Gendered Norms and Household Labor
Order ID | 6230892316 |
Subject | Sociology |
Topic | the second shift |
Type | Essay |
Writer level | High School |
Style | MLA |
Sources / references | 3 |
Language | English(U.S.) |
Description / paper instructions
Goal Gendered Norms and Household Labor
This exercise allows you to uncover some of the realities of everyday family living. Most likely, you will have some notion of how families work according to your experiences in your own families of origin. With this exercise, you will capture the accounts of working parents and their daily lives by asking working parents about their daily work lives (paid and unpaid). Before you begin, read the brief excerpt about the second shift and its updates: Second shift reading (Links to an external site.)Instructions Step 1: Conducting the Interview of a Working Parent You’re asked to interview an individual who is a parent and a member of the paid labor force about their daily schedules. You are to ask the interviewee to be candid and to answer questions as completely as possible. Ask them the following:What does your daily schedule look like? Please be specific. What time do you get up and go to bed? Please detail what you do in between. Be as precise and detailed as possible. Then, you are to ask the person to describe everything that he or she does in a typical day, identify the types of work, and explain how tasks are divided between members of the household. In addition, you are to determine how these tasks affect the relationships between members of the household. It may be helpful to have them fill out this calculator and attach the results to your interview transcript (be sure to include all of this, calculator results and interview transcript, to your submitted assignment). https://work.qz.com/1083411/this-calculator-makes-the-unpaid-work-women-do-visible/ (Links to an external site.)Step 2: Analyzing the Interview DataAfter the interview, you are to analyze the data by answering the following questions using concepts from course (including but not limited to the second shift): Does there appear to be a gendered division of labor at home? Provide examples for or against the gendered division of labor based off of the interview transcript data. Be thorough and complete. Use sociological concepts/theories to do this. Step 3: What Does it all Mean? Does one person always seem to be doing more work than the other person? Formatting Rubric Feedback Learning Outcomes At the end of this chapter you will be able to do the following: Distinguish between love and intimacy Love and intimacy go hand in hand. Love is the physical, emotional, sexual, intellectual, or social affection one person holds for another. Concepts related to love include: adore, desire, prefer, possess, care for, serve, and even worship. Intimacy, on the other hand, is a close relationship where mutual acceptance, nurturance, and trust are shared at some level. In order to understand love in human relationships, you must first understand how the socialized self either enhances or inhibits your capacity to love. Your socialized self develops under the supervision of your caregiver or parent(s). When you were a newborn, you were totally dependent upon the adults in your life to take care of your needs and raise you in a safe environment. You had to be fed and clothed, bathed and held, and loved and appreciated. Your caregivers provided these basic needs in your early development, and during this time, attachments were formed. An attachment is an emotional and social bond that forms between one person and another. Humans are considered highly motivated to form attachments throughout their lives. Attachments are crucial to human existence and are essentially the emotional context of those relationships we form in life. As an infant you learned to trust those who cared for you; you learned that they returned once they were out of view and were dependable. Eventually, as your cognitive development matures, your brain allows you to love the person you are attached to and to care for them—whether or not they are caring for you. You learn then that your attachments begin to facilitate your needs and wants being met. How you attached as an infant and young child shape (at least in theory) how you will likely attach as an adult. For example if you had strong attachments in childhood, then forming adult relationships should be easier for you; if you had weak or interrupted attachments in childhood, then forming adult relationships would be more difficult. As adults one of the very first symptoms that you are falling in love is that you begin to feel better about yourself when you are with the other person. It can be argued that you can only be in love as much as your self will allow you to be. Why? Because intimacy develops along with love, and intimacy requires that you have the ability to be your true self with the other person. Figure 1 shows the “Zone of Vulnerability,” or the birthplace of intimacy. Figure 1 shows the “Zone of Vulnerability,” or the birthplace of intimacy The photos of the young man and woman in this figure represent you and your other and how you traverse the dangers of getting to know someone while you enter and reside in the zone of vulnerability. The male and female in this figure start as experiencing a certain safety that comes from keeping safely away from relationships, away from personal conversations, and away from any risks of being hurt (or hurt again). She or he can go to classes, work, social events, even on dates and never leave her or his private comfort zone. But if, and when, intimacy and love enters the equation, you have to leave your safety zone. Typically when two strangers meet, they self?disclose. Self? disclosure is the process of revealing the true nature of oneself to another person. Once you or the other person open?up and share something vulnerable (see the blue arrow in the diagram) you enter an emotional minefield of sorts; you become at risk for hurt. Your fears and pains from past relationships, your feelings of being emotionally vulnerable or naked, and especially your fears of being exposed as a flawed individual all contribute to the process of you letting the other person peek into the nature of your true self. This sifting process is shaped by countless interactions with others that preceded this moment in time. The sifting through past experiences can make it very risky for some, but, once you self?disclose, the potential for intimacy and love can be realized. There is a greater chance of intimacy developing when the other person reciprocates by self?disclosing, or returns your efforts to connect. For example, let’s say that the male and female in this figure had their pictures taken so that they could submit them to the university cheer squad tryouts. On the day of tryouts they meet one another for the first time and make casual conversation in the registration line. During tryouts they are assigned to team up to perform a series of lifts. Circumstances have brought them together, but intimacy is typically more deliberate. He might ask, “Where did you cheer in high school?” She might tell him the school name and place then ask, “What about you?” At this level of questioning, just talking is