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  Review Notes on   TM  11:  Contemporary Feminist Theory
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 Syllabus
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  Resources
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Outline on TM 11:  Contemporary Feminist Theory
  
  CONCEPTS & HISTORY OF GENDER  
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 A Socio Historical Overview of Gender Relations  
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      Feminism  
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      Advanced Feminism  
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      Morgan on the Development of the Patricarchal Family  
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      Morgan, Types of Families  
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      Marx & Engels on Origin of the Family, Private Property & the State  
 
 CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST THEORY
 
  Marxist Feminists  
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        Gerda Lerner  
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        Feminist Social Structure  
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       Feminist Analytical Conflict Theory  
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       Feminist World Systems Theory  
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       Socialist Feminism  
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 Liberal Feminism ( Second Wave Femisim )  
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 Cultural Feminism  
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 Micro Social Theory of Gender  
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       Psychoanalytic Feminism  
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       Feminist Social Psychology  
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 Radical Feminism  
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 Third Wave Feminism:  Women & Globalization  
  GENDER CONCEPTS  
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 The Causes of Sexism  
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 Gender Socialization & the Social Structures  
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    Traditional Gender Roles  
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    Gender & the Workplace   
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    Gender Stratification  
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    Feminist Sociology of Knowledge  
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 Solutions to Sexism  
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 Socio Historical Analysis of Gender Relations  
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     Gender in Hunter Gatherer Societies  
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     Gender in Pre Empire Era:  Morgan:  Development of the Patriarchal Family  
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     Industrial Age:            1st Wave Feminism  
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     Industrial Age:             Suffragettes  
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     Post Industrial Society:   "The New Woman & the New Man:" Gender in Contemporary Society   

 
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History of Gender Relations A Socio Historical Overview
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  INTRODUCTION:  Note in this historic overview that sexism & patriarchy do not develop until "civilization" begins, circa 13,000 to 4,000 BC.  Thus humans have spent 99+% of existence in non-sexist society.  Thus, those who say that male domination is "natural" are mistaken  
 
 1. GEOLOGIC ERA
     5 bb - 5 mm		 Socio Biology Earth formation 
- early primates		  
 
 2. PRE HUMAN ERA
      5 mm - 1.5 mm		 "The sex contract" Early primates  
 
 3. HUNTER
    GATHERER
    SOCIETY
     1.5 mm - 10 K BC		 During the Hunter Gatherer Era,  there was gender equality in that there was little or no patriarchy or sexism
Gender & Racial Equality has existed for over 99 % of human existence		 Early humans:  99 % of 
human existence has occurred
in hunter gatherer society		  
 
 4. PRE EMPIRE ERA
     10 K BC - 3 K BC		 Patriarchy & sexism began "The historic defeat of women."  
         Morgan:  The Origin of Patriarchy  
         Marx & Engels:  The Origin of the Family, Private Property
           & the State		  
 
 5. EARLY EMPIRES
    3 K BC - 200 BC		 Women in the Ancient World Women & others as chattel
Some Women have power		  
 
 6. ROMAN ERA
     200 BC - 500 AD		 Women in the Roman Era  Some Women attain power  
 
 7. MIDDLE AGES
   500  - 1300		 Women in the Middle Ages
( Modern form of Racism begin )		 Romantic love develops  
 
 8. EARLY 
    INDUSTRIAL AGE
    1300 - 1700		 Mutual & reward: 
- marriage develops
- romance develops
- sexuality becomes more widespread 
- companionship develops
... as patriarchy recedes		 - Pre Enlightenment era
- Frontier Women
- Women work in factories
- Housewife role of  develops		  
 
 9. INDUSTRIAL AGE
    1700- present		  First Wave Feminism develops Enlightenment thinkers
Beginning of end of patriarchy
Wollstonecraft, Martineau,
Taylor		  
     Suffragette movement develops In 1920, US Women win the vote w/ the 19th Amendment  
     Depression & WW II Era Women Women return to work outside the home  
 
 10. GLOBAL
      CAPITALISM
       1910 - present		 Second Wave Feminism develops Some Women experience true equality  
 
 11.  POST
       INDUSTRIAL
       SOCIETY
        1970 - 		 The New Woman: 
3rd Wave Feminism develops		 Many Women experience equality in the West  

 
Internal
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  Outline on   Feminism 
External
Links
  -  Project:  Feminists R' Us
Link
 
 -  Project:  Song: "I Am Woman" & Social Theory
Link
  -  Song:  "I Am Woman" by Helen Reddy       3:16
Link
  FEMINISM IS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT & IDEOLOGY SUPPORTING EQUALITY BTWN MEN & WOMEN   
  Feminism is the advocacy of social equality for men & women, in opposition to patriarchy & sexism  
  A primary belief of feminists is that an equal share of resources/benefits should go to each according to abilities  
  A small % of women  ( less than 10 % ) will admit to being feminist, while a large % of women ( over 90 % ) actually subscribe to it's tenants 
 
  Nearly as many men as women are feminists  
  FEMINIST THEORISTS ARE A CENTRAL PART OF FEMINISM, IT IS CHARACTERISTIC OF IT'S MORE EXTREME BRANCH, 
FEMINIST PRAGMATISTS MAKE UP THE OTHER MORE MAINSTREAM BRANCH 		  
  Feminist theory is the study of woman centered patterning of human experience
Much of social theory, history, philosophy, etc., has excluded women & women's ideas
Feminism reinterprets patriarchal theory & history
Because of feminist theory, there is a growing literature on masculinity
 
  Feminist doctrine suggests that women are systematically disadvantaged in modern society & in response to this, advocates equal opportunities for men & women  
  Feminist sociologists have argued that conventional sociologists have neglected the significance of women in all areas of the subject  
  For example, many studies of social stratification have defined a family's class position based on the wages of the male "head of household" & this ignores the fact that women make economic contributions to their families from work both inside & outside the home  
  Typical studies of strat often assume that women have equal access to the wages their husbands earn  
  Masculinist theory is the study of the development of non patriarchal theory
Some social theorists hold that all theory, except for feminist theory, is masculinist
Much social theory is patriarchal in that women & other groups are omitted
 
  THE FEMINIST REINTERPRETATION IS WOMEN'S REEXAMINATION OF THE WORLD BASED ON GENDER 
 
  - Marx's reinterpretation reinterpreted the world based on class struggle
 
  - The deconstructionists reinterpreted the world based on removing the bias of rationalism
 
  - Deconstruction is the examination or pulling apart of traditional views, showing its gaps, flaws, etc.  
  - Part of any reinterpretation is deconstruction which is the examination or pulling apart of traditional views, showing its gaps, flaws, etc.  
  Feminists' reinterpretation of the world follows the Marxists' reinterpretation  
  Marx said that one's world view (explanation of the world) is shaped by their position in that world  
  Marxists & Weberians reinterpreted the world based on economics/status/power  
  Women have reinterpreted the world based on gender  
  This is to say that women & men see things differently & that women are reintegrating women's thoughts into theory & practice  
 
 Part of any reinterpretation is deconstruction, which is the examination or pulling apart of traditional views, showing its gaps, flaws, etc.  
  Deconstruction uses a variety of post-modern methods utilizing literature, philosophy, history, etc.  
  THE FEMINIST PRINCIPLES SEEK TO END THE OPPRESSION OF WOMEN & ESTB EQUALITY BTWN THE SEXES   
  There are common principles of feminist theory:
 
  1.  Women & the experiences of women are a key starting point for social theory & understand the world
 
  2.  Adding feminist insights to traditional theory complements/competes it
 
  3.  Feminist theory must be innovative/radical because major changes are needed
 
  4.  Men oppress, either directly or structurally
 
       -  Violence against women both in the home & on the street is all too common  
       -  The commercialization of sexuality exploits women, & today, men  
       -  The gender wage gap & the glass ceiling are significant & tenacious  
  5.  Feminism seeks to end sexual violence  
  6.  Feminist theory has a goal which is equality btwn the sexes
 
       -  A primary belief of feminists is that an equal share of resources/benefits should go to each according to abilities  
  7.  Feminism seeks to eliminate gender stratification  
  8.  Feminist theory seeks to produce a better world for women, & thus for all
 
  9.  Feminist theory must be interdisciplinary
 
  10.  Feminism seeks to expand human choice for all  
  11.  Feminism promotes sexual freedom  
 
 FEMINISM SEEKS TO MODIFY TRADITIONAL WOMEN'S ROLES TO GIVE THEM EQUALITY & POWER   
  Traditional gender roles:  To a greater or lesser extent, we each exhibit, or can relate to traditional gender roles  
  Gender socialization:  Socialization is highly gender oriented & it is done primarily through the social structures  
  The feminist sociology of knowledge accents the importance of recognizing silenced knowledge & ways of knowing  
  The stratification of gender in status, power, & income was non-existent in hunter gatherer society, was the greatest in the patriarchal societies of feudalism & early industrialism, & now appears to be declining in industrial & post-industrial societies  
  While in common usage, there is little distinction made btwn sex & gender, in the social sciences the former indicates the biological category of female or male while the latter indicates the social traits of female or male commonly attributed to a particular sex  
 
 The solutions to sexism lie in both individual & societal level initiatives  
  PATRIARCHY IS A FORM OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN WHICH MALES DOMINATE FEMALES   
  Matriarchy is a form of social organization in which females dominate males  
  The Matriarchy form OF society has never been documented in human history  
  Patriarchy is not inevitable because modern technology has eliminated most of the historic justifications for it  
  THE TYPES OF FEMINISM OF FEMINISN INCLUD LIBERAL, SOCIALIST, RADICAL, & OTHERS   
  Although feminists agree on the importance of gender equality, they disagree on how to achieve it  
  Liberal feminism is rooted in classic liberal thinking that individuals  should be free to develop their own talents & pursue their own interests.  
  Socialist feminism regards capitalism as increasing patriarchy by  concentrating power in the hands of a small number of men  
  Radical feminism finds liberal feminism inadequate, believing that gender  equality will be achieved only through the elimination of gender itself.  
  OPPOSITION TO FEMINISM WAS CREATED BY THE BACKLASH OF MEN & WOMEN OPPOSING STRONG, FREE WOMEN   
  Opposition is primarily directed at the socialist & radical forms of feminism, while support for liberal feminism is widespread  
  There is a trend toward greater gender equality  

 
 Internal
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  Outline on   Advanced Feminism
 External
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  There are FOUR major feminist debates, many which have more than two sides to the discussion
A.  What are the sources of gender differences?
B.  What are the "true" traits of women & men?
C.  What is the future of gender identity, gendered relationships, & sexual relationships?
D.  What are the policy level debates that are important to women, feminists & gender relationships?		  
  A.  THE SOURCES OF GENDER DIFFERENCES HAVE A BASIS IN THE PHYSICAL, SOCIAL, & SOCIO BIOLOGICAL SPHERES   
 
 There are THREE basic sources of gender differences & there is some agreement that social causes are the most influential
 
 
 a.  Physical sources of gender differences includes the biological roots of gender differences as determined by genetics, hormonal influences, brain structure & chemistry, etc.
 
 
 b.  Social sources of gender differences includes the examination of socialization, social psychological explanations, institutional explanations, & cultural explanations
 
        See Also:  Socialization  
        See Also:  Traditional gender roles  
 
 c.  Socio biological sources of gender differences includes the evolutionary adaptation as influenced by the interaction of  social & biological factors as it influences procreation & survival
 
 
 B.  THE "TRUE" TRAITS OF WOMEN & MEN WILL ONLY BECOME CLEAR IN A JUST SOCIETY 
 
 
 a.  There are situations where female or male traits, or some combination of both are "functional/superior" for society
 
  - Most social scientists recognize that presently females are generally better at multi-tasking, communications, relating, organizing, etc.  
  - Most social scientists recognize that presently males are generally better at spatial skills, decision making, etc.  
 
 b.  Society values & devalues femaleness & maleness differently
 
  Different segments of society, different generations, etc. all have varying valuations of such characteristics, which may or may not be gender related as body image, self esteem, potential, discrimination, etc.  
  c.  Often the debate on the valuation of particular characteristics centers on the causes of femaleness & maleness  
  d.  The radical, postmodern, 3rd wave, feminists, and other believe that gender is not fixed, rather it is a fluid & processual enactment w/in specific / contextualized interaction  
  Many schools of feminism examine whether gender differences are “essentialists” i.e. natural or socially fixed  
  All of the schools of feminism agree, to a greater or lesser degree that gender differences are not essentialist, because this would negate the possibility of change  
 
 C.  THE FUTURE OF GENDER IDENTITIES & RELATIONSHIPS IS CHANGING 
 
 
 a.  Gender identity is changing
 
 
 b.  Depending on the changes in gender identities & relationships, different groups gain & lose
 
 
 c.  The various feminists, traditionalists, etc. all advocate different changes in gender identities & relationships
 
 
 D.  POLICY LEVEL DEBATES IN FEMINISM AGREE THAT FEMINISM NEEDS TO MOVE BYOND THE "SOMEN & CHILDREN FIRST" POLICIES 
 
  The various schools of feminism advocate different  policies on a variety of issues including abortion, sexuality, war, wage equality, sexual harassment, violence against women, poverty, maternity leave, breast cancer research, birth control research, comparative worth, affirmative action, discrimination, criminal justice ( related to abuse, rape, etc.), divorce, paternity, child rearing policy, etc..  
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 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN FEMINST THEORY HAS GONE THROUGH MANY STAGES FROM THE 1ST PHILOSOPHERS ON THE ISSUE, TO THE SUFFRAGETTES, TO CONTEMPORARY FEMINISTS, TO THE BACKLASH   
  Each stage, to a greater or lesser extent, has examined each of the four feminist debates  
 
 1.  Early feminists thinkers & actors
 
 
 2.  The Enlightenment era feminists:  circa 1700s
 
 
 3.  The women's suffrage movement:  circa 1800s & early 1900s
 
 
 4.  The women of the depression & WW 2:  circa 1920 to 1950
 
 
 5.  The emergence of feminists & contemporary feminist theory:  circa 1950 to present
 
 
 a.  In the feminists & contemporary feminist theory stage there is the recognition of gender differences which had not been understood in earlier stages
 
 
 b.  In the feminists & contemporary feminist theory stage there is the recognition of gender inequality which had not been understood in earlier stages
 
  In contrast to earlier feminists, contemporary feminists recognize that men & women are not only different, but also unequal, but that does not mean that there should be institutionalized inequality  
  Liberal feminism focuses on the failure to reform the system to ensure equal rights  
  Marx & Engels explicated the historic defeat of women whereby men gained control of private property & of women at the dawn of civilization  
  Marx & Engels explicated the systematic exploitation of all subordinate groups by ruling class  
 
 c.  In the feminists & contemporary feminist theory stage there is the recognition of gender oppression which had not been understood in earlier stages
 
  Men & women are not only different, unequal, but they are actively oppressed  
  Direct power relationships affect men & women  
  Men have a fundamental & concrete interest in controlling, using, subjugating & oppressing women  
  Patriarchy is not unintended & secondary consequence of biology, socialization, sex roles, or class system  
  Majority of feminist theorists subscribe to this theory  
  - Psychological feminists:  psychologically based systematic exploitation of women (restrained, subordinated, molded, used, abused) by men  
  - Radical feminism:  examines the power based systematic exploitation of women by men   
  - Socialist feminism:  as “female workers” women (reproduction, sexuality, nurturance, etc.) are systematically exploited by men  
 
 d.  Recognition that feminist theory needs more differentiation
 
  3rd wave feminism holds that women are in different situations around world, but systematic oppression exists in all of them  
  -  there are strategic arrangements or vectors of oppression  
  - we need a theory of difference  
  6.  THE BACKLASH AGAINST FEMINISM EMBRACES TRADITIONAL GENDER REATIONS, I.E. PATRIARCHY, & HAS SLOWED THE MVMT TO EQUALITY   
  The backlash rejects much  of feminism, circa 1980s to present, while accepting & furthering other parts  
  Moderate feminists offer insights, but many feminists have gone too far  
 
 Only 10% of women will call themselves a feminist
 
  Children, men, the family & women are suffering because of feminism  
 
 7.  THE FUTURE OF FEMINISM IS A NON SEXIST WORLD WHICH IS RADICALLY DIFFERENT IN SOME WAYS, BUT SIMILAR / THE SAME IN OTHERS 
 
  Some Feminists envision the future  
 
 Feminists, women, men & others try to determine whether gender equality has occurred or whether significant changes still need to be made
 
 
 Feminists & gender theorists examine what it mean to be a new woman or a feminist man in relation to such practices as dating & sexuality, birthing, family, femininity, machismo, work, sports, war, etc.
 
