Consequences of Gender Inequality

Women today are paid, on average, only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. And the gap is even worse for women of color - African American women earn only 64 cents and Latina women earn only 55 cents for each dollar earned by males. To help address this unfair and unacceptable wage gap, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on January 29, 2009,1 restoring the protection against pay discrimination that was stripped away by the Supreme Courts decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Work place problems

inflexible scheduling requirements job discrimination lack of child care lack of parental leave lack of sick leave."

Total Parental Leave

(Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2008)

Protected Leave Three Years Two Years

Over One year

One full year

6 months

Countries France and Spain Germany, Sweden, Norway and Austria U.K., Ireland, Italy, Greece, Japan, New Zealand Australia, Canada, Denmark
Finland, Belgium, Netherlands

24 weeks

USA

Paid Parental Leave

(Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2008) Paid Leave Countries 47 Weeks Sweden and Germany At least six months Norway, Greece, Finland, Canada, Spain and Japan Between four and Italy, France, Ireland, six months Denmark, Spain, Belgium, and Portugal Fewer than four Austria, Netherlands, New months Zealand, United Kingdom, Switzerland None Australia and USA

The Second Shift

an extra month a year, comprised by the additional time women spend on housework and childcare compared to men The stalled revolution - Womens roles have changed substantially to include both family and work, while mens roles, work demands, and demands of childrearing have changed very little

Gender ideologies
Traditional is the belief that the husbands role should be as sole breadwinner and the wifes role should be as sole homemaker/childrearer. The person holding a purely egalitarian ideology expects that men and women identify in the same spheres (of work, of family, or some combination of the two) and share power within marriage equally. Between the traditional and egalitarian ideologies is the transitional ideology in which the husband identifies as the primary breadwinner who supports his wifes desire to work (to help earn money) as long as she also identifies primarily with the home.

The Cultural Cover Up

Conflicts between the demands of work and family are treated as personal issues of individual women instead of treated as social problems shared by women and men. In most marriages, the woman's paid work is still considered a mere job, in contrast to the man's career. Thus the woman's first shift - her employment - is likely to be devalued, thereby rationalizing her continuing responsibility for the second shift. Gender ideologies and reality seldom match - Much of the time, it is the wife who sacrifices her professed values in order to save her marriage

 How involved are American men in the tasks of child care and housework? Do you expect that men will change their behavior around the house? What social factors might bring about more gender parity relative to household tasks? Is it possible to have it all--family, career, house, friends, and community involvement? What compromises would you make regarding these goals?

 How realistic are most expectations for two-career couples? What strategies might they employ to deal with the stress and role-overload created by the two-career family lifestyle? What should the government and industry do (if anything) to help solve the day care crisis in America?

Strategies
Womens strategies Direct
Mens Strategies Avoid sharing Married men who planned to share Their career was too demanding Initiated exhaustive talks They werent brought up to do Indirect housework - Played helpless Substitute offerings - Physical illness Appreciating their wives efforts - Female wiles Supermoming end up feeling numb

Doing both shifts - Cutting back at work flagging self esteem - Cutting back on housework, marriage, self and child - Seeking help

Eating disorders: scope of the problem

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness, about 10% Women are far more likely than men to engage in disordered eating 90-95%

Pro-anorexia Communities Online

Issues of authenticity - Guarding against wannarexics High status from missing a period, lanugo Many forms bulletin board, static website, blog, social network sites, email groups no offline corollary Rituals Thinspiration

The Beauty Myth

(1) How many girls and women do I know who believe in this myth? (2) Which corporations are profiting from their misery? (3) What am I doing to reject the myth and help others reject it?

 While our society certainly makes it easier to be "beautiful" and "thin" than what it deems "ugly" and "fat," women who are regarded as paragons of attractiveness are derided, taken less seriously and treated as empty objects. They're always accused of getting something they didn't deserve, and accusing themselves of such. They're also terrified of losing the advantage they have -- of growing older or plumper.

 "The real issue has nothing to do with whether women wear makeup or don't, gain weight or lose it, have surgery or shun it, dress up or down, make our clothing and faces and bodies into works of art or ignore adornment altogether. The real problem is our lack of choice."

Rape as a social problem

Feminist reconceptualization of rape: From passion to power The Rape Culture is best defined as a culture in which rape is prevalent and pervasive and is sanctioned and maintained through fundamental attitudes and beliefs about gender, sexuality, and violence. Stereotypical images of criminals and victims

Bullying and Sexual harassment

Middleschoolers Workplace Role played by institutions school, family, church, media Anti-gay bullying why do the victims commit suicide?

Masculinity and Friendship

Way (2013) - A central dilemma for boys growing up in the United States is how to get the intimacy they want while still maintaining their manliness. During early and middle adolescence most boys do have close male friendships in which they can share their deep secrets. only in late adolescencea time when, according to national data, suicides and violence among boys soar that boys disconnect from other boys - fear that if they seek out close friendships, they will be perceived as gay or girly.

Homophobia in Boys Friendships

Pascoe (2013) - bullying that appears homophobic is actually targeted at notmasculine-enough boys, and, interestingly, plays an important role in heterosexual boys friendships Reminding each other to be acceptably masculine dominant, powerful, unemotional

Three Types of Couple Violence

intimate terrorism: violence enacted in the service of taking general control over ones partner violent resistance: violence utilized in response to intimate terrorism - not the same as selfdefense situational couple violence: violence that is not embedded in a general pattern of power and control but is a function of the escalation of a specific conflict or series of conflicts