mildly risky, but they are only talking at a level called shop?talk which is safe conversation about superficial things (places, time, weather, etc.). If she came back with a question of her own such as, “What do you think the chances are we make the team?” she has begun a conversation about opinions and feelings. He might reply, “I think we have as good a chance as the others. I hope we both make it.” “I need the scholarship, and I’m majoring in dance so it will help me keep in shape.” What about you?” “I’m majoring in communications. The scholarship would be great, too. Hey, would you like to go get a drink or something…” In this example, their shop?talk quickly transformed into the mutual sharing of personal information. This is essential for intimacy to have a chance to form. Perhaps if they feel safe enough over time and with a number of interactions, they can become very close and trusting of one another as friends or lovers. Consider what might have happened if the conversation went like this: He might ask, “Where did you cheer in high school?” She might tell him the school name and place. Then continue packing her things making no more comments. “My name is Jeff what’s yours?” He might ask, extending his hand to shake. “Melissa. Good luck with the tryouts.” As she walks away not shaking his hand nor making eye contact. Because mutual involvement did not occur, intimacy stopped before it ever really had a chance. Remember, once self?disclosure takes place, the risk factor comes into play. If self? disclosure is mutually reciprocated then intimacy may begin. If it is not reciprocated, then intimacy typically will not develop. We are built to experience love. Psychologists and biologists will likely argue that our attractions are connected to our testosterone, oxytocin, luteinizing, estrogens, serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and other chemicals and hormones levels in our bodies. Sociologists will likely argue that the need for social relationships, especially attachments, drive much of our daily social interactions with others. Theologians will likely argue that love is divine and is part of our eternal natures. Types of Love Storg? is the love of your best friend in a normal casual context of life. Storg? is calm and peaceful, surprising to some who might have simply hung out together at one point but suddenly discovered that their friendship deepened and became more important than other friendships. “We started needing to be together, talking on the phone for hours, and missing each other when apart,” are common descriptions of Storg? love. Pragma is the love of details and qualities in the other person. Pragma lovers are satisfied and attracted by the other because of their characteristics (e.g., athleticism, intelligence, wealth). Pragma lovers feel love at a rational level—thinking to a certain degree about the good deal they are getting in the relationship. Agap? is the love that is selfless, other?focused, and seeks to serve others rather than receive from others. In Christian theology it’s the love of God for mankind. Ludis is an immature love that is more of a tease than a legitimate loving relationship. Ludic lovers trick their mates into believing that they are sincerely in love, while grooming 1, 2, or even 3 other lovers at the same time. Ludic lovers typically artificially stroke their sense of self?worth by playing a cruel game on their lovers who end up feeling used and betrayed. Mania is an insecure love that is a mixture of conflict and artificially romantic Eros expressions. Manic lovers fear abandonment and are simultaneously terrified by the vulnerabilities they feel when intimate with their lover. Thus, their daily routines typically involve extreme highs and lows including arguing, making love, sweet?talking, and fighting with their lovers. Another psychologist, Abraham Maslow, addressed love in terms of how our needs are met by the other person. His basic premise is that we pair?off with those whose love styles fill an unmet childhood need. In other words, Maslow said that if our childhood needs were not met in the basics of survival, safety, food, shelter, love, belonging, and even self?esteem, then we look for an adult companion that can fill those needs for us. It’s like an empty cup from our childhood that our adult partner fills for us. Maslow also said that when all those basic needs are met in childhood, we are attracted to an adult partner who compliments our full development into our psychological potential.iii If in your childhood, your survival, safety, food, shelter, love, belonging, and even self?esteem needs were unmet then you will be attracted to a deficiency lover. Deficiency lovers are lovers who provide the basic level of needs for their partner while having their needs reciprocally met in a similar way. Being lovers meet their partner’s aesthetic, intellectual, and physical needs while reciprocally having their needs met. Robert Sternberg was the “Geometry of Love” psychologist who triangulated love using intimacy, passion, and commitment by measuring the intensity of each and how intense the triangulation was for the couple. To Sternberg it was important to consider how each partner’s triangle matched the other partner’s. He said that a couple with all three types of love balanced, and in sufficient magnitude, would have a rare yet rewarding type of love that encompassed much of what couples seek in a loving relationship.iv Sternberg’s consummate love is a love type that had equal measures of passion, intimacy, and commitment that is satisfactory to both lovers. In modern day applications of love, various components have been found as the ingredients of love: commitment, passion, friendship, trust, loyalty, affections, intimacy, acceptance, caring, concern, care, selflessness, infatuation, and romance. There is a love type identified that many people are aware of called unconditional love. Unconditional love is the sincere love that does not vary regardless of the actions of the person who is loved. You often hear it expressed in greater measure among parents of children whose misbehaviors embarrass or disappoint them. The love types and patterns discussed below are taken from many sources, but fit neatly into the Lee, Maslow, Sternberg, or Chapman paradigms. Romantic love is based on continual courtship and physical intimacy. Romantic lovers continue to date long after they marry or move in together. They often express the strong sexual attraction to each other that was there from the beginning. Romantic lovers are idealistic about their relationship and often feel that it was destined to be. They often define mundane activities such as grocery shopping or commuting to work as escapades of two lovers. What happens when very young people feel love for the first time? What is puppy love or infatuation? Infatuation is a temporary state of love where the other person is overly idealized and seen in narrow and extremely positive terms. An infatuated person might think obsessively about the other, may feel a strong emotional response when they are together, may see their entire world as revolving around the other, may see them being together for the rest of their lives, may find one or two qualities of the other as being near