1. Gender Stratification
Males’ and females’ unequal access to power, prestige, and prosperity.
Gender is a MASTER STATUS
Labels carry images and expectations about how we should act.
Guide our behavior and serve a basis of power and privilege.
Sociological significance of gender is that it is a device by which society controls its members
Sorts us into different life experiences – opens and closes doors to power, property, and prestige

2. Sex and Gender
Sex: biological characteristics that distinguish males and females.
Primary Sex Characteristics: vagina or penis and other organs related to reproduction.
Secondary Sex Characteristics: physical distinctions between males and females not directly connected with reproduction.
Become evident during puberty
Males = muscles, lower voice, body hair, and height
Females = fatty tissue and broader hips, and breasts
Gender: behaviors and attitudes a group considers proper for its males and females
Social, not biological
Inherit your sex, but learn your gender (socialized)

3. Differences in Behavior
Does biological difference control our behavior?
Does it make females more nurturing and submissive and males more aggressive and domineering?
Our visible differences of sex do not come with meanings built into them
Each human group makes its own interpretations of these physical differences and on this basis assigns males and females to separate groups – people learn what is expected.
If biology were the principal factor, all around the world we would find women to be one sort of person and men another.
Ideas of gender, however, vary greatly from one culture to another and so do male-female behaviors

4. Biology has some say…
Biological factors are involved in some human behavior other than reproduction and childbearing.
Women are better prepared biologically for “mothering” than are men.
More sensitive to the infant’s soft skin and to their nonverbal communications.
Nature provides biological predispositions, which are then overlaid with culture.
Issue is not biology or society.

5. Biology versus Culture - Culture
Differences are the result of social factors
Hunting and gathering societies - the roles of both women and men are less rigid than those created by stereotypes – separate but equal status of women at this level of development.
Types of work are created by social arrangements – informal customs and formal laws enforce it (barriers removed = women’s work habits are similar to men’s)
Rising female crime rates – aggression is related to social factors and not biology.
Social factors – socialization, gender discrimination, and other forms of social control – create gender differences in behavior.
Greater equality between sexes in the past (compared to what we thought). Hunting and gathering societies exist in which women are not subordinate to men – separate but equal status of women.
Few people can escape societal arrangements, and almost everyone works within his or her allotted narrow range – discussion of women in male dominated fields and males in female dominated fields.
Biology “causes” some human behaviors, but these are limited to those involving reproduction or differences in body structure.
When social conditions permit, such as when women become lawyers, the too, become “adversarial, assertive, and dominant (characteristics typically associated with men).

6. Biology versus Culture - Biology
Inborn differences that “give masculine and feminine direction to the emotions and behaviors”
Men dominate because they have a lower threshold for elicitation of dominance behavior… greater tendency to exhibit whatever behavior is necessary to attain dominance in hierarchies and male-female encounters.
Men are more willing “to sacrifice the rewards of other motivations –the desire for affection, health, family life, safety, relaxation, etc. – to attain dominance.
Medical Accident
Anthropological records show that all societies for which records exist are (or were) patriarchies (societies where men dominate women). Matriarchal societies are more so a myth in history.
In all societies, the highest statuses are associated with men.
Socialization and social institutions merely reflect – and sometimes exaggerate – inborn tendencies. The argument that males are more aggressive because they have been socialized that way is equivalent to the claim that men can grow moustaches because boys have been socialized that way.
Medical Accident: 1963 – 7 month-old male identical twins were taken to be circumcised. The physician, using a heated needle, turned the electric current too high and accidentally burned off the penis of one of the boys. The damage was irreversible so the physician told them that their boy could never have sexual relations. The parents decided that their son should have a sex change operation. When he was 22 months old, surgeons castrated the boy, using the skin to construct a vagina and that started calling him Brenda, dressed him in frilly clothing, let his hair grow long, and treated him like a girl. Physicians later gave Brenda female steroids to promote female pubertal growth.
At first, things seemed promising – she seemed so feminine in comparison to “her” identical twin brother who was very masculine. In fact the daughter imitated her mother while her son imitated his father (wanting to be a fireman or police man unlike Brenda who didn’t want to be anything like that).
At this point it seemed that gender is entirely up to nurture. However, despite this promising start and her parents’ coaching, Brenda did not adapt well to femininity. She preferred to mimic her father shaving, rather than her mother putting on makeup. She rejected dolls, favoring guns and her brother’s toys. She like rough and tumble games and insisted on urinating standing up. Classmates teased her and called her a “cavewoman” because she walked like a boy. At age 14, in despair over her inner turmoil, she was thinking of suicide. Her father told her about the accident and her sex change.
“All of a sudden everything clicked. For the first time, things made sense, and I understood who and what I was.” David (his new name) then had testosterone shots and, later, surgery to partially reconstruct a penis. At age 25, he married a woman and adopted her children.

