

• Prohibition sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions
• Changes Since the Passage
  • Increase in women attending college (43% to 63%)
  • More female athletes (294,000 v. 2.5 million)
  • More women in vocational education
  • The two Gender had different experience at School
  • Title IX will change with the dismissed Of SA