perfect, or may be seen by others as having a crush on the other person. Regardless of the details infatuations rarely last very long. This love develops quickly much like a firework launches quickly into the night sky, puts on an emotional light show, then burns out quickly. Many define puppy love or infatuation as an immature love experienced by those who are younger and perhaps a bit credulous. Committed love is a love that is loyal and devoted. Two lovers may share committed love with or without: physical affection, romance, friendship, trust, loyalty, acceptance, caring, concern, care, selflessness, and or infatuation. Committed lovers have a long?term history with one another and typically combine care?giving, concern for one another’s well?being, and spending much time thinking of the other. Committed lovers are there when needed by the other person. Altruism is a selfless type of love that serves others while not serving the one who is altruistic. True altruism is hard to find according to some. Mothers who tend their sick child throughout the night; fathers who work 3?4 decades in a job they don’t love to provide for their family; and even fire fighters who sacrifice their safety to save the lives of others are all considered to be altruistic in their actions. Because so much of what we do in our relationships is considered in the larger overall equation of the fairness in a relationship, selfless acts can be seen as acts which either build a reservoir of goodwill which will later be repaid or creating a debt of sorts in which the other person owes you some selfless service in return. Sexual or passionate lovers are focused on the intensely sensual pleasures that are found with the senses of taste, smell, touch, feel, hear, and sight. Sexual lovers lust one another and feel closest when together and being physical. Sexual lovers can be together for five minutes, five days, five weeks, or five years, but sexual love, by itself is typically short? lived. There is closeness during sex and activities leading up to sex, but not much thereafter. Sexual love when combined with other love types can be very beneficial to the couple. Sexual love is almost always the love type experienced by those having an extra? marital affair. Friendship love includes intimacy and trust among close friends. Today, most long?burning or enduring love types form among people who were first close friends. Friendship lovers tend to enjoy each other’s company, conversation, and daily interactions. They consider one another to be “go?to” friends when advice is needed or when problems need to be talked about together. Not all friendship lovers become a couple. Many are just close or best friends. Yet many who spend the rest of their lives together will start out their relationship as friends. Criteria or realistic love is the love feelings you have when your list of a potential mate’s personal traits is met in the other person. For example, women often desire their male love companions to be taller. Men and women often desire to find a partner with homogamous traits (e.g., same religion, political leanings, hobbies, etc.). Obsessive love is an unhealthy love type where conflict and dramatic extremes in the relationship are both the goal and the theme of the couple’s love. Obsessive lovers live for storms and find peace while they rage. They are often violent or overly aggressive at different levels. Sometimes couples bring complimentary traits to the relationship which light the other’s fire of madness, if you will. In other words, she may be angry and violent with him, but not with some other males. He may feel simultaneously drawn to her and repulsed, but not with other females. Their personality?chemistry contributes to the insanity and lack of peace. These couples most likely need professional counseling and would probably be better off if they broke up. At the same time, why would they seek help or leave the person whose entanglements bring them such an occupation with drama and conflict that they are freed from their boredom and entertained at the same time? Finally, there is deceptive love. Deceptive love is formed when one or both partners either consciously or unconsciously mislead the other in an effort to dishonestly establish trust and intimacy. This love type follows a “catch?and?release” or a “black widow/widower” mode. In the catch?and?release mode one partner lures the other in by pretending to experience all the romance and trappings of falling in love when in reality he or she is tricking the other person. The trickery is done in a never?ending pursuit of many relationships, most of which are ultimately not maintained. The catch?and?release lover may not be aware of the unhealthy nature of his or her antics. In the black widow/widower mode there is calculated and precise deception designed to lure the other into a relationship for ulterior motives. The deceiver tricks the other in order to gain access to wealth, property, or even power. The victim in this relationship often discovers too late that he or she was taken advantage of and that he or she has been deceived. The catch?and?release lover sometimes deceives him or herself, whereas the black widow/widower lover is fully aware of their deception and their ultimate goals. Among all these love types lies an underlying truth mentioned before—loving is a risky business where hurt feelings and pain are far too common and wounds and scars from past relationships haunt some long after they form a permanent relationship. Part of that haunting past for lovers is unrequited love. Unrequited love is the result of one person deeply wanting an intimate relationship with another who simply is not interested and does not reciprocate. Unrequited love is common among younger lovers who misread verbal and nonverbal cues and who often have yet to learn about their own love needs and wants. Understanding love is crucial in the United States because the majority of our population are socialized to believe they need to fall in love before they marry. In other words, love precedes marriage. Outside of the U.S., in India, China, Africa and other regions of the world, love is hoped for after a couple marries, but not considered as a prerequisite to marriage. For very young couples falling in love and finding that safe place for both selves is seemingly easy and is often based on fantasy rather than reason and logic. Teens often have mutually self?serving motivations that often make their love feel real and powerful at the time (see Figure 2). For many teens who form intimate relationships, the females are often seeking social status and maturity by having a complex relationship with a boy and by demonstrating to her female friends her social capabilities. Typically teen girls seek love, closeness, intimacy, and the status of being a girlfriend, steady, or even engaged. That works conveniently for boys who are seeking physical affection and social status. This pattern helps to explain in part why teens engage in sex at an early age and why teen pregnancy sometimes occurs from that sex. This pattern in Figure 2 has not been found to apply to adults and has not been found to apply to all teen romances. Adults tend to report more sexual and relational satisfaction when intimacy