CHAPTER 11: GENDER

i. SEX VS GENDER
sex = biology
-male
-female
-intersex
gender = social, cultural characteristics
-refers to culture’s ideas of what’s masculine versus what is feminine
-kind of like “acting” (acting like a woman/man)
-act = behavior
■ INTERSEX
-born with characteristics of both sexes
-or they are born with ambiguous genitalia
■ TRANSGENDER
-when your gender identity doesn’t match your anatomy
-some go on to adopt the social characteristics of the other sex (gender)
■ TRANSSEXUAL
-when your gender identity doesn’t match your anatomy
-have surgery and/or take hormones to change biologically into the other sex (sex)

II. GENDER SOCIALIZATION

A. DEFINITION
we learn gender from birth, and we continue to do gender throughout our life
B. HOME
Name = based off girl/boy
Decor = pink/blue for girl/boy
Clothing
Toys = statuses and skills
what you can be when you grow up (bob the builder, etc)
C. SCHOOL
elementary school: teacher-student interaction
High school: career counseling = gender-tracking
-they encourage students to go to gender-appropriate fields
college: fewer [...]

III. GENDER STRUCTURE

A. DEFINITION AND EXAMPLES
gender inequality is built into social institutions

B. HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES
1. SECOND SHIFT
refers to housework and childcare
-women were doing the second shift most

Recent studies:
men were doing 39% of the work
women were doing 61% of the work

2. ROLE OVERLOAD
when you are stressed out because you have too many competing responsibilities
3. EXPLANATIONS FOR SECOND SHIFT
why women are bearing the second shift:
i. beliefs about gender are slow to change
2) feminist theory
women doing the second shift both reinforces and expresses gender inequality
gender pay gap
75-78 cents for every dollar a guy is making