  Early Feminism in America  
  Traditional gender roles:  To a greater or lesser extent,       we each exhibit, or can relate to traditional gender roles  
  Gender socialization is highly gender oriented & it is done primarily through the social institutions  

 
Internal
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Outline on the   Development of the Patriarchal Family   by Lewis Henry Morgan
External
Links
Link
 -  Biography & Important Works  
  -  Project:  Analysis of the Continuing Development of the Family 
Link
  -  Project:  Development of the Family & Patriarchy 
Link
  SUMMARY:  Patriarchy & the monogamous family began when civilization began, which began when agriculture was well established

Patriarchy & the monogamous family created the first surplus of goods which could be bequeathed

Men established monogamy & patriarchy so that they could control their wealth, who their heirs were, & what they would receive

Before the production of a surplus, bequeathal follow female lines  (matriarchy) while after the production of a surplus, bequeathal followed male lines  (patriarchy)

Men gained power over women by controlling agriculture, war, husbandry, & bequeathal

These new relationships of patriarchy & strict monogamy created what Marx & Engels called "The historic defeat of women"

  
  INTRO: MORGAN WAS AN EARLY ANTHROPOLOGIST WHO USED SCIENCE TO CREATE AN ACCURATE PICTURE OF HUNTER GATHERER SOCIETY & EARLY CIVILIZATION   
  Morgan was one of a group of early anthropologists who developed the field & our first understanding of anthropological stages  
  Morgan believed that patriarchy was established when agriculture created a surplus  
  THE STAGES OF CIVILIZATION INCLUDE: SAVAGERY (HUNTER GATHERER SOCIETY), BARBARISM (THE PRE EMPIRES ERA), & CIVILIZATION (THE EARLY EMPIRES ERA)  
  Morgan developed a three stage view of pre history which followed the stages proposed earlier by social scientists, philosophers, et al   
  The first schema of pre historical stages remains valid today  
  1.  THE SAVAGERY ERA IS SIMILAR TO WHAT ANTHRO TODAY CALLS THE HUNTER GATHER ERA WHICH IS PRE AGRICULTURAL, PRE HISTL  
  Savagery: Contemporary Paleolithic Age: aka Old Stone Age:   5 mm BP - 8,000 BC hunting gathering  
  FOUR social conditions / innovations were developed during the Paleolithic Age including
a.  tree & cave dwelling
b.  fishing & the use of fire, allowing people to become independent of one locale
c.  the bow & arrow
d.  the earliest villages		  
  2.  THE BARBARISM ERA IS SIMILAR TO WHAT ANTHRO TODAY CALLS THE PRE EMPIRES ERA WHICH IS EARLY AGRICULTURAL, & HISTL, I.E. THE WRITTEN RECORD BEGINS   
  Barbarism:  Neolithic Age: aka New Stone Age:   8,000 BC to 3,000 BC     early agriculture         The Pre Empires Era  
  FOUR social conditions / innovations were developed during the Neolithic Age
a.   pottery & other vessels
b.   domestication and breeding of animals
c.   smelting iron
d.   alphabetic writing		  
  Morgan's Barbarian Age overlaps the Bronze Age:   3,000 BC to approx. 500 BC   ( The Iron Age:  500 BC to present )  
  Morgan believed that patriarchy, sexism, etc. began during the Pre Empires Era, which spanned the years, approximately,   10 K BC  to  3 K BC  
  Contemporary anthropologists largely agree  
  3.  THE CIVILIZATION ERA IS SIMILAR TO WHAT ANTHRO TODAY CALLS THE EARLY EMPIRES ERA WHICH IS BASED ON IRRIGATION & OTHER AG ADVANCES, & THE HISTL RECORD CONTINUES   
  Civilization:            3000 BC -    The Early Empires Era  
 
 Morgan's civilization era is when the early empires of Egypt, Sumeria, Mesopotamia, India, & China first emerged 
 
  The early empires were heavily based in both agriculture & war / pillaging   
  THE EARLY FAMILY FORMS INCLUDE THE PARENT CHILD PAIR, PAIRING, MARRIAGE, MONOGAMY   
  Morgan analyzed FOUR family forms which were fully developed by the beginning of civilization ( all forms existed in a tribal setting, but some persist today )  
  a.  In the consanguine family, the parent child pair was the primary human bond, & there was  no marriage, & no incest taboo  
  b.  In the punaluan family, there is still no marriage as we know it, but family incest taboo develops, but cousin marriage is acceptable  
  c.  In the pairing family, there is matriarchy & pairing marriage that is similar to what we might call serial monogamy today  
  d.  In the monogamous family, strict monogamy was instituted by men to insure undisputed paternity  
  Marx believed that w/ the fall of capitalism, society would see the end of patriarchy  
  Marx believed that true love can only blossom among the proletariat, i.e., among those who love but are not entangled w/ property & wealth  

 
Top
  

Henry Lewis Morgan

1818 - 1881

Pioneering American anthropologist in the 1800s
His work provided anthropological background for Marx & Engels
Founded comparative scientific study of kinship systems
Studied family relationships of Am Indians & other peoples
   to determine similarities & differences
Unlike most anthropologists of his time
      Morgan learned through 1st hand experience:  living w/ natives

Born near Aurora, NY, became a lawyer
Never held an academic post
 

Top  
Important Works
Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family  ( 1871 )
Ancient Society ( 1877 )

 
Internal
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Outline on    Morgan's Typology of Families
External
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  INTRO:  MORGAN EXAMINED THE PARENT CHILD PAIR, THE ADULT PAIRING FAMILY, THE MARRIAGE BASED FAMILY, & THE MONOGAMOUS FAMILY   
  Morgan analyzed FOUR Family forms  ( all forms existed in a tribal setting, but some persist today )  
 
 A.  IN THE CONSANGUINE FAMILY, THE PARENT CHILD PAIR WAS THE PRIMARY HUMAN BOND, & THERE WAS NO MARRIAGE, & NO INCEST TABOO
 
 
 The consanguine family is the earliest stage of the family & only the parent & children have the incest taboo 
 
  In the consanguine family, siblings, cousins are all potential mates   
  There is little evidence for the consanguine stage other than the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans all had no incest taboo   
 
 B.  IN THE PUNALUAN FAMILY, THERE IS STILL NO MARRIAGE AS WE KNOW IT, BUT THE FAMILY INCEST TABOO DEVELOPS, & COUSIN PAIRING IS ACCEPTABLE 
 
 
 In the punaluan family, parents, children, siblings all live under the sexual taboo
 
  There is little evidence for the existence of the punaluan family, but Morgan inferred this by some So Pacific tribes which had group marriages combined w/ a certain amount of pairing  
 
 C.  IN THE PAIRING FAMILY, THERE IS PAIRING MATRIARCHY & MARRIAGE SIMILAR TO WHAT WE MIGHT CALL SERIAL MONOGAMY TODAY 
 
  In the pairing family,
- marriage pairs remained in communal household 
- the house & possessions are handed down from generation to generation
- women are supreme since at this stage, w/ non strict pairing, lineage can only be traced through women
- women are free & honored
- it was women who took husbands & brought them into their family; & could also divorce them
- women determined who was chief, & could send him back to rank of warrior		  
  The pairing family mode prevailed up until the earliest Stage of Barbarism, when agriculture started & villages & towns became more common; approx. 10,000 to 5,000 BC  
 
 THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE FAMILY CHANGED AS THE ECON OR BASE OF SOCIETY TRANSITIONED TO AG & MILITARISM & THE CONCOMITANT DEV OF PRIVATE PROP 
 
  Until the end of pre history, 
-  humans managed only a subsistence living w/ no excess available
-  what little there was, was held in common by the family
-  w/ the domestication of animals, property was acquired which needed only minimal care 
-  herds belonged to community
-  private property in herds emerged in the oldest civilizations 		  
 
 THE "WORLD HISTL DEFEAT OF WOMEN" OCCURRED WHEN MEN ESTBED PATRIARCHY TO POSSESS / PROTECT THEIR PROPERTY & THEIR PATERNITY 
 
 
 There was a sexual division of labor in the tribe
 
        Review:  Hunter Gatherer Society  
  Men make war, obtain food, produce some instruments of labor   
  Women rule the tribe, obtain food, bear & raise children, prepare food, home, clothes  
  During the pre historical era, 
-  a man's children did not inherit his tools or weapons, rather, the woman's children did
-  the woman's children also inherited the herd
-  from the point of view of men, the mother right & matrilineal descent had to be overthrown		  
  Another factor in male right was that people at some point in pre history, well before 8,000 BC, became aware of the male role in conception  
  Gradually, patrilineal descent emerged & a man's children belonged to him & inherited his wealth  
  For Marx, patrilineal descent & inheritance was the world historical defeat of women  
 
 In the Roman pater families, the male head had life & death control over the wife, children, & slaves  
 
 D.  IN THE MONOGAMOUS FAMILY, STRICT MONOGAMY WAS INSTITUTED BY MEN TO INSURE UNDISPUTED PATERNITY 
 
 
 Monogamy was instituted by men to insure undisputed paternity
 
  In capitalism, for the rich, marriages of convenience are frequent, & thus marriage is conditioned by class position  
  For Morgan, Marx, & some contemporary feminists, marriage is thus a business deal coupled w/ prostitution  
  For Morgan, Marx, & some contemporary feminists, the chief motive of such unions as marriage is economic improvement  
 
 CAPITALISM & THE END OF PATRIARCHY, ACCORDING TO MARX, MUST OCCUR TOGETHER SINCE BOTH ARE BASED IN ECON EXPLOITATION 
 
 
 For Marx, true love can only happen among the proletariat, i.e., among those who love but are not entangled w/ property & wealth
 
 
 For Marx, there is no basis for male supremacy in capitalism, i.e. it is a vestige of an earlier era, & therefore we see the breakdown of patriarchy under capitalism
 
  For Marx & Morgan, under capitalism productivity created surplus wealth which upper class men controlled, while there was little surplus for the proletariat, creating no economic basis for the support of patriarchy  
  Housework was a communal task in the extended family  
 
 Even in feudal times, the home was the center of labor, of housework & farm work; & all participated in it
 
  Industrial or factory work first took men out of home & made him the breadwinner  
 
 To some extent, women followed into the factory at first
 
 
 But factory work as a male domain was really institutionalized in late 1800s w/ Henry Ford et al
 
 
 Today capitalism recruits men & women in equal numbers for many jobs, but occupational gender segregation does exist in a 'voluntary' form
 
 
 Capitalism takes women out of home & makes her a breadwinner though there are still many residual relations of patriarchy left
 
 
 Traditions related to work & the family are supported by the culture & are slow to change because of cultural lag 
 
  Despite cultural lag, Marx & other socialists believe that the end of the econ oppression of women, & the creation of equal econ opportunity, will eliminate patriarchy   

 
Internal
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Outline on the Origin of the Family, Private Property & the State
by  Friederich Engels & Karl Marx,  1884
External
Links
 
 -  Project:  Analysis of the Continuing Development of the Family 
Link
  -  Project:  The Development of the Family & Patriarchy 
Link
  -  Project:  The Origin of the Family, Private Property & the State 
Link
  Engels agrees w/ Morgan on the etiology of the development of patriarchy after the dawn of civilization, & then Engels goes on the explore the development of patriarchy through early historical periods  
  Henry Lewis Morgan was a pioneering 19th Century anthropologist whose work provided the anthropological background for Marx & Engels  
  HUNTER GATHERER SOCIETIES WERE NOMADIC, HAD NO ECON SURPLUS, MATRILINEAL, & NOT WAR LIKE   
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 Hunter gatherer societies, were semi nomadic & had little or no accumulation of wealth, & therefore status was awarded through achievement in traditional roles, rather than through the accumulation of wealth as is done today  
 
 Hunter gatherer gender roles were differentiated, but essentially equal in terms of equal access to resources, status, & power  
 
 Male hunter gatherer roles included hunting, mentoring, teaching, making war, & raising boys to be men  
 
 Female hunter gatherer roles included gathering food, home management, defending the home, raising babies; i.e. baby girls all the way to be women, & raising baby boys to boy status, & then turning them over to men to raise to men  
 
 There was little or no wealth or 'surplus' accumulation in hunter gatherer society because the primitive technology only allowed for subsistence living  
 
 In hunter gatherer society, it is estimated that females brought in 70% of the food, but the 30% of the food produced by men's hunting was also essential 
 
 
 Males & females could take on leadership or high status roles such as leader, doctor, shaman, protector, etc.  
 
 During the hunter gatherer era, none of the roles of leader, doctor, shaman, protector, etc. had "gender," but they all do today  
 
 The societal form of hunter gatherer society was used by Cro Magnon, Homo Erectus & earlier, & so it is an ancient form that is still in practice today by some humans today  
  Engels believed that in hunter gatherer society, pre- 15,000 BC,
- there was a sexual division of labor
- that primitive societies were primarily matriarchal
- the male role in conception was unknown until the end of this era
- there was no strict monogamy, though some did adhere to it		  
  CIVILIZATION EMERGES CIRCA 11 K BC ESTBING THE PRE EMPIRES ERA, SUPPLANTING H-G SOC & ESTBING AG  
 
 "Civilization" emerges circa 13 K yrs. BP during the Pre Empire Era in the transition from hunter gatherer society to early agricultural society  
  See Also:  The Pre Empires Era  
  With the dawn of civilization, the beginning of agriculture, a surplus of wealth could now be accumulated  
  Increases in population & the end of the last ice age forced social change  
  Circa 11,000 BP, agriculture develops
 
  See Also:  The Ag Revolutions  
  See Also:  The First Ag Revolution  
  The development of animal husbandry & agriculture allowed villages to emerge  
  Circa 15 to 7,000 BC, in the early forms of society, family forms change, at least partially as a result of increased productivity  
  As herds grew, tending the animals became man's work  
  The prehistoric warrior took second place in the home, but the shepherd gained a new source of wealth & pushed himself ahead of woman to be able to pass on that wealth to his children & also at this time became aware of the male role in conception  
  Ag, including the domestication of animals, & the development of markets, both creating increased productivity, & the first surplus of goods for humanity  
  This surplus of wealth & inheritance allowed for inequalities to develop  
  Among anthropologists, there is an argument over who developed husbandry & agriculture, men or women?
But what would it prove?		  
  ENGELS BELIEVES THAT CIVILIZATION BECOMES A SOCIETY DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF BASED ON CLASS & SEX   
  The old communal system of hunter gatherer society was broken up & replaced by full private ownership, first of herds, & later of land  
  In early society, there were changes in the family as well as in agriculture, war, & slavery as a result of new knowledge & technologies  
  The amount of work also increased to take advantage of these technologies  
  Additional labor was gained as prisoners of war were turned into slaves  
  The conversion of prisoners of war to slaves created the master & slave societies of prehistory & antiquity  
  During the Pre Empire Era, the world population increases from 10 to 300 mm  
  Circa 7,000 BC, the first villages, that we know of; emerged in the middle east  
  Uruk is the first known city, which existed in southern Mesopotamia, circa 5,500 BP, had 20,000 people, slavery, armies, administration, etc.  
  The cities, city states & the civilizations of antiquity begin during the Pre Empire Era along w/ the origin of the modern family, private property, & the state  
  By 5,000 BP, agriculture & irrigation are established; the digging stick is replace by the wooden plow w/ a draft animal  
  Circa 5500 BP, writing develops  
  THE 1st STRAT OF STATUS, WEALTH, POWER, ETC., I.E. THE 1ST INEQUALITY OCCURRED WHEN CIVILIZATION BEGAN, DURING THE PRE EMPIRES ERA, CIRCA 10 K BC   
 
 Non production workers emerged resulting in the creation of status, wealth, power, inequality, exploitation because one person could produce more than he/she could consume  
  Non production workers include artisans, crafts workers, traders, etc.  
  Religious & political leaders gained power  
  Burial practices & housing structures became common & began to show inequality  
  During civilization, the strongest or smartest have generally dominated  
  Men ruled other men & women w/ absolute authority   
  CONTEMPORARY FAMILY STRUCTURES DEVELOPED FROM RETINUES / "GANGS" OF THE EARLY MID AGES   
  In the Family, Private Property & the State, Marx & Engels examined the family & economic structures of the Iroquois Native Americans  
 
 The Iroquois Native Americans had no patriarchy, no private property in land or other resources, no classes, no state, as we recognize them today
 
  The Iroquois Native Americans are known for their sophisticated tribal democratic system of governance  
  Peace prevailed w/in the Iroquois tribe, but they were warlike w/ other tribes  
  Marx & Engels hypothesized that many prehistoric societies were similar to Iroquois, & then examined how this communal democratic structure transformed into patriarchal, authoritarian, exploitative economic systems  
  Engels went to Greeks, Romans, Celts, & Germans to see later stages of development  
  Engels found that the early Germans were organized into clans  
  In the German clans, kinship between the maternal uncle & nephew (a mother's brother & her son) was more sacred & binding than between father & son, demonstrating matrilineal dissent  
  But in the clans of the Pre Empire Era & later, the mother right of inheritance had already given way to father right of inheritance  
  But in the clans of the Pre Empire Era & later, communal ownership had already given way to private ownership  
  Before the Pre Empire Era, land was owned communally & collectively cultivated, but 150 years later the land was individually cultivated  
  Retinues, i.e. war clans or gangs in Europe, were the basis for feudal aristocracy  
  American Indians demonstrated a pattern of war making similar to that of the Germans in that the clans, a.k.a. retinues, were bound together to make war  
  Quasi private & private associations formed to make war  
  For the Germans, the retinues developed similarly & later became the basis for monarchies  
  In Caesar's time, the retinues were subordinate to the clans, but this changed  
  150 years after the Roman Empire, the retinues became independent of the community  
  The retinues no longer turned over the plunder to the clan, but kept it for themselves  
  Retinues could only be kept together by frequent wars & plundering expeditions, which became ends in themselves  
  When the Roman Empire disintegrated, it was from it's manors that the retinues formed which eventually created the social order of the nobility  
  Thus, while early communally oriented clans had little private property, as the more war oriented retinues developed, they created private property that at first belonged only to the sub-class of the retinues, & eventually to each individual warrior  
  FOR CONFLICT THEORISTS WOMEN'S LIBERATION CAN ONLY OCCUR WHEN THERE IS ECON LIBERATION   
  The solution to patriarchy, for Engels, lies in socialism, where:
-  housekeeping would become a communal effort again.
-  education will become public
-  money, wealth, & power would not influence the marriage partner choice
-  marital unions would become voluntary rather than arranged		  
  For Engels, women's liberation would come about as socialism developed  
  Engels correctly predicted that as women's role increased in the public sphere, women's home work & child care would decrease as they gained more power  
  For Engels the origin of the family, private property, & the state are integrally related, in that:  
  - patriarchy develops, as Morgan saw it, as a result of the development of the first, minimal surplus, fueling men's desire to control their bequeathal  
  - private property develops as society develops even more surplus allowing warriors to become independent of the community & keep plunder for themselves  
  - the state develops as a means of ensuring private property in a system outside of might makes right, allowing those w/ the most wealth to enforce stratification, & preserve their wealth, based on the law rather than power   
  CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS INCLUDE THE QUESTION OF WHO DEV & CONTROLLED ANIMAL HUSBANDRY & HORTICULTURE?   
  Why did men control the herds & agriculture?  
  Men may have controlled the herds & agriculture because men were the hunters & were more likely to deal w/ animals  
  Men may have controlled the herds & agriculture because men traditionally saw their power in hunting as linked to animals   
  Even if women domesticated animals, men may have seen it as their domain   
  Men may have controlled the herds & agriculture because men & the animals had to roam more, while women & children stayed in the encampment   
  Why should herds differ from other forms of property?   
  Herds were not a unique kind of property that caused patriarchy, rather it was the fact that now society was producing a surplus that allowed for the institution of private property to develop.  Herds were integral in the creation of the surplus value   
  For Zeitlin, it is the growing power of the retinues that represents men's great rise to power   
  It is in the retinues where young warriors consolidated power & became kings   
  It is the rulers of the retinues who estbed themselves in power & changed the power relations btwn the commune & the state & allowed men to control patterns of descent & inheritance   