and friendship are part of the overall relationship. Plays at Really wants Boys Love Sex Girls Sex Love Figure 1. Adolescent Intimacy?Sex and Love Matrix Love is also a function of our choices and the decisions we make while measuring the “rewards/costs” formula in our lives. Regardless of the love type you experience, you will find some types of the relationship to be rewarding while others appear to be expensive. Understanding how needs and love interact is essential to the study of love. In any relationship we keep a mental balance sheet where the rewards and costs are measured in an overall evaluation of the worth of that relationship to us. Being in love means that each partner receives safe nurturing acceptance of his/her sense of self, even if the relationship hits a few bumps in the road. Love in Short-term and Long-term Relationships Figure 3: Characteristics of Long Term Relationships: Gendered Norms and Household Labor Short?term relationships tend to have a relatively brief period of time between acquaintance and the onset of sexual relations. Many short?term relationships have fantasy elements in that one or both partners views the nature of the relationship in unrealistic terms and inflates its good qualities to better match the fantasy. Short?term relationships tend to have more drama, conflict, and infidelity or absence of loyalty, especially when apart. Short?term relationships have not developed to the degree that exclusiveness is expected or offered. The intensity of the relationship comes with obsession over how the couple appears to others and often a compulsion to keep up appearances even though you know the relationship is not going to lead to anything over time. There is also an overemphasis on physical and sexual expressions which often sooth anxious hearts rather than work out problems that need to be addressed. It could be argued that newly formed relationships suffer from sexual “medication” where relational problem solving would be better suited. Finally there is a deep need for the other partner to measure up to something he or she is not. Long?term relationships may have begun with some of the exact same traits that short? term ones have, but somewhere along the way both are able to transition out of the newness and superficialities of the relationship into the long?term maintenance of the rapport. Friendships are proven over time, trial, and everyday mundane exposure to one another. Sexual relationship was an adjunct to the overall relationship, not the focus and occupation of it. Intimacy has deepened because it has been tested and sustained by loyalty, devotion, and exclusive fidelity to one another. Forgiveness is possible and often provided because each knows that both are human and prone to make mistakes—how might one partner demand perfection of the other when he or she cannot offer perfection in return? In both the early and continuing eras of the relationship, each excludes potential rivals and chooses to remain faithful to the other. Both need each other on a daily basis (interdependence) and both provide the other their space, time alone, and individuality (mutual independence). There is also an element of altruism and nurturance of the other (even when it’s not reciprocated all the time). Couples can also procure help in medical, emotional, relational, and familial areas of need. Since sexual intercourse is common and part of everyday life, it requires negotiation and mutual agreement in the relationship. Lee, John, A (1988) ALove Styles@ in The Psychology of Love; Sternberg, R. & Barnes, M eds. New Haven CT: Yale U. Press Maslow’s pyramid of Hierarchy of Needs, Being and Deficiency love Learning Outcomes: Gendered Norms and Household Labor At the end of this chapter you will be able to do the following: Differentiate between sex and gender. What Is The Difference Between Sex and Gender? For the sake of argument, ignore the reproductive differences and you basically see taller, stronger, and faster males. The real difference is the reproductive body parts, their function, and corresponding hormones. The average U.S. woman has about two children in her lifetime. She also experiences a monthly period. Other than that and a few more related issues listed in Table 1, reproductive roles are a minor difference in the overall daily lives women, yet so very much importance has been placed on these differences throughout history. We have much more in common than differences. In table 2 you see a vast list of similarities common to both men and women. Every major system of the human body functions in very similar ways to the point that health guidelines, disease prevention and maintenance, and even organ transplants are very similar and guided under a large umbrella of shared guidelines. True, there are medical specialists in treating men and women, but again the similarities outweigh the differences. Today you probably ate breakfast, took a shower, walked in the sunlight, sweated, slept, used the bathroom, was exposed to germs and pathogens, grew more hair and finger nails, exerted your muscles to the point that they became stronger, and felt and managed stress. So did every man and woman you know and in very similar ways. Answer this question, which sex has Estrogen, Follicle Stimulating Hormone, Luteinizing Hormone, Prolactin, mammary glands, nipples, and even Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (at times)? Yes, you probably guessed correctly. Both males and females have all these hormones, plus many others including testosterone. Female Male Reproductive Traits Vagina Penis Uterus Testicles Ovaries Scrotum Breast development Breast dormant Cyclical hormones Other Shorter Taller Less Aggressive More aggressive Runs a bit slower Runs a bit faster Less upper body strength More upper body strength Life span about 7 years longer in developed countries Life span about 3 years shorter worldwide Table 1. Known Biological Sex Differences.1 Digestive System Respiratory System Circulatory System Lymphatic System Urinary System Musculoskeletal System Nervous System Endocrine System Sensory System-5 Immune System Integumentary System- Skin, Hair, and Nails Excretory System Table 2.Known Biological Sex Similarities: Gendered Norms and Household Labor Not only are males and females very similar, but science has shown that we truly are more female than male in biological terms. So, why the big debate of the battle of the sexes? Perhaps it’s because of the impact of gender (the cultural definition of what it means to be a man or a woman). Gender is culturally-based and varies in a thousand subtle ways across the many diverse cultures of the world. Gender has been shaped by political, religious, philosophical, language, tradition and other cultural forces for many years. Gender roles are also socially and culturally-based and are that set of norms that are attached to a specific gender. Gender identity is our personal internal sense of our own maleness or femaleness. Every society has a slightly different view of what it means to be male/masculine and female/feminine. Masculine traits are those we associate with being male, such as aggressiveness, directness, independence, objectiveness, and leadership. Feminine traits are being talkative, submissive, nurturing, emotional, and