Matthew Huf

Professor Coleman
On Gender: Witt 12
1. The social construction of gender is all the aspects and qualities that people have assigned the
genders male and female. Each gender now has its own specific roles that make people act appropriately
to their gender. For example, in a functionalist perspective, a man generally goes out and makes the
income for the family while the female stays at home watching the kids. In a symbolic interactionist
perspective, people are taught to act in certain ways according to their genders and can be labeled as
male or female even though their sex might be diferent.
2. The feminist movement is a series of advocacies for women's rights. The first wave of feminism
focused on relieving female sufrage by establishing equal rights to vote. The second wave was more
about expanding political rights as well as sexual it and reproductive rights. The third wave expanded
even more rights and allowed women to express their sexuality more openly.
Women address sexism by looking at inequalities between males and females, especially in the work
place. Rates of income are diferent, job availability for females are unequal and females tend to work in
gender-associated places such as being a receptionist or counselor.
The glass ceiling is an impermeable barrier in which women cannot cross in the work place. It prevents
them from attaining promotions and raises, which feminists strive to remove.
3. Men are more likely to perform more labor intensive jobs or jobs with higher prestige and income,
whereas women tend to work as clerks, receptionists, librarians, etc. Women earn less in the work place
because they are less likely to obtain a job with higher income. Some factors that influence wage gaps
between genders are age, education, children, experience, and martial status. Although there are many
factors that can help women gain more income, the wage gaps only increase by a few cents if taken into
account.
4. The second shift is the time a women spends at home tending to her children and the house after her
normal paid shift. In couples that both have full time jobs, the women usually comes home to a load of
work at home. It has been culturally accepted that women take on more work at home but to equalize the
second shift, both genders must put in an equal efort at home. Government support can also help with
child care, extra income and other programs.
Discussion responses:
1. I agree that it is very difficult to close the wage gap. there are a lot of factors that play into the amount
of income one receives, and the diferences between males and females make it even harder to make
equal pay for everyone. if administrative and clerical job incomes increased, the more prestige jobs that
men tend to take on would have to rise in order to sustain the economy. I think if women and men both
equally took on the same jobs, the wage gap wouldn't have to exist.

2. I agree that common agreement has led to more burden on the second shift for women. Unless women
feel that they can earn just as much, if not more, money than men in the workplace then they may feel
less entitled to do all the chores at home. however I think it's just a matter of splitting up the chores
between two people.