 
       Marx, Engels, & Marx's Family
       Marx

 
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Outline on  Gerda Lerner: The Creation of Patriarchy   1986
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 -  Biography & Major Works  
 
 KINSHIP PATTERNS, DIV OF LABOR, PRIV PROP, MONOGAMY, PROSTITUTION, POLI ECON, HISTL GENDER ANALYSIS, & ECON LIBERATION ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR FEMINISTS   
 
 Gerda Lerner posits FIVE insights on socialist feminism & the creation of patriarchy  
  1.  Kinship patterns & the division of labor affect women's positions in society  
  2.  Private property, monogamy, & prostitution are all related social facts  
  Lerner agrees, in essence, w/ the analysis of Engels on private property & monogamy  
  3.  There is a political & economic system that allows control over the female and female sexuality  
  4.  Engels gave the world historical defeat of women a history  
  5.  Economic independence for women, leads to emancipation  
  LERNER AGREES W/ CONFLICT THEORISTS THAT THE ECON IS THE CENTER OF SOCIAL DETERMINATION & THUS IS CENTRAL TO UNDERSTANDING FEMINISM   
 
 The link of women's emancipation to gaining economic independence has been questioned because women in socialist countries have not made great inroads  
 
 However, women in the US are more likely to feel independent if they have economic independence
 
  For Lerner, women had no conscious history of feminist ideas until quite recently  
  Over the centuries, women who criticized sexist biblical interpretations were generally unaware of the efforts of previous generations  
  The great female mystics were living contradictions of the idea that women could only communicate to god through the agency of males  
  In her book, The Creation of Patriarchy, Lerner uses pre histl evidence to offer a plausible multi causal theory to explain the development of the patriarchal system  
  The subordination of women is a historical, i.e., changeable, phenomenon, not a natural one  
  Male dominance over women is not "natural" or biological, but the product of an histl development begun in the 2nd millennium BC in the Ancient Near East  
  The division of labor by sex occurred early, but the oppression of women began with the emergence of agriculture  
  The domination of women, she argues, preceded & served as the foundation for the origin of private property & the state & the institutionalization of slavery  
  Focusing on the contradiction between women's central role in creating society & their marginality in the meaning giving process of definition & interpretation, Lerner explores women's exclusion from the historical process  
  Lerner explains that the long delay of more than 3,500 years in women's coming to consciousness of their own subordinate position as the result of the power of cultural ideas, symbols, & metaphors to pacify people  
  She goes back to the cultures of the earliest known civilizations, those of the ancient Near East, to discover the origins of the major gender metaphors of Western civilization  
  Using historical, literary, archaeological, & artistic evidence, she then traces the development of these ideas, symbols, & metaphors & their incorporation into Western civilization as the basis of patriarchal gender relations  
  Patriarchy as a system of organizing society was established historically, she contends, it can also be ended by the historical process  
 
 THE CREATION OF FEMINIST CONSCIOUSNESS DEPENDS OF ECON LIBERATION & IS NECESSARY FOR, & A RESULT OF WOMEN'S LIB 
 
  In The Creation of Feminist Consciousness, Lerner analyzes the conditions necessary to contest the idea of patriarchy  
  In The Creation of the Patriarchy, Lerner traced the slippery progress of women in ancient Near Eastern societies into a subordinate position but the Sisyphean journey back is no less painful  
  Men's contributions to history became the common heritage while "women's creations sank soundlessly into the sea, leaving barely a ripple, and succeeding generations of women were left to cover the same ground others had already covered before them."  
  Analyzing European, American & African American history, Lerner begins with the ways in which women sought "self authorization"  
  Even under patriarchy, women sought self authorization as mystics, speaking with the voice of god  
  Even under patriarchy, women sought self authorization as s mothers, educators and nurturers of future generations, or as creators  
  Educational disadvantage are at the center of continuing female subjugation, but even w/o formal education, women's devotion to mysticism and motherhood  allowed a few extraordinary women to transcend the constraints of patriarchy  
  Self authorization combined w/ ed & female networks helped foster feminist consciousness.   
  The history of the development of feminist consciousness is not linear in that there have been historical victories & losses in the struggle to end patriarchy  
  But feminist consciousness, Lerner argues, depended upon both economic independence and the development of a written history; these conditions finally emerged in the 19th century  

 
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Gerda Lerner

Gerda Lerner, Ph.D., a founder of the field of women's history

Gerda Lerner was born in 1920 in Vienna, Austria, into well to do Jewish family. As a teenager she experienced the Nazi's rise to power, and became involved in the underground resistance movement. She was imprisoned and then, with her family forced into exile. In 1938, she alone was able to find refuge in America.

 Arriving during the difficult time of the Great Depression, she worried about the fate of her family still living in Europe. She became a naturalized American citizen and married her life partner, Carl Lerner, and had two children. 

Her strong conviction about the importance of justice and equality for all people was demonstrated by her participation in grassroots, community movements. She worked to create an interracial civil rights movement, for better schools in New York City, for peace and social justice, and against McCarthyism.

In 1958 Gerda Lerner returned to college and in 1966 graduated with a Ph.D. from New York's Columbia University. Becoming one of the nation's preeminent scholars, she challenged long held assumptions about women and their significance in history. Today, Dr. Lerner is acknowledged as one of the foremost pioneers in the field of women's history. Her scholarship was informed and expanded by her involvement and understanding of the power of grassroots, political movements. Her work now spans four decades.

In 1971 she wrote The Grimke Sisters, the story of two, white, privileged, Southern women who went North to fight against slavery. Her writings address the need eliminate the invisibility of women and her books fill in the omissions. In 1986 The Creation of Patriarchy and in 1993 The Creation of Feminist Consciousness were published. Her current best seller is Why History Matters. Gerda Lerner's brilliant scholarship and teaching demands that students and readers reexamine old ideas about who women are and what women have accomplished. In April, she will publish her autobiography, Fireweed. In all, she has written 10 books and mentored generations of historians. 

In 1981 Dr. Lerner became the first woman in fifty years to be elected president of the Organization of American Historians. She continues to encourage the expansion of thought and perspective. Her work is a celebration of the American Spirit. 
 


 
 

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Major Works of Gerda Lerner

The Grimke Sisters, 1971

The Creation of Patriarchy.  1986

The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen seventy  1993

Why History Matters: Life and Thought 


 
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Outline on  Feminism on Social Structure
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  THE SOCIAL STRUCTURES INCLUDE PF REG M CEML  
  Traditional social theorists generally accept a number of social structures:  peers, family, religion, economy, government, military, charity, education, media, leisure   ( PF REG M CEML )  
  See Also:  Social Structures  
  A Marxist analysis of social structure holds that the economic structure determines the relationships in the other nine social structures & of culture, which includes belief systems & ideology  
  For Marxists, the base determines the superstructure  
  See Also:  The Base & Superstructure  
  Neo Marxists & functionalists believe that culture determines the nature of the social structures  
  See Also:  Functionalism  
  THE SOC RELATIONSHIPS STRUCTURED IN THE SOC STRUCTURES ALSO STRUCTURE PATRIARCHY, FAMILY FORMS, GENDER RELATIONS, WOMEN'S LIB, ETC.   
  Feminist theorists emphasizes that the social relationships inherent in 
-  social structure (marco objective productions) & 
-  ideology (macro subjective productions)
-  on micro relations is powerful, i.e. determinant of gender relations		  
  For feminists, the base includes the social relations of production & reproduction  
  Feminists call the base social production, which includes the social relations of production & reproduction   
  For feminist Marxists, the concept of social structure denotes that all roles & spheres & power relationships merge  
  For feminist Marxists, a group's power is based on arrangements where some actors control resources & act as masters  
  Thus life is a balancing act for people w/ a given level of power to exert that power in different spheres  
  Within the merging of roles, spheres & power relationships, women often experience the double bind  
  One example of a gendered double bind is that women are expected to be mothers & yet not bring outside concerns to workplace  
  One example of a gendered double bind is that if women are aggressive in the workplace or in general, they are bitches; if they are not aggressive, they are submissive  
  One example of a gendered double bind is that if women are aggressive in sexuality, they are sluts, etc.; if they are not aggressive, they are a lady, etc.   
  One example of a gendered double bind is that if men are aggressive in the workplace or in general, they are sharks or go getters; if they are not aggressive, they are a drudge  
  One example of a gendered double bind is that if men are aggressive in the sexuality or in general, they are a stud, a man about town, a ladies man, etc.; if they are not they are a confirmed bachelor, etc.  
  Note that there are no negative terms for overaggressive maleness  
  IN ADDITION TO SOC STRUC, IDEOLOGY STRUCTURES GENDER BY, FOR EXAMPLE TRIVIALIZING WOMEN'S WORK, IDEALIZING MOTHERING, MYSTIFYING WOMEN'S WORK, STRUCTURING WOMEN'S WK OUTSIDE THE ECON   
  The notion of distinct spheres of life represents a male view of society  
  For feminists, the practice of role merging should be generalized throughout society, w/ an emphasis on molding society's ideology to accept it  
  See Also:  Overlapping & Cross-Cutting Cleavages  
  We must be aware that there is a "patriarchal consensus" in society  
  “Public knowledge of social reality” is not a consensus culture, but rather is a reflection of dominant groups interests  
  Ideological control is the basic process in domination & knowledge & discourse is the key element [ Habermas ]  
  Gender is reproduced via ideology, an ideology which  
  a.  trivializes women's work  
  b.  idealizes mothering  
  c.  makes women's work invisible,   
  d.  categorizes women's work as non marketplace work  

 
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  Outline on   Feminist Analytic Conflict Theory
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 -  Project:  Gender Conflict & Social Class 
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  GENDER STRAT OF WEALTH, POWER, STATUS, & OTHER DIMENSIONS IS THE RESULT OF THE CONFLICT, THE INHERENT CONFLICT OF INTERESTS BTWN THE SEXES   
  Review Stratification:  Stratification is the institutionalization of inequality or the study of the hierarchy of the allocation of resources  
  According the feminist analytic conflict theory, an analysis of gender stratification demonstrates that equality between women & men has not been achieved, sociologically, in any sphere  
  Examples of gender stratification show that there is gender conflict at all levels of the system  
  - Princess Di & Prince Charles
- Donald & Ivana Trump
- Kathy Lee & Frank Gifford
- Jill & Tim Allen
- Rose Ann & Dan
What social classes are represented here? 		  
  THE INTERACTION OF MANY VARIABLES CAUSES GENDER STRATIFICATION TO VARY IN DIFFERENT SOCIETIES, INCLUDING: 
1. role differentiation
2. patriarchal ideology
3. separation of work & home
4. social relations of work
5. environmental harshness		 6. allocation of resources
7. fertility patterns
8. family & kinship patterns
9. technology
10. population, etc.
 
  Women have their greatest equality when there is a balance to, & they have power in both home & work  
  Access to resources in both the spheres of the home & at work mitigates against wider societal discrimination  
  It is more difficult for a man to exploit a woman who has power in the two spheres of the family & the economy  
  Want a good marriage / relationship? 
In modern industrial societies, relationships are strongest when the woman works & is respected in the home		  

 
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Outline on  Feminist World Systems Theory
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  WORLD SYSTEMS THEORY HOLDS THAT GLOBALIZATION IS DOMINATED BY THE EXPLOITATIVE RELATIONS OF CAPITALISM OF THE MC & LC BY THE UC, & OF WOMEN BY MEN   
  Global capitalism is the system which dominates the world  
  All systems are components or phases of the world system, including
1. econ strat by & in the core semi periphery, periphery 
2. the family
3. national societies
4. division of labor
5. capital & power		 6. gender relations
7. colonies
8. indigenous peoples
9. class relations w/in nations
 
  WST does not take account of the informal economy, especially the labor & social contributions of women  
  Traditional WST saw women only in relation to capitalism, as homemakers & workers  
  Ward argues that the informal economy is 66% of the total economy; i.e., two thirds of the economy is informal  
  The informal economy includes work in the home, work done under the table, illegal work, etc.  
  The informal economy is expanding at the same rate as the formal economy  
  EXPLOITATION OF THE LABOR OF WOMEN IN THE HOME, IN THE WORKPLACE & AS PROSTITUTES & SEX SLAVES ARE MAJOR COMPONENTS OF GLOBALIZATION   
  The "world trade" in women is expanding & includes sexploitation & the work of illegal immigrants  
  Women make up nearly the entire trade of prostitution  
  One of the most widespread types of work for illegal immigrants is domestic help; i.e., housekeeper & other traditional "women's work"  
  See Also:  Third Wave Feminism:  Women & Globalization
 

 
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  Outline on  Socialist Feminism
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  There are FIVE features of socialist feminism 
1.  The domination of women is a pervasive 
2.  Oppression is based in gender 
3.  Historical materialism is expanded to include gender 
4.  Socialist feminism is neo Marxist 
5.  Socialist feminism combines Marxism & radical feminism 		  
 
 There are FIVE Features of socialist feminism
 
Link
 1. FOR SOCIALIST FEMINISM, THE DOMINATION OF WOMEN IS PERVASIVE  
  Socialist feminists, like Gerda Lerner, et al, believe that the base of foundation of society is gender / sex relations & not the economy or culture as held by Marxists & neo Marxists  
  Women's oppression is a primary feature of modern society, of all societies throughout history  
  Women's vantage point in the world is primary; i.e., the view of the oppressed is valued  
  Women's vantage point is necessary in order to understand the world & end oppression, & thus the vantage point of men allow presents only a partial picture / understanding of the world  
 
 Socialist feminism explores oppression in light of women's experience  
  2.  FOR SOCIALIST FEMINISM, OPPRESSION HAS MANY BASES, INCLUDING GENDER  
  Socialist feminism explains all forms of oppression from a basis of gender, class, race, ethnicity, age, sexual preference, global rank, etc.   
  3.  SOCIALIST FEMINISM EXPANDS HISTORICAL MATERIALISM TO INCLUDE FEMINISM & GENDER   
  The material conditions of life pattern human experience, personality, ideas, structure & gender, sex, reproduction are some of the most fundamental / important material conditions of life  
  Conditions change over time because of the dynamics within them; that is, material conditions, groups lives, gender, family structure, women's existence, etc., have a history   
  To understand society, it is necessary to develop a dialectical, historical materialist analysis of gender, sex, reproduction, etc.  
  4.  SOCIALIST FEMINISM TREATS THE SUPERSTRUCTURE (IDEAS, CULTURE, ETC.) AS BEING AS IMPORTANT AS THE ECONOMIC BASE; I.E., MOST SOCIALIST FEMINISTS ARE NEO MARXIST AS OPPOSED TO ORTHODOX MARXIST   
  Socialist feminists focus on the importance of the superstructure, ala neo Marxism  
  Socialist feminists hold that ideology is determinant of life and interacts w/ the base  
  The socialist feminist view of the base is much wider than neo Marxists or orthodox Marxists in that it includes conditions that create & sustain human life, including
-  the body
-  its sexuality
-  its involvement in procreation & child rearing
-  home maintenance (unpaid, invisible housework)
-  emotional sustenance
-  production of knowledge itself		  
  5.  SOCIALIST FEMINISM BRINGS TOGETHER MARXISM & RADICAL FEMINISM BY MAPPING COMMONALITIES & VARIATIONS IN WOMEN'S EXPERIENCE & DELINEATING THE NATURE OF CAPITALIST PATRIARCHY   
  The most common critique of socialist feminism if that it is based in white, middle class women & does not account for the experiences of all women, frequently ignoring women of color & women outside of the modern industrialized nations  