illogical. Androgyny is when a person shares both masculine and feminine traits. They fit their behavior to the situation; so an androgynous person might cry at a wedding or funeral, but can also change the tire on a car. To this day, in most countries of the world women are still oppressed and denied access to opportunities more than men and boys. This can be seen through many diverse historical documents. When reading these documents, the most common theme of how women were historically oppressed in the world’s societies is the omission of women as being legally, biologically, economically, and even spiritually on par with men. The second most common theme is the assumption that women were somehow broken versions of men.2 Biology has disproven the belief that women are broken versions of men. In fact, the 23rd chromosome looks like XX in females and XY in males and the Y looks more like an X with a missing leg than a Y. Ironically, science has shown that males are broken or variant versions of females and the more X traits males have the better their health and longevity. Debunking Myths about Women: Gendered Norms and Household Labor In Table 1 you saw how females carry the lion’s share of the biological reproduction of the human race. Since history assumed that women were impaired because of their reproductive roles (men were not), societies have defined much of these reproductive traits as hindrances to activities. Professor Hammond found an old home health guide at an antique store in Ohio. He was fascinated that in 1898 the country’s best physicians had very inaccurate information and knowledge about the human body and how it worked. 3 Interestingly, pregnancy was considered “normal” within most circumstances while menstruation was seen as a type of disease process that had to be treated (back then and today most physicians were men). On pages 892-909 it refers to menstrual problems as being “unnatural” and that they are normal only if “painless” and thus the patient should be treated rather than the “disease.” Indeed from a male scientific perspective in 1898, females and their natural reproductive cycles were problematic. But, to the author, females were more fragile and vulnerable and should be treated more carefully than males especially during puberty. Patton states, “The fact is that the girl has a much greater physical and a more intense mental development to accomplish than the boy…” As for public education, he states that “The boy can do it; the girl can—sometimes…” He attributes most of the female sexual and reproductive problems to public school which is a by-product of “women’s rights, so called.” He’d probably be stunned to see modern medicine’s discoveries today. In our day, women are not defined as being inferior in comparison to men. But, in 1898, a physician (source of authority and scientific knowledge) had no reservations about stating the cultural norm in print, that women were considered broken in contrast to men. Gender Socialization is the shaping of individual behavior and perceptions in such a way that the individual conforms to the socially prescribed expectations for males and females. One has to wonder what might have been different if all women were born into societies that valued their uniqueness and similarities in comparison to men. How much further might civilizations have progressed? It is wise to avoid the exclusion of any category of people—based on biological or other traits—from full participation in the development of knowledge and progress in society. In the history of the world, such wisdom has been ignored far too often. Gender Roles as a Social Force: Gendered Norms and Household Labor Many ancient writings in religions refer to the flaws of females, their reproductive disadvantages, their temperament, and the rules that should govern them in the religious community. Many current religious doctrines have transformed as society’s values of gender equality have emerged. The point is that throughout history, religions were a dominant social force in many nations and the religious doctrines, like the cultural values, often placed women in a subjugated role to men and a number of different levels. Gendered Norms and Household Labor The second social force is tradition. Traditions can be and have been very harsh toward women. Table 3 shows a scale of the outcomes of oppression toward women that have and currently do exist somewhere in the world. Even though the average woman outlives the average man by three years worldwide and seven years in developed countries, there are still a few countries where cultural and social oppression literally translates into shorter life expectancies for women (Niger, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia have lower death rates for women while Kenya, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Micronesia have a tie between men and women’s life expectancy). Some cultural traditions are so harsh that females are biologically trumped by males by withholding nutrition, abandoning wife and daughters, abuse, neglect, violence, refugee status, diseases, and complications of childbirth unsupported by the government. If you study this online looking at the Population Reference Bureau’s many links and reports, you will find a worldwide concerted effort to persuade government, religious, and cultural leaders to shift their focus and efforts to nurture and protect females.5 Progress has already been made to some degree, but much change is still warranted because life, health and well-being are at stake for billions of women worldwide. Table 3. 10 Forms of Oppression of Women. Death from cultural and social oppression (Various Countries) Sexual and other forms of slavery (Western Africa and Thailand) Maternal deaths (Sub-Sahara Africa and developing nations) Female Genital Mutilation (Mid- Africa about 120 million victims) Rape and sexual abuse (South Africa and United States are worst countries) Wage disparity (worldwide) No/low education for females (various degrees in most countries of the world) Denial of access to jobs and careers (many developing nations) Mandatory covering of females’ bodies head to toe (Traditional countries, Muslim) Public demeaning of women (still practiced, public and private) One of the most repugnant traditions in our world has been and still is the sale of children and women into sexual and other forms of slavery. Countless civilizations that are still influential in our modern thought and tradition have sold girls and women the same way one might sell a horse or cow. It’s estimated by a variety of organizations and sources that about one million women are currently forced into the sex slavery industry (boys are also sold and bought into slavery). India, Western Africa, and Thailand are some of the most notorious regions for this atrocity.7 Governments fail at two levels in the sexual slavery trade: first, they allow it to occur as in the case of Thailand where it’s a major draw of male tourists and second, they fail to police sexual slavery which is criminal and often connected to organized crime. The consequences to these girls and women are harsh at every level of human existence and are often connected to the spread of HIV and other communicable