Gender and Social Construction

What are the most important issues facing women in the workplace today? The world?

Topics  Gender Roles: Feminism, Ethics, Tokenism, Entrepreneurship, Around the World  Careers: Opting Out, Opting In, Dual  Workplace: Image, Power & Politics, Interviewing, Harassment

Syllabus  BE ON TIME  me if you aren’t going to be here  Put your section # in the subject  Name documents properly  No, you can’t make up missed assignments  Please note the REQUIRED days

Assignments: Individual  Professionalism  Parlor  Student Info. Sheet  Assessments (online + in class)  Current Event Analysis (X2)  Speaker Reflection  Career Case Study Interview  Personal Self Reflection

Assignments: Team  Powerful Women Presentation  Issue Impact Presentation  Teams of 4 or 5?  Same teams for both?  Assigned or chosen?

What this class doesn’t do  Foster man-bashing  Focus on the negative (woe is me)  Accept the status-quo

What this class does  Looks for solutions to issues women face  Creates/offers solutions where there are none  Forces you to engage and be active (even when the topics are uncomfortable)

What is social construction?  Doesn’t exist in the “natural” world  Invention of society $ £¥€  Its existence is dependent on OUR culture and practices Varies from time and place

So where does our social construction of gender begin?  What is the first question people usually ask a pregnant woman?

Baby steps  What adjectives do people use to describe boys v. girls?

 These are then embedded into how we behave as we develop and how we view the world  Kids & gender Kids & gender

Think about what types of toys you had as a kid

These social constructions impacted decisions  How you dressed  What toys you played with  Your hobbies  The sports you played  How you performed in school  Your major

Solutions to avoid furthering gender’s social construction  Change your approach!  How to talk to little girls

Other Solutions  Fight the system from the start ;)  What else…?

Why are we talking about this?  Social construction impacts they way we behave and treat others Whether we accept/realize it or not!  Part of the reason this course exists

Glass Ceiling = Wrong Metaphor  Women may not have equal access to some entry-level positions  Assumes a single, homogenous or absolute barrier to women  Suggests all barriers to women are unseen

Progress  23% of CEO positions (if healthcare, non- profit, social service, etc. are included) Outside of the Fortune 500 = >  There has actually been HUGE social change in just the last 20 years

More Progress: Education  57% Bachelor’s  59% of Master’s  48% of PhDs

Absolute barriers are a thing of the past!

REQUIRED ATTENDANCE