 
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  Outline on  Liberal Feminism
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  LIBERAL FEMINISM EMBRACES THE IDEALS & POSITIONS OF EVERYDAY WOMEN TODAY, INCLUDING PAY EQUITY, ENDING SEXUAL HARASSMENT, SHARING HOUSEWORK, ENDING PORNOGRAPHY & SIMILAR EXPLOITATION, REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, ETC.   
  "Mainstream" liberal feminism:  In academe, etc., liberal feminism is a minority position, aka second wave feminism  
  But liberal feminism is the most important approach w/in the contemporary women's movement including NOW, AAUW, etc.  
  Less than 10% of women will claim to be a feminist, but over 80% subscribe to its tenants.  Why?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Because many of the schools of feminism are more radical than liberal feminism, & many women do not subscribe to radical forms of feminism but do support much of mainstream / liberal feminism

  
  There is a sexual division of labor in public & private spheres in that men dominate the public sphere, while women the private sphere  
  The sexual division of labor in the public & private spheres is a major cause of the oppression of women  
  Different values are accorded to the public & private spheres w/ the public sphere being, generally, more valued & rewarded  
  According to liberal feminists, society sees private work, i.e., the tasks of housework, child care, & the emotional, practical, & sexual servicing of men, as demanding, mindless, & unpaid  
  According to liberal feminists, society sees the true rewards of life lie in money, power, status, freedom, opportunities, & self worth  
  Liberal feminists do not agree w/ society's gender based values; they only note that these gendered, biased values are pervasive in society  
  The liberal feminists view of sexism is one that most people can relate to  
  The prejudices & discriminatory practices against women are based on taken for granted beliefs about "natural" differences  
  Sexism is similar to racism in that prejudices & discriminatory practices against women are based on taken for granted beliefs about “natural” differences btwn W & M  
  MARRIAGE HAS MORE BENEFITS & LESS COSTS FOR MEN & MORE COSTS & LESS BENEFITS FOR WOMEN   
  Bernard, in The Future of Marriage (1982), documents that marriage is good for men, & bad for women as measured by stress & life span; i.e. married men live longer & are healthier than single men, while single women live longer & are healthier than married women  
blank
 Divorce is good for men economically & bad for women, but single women live longer  
  Marriage is a cultural system, an institutional arrangement of roles & norms, & an interactional experience & as currently constituted, marriage is patriarchially oriented  
  Liberal feminists note demographic social facts such as 
-  never married women live the longest amount of time
-  never married men live the shortest amount of time
-  after divorce, women live longer than men
-  marriage shortens life span of women & lengthens it for men
to demonstrate that patriarchal relations benefit men & harm women		  
  There are two marriage experiences in any marriage
For liberal feminists, in marriage, women lose power & men gain power		  
  Under current patriarchal marriage, the female experience affirms the cultural belief of marriage, seeing women as losing independence, becoming powerless, dependent, & obligated to the male  
  Under current patriarchal marriage, the male experience affirms cultural belief of marriage, seeing men as gaining authority, independence, the right to domestic, emotional and sexual service by the Female  
  Sexism & racism force people into rigid molds, deny community talents, diminish people, deny values of worth & freedom  
  The most important issues for women, that should be directly addressed by the women's movement include pay equity, equity in housework, reproductive rights, the abuse of women, etc.   
  Liberal feminists believe that the ideal lifestyle is where each person, man or woman, can choose the lifestyle most suitable to them  

 
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  Outline on   Cultural Feminism
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  Cultural feminism considers TEN issues to be important in combating patriarchy & estbing gender equality, including: 
1.  gender in everyday life
2.  unique female characteristics 
3.  valid biological explanations
4.  gender based socialization &  roles 
5.  gendered contextualized interactions 		 6.  gendered deep structures
7.  phallocentric language
8.  the validity of phenomenology to feminists
9.  male discourse
10.  solutions
 
  1. GENDER IS ROOTED IN EVERYDAY LIFE/ WOVEN INTO THE FABRIC OF LIFE   
  Femaleness & maleness is rooted in everyday life; woven into the fabric of life  
  Saying that gender is in our culture is saying that our gender is created & re-created for us   
  Given that gender is created & re-created for us & by us, we may try & change our definition of gender  
  If, for example, a man wore a very nice red dress, "culture," i.e., people would react, & generally try to get him to return to traditional definitions of gender  
  2. CULTURAL FEMINISTS BELIEVE THAT UNIQUE FEMALE CHARACTERISTICS, SUCH AS MOTHERING, OPENNESS, ETC., SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED & WELCOMED   
  Cultural feminists hold that society needs to extol the positive aspects of feminine personality to create a society that values cooperation, caring, pacifism, nonviolence, etc.  
  Women have a caring attention developed through mothering, superior communication, openness to emotion, different sexuality & intimacy, lower aggression, penchant for coexistence  
  3. CULTURAL FEMINISTS BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULD ACCEPT SOME BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS & THEY SHOULD BE WELCOMED AS 'DIFFERENCE' NOT INEQUALITY   
  Women & men have different 
- biological functions
- hormones
- size
- muscle / fat ratio
- what else?		  
 
 
 
 

- sensitivity to light & sound
- left & right brain connections
- play patterns in childhood
- care for infant
- threshold to pain

  
  Socio cultural arrangements make it possible for genders to compensate through social learning, etc.  
  4. WOMEN & MEN HAVE DIFFERENT SOCIALIZATION & ROLES WHICH MAKE THEM DIFFERENT & EQUAL  
  Women & men have a different division of labor at work, & a different division of labor at home  
  The practices that create inequality should be eliminated  
  Different socialization, roles, division of labor, etc. do not necessitate inequality btwn women & men  
  5. WE NEED TO LOOK AT GENDER AS CONTEXTUALIZED, INTERACTIONAL PRACTICES, NOT AS DIFFERENCES IN PERSONALITIES   
  Many gender differences are social not natural  
  Fairly permanent gender practices are the result of primary socialization  
  6. DEEP STRUCTURES IN CULTURE, INCLUDING TYPIFICATIONS & LANGUAGE, MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO NOT THINK & DO THINGS IN TERMS OF GENDER   
  Both the deep structures of the feminists & the post modernist have not been clearly delineated  
  Examples of the gender deep structure is the resonance / agreement most people share about such gendered concepts as 'Men are from Mars & Women are from Venus,' cats & dogs representing femaleness & maleness, occupational gender stratification, etc.  
  7. CULTURAL FEMINISTS AGREE W/ THE POST STRUCTURALISTS THAT LANGUAGE IS PHALLOCENTRIC, I.E. BASED IN EXPERIENCES & CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF DOMINANT MALES   
  8. CULTURAL FEMINISTS AGREE W/ THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE IN THAT THEY SEE GENDER IS ENCODED IN LANGUAGE DRAWN FROM MALE EXPERIENCE   
  9. MALE PATRIARCHAL DISCOURSE CLAIMS GENDER DIFFERENCES ARE IMMUTABLE, WHICH HAS THE EFFECT OF KEEPING WOMEN SUBSERVIENT   
  10.  CULTURAL FEMINISTS' SOLUTIONS INCLUDE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FEMALE BASED LANGUAGE, & THE VALUING OF FEMALE PRACTICES   
  The cultural feminist's solutions affect primary socialization  
  Cultural feminists believe society needs a female based vocabulary, & indeed a limited one is developing w/ such new concepts as comparable worth, sexual harassment, super mom, etc.  
  Cultural feminists believe society needs to develop respect for femaleness  
  For cultural feminists, female ways of being should be recognized as not departures from the norm but as a viable alternative  
  Examples of respecting femaleness include the beliefs that openness is not weakness, communication is not gab, etc.   
  When women's ways are institutionalized, the world will be better for all  

 
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Outline on the  Micro Social Theories of Gender
External
Links
  MICRO SOCIAL THEORIES OF GENDER EXAMINE HOW GENDER EMERGES AS THE RESULT OF SOCIALIZATION THAT RESULTS FROM PSYCL FACTORS, SOCIAL INTERACTION, & EVEN CHOICE  
  Micro social theories of gender, like the symbolic interactionist point of view, hold that gender emerges, like other social identities, out of social interaction & is thus created by the self & by the other  
  Micro social theorist of gender have ranked theories in terms of how malleable they believe gender identity to be.  From the least to the most malleable, the theories are ranked:  Freudian, symbolic interactionist, ethnomethodologists, feminists   
  1.  FREUDIAN FEMINISTS EXAMINE HOW GENDER IS CONSTRUCTED AS THE RESULT OF PSYCL PROCESSES DURING CHILDHOOD   
  Freudians & other psychologists have the least malleable notion of gender   
  2.  SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISTS & ETHNOMETHODOLOGISTS FOCUS ON HOW GENDER & IDENTITY IN GENERAL IS CREATED VIA EVERYDAY PROCESSES INCLUDING PERSONAL & STRUCTURAL INTERACTIONS   
  Symbolic interactionists & ethnomethodologists believe that gender has a fair amount of malleability  
  The S-I's & ethnomethodologists differentiate btwn sex, sex category, & gender  
  Sex is a biological identification  
  Sex category is the result of individual achievement, which creates the social identity of female or male  
  Gender is the result of social labeling & is behavior that meets social expectations of female or male  
  3.  MICRO SOCIAL FEMINISTS FOCUS ON HOW GENDER IS CREATED BY INDIVIDUAL / MICRO LEVEL INTERACTION   
  Micro social feminists hold that gender has a high degree of malleability  
  The concept of gender performance denotes that we play out our gender role depending on our socialization & the audience  
  People "know" that they are responsible for  their gender performance  
  Men realize that, "I must act more like a man when I'm 'out w/ the boys'"  
  Women realize that they must act more like a man at work..., etc.  
  Micro social feminists observe that gender definitions vary by class, race, culture, society, etc.  
  Post modern feminists focus on the new "mediated" messages of gender including TV, advertising, magazines, etc.  
  The concept of mediated messages raises the causal puzzle of whether the media is imitating life, or does life imitate the media?   

 
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 Outline on  Psychoanalytic Feminism
External
Links
  PSYCHOANALYTIC FEMINISM DEBUNKS FREUD'S THEORIES OF PSYCHO SEXUAL DEV, DEATH, & MATURITY   
 
 Freud's ideas are both respected & reviled by feminists   
 
 Erikson's critique is that Freud's analysis of the psycho sexual stages were (western Germanic) society specific, which makes them patriarchal, Euro centric, & Victorian   
  A.  FREUD HELD THAT MEN & WOMEN HAD DIFFERENT PSYCHO SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT WHICH CREATES MEN WHO ARE POWERFUL & WOMEN WHO ARE SUBMISSIVE   
  Freud believed that there are FIVE psycho sexual stages, including the oral, anal, phallic, latency, & genital stages   
  Feminists believe that Freud's analysis of the phallic stage is a patriarchal projection ( i.e., an interpretation) of equating maleness w/ power & authority   
  Women "want to be men" only to the extent that men have power, freedom, etc. all which are denied by patriarchy  
  Freud was correct, the phallic stage is the stage where child learns to grab power to attain needs  
  But the phallus in the phallic stage is a patriarchal projection (interpretation) of equating maleness w/ power & authority  
  Psychoanalytical feminists believe that men experience a phallic stage & women experience a vaginal stage where each learns of sexuality & power  
  Psychoanalytical feminists, women, during the Victorian era, unconsciously desired what men had freedom, power, etc.  
  Freud's psychoanalysis would uncover women's subconscious desire to be like a men  
  Women's desire, which Freud interpreted as penis envy, was really the envy of, desire for, power & sexuality  
  Freud believed that women were second class humans  
  For Freud, women's psychic nature fit them only for a lesser life  
  Because of his view's on women, Freud subscribed to the primacy of patriarchy  
  For psychoanalytical feminists, women's second class nature was not result of a cognitive calculus of self interest, but rather emotions, half recognized, & unrecognized desires / fears  
  B.  FREUD HELD THAT MEN SEEK INDEPENDENCE AS A REFLECTION OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF FATHERING CHILDREN & WOMEN SEEK DEPENDENCE AS A REFLECTION OF THE MOTHER CHILD RELATIONSHIP   
  Freud believed that a major psychic task that all humans face was the fear of death  
  Freud believed women resolved the fear of death by bearing & raising children  
  Men must use other, indirect, methods to resolve their fear of death including  
  1.  Men father children to resolve their fear of death  
  Freud did not even recognize that men could value children as do women, & establish a primary relationship  
  Freud's failure to recognize the father child relationship is clearly wrong to most social scientists today, demonstrating Freud's gender bias  
  2.  Men seek control to resolve their fear of death  
  For Freud, men control & dominate women & produce things such as art, architecture, wealth, weapons, science, religion to resolve their fear of death  
  To resolve their fear of death, men claim ownership over art, architecture, wealth, weapons, science, religion, etc., including women, and claim paternity  
  3.  Men seek separation, i.e. independence  
  Men seek to separate themselves from that which denotes mortality, such as birth, nature, sex, bodies, etc.  
  For psychoanalytic feminists, men treat women, nature, etc. as the other to be controlled  
  C.  FREUD VIEWED MEN AS MATURE & MASTERS OF THEIR EMOTIONS & WOMEN AS IMMATURE & SUBJECT TO THEIR EMOTIONS   
  For psychoanalytic feminists, maturity is realized by balancing the tension   
  1.  between individuation ( the freedom of action ) & recognition ( the desire for confirmation )  
  2.  in the crucial experiences inherent in the development w/ the mother figure  
  The experience of achieving maturity is filled w/ joy, hate, pleasure, rage, loss, desire  
  Residue is a cluster of ambivalent feelings  
  For women, residue often includes need, fear, etc.  
  Women's relationship w/ men is secondary & uncluttered in that they have no residue to resolve w/ men, the father figure, from their developmental process
men's relationship w/ men is secondary		  
  The belief that women or men have no residue from men, the father figure, is clearly wrong to most social scientists today, demonstrating Freud's gender bias  
  Freud believed that women seek to resolve the separation anxiety from the mother figure by becoming women & bonding w/ a child  
  Freud believed that men seek to resolve the separation anxiety from the mother figure by possessing women  
  Feminists believe that men devalue women resulting in women growing up w/ ambivalence that dissipates their resistance to subordination  
  Feminists believe that women submit to men, create women kinship, build mother infant relations to compensate for the way men dominate them, not to resolve any psychic crisis  
  The relationship of man & nature parallels the relationship of man & woman in that it is a dominance & submission relationship  
  Two pathologies result from a dominance & submission relationship  
  a.  The dominator only recognizes others via the control relationship; i.e., every relationship is measured by the amount of control available  
  b.  The subordinate, who relinquishes independence, finds independence only in mirroring the dominator  
  Critique  
  Psychoanalytic feminism fails to explore the link btwn the psychological level & the social level as inherent in the psychological & social structures linking emotion & oppression  
  Psychoanalytic feminism fails to explore oppression via psychological & social constructions of ethnicity, class, etc.  
  Psychoanalytic feminism fails to develop strategies for change   

 
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Outline on  Feminist Social Psychology
External
Links
  LIBERATED WOMEN ENGAGE IN PURPOSEFUL ACTION, BUT WOMEN UNDER PATRIARCHY ARE RESPONSIVE  
  Feminist social psychologists distinguish btwn purposeful & responsive action  
  With purposeful action, actors set their own goals & pursue them 
With responsive action, actors respond to the goals, needs, etc. of others/situation		  
  THE RESPONSIVE ACTOR IS ONE WHO DOES NOT INITIATE, THEY PRIMARILY RESPOND   
blank
 Feminist social psychologists have developed the concept of the women as a responsive actor, which has the following qualities  
  a.  Women are responsive actors, and they have been denied purposeful action  
  b.  Women respond to what life dishes out  
  c.  Women respond to the needs & demands of others  
  d. Women's roles in work are also responsive in such traditional occupations as teachers, nurses, secretaries, etc.   
  Responsive action gives women's lives have a quality of incidentalism: where agendas shift w/ marriage, husbands’ careers, kids, divorce, widowhood, work, etc.  
  A critiques of the feminist social psychologists argument on responsiveness & incidentalism is that many women are responsive actors, some women are purposeful actors, & while some men are purposeful actors, many men are also responsive actors on the job, as stratified by class  
  Feminist social psychologists are correct that in the family sphere, men are much more purposeful & women are more responsive  
  While feminist social psychologists view women's lives as responsive & incidental, traditional sociology views experience as continuous & constant  
  In contrast to feminist social psychologists, traditional sociology examines purposive actors in face to face situations in which they orient to each other & assume others are like them  
  WHILE SOCIOLOGY EXAMINES MOST INTERACTIONS AS CONTINUOUS & CONSTANT, WOMEN'S EXPERIENCE IS INTERMITTENT  
  In mainstream sociology, the prototypical interaction is continuous & constant  
  a.  The experience of Men is reflected in sociology's basic model in that it is more continuous & constant than is women's  
  b.  Women's relation to men is prototypical, i.e. continuous & constant  
  c.  Men's relation to women is responsive & intermittent  
  Feminist social psychologists view women's experience as full of intermittent interactions, not in the traditional, continuous style of interaction  
  Women's experience consists of intermittent interaction  
  Women's experiences are full of highly variable interactions such as housework is isolated, & low status marketing work has little interaction  
  Women interact w/ those different than selves such as kids, men, etc.  
  The common experience of women can build solidarity  
  Only when women come together do interactions appear to fit the traditional model  
  Traditional sociology says we bracket, i.e., ignore or take for granted, social structures & assume the constancy of relationships for all people  
  Feminist social psychologists hold that interaction is patterned by structure of male dominance  
  All relationships are patterned by gender, including  work, marriage, etc.  
  Traditional sociology brackets meaning or assumes collaborative or common meanings in that we form shared understandings   
  FEMINISTS ASSUME THAT THERE ARE STRATIFIED MEANINGS; I.E. LAYERS OF MEANINGS SHAPED BY ONE'S POSITION   
  Feminists assume micro interactions are embedded in macro structures  
  Structure & ideology distort reality by trivializing or idealizing women's role  
  Men assign meaning to women's role  
  Women try to balance men's meaning of their role w/ their own reality, keeping the gendered meanings of roles in dialectical tension  
  Men's control / influence over the meaning of women's role results in their feelings & actions as the other  
  In marriage women & men are strangers in that they don't know each others' meanings, & often have little sense of each others' gendered realities  
  The goal of feminist social psychology  is to expand choice in meaning creation & the understanding of female & male gendered realities  
  Life is thus a struggle over constraint vs choice in meaning creation  