diseases. Although pregnancy is not a disease, it carries with it many health risks when governments fail to provide resources to expectant mothers before, during, and after delivery of their babies. Maternal Death is the death of a pregnant woman resulting from pregnancy, delivery, or recovery complications. Maternal deaths number in the hundreds of thousands and are estimated by the United Nations to be around ? million per year worldwide.8 Typically very little medical attention is required to prevent infection, mediate complications, and assist in complications to mothers. To answer this problem one must approach it at the larger social level with government, health care systems, economy, family, and other institutional efforts. The Population Reference Bureau puts a woman’s risk of dying from maternal causes at 1 in 92 worldwide with it being as low as 1 in 6,000 in developed countries and as high as 1 in 22 for the least developed regions of the world.9 The PRB reports “little improvement in maternal Mortality in developing countries. Female Genital Mutilation is the traditional cutting, circumcision, and removal of most or all external genitalia of women for the end result of closing off some or part of the vagina until such time that the woman is married and cut open. In some traditions, there are religious underpinnings. In others, there are customs and rituals that have been passed down. In no way does the main body of any world religion condone or mandate this practice—many countries where this takes place are predominantly Muslim—yet local traditions have corrupted the purer form of the religion and its beliefs and female genital mutilation predates Islam. 11 An analogy can be drawn from the Taliban, which was extreme in comparison to most Muslims worldwide and which literally practiced homicide toward its females to enforce conformity. It should also be explained that there are no medical therapeutic benefits from female genital mutilation. Quite the contrary, there are many adverse medical consequences that result from it including pain, difficulty in childbirth, illness, and even death. Many human rights groups, the United Nations, scientists, advocates, the United States, the World Health Organization, and other organizations have made aggressive efforts to influence the cessation of this practice worldwide. But, progress has come very slowly. Part of the problem is that women often perform the ritual and carry on the tradition as it was perpetrated upon them. In other words, many cases have women preparing the next generation for it and at times performing it on them. Gendered Norms and Household Labor The mandatory covering of females’ bodies head to toe has been opposed by some and applauded by others. Christians, Hindus, and many other religious groups have the practice of covering or veiling in their histories. As fundamentalist Muslim nations and cultures have returned to their much more traditional way of life, hijab which is the Arabic word that means to cover or veil has become more common. Often hijab means modest and private in the day-to-day interpretations of the practice. For some countries it is a personal choice, while for others it becomes a crime not to comply. The former Taliban, punished such a crime with death (they also punished formal schooling of females and the use of makeup by death). Gendered Norms and Household Labor Many women’s rights groups have brought public attention to this trend, not so much because the mandated covering of females is that oppressive, but because the veiling and covering is symbolic of the religious, traditional, and labor-forced patterns of oppression that have caused so many problems for women and continue to do so today. Professor Ron Hammond interviewed a retired OBGYN nurse who served as a training nurse for a mission in Saudi Arabia on a volunteer basis. She taught other local nurses from her 30 years of experience. Each and every day she was guarded by machine gun toting security forces everywhere she went. She was asked to cover and veil and did so. Ron asked her how she felt about that, given that her U.S. culture was so relaxed on this issue. “I wanted to teach those women and knew that they would benefit from my experience. I just had to do what I was told by the authorities,” she said. “What would have happened if you had tried to leave the compound without your veil?” Ron asked. “I suspect, I would have been arrested and shot.” She chuckles. “Not shot, perhaps, but if I did not comply, my training efforts would have been stopped and I would have been sent home.” “So, you complied because of your desire to train the nurses?” “That and the mothers and babies.” She answered.12 The public demeaning of women has been acceptable throughout various cultures because publicly demeaning members of society who are privately devalued and or considered flawed fits the reality of most day-to-day interactions. Misogyny is the physical or verbal abuse and mistreatment of women. Verbal misogyny is unacceptable in public in most Western Nations today. With the ever present technology found in cell phones, video cameras, and security devices a person’s private and public misogynistic language could easily be recorded and posted for millions to see on any number of websites. Perhaps, this fear of being found out as a woman-hater is not the ideal motivation for creating cultural values of respect and even admiration of women and men. As was mentioned above, most of the world historical leaders assumed that women were not as valuable as men and it has been a few decades since changes have begun. Yet, an even more sinister assumption has and does persist today that women were the totality of their reproductive role, or Sex=Gender (Biology=Culture). If this were true then women would ultimately just be breeders of the species, rather than valued human beings they are throughout the world today. Rape The world’s histories with very few exceptions have recorded the pattern of sexually abusing boys, girls, and women. Slavery, conquest of war, kidnapping, assault, and other circumstances are the context of these violent practices. Online there is a Website at www.rainn.org (Links to an external site.) which is a tremendous resources for knowledge and information especially about rape, assault, incest and issues relating to the United States. The United Nations reported that, “Women aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, motor accidents, war and malaria,” according to World Bank data.14 The UN calls for a criminal Justice System response and for increased prioritization and awareness. Anything might help since almost every country of the world is struggling to prevent sexual violence and rape against its females. Opportunities: Gendered Norms and Household Labor Wage disparity between males and females is both traditional and labor-based economic supply and demand. Statistics show past and current discrepancies in lower pay for women. Diane White made a 1997 presentation to the United Nations General Assembly stated that “Today the wage disparity gap cost American women $250,000 over the course of their lives.”15 Indeed evidence supports her claim that women are paid less in comparison to men and their cumulated losses add up to staggering figures. