DOING WHAT COMES NATURAL?
Sexism and gender discrimination
But‌
Write down three primary reasons why these inequalities might happen ?
Our Purpose
Despite educational success, women are disadvantaged in a number of areas of public life
We ask: Are these inequalities a result of biological differences? Is gender discrimination reproduced through social structures? To what extent is gender discrimination a result of unconscious everyday practices? Or is it direct discrimination against women by men?
Today
Consider the distinction between sex and gender
Discuss the construction of gender
Examine the institutional ‘limits’ to gender equality
Explore the notion of everyday sexism
In context
Biological sex (or gender?) is perhaps the most noticeable social difference
It is readily apparent that this difference is a division
The primary debate is whether these divisions are biologically determined or socially constructed
We will examine difference approaches for understanding this debate, predominately functionalism and feminism(s)
The illusion of progress?
Whilst divisions exist, there appears to be some progress in relation to gender and sexual equality
This progress contrasts with both economic and ethnic inequalities
Nonetheless, gender and sexuality remain one of the only areas in which active discrimination is socially and legally accepted in some areas
Biological assumptions, particularly in relation to masculinity and power, remain extremely common
Why?
?
Basics Sex: Biological differences, male vs. female
Gender: Cultural differences, masculinity vs. femininity
The importance of understanding How society understands the links between sex and gender significantly affects social and political responses to differences and divisions
Biology
Social constructions
• Functional cohesion
• Gender discrimination
The logic of traditional Sex
Humans are just another animal species…
…the animal kingdom is marked by significant distinctions in ‘gender roles’.
These biological distinctions are reflected in social gender roles.
This concept helps to naturalise divisions between genders…
…and stigmatise ‘unnatural’ sexual practices
But has an intuitive grip on our understandings?
It’s all natural Differences between men and women are often considered to be natural
Between Biology and Culture? Biology
Society
We may be born into a ‘sex’, but this is expressed in a social context
Moreover, certain aspects of our ‘sex category’ are socially favoured – there is no natural political privileging of gendered characteristics
Birthing Social Life
Biological women are uniquely positioned to give birth to children
For many, this biological fact leads to natural social consequences
Alternatively, the social inequalities that are supposed to result from the ‘mothering role’ can be attributed to the social norms through which we respond to biology
Does the potential to give birth result in ‘naturally’ nurturing social roles for women? ?
Functionalism and Patriarchy
Biologically defined gender roles allow an ‘organic’ solidarity and social cohesion
Men and women might have different positions within society, but this is a reflection of natural differences
Emile Durkheim (1897): “Further, we have seen that in all the countries of the world women commit suicide much less than men. They are also much less educated. Fundamentally traditionalist by nature, they govern their conduct by fixed beliefs and have no great intellectual needs”. Suicide, p.121
Family stability
Talcott Parsons argued that family’s played a key role in socialising children
Family’s work best through a strong, sexual, division of labour Women hold ‘expressive roles’ Men ‘instrumental’ roles
David Cameron: families are "the building blocks of a strong, cohesive society"
Classical Sex
Humans are just another animal species
The animal kingdom is marked by significant distinctions in ‘gender roles’
These biological distinctions are reflected in social gender roles
Men and women are ‘separate but equal’
This concept helps to naturalise divisions between genders…
…and stigmatise ‘unnatural’ sexual practices
But has an intuitive grip on our understandings?
U.S Republican Primary Candidate Rick Santorum: On stay-at-home mothers “Respect for stay-at-home mothers has been poisoned by a toxic combination of the village elders’ war on the traditional family and radical feminism’s misogynistic crusade to make working outside the home the only marker of social value and self-respect.’’ — From “It Takes a Family”
On Marriage “Marriage is not about affirming somebody’s love for somebody else. It’s about uniting together to be open to children, to further civilization in our society.” -“Fox News Sunday”, Fox News Channel, August 3, 2003.