 
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Outline on  Radical Feminism
External
Links
  There are EIGHT common principals of radical feminism  
  1.  WOMEN HAVE AN ABSOLUTE POSITIVE VALUE  
  We must celebrate the absolute positive value of women to combat the negativism, violence against, objectification of women that is rampant in society  
  2.  PATRIARCHY IS FULLY INTEGRATED INTO THE CULTURE, STRUCTURE, IDEOLOGIES, INTERACTIONS, ETC. OF SOCIETY   
  The effects of patriarchy are wide-spread, in every class, race, society, religion, etc.  
  3.  PATRIARCHY IS AT THE CENTER OF OPPRESSION, CONTRA SOCIALIST FEM WHICH HOLDS THAT ECON DOMINATION IS PRIMARY   
  All other systems of oppression are secondary & are structured by patriarchy  
  Patriarchy was the first structure of oppression    ( Pre Empire Era:  10 to 3 K BC )  
  The effects of patriarchy are stronger today than any other oppression; i.e. less women are in power positions than any other oppressed group  
  4.  VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IS A METHOD OF DIRECT OPPRESSION   
  Women everywhere are violently oppressed  regardless of age, class, race, etc.  
  Radical feminists focus on violence against women & the crimes against women including  rape, sex abuse, sex slavery, prostitution, porno, sadism, spouse abuse, incest, molestation, forced hysterectomies, cosmetic surgery, and more  
  Patriarchy exists because men have physical force  
  5.  MEN CAN MAINTAIN PATRIARCHY BECAUSE THEY HAVE RESOURCES  
  Men muster resources from many social systems to sustain patriarchy  
  The radical feminists are in essential agreement w/ Marxist feminists on the sustainability of patriarchy being based in men's control of resources, but unlike the Marxist feminists, the radical feminists do not believe that socialism is the solution  
       See Also:  The Marxist Feminists   
  6.  THE EFFECTS OF PATRIARCHY ACCRUE TO ALL MEN  
  Patriarchy allows for the satisfaction male sexual desire  
  Patriarchy allows men to control reproduction  
  Patriarchy maintains women as ornaments  
  7.  MOST OTHER FORMS OF FEMINISM ARE INSUFFICIENT TO ACHIEVE EQUALITY FOR WOMEN   
  Social science has been around for two centuries, & it is the work of women like the suffragettes & feminist who have made progress for women, & not other social science   
  8.  SOME RADICAL FEMINISTS ADVOCATE SEPARATISM, LESBIANISM, THE DEV OF WOMEN'S IDEOLOGY, SISTERHOOD, CONFRONTING PATRIARCHY, & A SEPARATE WOMEN'S ECON   
  Radical feminist solutions for patriarchy include  
  a.  separatism & for some, total separatism is the only solution  
  b.  separatism in sexuality; i.e. lesbianism  
  c.  reworking women's consciousness so that women value themselves  
  d.  building sisterhood & confronting patriarchy  
  e.  developing separate women's businesses, homes, communities, etc.  

 
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  Outline on  Third Wave Feminism:  Women & Globalization
External
Links
  There are FIVE Principles of third Wave Feminism   
  1.  MOST FEMINISTS USE A MONOLITHIC CONCEPTION OF WOMEN   
  First & second wave feminists use a monolithic conception of women, but in fact women are a diverse group   
  Women are as diverse as the population along the dimensions of class, race, ethnicity, lifestyle, etc.   
  2.  WASP WOMEN FOUNDED & HAVE CONTINUED TO DOMINATE THE WOMEN'S MVMT   
  WASP ( white, Anglo Saxon, protestant ) women were at the heart of soc mvmts in general, starting in the 1800's w/ women's & black's emancipation, prohibition, charitable 'moral society' mvmts, & progressing to many of the soc mvmts we know today   
  The women's movement has been controlled by & focused on middle class WASP women   
  3.  FEMINISM MUST ACCOUNT FOR DIVERSITY BY RACE, ETHNICITY, RELIGION, NATIONALITY, ETC.   
  Truth is best discovered from the vantage point of the oppressed   
  The accounts of the oppressed must be uncovered   
  The oppressed, e.g. women of color, find themselves closely linked to the oppressors   
  Third wave feminists examine women on the margins, in positions in institutions such as the family, & create a portrait of diversity   
  The use of a monolithic conception of women allows for the domination of diverse groups   
  4.  THERE ARE "VECTORS" OF OPPRESSION & PRIVILEGE   
  Not all suffering is equal; i.e., there is a calculus of pain determined by global location, class, race, ethnicity, age, affectional preferences, etc.   
  Oppression produces pathological attitudes, actions & personalities in both oppressed & oppressors   
  Resistance is located in the need for self actualization   
  5.  THE FOCUS ON MIDDLE CLASS, WASP WOMEN IGNORE THE GREATER SUFFERING OF OTHER WOMEN   
  While mid class women founded & still dominate the women's mvmt, poor women are possibly the poorest people in each nation, & around the globe as a whole   
  The concept of the feminization of poverty connotes that women, & their children, make up the majority of poor people, & their poverty is the deepest   
  The feminization of poverty occurs because:   
  a.  the intersection of gender & class means that women end up at the bottom of the hierarchy on two dimensions which affect their income, power, status, influence, etc.   
  b.  the lack of a voice for women in the political realm results in their being under represent as money for assistance programs is allocated by govt   
  c.  poor men often directly exploit the poor women in their lives when they steal earnings, assistance aid, etc.   
  d.  poor men often directly exploit the poor women in their lives when they force the women & children to work for them   

 
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  Outline on the  Causes of Sexism
External
Links
  SUMMARY:  There are FIVE fundamental causes of sexism, including:
a. All men benefit from sexism
b. Sexism benefits elite men
c. Sexism is entrenched in our culture
d. Sexism is entrenched in the social structures
e. Gender socialization		  
  People commonly think of several things as the cause of sexism, such as women's lack of the vote, education, perceived sexism in 'holy books,' men, etc., but these are only examples of the fundamental causes  
  There are FIVE fundamental causes of sexism, which is a form of social differentiation  
  A.  ALL MEN BENEFIT FROM SEXIM IN SOME WAYS; MEN & WOMEN ARE HURT BY SEXISM   
  Although all men benefit from sexism in terms of income, wealth, and power, sexism exacts some high costs in other areas of their lives  
Link
 Examples of how all men benefit from sexism  
  B.  SEXISM KEEPS PEOPLE IN CONFLICT & SO BENEFITS ELITE MEN AT THE TOP OF THE SYSTEM   
Link
 Examples of how sexism elevates conflict  
  C.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION IS FIRMLY ENTRENCHED IN OUR CULTURE    K V B N   
Link
 Examples of the depth of sexism in culture  
  See Gender  & Culture  
  D.  SEXISM IS ENTRENCHED IN SOCIAL STRUCTURE  
  Sexism & patriarchy are deeply integrated into the operation of the ten social structures including PF REG M CEML  
 
 See also:   Feminist Social Structure  
  E.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION TAKES PALCE VIA THE SIX SOCIALIZATION PROCESSES   S M I P N N   
  Gender socialization is a fundamental social cause of sexism & patriarchy  
Link
 Examples of gender socialization  
  See Gender Socialization  
  DEFINITIONS   
  Note, the definitions of the following terms parallels the types of social differentiation   
  Sexism is the structured inequality between men & women, & the norms and beliefs that support such inequality  
  Ideological sexism is the world view, i.e. an integrated set of beliefs, that one sex is inferior to the other  
  Gender discrimination is the unequal treatment on the basis of sex  
  Institutional sexism is the systematic practices & patterns within social institutions that lead to inequality between men & women  

 
Top  
Examples of how all men benefit from sexism

Men earn more for the same job
Men have less fear of rape & sexual assault
Men use women as decorations & entertainment objects
Men do less housework
( Men are starting to fill this role )


 
Top  
Examples of how sexism elevates conflict

Sexism keeps people in conflict & so benefits the Elite Men at the top of the system
Women now work in equal numbers as men,
but in the Fortune 500 there are less than 50 women in any of the top mgt. positions


 
Top  
Examples of the depth of sexism in culture
 
Review culture  

Knowledge:   medically we know more about men;  most studies are done on men
Beliefs:  We have many beliefs that are false:  "Men drive better than women"
Values:  Most cultures value male over female babies & see males as leaders, etc.
Norms:  Men are allowed to do many things women are sanctioned for:  casual sex to being out alone


 
Top  
Examples of gender socialization
 
Review socialization  

Gender socialization takes place via the same six socialization processes
Selective Exposure:  boys are exposed to more as children;  girls are "protected"
Modeling:  Men are more likely to be lead characters in TV shows, etc.
Identification:  There are more male "heroes"
Positive Reinforcement:  Boys & Girls (Tom Boys) are rewarded for maleness
Negative Reinforcement:  Boys are punished for being sensitive (Sissies)
Nurturance:  Unconditional love is good but girls are smothered w/ it


 
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Outline on  Gender Socialization in the Social Structures
External
Links
  -  Project:  Gender Socialization 
Link
  WHILE GENDER IS DETERMINED BY BIOLOGICAL & SOCIAL COMPONENTS, THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT SOCIALIZATION & OTHER SOCIAL FACTORS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT   
  There is strong evidence that sex roles have both a biological & a social component   
  Gender socialization takes place by the SIX processes of socialization:        S M I P N N   
  See Also:  Socialization   
  Sex role socialization is the process by which "man" & "woman" become distinct social roles   
  A sex role is the socially learned behaviors & attitudes, such as mannerisms, styles of dress, & activity preferences   
  A sex role is the same as a gender role   
  Gender role socialization is the process by which sex roles are taught & learned  
  An example of gender role socialization can be seen in that even 4 year old boys & girls know which toys are appropriate or inappropriate for them to play w/ in relation to their gender  
  Sex role / gender socialization is deeply integrated into the fabric of our culture        K V B N  
  Societies where the roles of men & women differ little, if at all, are called androgynous societies  
  Sex or gender roles are learned through socialization  
  Gender roles exist w/ respect to interpersonal behavior  
  Although men & women have relatively few biological differences, they play vastly different roles in society.  This is because men & women are socialized to play different roles in society  
  Sex  / gender roles are not just different, they are unequal.  In general, women have less power, income, & occupational prestige than men  
  Sexism & patriarchy are deeply integrated into the operation of the social structures,   PF  REG  M  CEML  
 
 1.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION BY PEERS OCCURS AS PEERS REWARD & HARASS MEMBERS OF SOCIETY FOR EXHIBITING THE PROPER / IMPROPER GENDER TRAITS   
  Gender socialization by peers is a powerful gender socializer because this is where we seek approval & a mate  
  Men are more likely to ask women for dates than women are to ask men for dates   
  Peer groups reinforce gender differences   
  Boys & girls play different kinds of games   
  Boys & girls learn different styles of moral reasoning from games   
Link
 Examples of gender socialization by peers  
  -  Supplement:  "The Rules"
Link
 
 2. GENDER SOCIALIZATION BY THE FAMILY OCCURS AS OUR FAMILY REWARDS US FOR CORRECT GENDER TRAITS & HARASSES US FOR EXHIBITING THE WRONG GENDER TRAITS   
  Most gender role socialization takes place before the age of five  
  Parental gender socialization is powerful & varies widely  
 
 Boys & girls are socialized differently from infancy  
  Parents treat boys & girls differently from womb to tomb  
  See Also:  Traditional gender roles  
  In the family, selective exposure is powerful in that parents have nearly total control over what the child experiences  
  In the family, SO role modeling is powerful in that the children will model the division of labor in the home  
  When husbands & wives work full time, women still put in much more time on household tasks such as cleaning & grocery shopping  
  In the family, identification is powerful in that the children's world is that of the parent(s)  
  Nurturance, positive reinforcement, & negative reinforcement are very powerful processes of socialization in the family  
  In 2003, one quarter of children under two years old have a TV in their bedroom  
  Families smile & talk to girls more, are rough & tumble w/ boys, are quick to attend to fussy girls, & generally treat boys & girls the differently  
  3.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION BY RELIGION SHOWS THAT "GOD" IS MALE FOR MUSLIMS, CHRISTIANS, BUDDHISTS,' JEWS, ETC.   
  During the Hunter Gatherer Era & early in history, i.e. the Pre Empires Era, religions had been non anthropomorphic, matriarchal, patriarchal, or some combination of all  
  Beginning in the histl era, i.e. w/in the Pre Empires Era most religions became patriarchal w/ male figureheads   
  4.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION IN THE WORKPLACE IS OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE PEOPLE 'REALIZE THEIR HUMANITY / LIFE GOALS' & WHERE THEY GAIN MONEY / POWER   
  Because the econ sector is so important as the foundation of society & individuals' lives, gender soc in the wkplace is esp important   
  Gender relations in the wkplace have equalized to a certain extent, but women are experiencing the glass ceiling effect, though this too is slowly eroding   
  5.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION IN POLITICS & GOVT IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE WHILE ECON LEADERS ACTUALLY LEAD SOCIETY, POLITICAL LEADERS APPEAR TO LEAD   
  Gender is politics & govt is characterized by the glass ceiling   
  Female involvement in politics is increasing, although very slowly at the highest levels   
  Like the wkplace, women in politics experience the glass ceiling, but it appears to be receding faster than in the econ sector   
  Women hold little political power for FIVE reasons, including that   
  A. women have less access to money   
  B. Women do not run for office as often as men   
  C. Women lose elections more often  
  D.  Incumbency perpetuates male dominance because men are more likely to be incumbents  
  E.  there is a reluctance to vote for women because:  
  a.  of the perception that women are not natural leaders   
  b.  powerful women are threatening to some males   
  c.  many believe that "women's traditional place is in the house"  
  d.  of the "double bind” where women are seen as either over-aggressive or weak   
  Examples:  in the 1990s, fifty percent of Americans said that they would not vote for any woman for president  
  Despite the fact that 1992 was "The Year of the Woman," less than 10 percent of the members of the US Congress are now women  
 
 -  Supplement:  Females in World Legislatures
Link
  6.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION IN THE MILITARY IS EQUALIZING & THUS MUST DEAL W/ SEXUAL HARASSMENT & THE GLASS CEILING   
  As technology blurs the distinction btwn combat & non combat personnel, women are taking on more military assignments, although equality has not yet been achieved  
Link
 Examples of Gender Socialization in the Military  
  -  Supplement:  Time Magazine: Conduct Unbecoming:  One female cadet's tale in the Air Force Academy's growing rape scandal
Link
 
 7.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION BY CHARITY DEALS W/ THE PERCEPTION THAT CHARITY IS WOMEN'S WORK 
 
  Gender socialization by charity is seen in that charity is viewed as "women's work" or as a "leisure activity carried out by the well to do"  
Link
 Examples of Gender Socialization by Charity  
  8.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION IN EDUCATION HAS EQUALIZED MORE RAPIDLY THAN SOCIETY, & THUS MUST OFTEN DEFEND IT'S POLICIES   
  Gender role socialization that started w/ family & peers, continues when children reach school  
  Curricula in schools further reinforce a culture's gender roles   
  a. Books & teaching materials:
- Dick & Jane Reader portrayed Jill as succeeding because of luck
- males depicted as main character
- females displaying traditional behavior:  emotional, etc.
- males have good things because of own actions
- females have good things because of luck, looks, others		  
  b. Subject channeling occurs as gender socialization in education in that boys are steered to particular subjects which girls are steered to others, training them to take their place in a system of occupational gender segregation, i.e. a world of men's jobs & women's jobs  
  Stereotypically, or narrowly speaking, we expect boys to do better in math, science, logic & we expect girls to do better in reading, art, music  
  Diversely, or broadly speaking, career/college tracks differ for boys & girls; & should be chosen fairly  
  c.  Gender modeling can be seen in the fact that at higher education levels there are more male teachers  
  d.  Many social theorists believe that learning & knowing is different for women & men  
  See also  Feminist Sociology of Knowledge  
Link
 Examples of Gender Socialization in Education
 
  Male female differences in literacy, mathematical, & scientific aptitude are not consistent across all cultures  
  e.  College doors have opened for women & by 1980, women earned a majority of all associate's & bachelor's degrees   
  On the other hand, our society still defines the high paying professions as masculine   
 
 An equal number of women & men begin most professional graduate programs, but women are less likely to complete their degrees, possibly because they come to recognize / experience, at some level, the gender barriers 
 
 
 -  Supplement:  Bachelor's Degrees Awarded to Women by Discipline
Link
  9.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION IN THE MEDIA PORTRAYS BOTH TRADL PATRIARCHY & MODERN EQUALITY, & HAS MUCH HIGHER LEVELS OF SEX & VIOLENCE THAN IN SOCIETY   
 
