Sociology of gender
[1] Public discourse and the academic literature generally use the term gender for the perceived or projected (self-identified) masculinity or femininity of a person.
[2] The term gender role was coined by John Money in a seminal 1955 paper where he defined it as "all those things that a person says or does to disclose himself or herself as having the status of boy or man, girl or woman.
Socialist feminism believes that capitalism strengthens patriarchy by concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few, and the traditional family structure should be replaced by a collective revolution.
One day after President Trump's inauguration, in 2017, about 4.6 million people took to the streets of Washington, DC, to the Women's March to protest gender equality.
This movement grew in only a couple of months to condemn powerful men in business, politics, news, and entertainment for their assaults against women.
The media is often criticized for holding women to unrealistic beauty standards: perfect skin, slim figure, and great hair.
Throughout history, women have been excluded from media agencies, a key issue highlighted as early as the 18th century by the European and North American suffragists movement.
[24] Parents influence the way children behave and think at home, which is then carried out into the real world where the child is exposed to an environment that reinforces such ideas and beliefs.
Smith's claim is reflected in changes in tone of voice when talking to the unborn child as well as differences in physical touch of her stomach throughout the rest of her pregnancy.
[28] By the time children reach the age of three, many will have acquired a firm sense of themselves as male or female, a gender identity that remains throughout life.
In addition, many pre-schoolers develop a firm awareness of gender stereotypes, insisting that certain activities or items of clothing are not for girls and others not for boys.
A study of infants aged 13 months found that when boys demand attention – by behaving aggressively, or crying, whining or screaming – they tended to get it.
In the families studied by Jada Tidwell, children reported ideas that both endorsed and challenged stereotypical gender roles at times.
For boys, on the other hand, separating from the mother, who is experienced as different, involves repressing the feminine aspects of themselves and rejecting their tenderness that was central to that early relationship.
In the United States, Title VII and the 1964 Civil Rights Act were passed to attempt to ensure the equal treatment of the growing number of women entering the workforce.
[40] Similar results were found previously in hospitals by Erving Goffman in 1961, university discussion groups by Elizabeth Aries in 1972, and in corporate settings by Rosabeth Kanter in 1977.
Countries such as Canada and Sweden, which offer paternity leave, have lower infant mortality and better maternal health (both mental and physical).
Society's norms of traditional masculinity believes that men should prioritize work over family life, which is deemed a job for women.
[52] Together the lack of policies encouraging paternity leave, and society's notion that men should remain in the workplace, aim to discourage fathers' involvement in their young children and to enforce the traditional gender roles.
[54] West & Fenstermaker in their 1995 article Doing Difference offer that models that conceive gender, race and class as distinct axes are highly limiting in their understanding of the whole experience or identity of an individual.
Drag queens are an example of "troubling" gender, complicating the understanding of sexuality in our society by causing people to think outside the binary of male/female.
As technological advances let to productive surplus, social equality and communal sharing gave way to private property and ultimately class hierarchy.
With surplus wealth to pass on to their heirs, upper-class men wanted to ensure their sons were indeed theirs, which led them to control the sexuality of women.
[69] Exemplifying control theory, the norms of masculinity are so rigidly ingrained that men find little room to escape and end up constantly reproducing them.
[75] Gender-based violence is the physical, sexual or emotional harm or suffering enacted upon an individual as contextualized by societal gender norms.
Those that commit violent crimes are overwhelmingly male—rape (98%), armed robbery (92%), drunk driving (90%), murder (88%), aggravated assault (87%), arson (86%), and family violence (83%).
Frequently within dominant U.S. culture, institutions, teachers, social workers, and even friends and family will ignore the violence perpetuated against women of color, as they are not seen as valid members of society who deserve basic autonomy over their safety.
Women of color tend to experience higher rates of domestic violence and sexual assault than the general population and are less likely to seek help when it happens ([80]).
[84] Feminist sentiments – or a push for gender equality – emerge as a result of the nation-specific circumstances, not according to the exported beliefs of Western society.
One of the solutions to erasing gender inequalities globally, is to provide resources and funds to impoverished women who will in turn use them for education as well as business ventures.