Beyond Nature
Gender had not been considered a social category until introduced in the 1950s by controversial psychologist John Money
The social construction of gender did not come into widespread use in sociology until the 1970s
Masculinity vs. Femininity rather than Male vs. Female
This framework suggested that divides between the masculine and the feminine were socially determined and fluid
Constructing Gender
Biology does not ‘determine’ gender – it is an ‘inadequate explanation’
Humans are social and culture creatures; our biology is not simply expressed but constructed through social norms and institutional structures
Gender is performed everyday through socially defined roles and displays
Doing Gender
Conversely, gender is not completely divorced from biology
Candace West and Don Zimmerman (1987, p.126) argue that gender appears to be fixed from around age five, much like sex, through social productions
Individuals ‘do’ gender, but within a strongly defined social context and psychological attachment
Sex and Sex Categories
Sex may occur biologically, but requires the social selection of the appropriate biological criteria – a ‘sex category’
Through our symbolic gender displays and role we claim inclusion within these categories, thus it is possible to claim membership whilst not meeting the biological criteria
While we display our gender, this staging occurs within a defined social situation
Gender Inequalities
Gender is a performed act within social structures based upon a claim to belong to a sex category defined by sex criteria
Any sexual inequality is constructed within social structures
Attempts to essentialise gendering (reduce gender to sex) naturalise those inequalities
Feminism is the primary explanatory device in the critique of these assumptions
Feminism
Feminism, and feminist theory, seeks to understand and contest gender inequality
Feminist sociologist’s suggest ‘that it is necessary to re-conceptualise sociology, not just add women, but to develop adequate theories for explaining the exploitation and subordination of women’ (Abbott, 2006: 71)
By arguing that distinctions between men and women are socially constructed rather than biologically given, feminist theory provided resources to challenge social divisions
This challenge – an attempt to explain social inequalities – has primarily occurred at three levels
Explaining Gender Divisions
Direct discrimination: Women are inferior to men
Institutionalised discrimination: Macro social structures are loaded in favour of men and masculinity
Everyday practices: Our understanding of gender is naturalised and we don’t see certain behaviours are discriminatory
From feminism to feminisms
Liberal feminism
Radical feminism
Marxist feminism
Liberal Feminism 
Liberal feminism, most commonly send as a cultural and political practice, has focused on ensuring formal and cultural equality between men and women

This can be limited to ensuring equal pay for equal jobs or equal opportunities through progressive reforms

Alternatively, liberal feminists have attempted to tackle more institutional forms of gendered discrimination
Fair Pay Laws
The ‘Equal Pay Act’ was passed in 1970
Yet, in 2010, research by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) suggested that the gender pay gap in the UK would not be bridged until 2067
How can we explain this discrepancy?
Everyday Sexism
Gender biases pervade our everyday life, to the point they go unnoticed
Masculine ways to do things are the ‘right ways’
Sexism is experienced on a personal level
Do you experience sexism as an everyday experience?
Institutional Discrimination
It is argued that there exists a cultural bias towards masculine characteristics within public life
Both gender roles and the social norms that determine successful gender display prevent women from achieving power
Women are often expected to take on domestic ‘responsibilities’ as well as paid employment
Moreover, the biological and social demands of childcare often coincide with normalised periods of career progression
Why does the gender pay gap rise with age?
Public and Private
Gendered behavioural and social divisions have tended to represent an extension of private roles
Feminist’s have argued both that ‘women’s work’ in the home is undervalued and that certain tasks are considered to be women’s work
The idea of ‘women’s work’ has been extended in public roles
Feminine Occupations
In 2010 the Equality and Human Rights Commission reported that:
Women do 77% of all administrative and secretarial jobs in Britain and 83% of ‘personal service’ roles
58% of unpaid carers are women and 87% of married women reported doing more housework than their husbands
Moreover, university subject areas with a high proportion of women: Medicine (80%), veterinary science (76%), education (76%) and languages (68%).