 Gender socialization in the media objectifies women, & now men
 
 
 The mass media, especially TV, serves to reinforce a culture's gender roles 
 
  Media influence begins in early childhood & continues throughout life  
  Gender socialization in the media is dependent on how parents/self regulate access, but we live in a media intensive age w/o precedent  
  What images does media give & how have they changed over time?   
  Evidence suggests that television entertainment & advertising presents highly stereotyped message about the roles of men & women  
  Females have historically been more objectified & exploited as a media tool, however, males are now being increasingly objectified & exploited  
  Media influence is rationalized, pervasive throughout life, creating the practice of super marketing   
  a.  The contemporary ideal body / gender images are both a product to be sold & a tool to sell products  
  b.  The idealized body type is unhealthy & has developed historically  
  c.  Sexuality sells in the form of what we want to be & what we want to have  
  Everything from sex images to pornography create violence against women, directly & indirectly  
  d.  Both traditional & non traditional gender roles are utilized by the media to sell products  
  Media images of males & females give highly stereotyped messages about the roles of men & women  
 Link
 Examples of Gender Socialization in the Media  
  Women are much more likely than men to be portrayed as being excited about household cleaning implements in TV commercials  
  10.  GENDER SOCIALIZATION BY LEISURE / RECREATION PROMOTES EQUALITY BECAUSE WOMEN & MEN ARE WILLING TO EXPERIMENT IN NON TRADL LEISURE ACTIVITIES   
  Gender socialization by the leisure / recreation structure is very similar to the socialization in the media  
  Organizations often provide "separate but unequal" recreation or family recreation, sports facilities, etc.  
Link
 Examples of Gender Socialization in Recreation  
  The perceptions of parents, teachers & counselors lead them to behave in ways that make their expectations about boys & girls come true is called self fulfilling prophecy  
  -  Supplement:  Time Magazine: Title IX helped more women get into sports, but opponents complain it's pushing men out
Link
  -  Supplement:  Time Mag:  Women Football Players
Link

 
Top  
Examples of Gender Socialization by Peers

Most children have same sex friendships;  Being a sissy is worse than being a tom-boy
Same sex friendships are nearly exclusive for children, tweens, & teens 
Opposite sex friendships may develop for adults 
Being a "sissy" is worse than being a "Tom-boy"
Peers are extremely controlling 
(friends may or may not be more tolerant) 
Mating Behavior begins: 
Message:  “You'll never get a boy/girl like that.” 
Modeling: 
- play act adult gender roles 
- learn about sex & gender roles 
- clothing, hair, language, attitude 


 
Top  
Examples of Gender socialization by Religion

Modeling:  god is male in many religions
Modeling:  Only recently have religions in western nations allowed female religious leader


 
Top  
Examples of Gender Socialization by Government

Modeling:  Most political leaders are male


 
Top  
Examples of Gender Socialization by the Military

Women are not allowed in combat
Many believe that the military man is the epitome of maleness


 
Top  
Examples of Gender Socialization by Charity

Head of the Red Cross has been a women for many decades
Charity is more women's work


 
Top
  
Examples of Gender Socialization in Education

In elementary school, teachers are female, principles are male
As the status of teachers rise from elementary schools, to middle schools, to high schools, to college, the number of male teachers increases


 
Top  
Examples of Gender Socialization by the Media

More lead characters are male
Took Cheryl Crow 10 years to land a record contract:  Purpose of Lilith Festival in 97 was to provide access to recording industry for females

In past, more emphasis on character 
(though it was traditional character)

Today, more emphasis on body
   --and how the body may be improved through market place


 
Top  
Examples of Gender Socialization by Leisure / Recreation
Men expected to do more active sports 
New Women's football league

 
Internal
Links

Top
Outline on   Traditional Gender Roles
External
Links
  -  Project:  Which Traditional Gender Roles Shall We Keep? 
Link
  DISCLAIMER:   I DO NOT approve of these roles!
The following roles are considered 'traditional' in that they existed, more or less, in the past
However, as you should recognize, they still exist to a great extent today
This analysis does not suggest that this is the way things should be
Non-traditional androgynous roles are developing
Non-traditional heterogeneous roles are developing
The point is, even if one is not like these roles, & knows no one who is, we can still recognize them
These roles are still very much a part of our culture & thus, a part of each person
 
 
 There are SIX major types of traditional gender roles  1. Traditional Male Role  2. Traditional Female Role  3. Traditional Male Worker Role  4.  Traditional Female Housewife Role  5. Men's Traditional Relations w/ Women  6. Women's Traditional Relations w/ men
 
 
 1.  THE TRADITIONAL MALE ROLE IS THAT OF A CONTROLLER 
 
 
 Men are
- unemotional:  i.e., "emotional idiots" in that they don't talk about or understand feelings
- leaders, take control, & make decisions
- active, worldly, & aggressive
- blunt,  loud, & a bit sloppy
 
 
 2.  THE TRADITIONAL FEMALE ROLE IS THAT OF A COMPANION 
 
 
 Women are
- "emotional" i.e. out of control emotional, no quantitative thinking
- dependent, followers, & cannot make decisions
- neat, considerate, appearance is primary
- pushy/ aggressive
 
  Traditionally, women's status is product of what they are not what they do  
  Boys are sometimes so negative toward the traditional female role that even girls look down upon it as a result  
  In terms of income, wealth, status, power, & free time, all indications are that traditional sex roles work to the advantage of men  
  3.  THE TRADITIONAL MALE WORKER ROLE IS THAT OF THE LEADER OR WORKER   
 
 - provide for family, & put job above all else
- provide for a wife & family
- put the job & success above all else
- be strong & successful
 
 
 A man's status is measured primarily by his income & occupational status
 
  Men typically create an identity, their master status, via an occupation because a man w/o a job is no man, is not "marriage material"  
  In early American history, both men & women engaged in the production of goods to be sold, but as the industrial revolution progressed, some women were relegated to the home  
  There is no male equivalent word of "bitch," only words such as shark, go getter, etc.   
  4.  THE TRADITIONAL FEMALE WORKER ROLE IS THAT OF THE HELPER   
 
 - enjoy nurturing & serving
- enjoy housework, because it is not "real work"
- revel in motherhood because a women w/o children is no woman & is not "marriage material"
 
  The role of housewife, which typifies the dominant role of middle class American women in the early & mid 20th C, is a rather recent invention
 
  The housewife role, as it developed historically, was largely the realm of white middle class women
 
  The housewife role fit well w/ the Victorian morality that reigned through much of the Industrial Revolution
 
  Women experience a double standard in that an aggressive woman, in the home or at work, may be called a "bitch"  
 
 Recently, social scientists have noted the shifting double standard where women become proud of their aggressiveness as seen in the bumper sticker:  "I am bitch, hear me roar! adapted from the 1970s Helen Ready song:  "I am woman, hear me roar!"  
  Time budget studies indicate that full time working mothers interact w/ their children about as much as do full time housewives, although housewives may spend more time on care related tasks
 
  The housewife role, so ingrained in American society, is far from universal, is not the norm in the Russia, or in many Asian countries
 
 
 Despite all the recent changes in the roles of men & women, most boys & girls still plan on seeking jobs that have traditionally been held by persons of their sex
 
  The housewife role is a product of Industrial Revolution which created the ideology of women as a frail consumers, replacing their co worker roles of prairie wife & merchant wife  
  The housewife role fit w/ Victorian morality that women are fragile & more moral  
  In early America & earlier, men & women were equal in what they produced & brought value to the home such as during the hunter gatherer society & the Little House on Prairie society of the pre industrial era  
  The Industrial Revolution separated family members from each other  
  Beginning w/ the Industrial Revolution, men went out of the home to work  
  Beginning w/ the Industrial Revolution, women stayed in home to have kids & keep house, but not to "work"  
  The Industrial Revolution created the role of the breadwinner & the family wage  
  Henry Ford is credited w/ coining the concept of the family wage, & institutionalizing it in modern industrial society, although the concept was in widespread use before Ford  
  Many industrial leaders in the US & Europe believed that it was their responsibility to develop the morals of their workers, & they generally advocated conservative, traditional family values  
  Beginning w/ the Industrial Revolution, men became responsible for production & women became responsible for consumption  
  “I'll bring home the bacon & she'll cook it up in the pan”
Paula Cole:  “You'll pay all the bills, & I'll do the laundry”		  
 
 5.  MEN'S TRADITIONAL RELATIONS W/ WOMEN IS THAT OF THE INITIATOR 
 
 
 Men's traditional relations w/ women include that they: 
- are worldly                 - initiate relations & sex
- are unemotional          - are expected to be sexual & enjoy sex
- are the aggressor         - are expected to be sexually experienced
- are active                    - care little for intimacy
 
 
 The double standard can be seen in that there is no male adjective of "slut" & being a gigolo is almost respectable, while being a prostitute is not  
  Sattel, 1989, & other sociologists found that men withhold their true feelings from their partners because to admit their feelings would make them vulnerable   
 
 6.  WOMEN'S TRADITIONAL RELATIONS W/ WOMEN IS THAT OF THE RECIPIENT 
 
 
 Women's traditional relations w/ men include that they
- are emotional                     - do not initiate; they try to entice
- are dependent                    - are expected to be a virgin
- are not expected to be sexual or enjoy sex
- believe intimacy is most important part of a relationship
- must live w/ the double standard where female sexual experience equates w/ "sluttiness"
 
 
 The double standard can be seen in that men are expected to be sexually experienced, while women are not in that a sexually experienced woman is seen as a slut, while a sexually experienced man is just that, experienced
 
  Historically there have only been culturally negative terms for a woman who was sexually active / aggressive, including such terms as whore, slut, tainted woman, fallen women, etc.   
  In the mid 2000 possibly the first culturally positive label is coined for a woman who is sexual or sexually aggressive   
  Cougar is the label given to older women who are sexually active / aggressive   
  As a result of the positive label of cougar for older women, younger women who are sexually active / aggressive are being called kittens or cubs   
 
 "The Rules" by Fein & Schneider  
 
 The concept of cultural lag holds that dysfunctional roles will fade away, but will they?  
  Non-traditional or new roles for men & women include the male househusband role, the female worker role, & nontraditional relations btwn women & men  

 
External
Links

Top
  Outline on  Gender & the Workplace
External
Links
  -  Project:  Gender & Race Socialization & / or Discrimination in the Workplace
Link
  -  Project:  Video:  North Country, Work, Gender
Link
  -  Video:  North Country, Work, Gender
Link
 
 -  Supplement:  Nontraditional Occupations for Women
Link
  -  Supplement:  Male Scientist Writes of His Life as a Female
Link
  -  Supplement:  Women Celebrate 20 Years of Smokejumping
Link
  -  Supplement:  As Leaders, Women Rule      2000.  Business Week Online
Link
  -  Supplement:  NYT: 'Comparable Worth' Makes a Comeback
Link
  INTRO:  THERE ARE NOW MORE WOMEN IN THE WKFORCE THAN MEN, BUT THEY STILL HAVE LOWER PAYING JOBS BECAUSE SEX ROLE SOCIALIZATION CREATES 'MEN'S JOBS' & 'WOMEN'S JOBS'   
  In the US & other industrial societies, women working for income is now the rule rather than the exception 59% of Am women are in the labor force  
  Women continue to enter a narrow range of occupations, w/ almost half in clerical or service work  
  The greater a job's income & prestige, the more likely it is that the position will be held by a male  
  Sex role socialization makes women less likely to complain about job discrimination  
  Professional jobs in previously male dominated fields pose special problems of access to women  
  The role performance expected in previously male dominated jobs includes behavioral styles characteristically associated w/ men  
  Women in many professions face a dilemma in that they can either conform to the expected role behavior of the job & appear unfeminine or they can follow the expected role behavior of their gender in which case they may be acting out of character for their occupational role  
  The dilemma of "the opposite sex" in a gender typed occupation creates a "Catch 22" situation in which "the opposite sex" has limited options for achieving acceptance & recognition (Kanter, 1977)  
  A survey of male lawyers found that half believed women lawyers were "tough & masculine" while the other half believed women lawyers were "weak & feminine" & said that women go to law school to "catch a man" (Deckard, 1979, p. 128)  
  THE FEMALE ADVANTAGE IS THAT THEY ARE MORE FLEXIBLE, DEMOCRATIC, INTUITIVE, MULTITASKING, ETC.   
  Women bring a "female advantage" to companies striving to be more flexible & democratic  
  While women are still underrepresented as mgrs of businesses, some social commentators, such as Sally Helgesen, see women as the business leaders of the future  
  Women's style of mgt is more democratic & flexible, & therefore able to adjust more easily to the fast changing, dynamic business env, or thrive in a firm where educated young professionals expect to be treated as individuals   
  In a recent article summing up their book, Megatrends for Women, Aburdene & Naisbitt describe women leaders as sharing the qualities of: 
a.  encouraging participation 
b.  sharing power & info 
c.  enhancing other people's self worth 
d.  getting others excited about their work 		  
  While the qualities of effective women leaders, according to Aburdene & Naisbitt all sound "nice," the authors warn that this would be an oversimplification because these leader balance them w/ objectivity   
  Judith Hall, a psychology professor at Northeastern University, notes that women traditionally are better at interpreting body language & other non verbal cues   
  Women have a high tolerance for ambiguity & are able to juggle many things at once   
  People who see job performance as a series of transactions w/ rewards for services rendered or punishment for inadequate performance might misinterpret women's mgt style  
  People, both men & women often confuse a leader who is encouraging or sharing w/ a weak leader whom they do not take seriously only to find that they suffer the consequences  
  A female mgr's willingness to empower employees by asking them for help might, for example, look like ignorance, & as though she truly doesn't know what she is doing  
  Compared to male wkrs/ supervisors / mgrs, other employees, male or female, often feel freer to criticize a female wkr / supervisor / mgr, or to challenge her authority  
 
 GENDER SOCIALIZATION IN THE WORKPLACE IS INFLUENCED BY FIVE FACTORS, INCLUDING: 
a.  OCCUPATIONAL GENDER SOCIALIZATION 
b.  COMPARABLE WORTH 
c.  SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION 		 d.  SEXUAL HARASSMENT 
e.  GLASS CEILING 
 
  a.  OCCUPATIONAL GENDER SOCIALIZATION ( OGS ) IS THE PROCESS WHERE WE ARE SOCIALIZED TO BELIEVE THERE ARE 'MEN'S JOBS' & 'WOMEN'S JOBS'   
  OGS is socialized through the socialization processes of modeling & identification  
  Occupational gender socialization is a concept denoting that there are men's jobs, & there are women's jobs
Doctor     Nurse          Manager    Worker
Janitor     Secretary    Lineman    Operator
Firefighters, police, soldiers are more likely to be men
Teachers, daycare workers, elder care workers are more likely to be women		  
  Occupational segregation is a pattern whereby two groups, most often men & women, hold different kinds of jobs  
  Occupational segregation is the stratification ( system of division & differing rewards ) of the occupational system  
  Occupational gender segregation  denotes that our culture recognizes that there are male jobs & there are female jobs  
  Occupational gender segregation is the concentration of men & women into different occupations, even when they have similar levels of skill & training  
  For example, we "know" that janitoring is male & nursing is female   
  Over one half of all working women are employed in clerical & service jobs  
  In fact, nearly half of all working women have been concentrated in just three occupations: secretary, nurse, & teacher  
  Women who entered the world of work found that their experience was different from men, including occupational segregation, pay, promotions, training, etc.  
Link
 What message does occupational gender socialization give?   
  b.  COMPARABLE WORTH DENOTES THAT WOMEN & MEN DOING THE SAME LEVEL OF WORK, SHOULD GET PAID THE SAME   
  Today women earn about 60 - 75 % of what men earn, & there has been little change in the last decade  
  The biggest actual change in status of women, so far, has been the large pay increases that have brought the salaries of women closer to men's  
  See Also:  Comparable Worth  
  c.  SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION OCCURS WHEN WOMEN, OR OTHER GRPS, ARE TREATED DIFFERENTLY   
  Sexual discrimination at work is the treating of people unequally based on their gender w/ respect to raises, promotions, perks, etc.  
  d.  SEXUAL HARASSMENT OCCURS WHEN A PERSON IN ANNOYED OR VEXED BECAUSE OF THEIR GENDER   
  Sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination where an employee is 
- forced or asked by another employee or customer to give sexual favors
- exposed to unwelcome behavior w/ sexual content
- hired, promoted, etc. based on explicit or implicit sexual submission
- subjected to sexual content which creates a hostile, intimidating or offensive environment		  
  Sexual harassment refers to comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature that are deliberate, repeated, & unwelcome   
  Women are more likely to be sexually harassed & while the sexual harassment of men is rare, it is not unheard of   
  Some sexual harassment is blatant, but much of it is subtle, & thus difficult to prove in a court of law   
  See Also:  Sexual Harassment  
  e.  THE GLASS CEILING DENOTES THAT DISCRIMINATION INCREASES DRAMATICALLY AT OR ABOVE THE MID MGT LEVEL 
 
  The concept of the glass ceiling denotes that the "old boy network" is the most powerful at the top  
  The concept of the glass ceiling is consonant w/ the stratification theorists' position that an "inner group" of elite men are extremely powerful in western, industrial society  
 
 In its simplest form, the glass ceiling is the reluctance to place women in positions of authority
 
Link
 For the courts to rule that gender discrimination has occurred, the plaintiff must show specific damage; i.e., the courts have not allowed statistical discrimination as proof  
  THERE ARE SIX CAUSES OF OCCUPATIONAL GENDER SEGREGATION, INCLUDING: 
1.  COMPETING EXPECTATIONS OF WOMEN
2.  LESS ACCESS TO OJT
3.  INDIVIDUAL OR INSTITL DISCRIMINATION 		 4.  CULTURAL LAG 
5.  HIGHLY UNIONIZED MEN'S JOBS 
6.  SEX ROLE SOCIALIZATION 
 
Link
 1.  THE COMPETING EXPECTATIONS OF WOMEN, WHICH ARE OFTEN RELATED TO FAMILY & CHILD REARING, ARE OFTEN GREATER THAN THOSE FOR MALES 
 
 
 The practice of women leaving the work force to raise small children is becoming less common
 
  Women's entry into the labor mkt has not substantially reduced their involvement in housework, as husbands have resisted increasing their participation in these task  
  Women who live w/ significant other males & work equal or more numbers of hours outside the home typically perform over 70% of household chores  
  The household chores women perform on top of their full time job is frequently called the second shift by social scientists & feminists   
  2.  WOMEN HAVE LESS ACCESS TO OJT (On the Job Training ) BECAUSE OF THE COMPETING EXPECTATIONS   
  Less OJT makes Women less competitive as workers  
  One of the most difficult problems to overcome in leveling the playing field on the job btwn men & women is that women have babies & men don't  
  What is the solution to this?   
 