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2008 that U.S. women earn 77 cents for every U.S. man’s $1.16 They also reported that in some places like Washington DC and in certain fields (like computers and mathematical) women earn as much as 98 cents per a man’s $1. At the worldwide level “As employees, women are still seeking equal pay with men. Closing the gap between women’s and men’s pay continues to be a major challenge in most parts of the world.”17 The report also discussed the fact that about 60 countries have begun to keep statistics on informal (unpaid) work by women. Needless to say even though measuring paid and unpaid work of women is not as accurate as needed for world considerations, “Women contribute to development not only through remunerated work but also through a great deal of unremunerated work.”18 Why the lower wages for women? The traditional definition of the reproductive roles of women as being broken, diseased, or flawed is part of the answer of wage disparity. The idea that reproductive roles interfere with the continuity of the workplace and the idea that women cannot be depended on plays heavily into the maltreatment of women. The argument can be made that traditional and economic factors have lead to the existing patterns of paying women less for their same education, experience, and efforts compared to men. Efforts to provide formal education to females worldwide have escalated over the last few decades. The 2002 Kids Count International Data Sheet estimated rates as low as 11 percent of females in primary school in Somalia.19 A 1993 World Bank report made it very clear that females throughout the world were being neglected in receiving their formal educations when compared to males.20 In 1998 another example is found in efforts specific to Africa via the Forum of African Women Educationalists which focuses on governmental policies and practices for female education across the continent.21 Literally hundreds of studies have since focused on other regions around and below the equator where education levels for females are much lower. Gendered Norms and Household Labor In 1999 it was reported by UNICEF that 1 billion people would never learn to read as children with 130 million school aged children (73 million girls) without access to basic education.22 Another UNICEF 2008 report clearly identifies the importance of educating girls who grow up to be mothers because of the tremendous odds that those educated mothers will ensure that their children are also formally educated.23 In its statistical tables it shows that Somalia is now up to 22 percent for boys and girls in primary schools, yet in most countries females are still less likely to be educated.24 The main point from UNICEF and many other formal reports is that higher formal education for females is associated with life, health, protection from crime and sexual exploitation, and countless other benefits, especially to females in the poorer regions of the world. In the United States most females and males attend some form of formal education. After high school, many go to college. Even though the U.S. numbers of 18 to 24 year old men are higher than women,25 women are more likely to attend college based on percentages (57%).26 A projection from the National Center for Education Statistics projects a continuing trend up and through the year 2016 where about 58% of U.S. college students will be female.27 By 2016 about 60% of graduated students will be females.28 These numbers reflect a strong and concerted push toward equality of opportunity for females in formal education that does date back over a century. The challenge is to avoid defining progress for U.S. females in public and private education as having been made at the expense of males. That’s much too simplistic. Gendered Norms and Household Labor They also reflect a change in the culture of bread winning and the adult roles of males. Males and/or females who don’t pursue a college degree will make less money than those who did. To make sense of this trend, many males have been identified as having a prolonged adolescence (even into their 30’s); video game playing mentality; and a live with your parents indefinitely strategy until their shot at the labor force has passed them by. Others have pointed out the higher rates of learning disabilities in K-12, the relatively low percentage of K-5 teachers who are males, and the higher rate of male dropouts. Still others blame attention deficit and hyperactivity as part of the problem. Here is a truism about education in the U.S. Higher education=higher pay=higher social prestige=higher income=higher quality of life. Many countries of the world have neutralized the traditional, religious, and labor-force based biases against women and have moved to a merit-based system. Even in the U.S., there have been “men’s wages, then women and children’s wages (1/10th to 12/3rd of a man’s). In a sense, any hard working, talented person can pursue and obtain a high-end job, including women. Communism broke some of these barriers early on in the 20th century, but the relatively low wages afforded those pursuing these careers somewhat offset the advances women could have made. In the U.S. progress has come more slowly. Physicians are some of the brightest and best paid specialists in the world. Salaries tend to begin in the $100,000 range and can easily reach $500,000 depending on the specialty.29 Prior to 1970 most physicians were white and male, but things are slowly changing. Table 4 shows the trends between 1970 and 2006. Year Male Female 1970 92.40 7.60 1980 88.40 11.60 1990 83.10 16.90 2000 76.30 24.00 2002 74.80 25.20 2003 74.20 25.80 2006 72.20 27.80 Table 4.Percentage of Physicians who are Male and Female.30 The upward trend shows a concerted effort to provide equal opportunity for females and males. Engineers have also seen a concerted effort to facilitate females into the profession. The Society of Women Engineers is a non-profit organization which helps support and recognize women as engineers.31 Figure 1 shows how computer-based careers are seeing striking gains in some areas for women who will be hired competitively based on merit. The same cannot be said for doctoral level employment in the more prestigious fields. Figure 2 shows 2005 estimates from the U.S. National Science Foundation. The first six fields are the highest paying fields to work in while social and psychological sciences are among the least paying. Women clearly dominate Psychology and nearly tie in social sciences and biology. True, at the doctoral level pay is higher than at the masters and bachelors levels, but the difference in engineering and psychology is remarkable at every level of education.32 Research on Gender Gendered Norms and Household Labor Mead’s work entitled, Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935) became a major seminal work in the women’s liberation movement and thereby in the redefinition of women in many Western Societies. Her observations of gender in three tribes Arapesh, Mundugamor, and Tchambuli created a national discussion which led many to reconsider the established Sex=Gender assumption. In these tribes she found the following. In the Arapesh both men and women displayed