Subject areas with a high proportion of men included: Engineering and technology (84%), computer science (81%) and architecture, building and planning (69%).
Feminine Occupations ‘Feminine’ occupations tend to follow wife/mother nurturing roles Wife/receptionist
Mother/Teacher
Why are women overrepresented in these roles? Is it possible to be powerful and feminine?
Radical Feminism
Radical feminists such as Simone de Beauviour argue that a ‘patriarchal’ system of power ensures male supremacy
Masculine positions are normative, forcing women take on these roles
Sexism and gender inequalities aren’t a result of biology or direct discrimination, but widespread systematic domination by men
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is the ‘rule (or law) of the father’
Originally understand as the dominant role of the father in the family relations through which we are socialised
Sociologists have conceptualised patriarchy as a structural system that maintains male, or masculine, dominance
Feminism and Patriarchy
Shulamith Firestone (1971) argued that it is men who control women’s reproductive roles and thus both control the private lives of women and prevent them from entering into public life
Further, central ideals about femininity circulated in the public domain – both about social roles and physical appearance – oppress women.
The key distinction here is between ‘public’ and ‘private’
Politicising the private
Carol Hanisch: ‘The personal is political’
Ann Oakely (1974): Women work a ‘double shift’ in the home
These responsibilities prevent women’s full participation in the public sphere
Violence and public space
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, in 2008/9:
Domestic violence (including by partners, ex-partners and family members) accounted for 68% of female homicides and 15% of male homicides in England and Wales, and 53% of female homicides and 20% of male homicides in Scotland.
27% of women and 15% of men have experienced some form of domestic abuse since reaching the age of 16 in England and Wales
Women were the victims of just under three-quarters (73%) of the domestic violence recorded in the 2009/10 British Crime Survey.
This violence is often suggested to be part of men’s sense of entitlement to occupy and dominate public space
Masculine Femininity?
Against these systematic limitations, it is argued that women have been reduced to a shadow of masculinity
In order to compete, women have to ‘act’ like men, taking on the negative connotations of masculinity
Capitalist Feminism
It has argued that feminism and gender equality have been limited by their commodification
That is, what it means to be feminine is defined by advertising and consumerism
Moreover, through the rise of service industries, production is becoming more feminised
These changes produce a façade of feminine dominance whilst leaving patriarchal structures intact
To what extent is public ‘culture’ feminine?
Marxist Feminism
Marxist feminists have argued that men control women’s domestic labour, much as the bourgeois control the proletariat within capitalism.
Conversely, capitalism has encouraged the entry of women into the job market, increasing the supply of labour
However, capitalist dynamics continue to determine the value of this labour e.g. Finance capitalists are more valuable than hospice nurses
Threatening Masculinity
The rise of feminine perspectives and reduction in working class status has challenged ‘what it means to be a man’
There has been considerable fretting about systematic biases in the education system…
…and ‘discrimination’ against (white) men through progressive programmes
10 Steps to being a man No.10 Learn to talk the talk No.9 Get the news No.8 Develop your voice
No.7 Hit the gym No.6 Foot the bill
No.5 Forget the past No.4 Don't write anything No.3 Drink hard No.2 Shake with authority No.1 Look 'em in the eye
Limits to Gendering?
Part of the ‘crisis’ of masculinity is the notion that society has moved away from its ‘natural’ state by encouraging more relativist conceptions
This concern returns us to question of socialised biology
Why do gender inequalities occur?
Summary
Whilst significant progress has been made in the West, persistent divisions remain
These divisions are often reproduced through biological assumptions
Sociological and political feminism(s) have challenged biological essentialism
These assumptions and subsequent discriminations continue to have resonant strongly
Next Week CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? UNDERSTANDING RACISM AND ETHNICITY READING Mason, D. (2006) Ethnicity. In G. Payne (Ed.) Social Divisions (2nd Ed.), Basingstoke: Macmillan.