 3.  INDIVIDUAL OR INSTITL DISCRIMINATION OCCURS WHEN WOMEN, OR OTHER GRPS, ARE TREATED DIFFERENTLY   
  Individual or institutional discrimination includes FOUR major types
     i. Less access to OJT
     ii. Hiring Patterns
    iii. Steering:  Channeling:  "men's" jobs pay better.
     iv. Occupational Segregation		  
 
 4.  CULTURAL LAG OCCURS WHEN DIFFERENT SPHERES OF SOCIETY, ESP W/ RESPECT TO CULTURE, DEVELOP AT DIFFERENT RATES, CAUSING CONFLICT BTWN THE SUBCULTURES OF SOCIETY
 
  Cultural lag results in lower pay for women because better pay for men's work is partially a carry over from family wage days   
        See Fordism  
  5.  HIGHLY UNIONIZED MEN'S JOBS, HAVE THROUGH THEIR OWN HISTORIC STRUGGLE, EARNED HIGHER WAGES COMPARED TO THE NON UNIONIZED SECTOR   
  Men's jobs were more highly unionized creating a pool of male jobs w/ more pay & security
Historically, unions were patriarchal & white
Today unions are very active in women's sectors & non-white sectors of employment		  
  6.  SEX ROLE SOCIALIZATION IS THE PROCESS WHERE WE ARE SOCIALIZED TO BELIEVE WE SHOULD TAKE 'MEN'S JOBS' & 'WOMEN'S JOBS,' AS APPROPRIATE   
  Sex role socialization occurs in all the social structures & it: 
- reinforces “correct” jobs for men & women
- makes women less likely to complain		  
 
 GENDER PAY DIFFERENTIAL IS IMPROVING BUT AT THE CURRENT RATE WILL TAKE DECADES MORE TO EQUALIZE   
  The average female full time worker earns about 77 cents for every dollar earned by a male full time employee   
  In general it has been shown that the more women that work in an occupation, the lower the pay of that occupation  
  Historically, the movement of women into an occupation has lowered pay & status as is the case in secretarying, teaching, & nursing  
  Historically, the movement of women out of an occupation has increased pay & status as is the case w/ factory work  
  The best predictor of whether a family's income will fall below the federal poverty level is the sex of the primary breadwinner  
  The fact that being a woman has become associated w/ being poor is termed the feminization of poverty  
  Among families w/ a female householder, the poverty rate in 1986 was over  34%, which is over twice the total poverty rate  
  Working class women are especially hurt by the low wages earned by women  
  Occupational gender segregation explains some of the difference in pay for men & women  
  THE EIGHT REASONS FOR GENDER PAY DIFFERENTIAL,( besides occupational gender segregation ) INCLUDE:
1.  HIRING PATTERNS 
2.  COMPETING EXPECTATIONS OF WOMEN 
3.  LESS ACCESS TO OJT
4.  OUTRIGHT DISCRIMINATION 		 5.  CULTURAL LAG 
6.  HISTORICALLY LOW PAY 
7.  FEW UNIONIZED FEMALE JOBS 
8.  MEN W/ FEW COMPETING EXPECTATIONS & MORE OJT
 
  All of the factors which cause genders socialization in the wkplace & OGS also contribute to gender pay differential   
  1.  HIRING PATTERNS REINFORCE GENDER SOCIALIZATION IN THE WKPLACE & OGS AS THEY HIRE MEN FOR 'MEN'S JOBS,' ETC.   
  Most of the gender pay differential results from the different kinds of jobs held by men vs. women  
 
 2.  THE COMPETING EXPECTATIONS OF WOMEN, BECAUSE OF FAMILY & CHILDREN, HAVE HISTORICALLY PULLED WOMEN AWAY FROM THE WKPLACE & THEREFORE MADE THEM LESS VALUABLE WKRS
 
  The greater responsibility for family & childcare tasks that our society has traditionally assigned to women is another factor explaining the earnings differential  
  3.  LESS ACCESS TO OJT REDUCES SKILL & EXPERIENCE   
  that women seem to have less access than men to OJT that increases their skills  
  4.  OUTRIGHT DISCRIMINATION OCCURS WHEN MGRS BELIEVE WOMEN SHOULD BE PAID LESS BECAUSE THEY ARE SUBORDINATE TO MEN  
  Some male & female mgrs still see women's wk are a mere supplement or part time addition to family income because the man should still be the primary breadwinner   
  5.  CULTURAL LAG OCCURS WHEN SOME PEOPLE RETAIN TRADITIONAL PATRIARCHAL VALUES   
  Cultural lag; i.e., a carry over from the days when it was widely believed that men should be paid more because they were more likely to be supporting a family  
  6.  HISTORICALLY LOW PAY RESULTS IN THE FACT THAT WHILE WOMEN MAY GET RAISES EQUIVALENT TO THOSE OF MEN, THEY ARE STARTING AT A LOWER PLACE   
  The fact that employers do not want to raise pay in occupations that have historically had low pay  
  7.  FEW UNIONIZED FEMALE JOBS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO LOW FEMALE WAGES, BUT TODAY TRADL WOMEN'S JOBS ARE BEING UNIONIZED AT A HIGH RATE   
  The fact that predominantly male occupations are more highly unionized, & therefore pay better, than are predominantly female occupations  
 
 8.  MEN W/ FEW COMPETING EXPECTATIONS & MORE OJT CONTINUES TO BE THE NORM TODAY, GIVING THEM AN ADVANTAGE AT WORK, BUT IT IS SLOWLY EQUALIZING AS SMALLER FAMILIES BECOME THE NORM, & MEN CONTRIBUTE MORE TO THE FAMILY 
 
  Men do not bear children & therefore get more experience, OJT, etc.  
  One of the most difficult problems to overcome in leveling the playing field on the job btwn men & women is that women bear children, men don't   
  Pregnancy Leave Act of 1993 was passed by the Clinton Administration & it allows females 6 weeks unpaid leave following pregnancy, but allows men no leave  
  Our culture is now establishing norms over gender relations in the workplace, & YOUR generation will develop them more  
 
 WOMEN HAVE DEVELOPED STRATEGIES TO CONFRONT SEXUAL HARASSMENT WHICH RANGE FOR ACCEPTING IT TO FIGHTING IT ON THE SHOP FLOOR, TO LEGAL DEFENSES 
 
  Victims of sexual harassment find it very difficult to report the violation  
  Based on her study of an underground coal mine, Yount, 1991, developed a typology of three strategies that female coal miners used to confront sexual harassment  
  See Also:  Sexual Harassment  
  There are FIVE general strategies to confront sexual harassment in the workplace which include
 
  a.  LADIES USE TRADL GENDER RELATIONS OF RESPECT FOR WOMEN TO DISARM SEXUAL HARASSMENT   
 
 Ladies confront sexists as gentlemen w/, for example, “Why sir, what would your mother say?”
 
  Yount found that Ladies cast their co-workers as gentlemen & socially w/drew  
  b.  FLIRTS USE TRADL GENDER RELATIONS OF SEXUALITY TO DISARM SEXUAL HARASSMENT   
 
 Flirts confront sexists w/ sexuality w/, for example, “I save that for my favorite men, & you haven't qualified... yet.”
 
  Yount found that flirtatiousness encouraged come ons from men & sometimes resulted in more severe harassment if the men perceived that the women were using this strategy to gain preferential treatment  
  c.  TOMBOYS USE TRADL GENDER RELATIONS OF FEMALE TOKENISM TO DISARM SEXUAL HARASSMENT   
 
 Tomboys confronting sexists w/ balance w/, for example, “I would, but you're better suited for Joe!”
 
  Tomboys emphasized their occupational role & engaged in joking relationships w/ their male co-workers  
  d.  GIRLS USE TRADL GENDER RELATIONS OF SUBMISSION TO TRY TO AVOID OR IGNORE SEXUAL HARASSMENT   
 
 Girls do not confront sexists but ignore it, or w/draw
 
  Girls' role of non confrontation & w/drawl may work if the harassment is not too severe; however, it risks the possibility that passivity may evoke more severe harassment  
  e.  TODAY'S WOMEN USE THE NON TRADL METHOD OF LEGAL REDRESS, IN THE ORG OR IN THE COURT SYSTEM, TO DEFEAT SEXUAL HARASSMENT   
 
 e.  Today's Woman confronts sexists w/ legal or formal action w/, for example, the statement that, “That's harassment.  I'm filing a complaint.” 
 
  Today's women's, strength & resolve of the direct confrontation of illegal & boorish behavior will cause most harassers to back down  

 
Top  
What message does OGS give? 

Men are more capable, worth more, etc.


 
Top  
The courts & gender discrimination

1970   ATT   $ 52 mm to 3,600 females
1973   US Steel   $ 31 mm to 61,000 females & minorities
1978   GE   $ 29 mm to females
1980   Ford   $ 23 mm to minorities
1996   Texaco agrees to pay  $ 1.5 bb for discrimination


 
Top  
a. Examples of Competing Expectations of Working Women

Women miss more work to care for family
Women have babies:  interrupted career track
Women take principle responsibility for home duties      (see Gender & the Family      Link )
But these are societal assumptions:
Despite competing expectation, the reality is that Women devote more time to work than men


 
Internal
Links

Top
Outline on  Stratification by Gender
External
Links
  -  Supplement:  Median Income of Year Round, Full Time Workers, by Sex and Age, 1999 
Link
  -  Supplement:  Median Income of Year Round Full Time Workers, by Sex & Level of Education, 1999 
Link
  THE GENDER PAY GAP IS SLOWLY CLOSING, BUT WILL PROBABLY TAKE 20 TO 30 MORE YRS. TO REACH EQUALITY   
  Women typically earn 60 to 70% of what men earn for equal work  
  The gender pay gap is slowly closing, but will probably take 20 to 30 more yrs. to reach equality  
  THERE APPEARS TO BE LITTLE PAY INEQUALITY BECAUSE ECON DISCRIM OCCURS MOSTLY IN THE MID & UPPER CLASSES   
  E.O. Wright found that economic discrimination against women occurs btwn, & not w/in a class or subclass:  
     Within a class, there is little difference in economic achievement btwn races or genders  
     In the working class, men & women, blacks & whites, etc. earn approximately the same level of income  
     For example, women earn 66% of what men earn, overall, but w/in the working class women earn equal wages to men  
     Blacks & females are more often in the Wright's working class & thus have an overall lower income  
     The proportions of blacks & females are greater in the working class  
     The proportions of white males are higher in the capitalist & managerial classes  
  MARRIAGE IMPROVES THE ECON POSITION OF BOTH SPOUSES, BUT WOMEN BENEFIT MORE / SINGLE WOMEN ARE THE POOREST   
  60 to 70% of women work outside the home while only 55% of men work outside the home  
  In general, the class of both spouses is that of the highest class spouse; i.e., the higher class spouse, pulls the other up to his or her level  
  Married women typically earn less than husband, & so technically are in a lower class than their husband  
  But the standard of living, income, property, status, etc. are distributed through the family unit  
  And thus, after a divorce, women usually fall in income while men's income rises  
  In 2002, approximately 30% of wives earn more than their husbands  
  In the recent past, ( i.e. as recently as the 1950s) a married women's class was determined by position of husband; i.e. she would even come down to his position if he were lower  
  In terms of social marital mobility, by far the most people marry w/in their class  
  In terms of social marital mobility, the largest group of people who marry up consists of women   
  In terms of social marital mobility, the smallest group of people who marry up consists of  men   

 
Internal
Links

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Outline on the  Feminist Sociology of Knowledge
External
Links
  FEMINIST SOC OF KNOWLEDGE IS BASED ON A POSITIONED MULTI PERSPECTIVISM IN A GENDERED, POWER INFUSED CONTEXT   
  The feminist sociology of knowledge is "grounded theory," i.e., theory based on lives shaped by macro & micro arrangements  
  Feminists believe that knowledge
a)  is discovered from a vantage point
b)  is partial & interested:  never total & objective
c)  varies from person to person
d)  is affected by power relations		  
  Feminists believe that when producing knowledge, one must
a)   identify an actor's vantage pt
b)   establish standards by which those w/ partial accounts may produce knowledge
c)   analyze how power affects knowledge claims  (don't write in third person, use 1st person)
d)   produce webbed accounts; i.e., knowledge from many vantage points
e)   account for power differences, value less privileged views		  
  Feminist scholars advocate that social theory should be developed from a vantage point, giving one a recognition of "position" in society  
  For feminists, & other social theorists, the concept of position recognizes that viewers are not objective in that their views shaped by life & historical forces  
  The feminist's utilization of vantage point or position is similar to that of the deconstructionists in post modernism  
  At the fringes of its school of thought, the post modernists reject the idea that any vantage point or position is privileged, has a better or more accurate view of social reality  
  Feminists respond to the post modernists that just when women are credited w/ a vantage point of some value, the post modernists want to de emphasize it all, relativize it all  

 
Internal
Links

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  Outline on   Defeating Sexism
External
Links
 
 -  Project:  Ending racism & sexism
Link
 
 -  Supplement:  Time Magazine:  Title IX helped more women get into sports, but opponents complain it's pushing men out
Link
  WE HAVE 'COME A LONG WAY' BUT THE LAST VESTIGES OF PATRIARCHY, INSTITL DISCRIM, & DISCRIM AGAINST LC WOMEN WILL BE THE MOST DIFFICULT TO ERADICATE  
 
 Changes in gender relations have been remarkable in the last 200 yrs
 
 
 We are seeing mvmt toward a society in which women & men enjoy equal rights & opportunities
 
 
 Today's economy depends a great deal on the earnings of women
 
 
 Despite real change, gender continues to involve controversy from the personal to the orgl, to the political levels, & everywhere in btwn
 
  Gender discrimination is in decline, but one wonders, will it plateau or disappear?  
  Gender relations are approximately three generations ahead of race relations  
  SOCIETY HAS ESTBED MANY LEGAL LIMITS TO SEXISM & PATRIARCHY   
 
 Some laws have been passed to end sexism & equalize gender relationships  
 
 In 1920, US women win the vote w/ the 19th Amendment
 
  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade the deliberate discrimination against women in hiring & wages  
  Title IX was passed in 1972  
  The Pregnancy Leave Act of 1993 was passed by the Clinton Administration allowing females six weeks unpaid leave following pregnancy, while allowing men none  
  The Equal Rights Amendment ( ERA ) was never passed  
  POLICIES TO DEFEAT SEXISM SHOULD ADDRESS:
1.  BOLSTERING SOC MVMTS
2.  WAGE DISCRIMINATION
3.  BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING
4.  ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
5.  OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GENDER
6.  THE OBJECTIFICATION OF GENDER 		  
 
 The steps to end racism work equally well to end sexism, ( social movements in support of gender equality must cooperate, gender tolerance education, there must be zero tolerance for sexism in govt, there must be zero tolerance for sexism in the private sector, & there must be equal economic opportunity ) however there are some unique facets of sexism that must be dealt w/ through changes in policies
 
 
 There are SIX policy methods to defeat sexism
 
  1.  Groups or social movements such as NOW & AAUP which support women's rights, work to end sexism, etc. must organize, cooperate & work together  
 
 2.  Stronger laws around wage discrimination
 
 
 3.  Stronger laws around occupational discrimination & the glass ceiling
 
 
 4.  Stronger laws around crimes against women such as rape, abuse, harassment, lack of support, etc.
 
 
 -  Mandatory sentences & counseling for crimes against women
 
 
 -  The state, not the victim, becomes prosecutor in crimes against women
 
 
 5.  Expand education & research on the nature of maleness & femaleness
 
 
 6.  Expand education & research on the effects of gender socialization & objectification of women & sexuality
 
Link
 Gender relations for the next generation
 

 
Top  
Gender Relations for the next generation (being born now)

- Equal opportunity will become the norm
- Women in places of power will become the norm
- Women's wages will continue to equalize
- Families will continue to change
- Sexual relations will continue to equalize
- Lessening of abuse, rape, violence against Women

All of this assumes that "progress" continues
There have been periods of regression


 
Internal
Links

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History of Gender Relations A Socio Historical Overview
External
Links
 Link
 This analysis is also found above   