what we typically call feminine traits sensitivity, cooperation, and low levels of aggression. In the Mundugamor both men and women were insensitive, uncooperative, and very aggressive. These were typical masculine traits at the time. In contrast to most societies the Tchambuli women were aggressive, rational, and capable and were also socially dominant while the men were passive, assuming artistic and leisure roles. Figure 1. Women in High Tech Jobs.33 Figure 1. Women in High Tech Jobs.33 Figure 2.United States Doctorates Conferred by Characteristics of Recipients, 2005.34 Figure 2.United States Doctorates Conferred by Characteristics of Recipients, 2005 Why then, Mead argued, if our reproductive roles determined our cultural and social opportunities were the gender definitions varied and unique among less civilized peoples? Were we not less civilized ourselves at one point in history and have we not progressed on a similar path the tribal people take? Could it be that tradition (culture) was the stronger social force rather than biology? Mead’s work and her public influence helped to establish the belief that biology is only a part of the Sex and Gender question (albeit an important part). Mead established that Sex?Gender. But, even with the harshest criticism launched against her works, her critics supported and even inadvertently reinforced the idea that biology shapes but cultures are more salient in how women and men are treated by those with power. Misogyny is easier to perpetrate if one assumes the weakness, biological frailty, and perhaps even diminished capacity that women were claimed to have had. Andrew Clay Silverstein (AKA Andrew Dice Clay) was a nationally successful comedian who also played in a movie and TV show (although he recently appeared on Celebrity Apprentice). His career ended abruptly because of his harsh sexist themes which were being performed in an age of clarity and understanding about gender values. Mr. Clay failed to recognize the social change which surrounded him. We often overlook the change and the continuing problems ourselves. Gendered Norms and Household Labor Professional and volunteer organizations have made concerted efforts to raise awareness of the English language and its demeaning language toward females. English as a derivative of German has many linguistic biases against women, non-whites, poor, and non-royalty. Raising awareness and discussing the assumptions within English or any other language has been part of the social transformation toward cultural and biological fairness and equality. If we understand how the words we use influence the culture we live in and how the value of that culture influence the way we treat one another, then we begin to see the importance of language on the quality of life. The quality of life for women is of importance at many different levels in the world. As you’ve read through this chapter, you’ve probably noticed that much is yet to be accomplished worldwide. The United States has seen much progress. But, other nations continually rank the “world’s best nation for women.” Many European countries far outrank the U.S. for quality of Women’s lives. In Fact, in 2008 the U.S. ranked number 27th.35 The Global Gender Gap Index was developed to measure the quality of life for women between countries. It measures the gap between males and females in objective statistics that focus on equality. There are four pillars in the index: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment, and health and survival using 14 indicators from each countries’ national statistics. From 1998-2006, there was a reported net improvement for all countries.36 Gendered Norms and Household Labor When one considers the day-to-day lives of women in these national statistics, and perhaps more importantly in their personal lives, the concept of what women do as their contribution to the function of society becomes important. Instrumental tasks are goal directed activities which link the family to the surrounding society, geared toward obtaining resources. This includes economic work, bread winning, and other resource-based efforts. Expressive tasks are tasks that pertain to the creation and maintenance of a set of positive, supportive, emotional relationships within the family unit. This includes relationships, nurturing, and social connections needed in the family and society. Today, women do both and typically do them well. Prior to the Industrial Revolution both males and females combined their local economic efforts in homemaking. Most of these efforts were cottage industry-type where families used their children’s labor to make products they needed from soap, thread, fabric, butter, and many other products. When the factory model of production emerged in Western civilizations, the breadwinner and homemaker became more distinct. Breadwinner is a parent or spouse who earns wages outside of the home and uses them to support the family. Homemaker is typically a woman who occupies her life with mothering, housekeeping, and being a wife while depending heavily on the breadwinner. Gendered Norms and Household Labor What about Men? Many in this line of thought attribute higher suicide rates, death rates, accident rates, substance abuse problems, and other challenges in the lives of modern men directly to the broad social process of post-industrial breadwinning. Not only did the Industrial Revolution’s changes hurt men, but the current masculine role is viewed by many as being oppressive to men, women, and children. Today a man is more likely to kill or be killed, to abuse, and to oppress others. Some of the issues of concern for those in the Men’s Movement include life and health challenges, emotional isolation, post-divorce/separation father’s rights, false sexual or physical abuse allegations, early education challenges for boys, declining college attendance, protection from domestic abuse, man-hating or bashing, lack of support for fatherhood, and paternal rights and abortion. Gendered Norms and Household Labor The list of concerns displays the quality of life issues mixed in with specific legal and civil rights concerns. Men’s Movement sympathizers would most likely promote or support equality of rights for men and women. They are aware of the Male supremacy model, where males erroneously believe that men are superior in all aspects of life and that should excel in everything they do. They also concern themselves with the Sexual objectification of women, where men learn to view women as objects of sexual consumption rather than as a whole person. Male bashing is the verbal abuse and use of pejorative and derogatory language about men. These and other concerns are not being aggressively supported throughout the world as are the women’s rights and suffrage efforts discussed above. Most of the Men’s Movement efforts are in Western Societies, India, and a handful of others. Gendered Norms and Household Labor Figure 3 shows the transition in family gender roles over the course of the Industrial Revolution through to Post World War II. Families in Pre-Industrial Europe and the U.S. were subsistence-based; meaning they spent much of their daily lives working to prepare food and other goods. |
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