 
Internal
Links

Top
  Outline on    Gender in Hunter Gatherer Society   circa 1.5 mm BP - 10 K BC
External
Links
  -  Project:  Patriarchy, Matriarchy, & Equality in H-G Society & Today
Link
  THERE WAS A VERY HIGH LEVEL OF GENDER DIFFERENTIATION, BUT LITTLE GENDER DISCRIMINATION / PATRIARCHY   
  During the Hunter Gatherer Era, humanity lived in 100's of thousands of mostly isolated tribes  
  Hunter Gatherer Societies, aka primitive communalism, have the major feature of   
  Living by hunting & gathering
Only minimal agriculture, which developed at the end of this era
Semi nomadism
No accumulation of wealth
Status achievement in "traditional" roles		  
  Most roles in Hunter Gatherer Society are ascribed, though increased status often served as a reward for achievement  
  There was gender based division of labor in Hunter Gatherer Society  
  In H-G society women & men had different, but essentially equal roles  
  The major female roles in H-G Society include gatherer, herder, mother, sometimes leader  (matrilineal), homemaker,  medicine woman / religious leader (shaman, etc.),  home defense  
  WOMEN RAISED BABIES TO GIRLS & BOYS, & GIRLS TO WOMEN, BUT MEN RAISED BOYS TO MEN   
  Many tribes used a matrilineal methods of tracing descent  
  The major male roles in H-G society include hunter, sometimes leader, explorer, warrior, medicine man / religious leader (shaman, etc.), home defense  
  Men raised boys to men  
  Women brought in 70 % of the food, but the 30 % that men brought in by hunting was critical  
  Men & women had equal status, power & privileges in Hunter Gatherer Society & because 99 % of human existence has occurred in Hunter Gatherer Society, therefore patriarchy, sexism, men controlling women IS NOT "natural"  
  The roles of leader, doctor, shaman, defender are all male roles today, but they were definitely filled by both genders in Hunter Gatherer Society  

 
Internal
Links

Top
Outline on the   Development of the Patriarchal Family   by Lewis Henry Morgan
External
Links
 Link
 This analysis is also found above   

 
Internal
Links

Top
Outline on  First Wave Feminism
The Industrial Age    circa 1700 - 1920
External
Links
 
 FIRST WAVE FEMINISTS WERE ACTIVE BEFORE & DURING THE ENLIGHTENMENT ERA ESTBING SOME OF THE FIRST RATIONALE FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS 
 
  First wave feminism began during the Enlightenment   
  The women of the Enlightenment created a theoretical & practical basis for equal rights for women   
  First wave feminists repudiated sexist notions about women   
  First wave feminists advocated equal education & laid the foundation for the women's movement for the next few centuries   
  The Enlightenment, circa 1689 - 1789, was the awakening of modern ideas on freedom, science, religion, and early feminist thought, etc., aka the Age of Reason, & was one factor in the Fr Revolution of 1789   
  See Also:  The Enlightenment:   
 
 LEADING FIRST WAVE FEMINISTS, E.G. WOLLSTONECRAFT, MARTINEAU, ET AL, ESTBED A STRONG SOC MVMT & RATIONAL FOR SUFFRAGE & EQUAL ED 
 
  Leading thinkers of first wave feminism include Wollstonecraft, Macauley, Martineau, Taylor, Tubman, Rousseau, et al  
  Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759 - 1797, in The Vindication of the Rights of Women, which was a response to Edmund Burke, held that women should have equal education  
  The Vindication of the Rights of Women an important book in the Enlightenment & for US Constitution  
  Catherine Macauley  
  Harriet Martineau, 1802 - 1876, fought for women's education  
  Harriet Taylor Mill, 1807 - 1858, was forced to live behind her husband, John Stuart Mill, but was the intellectual leader  
  John Stuart Mill, 1807 - 1873, was an important utilitarian philosopher  
  Harriet Tubman, 1820 - 1913, was a fugitive slave, underground railroad conductor, Union scout, & an Entrepreneur who founded two hospitals  
  Other Enlightenment ideas on women:  
  Rousseau wrote Emile & Sophy, in which he advocated sexist ideas though he is considered to be a progressive political philosopher  

 
Internal
Links

Top
Outline on the  Suffrage Movement
Industrial Age        1700 - present
External
Links
  -  Video:  Iron Jawed Angels 
 Link
  -  Video:  Project:  Iron Jawed Angels & Theories of Feminism 
Link
  IN THE 16 & 1700s, AS LC MEN BEGAN TO GET POL POWER & THE RIGHT TO VOTE, WOMEN BEGAN TO STRUGGLE FOR THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION & SUFFRAGE   
 
 Suffrage means the right to vote & woman suffrage is the right of women to vote 
 
 
 Today, women in nearly all countries have the same voting rights as men, but they did not begin to gain such rights until the early 1900's, and they had to overcome strong opposition to get them 
 
 
 The struggle for women's rights in the US at first concentrated on gaining the right to vote   
  Women did not begin to gain such rights until the early 1900's, & they had to overcome strong opposition to get them   
  During colonial times, the right to vote was limited to white, adult, property owning, mortgage free, males   
  Many people thought property owners had the strongest interest in good govt and so were best qualified to make decisions, but today we see early voting restrictions as biased in favor of those who traditionally held power   
  Regardless, the limited voting rights of early Am were a dramatic expansion of rights for the general populace  
  Most women could not vote, though some colonies gave the vote to widows who owned property  
  By the mid 1700s, many colonial leaders were beginning to think that all citizens should have a voice in govt  
  Citizens expressed there belief in universal voting rights with such slogans as "No Taxation Without Representation" and "Government by the Consent of the Governed." which were considered radical ides now, but today are part of our culture  
  After the US became an independent nation, the Constitution gave the states the right to decide who could vote  
  One by one, the states abolished property requirements and, by 1830, all white male adults could vote  
  Only NJ gave women the vote, but in 1807, that state also limited voting rights to men  
  IN THE EARLY 1800s THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT BEGINS AS WOMEN FORM ORGS TO FIGHT FOR SUFFRAGE   
  Changing social conditions for women during the early 1800's, combined with the idea of equality, led to the birth of the woman suffrage movement  
  In the US, the men and women who supported the drive for woman suffrage were called suffragists  
  As women started to receive more education, take part in reform movements, & become involved in politics, they started to ask why they were not also allowed to vote  
  SENECA FALLS IS THE FIRST MAJOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS CONFERENCE   
  One of the first public appeals for woman suffrage came when two reformers, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, called for women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y., where Stanton lived  
 
 In 1848, in Seneca Falls, NY, the first Women's conference took place in the US
 
 
 In Seneca Falls, Women & Men adopted a Declaration of Sentiments which called for Women to have equal rights in education, property, & voting, and used the Declaration of Independence as a model, saying that, "We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men and women are created equal..." 
 
  Leaders of the early suffrage movement include Lucretia Mott, who called for Women's rights conference in Seneca Falls, NY, 1848; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who called for Women's rights conference in Seneca Falls, NY, 1848; & Susan B. Anthony  
  SUFFRAGE IS THE GOAL OF THE FIRST WOMEN'S RIGHTS MVMT   
  Suffrage quickly became the chief goal of the women's rights movement  
  Leaders of the women's movement believed that if women had the vote, they could use it to gain other rights  
  Most people who opposed woman suffrage believed that women were less intelligent and less able to make political decisions than men  
  Opponents of suffrage argued that men could represent their wives better than the wives could represent themselves  
  Some people feared that women's participation in politics would lead to the end of family life  
 
 When the 15th Amendment passed in 1869, & was ratified 1870, giving black men the right to vote, the Women's suffrage movement gained strength
 
  The drive for woman suffrage gained strength after the passage of the 15th Amendment  
 
 NWSA  
 
 In 1869, the National Women's Suffrage Assoc. (NWSA) was led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony and was considered to be more radical than other women's groups
 
  The chief goal of the NWSA was to pass an amendment to the Constitution giving women the vote  
 
 In 1872, Anthony & others Women voted in the presidential election in NY and were arrested and Anthony developed the speech & slogan:   "Resistance to Tyranny is Obedience to God."
 
  AWSA  
  The American Women's Suffrage Assoc. (AWSA) was led by Lucy Stone & her husband, Henry Blackwell & was consider to be a more conservative women's group  
  The main goal of the AWSA was to induce individual states to give the vote to women  
  A proposed constitutional amendment granting women the vote was introduced in every session of Congress from 1878 to 1919  
  NAWSA, WCTU, YWCA   
 
 In 1890, the National American Women's Suffrage Assoc. (NAWSA) was created when the 2 prior assoc's merged
 
  The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) & other orgs also made woman suffrage a goal  
  The WCTU later morphed into the YWCA  
  SEVERAL STATES GAVE WOMEN SUFFRAGE BEFORE IT BECAME A FED RIGHT   
 
 Some territories, & then some states, pass woman suffrage
- 1869   The territory of Wyoming is the first US govt to award women the right to vote
- 1870   Utah Territory 
- 1890   Wyoming entered the Union & was 1st state to give women the vote
- 1896   Colorado gave women the vote
- 1920   15 states had given women the vote
             12 others gave women the vote in presidential elections
 
  THE NEXT GENERATION OF SUFFRAGISTS CONTINUED THE WOMEN'S RIGHTS MVMT IN THE 1900s  
  During the early 1900s, a new generation of leaders brought a fresh spirit to the woman suffrage movement  
  The next generation of suffrage leaders:
- Carrie Chapman Catt
- Maud Wood Park
- Lucy Burns
- Alice Paul
- Harriot Blatch  (Stanton's daughter)		  
  The new generation of suffrage leaders devoted most of their efforts to marches, picketing, and other active forms of protest  
  Paul and her followers chained themselves to the White House fence while others were often arrested & sent to jail, where many of them went on hunger strikes  
  Carrie Chapman Catt, Maud Wood Park, & others were skilled organizers who received much of their support from middle class women  
  Suffrage leaders stressed organizing in every congressional district & lobbying in the nation's capital  
  Other suffrage leaders, including Lucy Burns, Alice Paul, & Stanton's daughter Harriot E. Blatch, appealed to young people, radicals, & working class women  
  SUFFRAGE ADVANCED DURING WW I AS WOMEN'S CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY BECAME MORE OBVIOUS   
 
 During World War I (1914-1918), the contributions of women to the war effort increased support for a suffrage amendment
 
  In 1918, the House of Representatives held another vote on the suffrage amendment  
  Spectators packed the galleries, and several congressmen came to vote on the suffrage amendment despite illness  
  One congressman was brought in on a stretcher  
  Representative Frederick C. Hicks of New York left his wife's deathbed, at her request, to vote for the suffrage amendment  
  In 1918, the House passes the suffrage amendment, but the Senate defeats it  
  In 1919, the Senate passes the suffrage amendment  
  SUFFRAGE IS WON IN 1920 W/ THE PASSAGE OF THE 19th AMENDMENT   
  By August of 1920, two thirds of states ratify the suffrage amendment  
  By late August 1920, the required number of states had ratified what became the 19th Amendment  
  The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution reads:  "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."   
 
 The suffrage amendment, the 19th Amendment passed by Congress in 1919; & was ratified in 1920
 
 
 See Also:  Depression & WW2 Era Women  

 
Internal
Links

Top
Approximate
Date
Top  

Table of Women's Suffrage Timeline
External
Links
 
1776
 Only land owning, mortgage free, white, adult males may vote
 
 
1849
 Lucretia Mott & Elizabeth Cady Stanton called a women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY
 
 
1850
 The first US national convention on equal rights for women is held in Worcester, MA
 
 
1870s
 The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) is formed by Lucy Stone & Henry Blackwell
 
 
 
 The first women win the right to vote when the Territory of Wyoming gives women right to vote
 
 
1879 -
1919 
 A female suffrage amendment reintroduced in every session of Congress  
 
1880s
 Susan B. Anthony is arrested for voting illegally in the presidential election
 
 
 
 Victoria Claflin Woodhull  becomes the 1st woman to run for president
 
 
1890s
 Stanton persuaded Sen. Aaron Sargent to sponsor a woman suffrage amendment to the Constitution
 
 
 
 The National American Woman Suffrage Association united women's suffrage groups
 
 
 
 Wyoming becomes the first state with woman suffrage
 
 
 
 New Zealand becomes the first nation to grant women full voting rights
 
 
1900s
 Australia gave women right to vote in national elections
 
 
 
 Susan B. Anthony & Carrie Chapman Catt estbed the Intl Woman Suffrage Alliance
 
 
 
 The Equality League of Self Supporting Women was founded by Harriot E. Stanton Blatch
 
 
 
 The 1st US suffrage parades & open air messages are held  
 
1910s
 Alice Paul formed the National Woman's Party  
 
1920s
 The US House of Representatives passed a woman suffrage amendment, but the Senate rejected it  
 
 
 Woman suffrage became nationwide in Canada  
 
 
 Women were allowed to vote in Germany for the first time  
 
 
 The Senate passes a woman suffrage amendment  
 
 
 Paul submitted the 1st version of an Equal Rights Amendment to Congress (An ERA is never passed & the latest version to go down was in the 1970s defeat)  
 
 
 Catt founded the National League of Women Voters which survives today at the League of Women Voters  
 
 
 The 19th Amendment was ratified, giving all US women, age 21, or over the right to vote  
 
1930s 
 Women received equal voting privileges in Britain  
 
1940s 
 Paul founded the World Woman's Party  
 
 
 Women in France voted for the first time.  
 
 
 The new Constitution of Japan gave women as well as men the right to vote  
 
 
 Women won voting rights in national elections of Switzerland  
 
 
 US suffrage was expanded to include male & female citizens age 18 or older  
 
 
 Women had suffrage in every country men did, except Kuwait
 
    The Women's Suffrage Timeline demonstrates:   
    -  several qualities of social mvmts such as the fact that major social changes take decades, generations, or even centuries  
    -  that because the timeline of social change is beyond that of a generation, & because soc mvmts require many diverse participants whom may have a diversity of interests, a plethora of soc mvmt grps & orgs is required for success  
    -  that success depends, in part, on the ability of soci mvmt grps & orgs to network over a long period of time  
    -  that successful soc mvmts require an active constituency who is willing to sacrifice in the form of money, time, protests, etc.   
    -  that successful soc mvmts require a dedicated, radicalized leadership who is willing to sacrifice in the form of ruined careers, jail time, or even injury or death, & yet stays in touch w/ the sentiments of the constituency, e.g. pushes the constituency by making radical proposals & taking radical actions, but also does not go too far beyond the sentiments of the constituency  

 
Internal
Links

Top
  Outline on the "New Woman" / The "New Man:"  Gender in Contemporary Society
the  Post Industrial Age  circa 1970 to Present
External
Links
  -  Project:  Issues in defining the new Women & Men
Link
  WOMEN BORN TODAY ARE THE CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILDREN OF 'LIBERATED WOMEN' & THUS EXPERIENCE LITTLE OR NO DISCRIMINATION   
  Summary:  Possibly, many women, in the first world, born in this generation will experience little or no discrimination; however, academics & feminists point out that sexism still exists, & middle class women report "mostly" or "high" levels of equality  
Link
 The 3rd wave?  Many social theorists ask, "Do we need the 3rd wave of feminism, or can we just coast to equality?"  
Link
 Look to your future: What will gender issues be life for your kids?  
  NEW, NON TRADL, GENDERED NON GENDERED ROLES ARE DEVELOPING   
Link
 Non-traditional gender roles are developing, & defining femaleness & maleness today includes such issues as  
  - dating & relationships at work  
  - the cultural definitions of sexual experience, "promiscuity," & the number of partners which are socially acceptable  
  - the cultural values of marriage & the single's life  
  - marrying later & youth lived as a single vs. marrying earlier & an early commitment  
  - women's ability to be active in initiating relationships & men's ability to be receptive to a woman's initiative  
  - the cultural definitions of body shape & the ideal body  
  - women in combat, meeting the requirements of combat, & fulfillment as a warrior  
  - men providing nurturing, finding fulfillment in the home for man or woman  
  - the portrayal of sexuality in the media & in our personal lives  
  - the portrayal of sexuality through revealing dress, & sexuality in public   
  WOMEN ARE GAINING MORE POSITIONS OF POWER, BUT THE GLASS CEILING & THE STRENGTH OF THE OLD BOY SYSTEM IS STRONGEST AT THE TOP   
  Geraldine Ferraro is nominated as the VP candidate by the Democrats in 1984   
 
 During the Clinton Administration, Madeline Albright (D) became the Secretary of State, which is the fourth in line to be President, holding the highest office of any woman in US history 
 
 
 Nancy Pelossi ( D ) attains the highest rank of any women in the House of Representatives in 2002 when she becomes minority leader for the Democrats 
 
 
 Condi Rice (R) becomes the Secretary of State during the Bush Jr. Admin. in 2005 
 
  Sarah Palin is nominated as the VP candidate by the Republicans in 2008   
  Carly Fiorina is the first women to lead a Fortune 500 firm   
  Fiorina lead HP in the early 2000s, but was fired in 2005 after over 5 yrs at the helm for low profits, lack of increase of mkt, & disagreements on how to integrate Compaq Computer, a new acquisition, into HP  
  It is not unusual for firms to switch leaders just as teams switch coaches   
  In 2008, 12 of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women   

 
Top  
The New Woman:  The Third Wave? 

Do we need it, or can we just coast to equality?
How are Gender Relations different in the 2000s than in the 1980s?
What will Gender Relations look like in 2050, 
    - when Baby Boomers will be gone
    - when Gen X & Y are old
    - when the children of Gen X & Y are in power?


 
Top  
Look to your future:  What will gender issues be life for your kids?

- Equal opportunity will become the norm
- Women in places of power will become the norm
- Women's wages will continue to equalize
- Families will continue to change
- Sexual relations will continue to equalize
- Lessening of abuse, rape, etc. 


 
Top  
Non-traditional gender roles:  issues in defining femaleness & maleness today

Rape
Paternity
Paternal responsibility
Out of wedlock birth
Orphans:  unwanted children

The End
 
Top