7. Different Cultures Tunisia - Prostitution China – bride selling
Japan – Beauty/Pain in Advertising
Africa – Female Circumcision
Tunisia: Each side of a wharf lined with a row of one-room wooden shacks, each one crowded up against the next. In each open door stood a young woman. Peering from outside into the dark interiors, one can see that each door led to a tiny room with a well-worn bed. The wharfs are crowded with men (many of whom wore sailor uniforms) eyeing the women. Looking more closely, one can see some of the women had runny sores on their legs and even with such visible evidence of their disease, customers still entered – evidently, the $2 price was too low to resist.
Nothing like the famous red light district in Amsterdam where the state licenses the women, requires medical checkups (certificates must be posted so customers can check them), sets the prices, and pays the prostitutes social security benefits upon retirement. The women there sit behind lighted picture windows while customers stroll along the canal side streets and browse from the outside.
China: young girls are set up for auction (against their will), as young as 16 in some cases. Girls are traded from one bride dealer to the next until they are finally sold and later introduced to their husband, who pay hundreds of dollars for their wife.
Centuries-long tradition of bride selling.
China has a shortage of women – hence the “one couple, one child” policy. Since sons are preferred, female infanticide is common, in many ways resulting in women of marriageable age, yet all men are expected to marry and produce heirs.
Some are sold as prostitutes.
Ideas of beauty are changing now – blonde, blue-eyed women are becoming a fetish. As a consequence, Chinese women are feeling pressured to “Westernize” their bodies – surgeons promise bigger breasts and Western-looking eyes.
China is bringing back the old, bride selling, while moving toward the new, Western ideas of beauty and advertising.
Japan: a studio audience at Super Jockey, a popular Japanese television program, can’t get enough of seeing a young woman, clad in a revealing bikini, cringing in fear, as she is lowered into a glass tank of scalding hot water. To make sure the woman gets the full treatment (which audiences find entertaining), a man ladles hot water over the woman’s breasts – most women only last three of four seconds until she scrambles out of the tub, where she jumps up and own in pain and rubs ice all over her body. For every second they stay in the hot water, they get one second on the program to advertise any product they wish (most their place of employment).
Clearly this would not be tolerated in the U.S.
Instead of understanding the intricacies of a culture that finds this behavior amusing, we can turn the focus onto our own culture – why do we find the rape of women a source of entertainment? It is apparent that we do from our “dramas” and police shows in which that is a common storyline. Of course to get the approval, producers make sure that the rapist is apprehended and punished.
Also think about how entertaining our society finds the murder of women. The Halloween-shocker-thriller-slasher films are prime examples. Audiences seem to find the screams of the victims entertaining and the prettier, shapelier, and more skimpily clad the victim, the higher the entertainment value.
Africa: Female circumcision is common in parts of Muslim Africa and in some parts of Malaysia and Indonesia. Worldwide, between 100 million and 200 million females have been circumcised. In Egypt, 97% of the women have been circumcised. Often around the age of 4-8 and in some cultures it occurs 7-10 days after birth. But in others, it is not performed until girls reach adolescence. Because the surgery is usually done without anesthesia, the pain is so excruciating that adults must hold the girl down. In urban areas, physicians sometimes perform the operation; in rural areas, a neighborhood woman usually does it.
When a woman marries, the opening is cut wider to permit sexual intercourse. In some groups, this is the husband’s responsibility. Before a woman gives birth, the opening is enlarged further. After birth, the vagina is again sutured shut, a cycle of surgically closing and opening that begins anew with each birth.
Some groups believe that it reduces female sexual desire, making it more likely that a woman will be a virgin at marriage, and, afterward, remain faithful to her husband. Others think that it enhances fertility and vaginal cleanliness.

8. Gender Gap
Boys’ reading achievement consistently lags behind girls’ as students get older.
Fewer boys than girls now study advanced algebra, geometry, and chemistry.
42% of college students are male.
Boys earn 70% of report card D’s and F’s and are 50% more likely to be retained; 71% of school suspensions; 83% of students labeled ADD or ADHD
3-5 times more likely to be labeled learning disabled.
Boys outnumber girls in high school sports, but girls greatly outnumber boys in every other extracurricular activity.

9. Gender Gap continued…
Boys are more likely to express strong dislike for school.
Boys seldom find their work to be “meaningful or important”
Only 66% of male high school seniors say they will “definitely graduate from a 2-4 year college.”
Girls take 54% of AP exams (continuing to grow)
82% of females say they will “definitely graduate from college”

10. Differences in the Male/Female Brain
Processing:
Language Processing Areas
Spatial Processing Areas
Sensory System
Chemical:
Testosterone
Estrogen
Serotonin
Dopamine
Oxytocin

11. Male and Female Hemisphere Dominance
Left Hemisphere dominance is more common in females (logical, analytical, objective).
Right Hemisphere dominance is more common in males (intuitive, thoughtful, subjective).
Although our brains function at times using both hemispheres, schools are traditionally designed to be more left hemisphere friendly.
Structured with time periods and ringing bells, organized around facts and rules, rely primarily on verbal processing, limit access to space and movement, require a lot of multitasking.

12. Classroom Strategies to Benefit Boys and Girls
Movement
Physically, mentally, and emotionally “clumsy” in gender-specific ways.
When learning is paired with movement, learning is anchored in the body through procedural memory.
Increases motivation
Boys generally need more movement than girls – keeping the brain stimulated and controlling impulsive behavior.
Increases blood flow/neurotransmitters helping boys learn new concepts better, retain them longer, and cause less distraction.

13. Strategies continued…
Learning Teams of Boys and Girls
Girls tend to do more overall processing during group work than boys – more concerned about seeing that everyone is included/picking a leader. Also taking in more opinions during a task (naturally break into groups of 3 or 4)
Boys find this style boring.
Become more highly engaged in learning when there is an edge of competition to a project (stimulates reward centers of the brain).
Gender-specific groups allow more clear instruction than co-ed groups – avoid the adolescent hormone-charged “mating behaviors.

14. Strategies continued…
Relevance matters
Students care more about learning when it can be connected to real life and real purposes.
Generally girls are more willing to do things simply to please their teacher.
Central partners in learning = learning improves
Find student interests, motivations, passions, and talents (intrinsic motivations)
Social capital or “getting cool with your friends” is a powerful motivation for adolescents

15. Do Split-Gender Classes Really Work?
Do you prefer single-gender or mixed-gender classes?
Single-Gender:
Boys – 72%
Girls – 62%
Mixed-Gender:
Boys -28%
Girls – 38%
In which do you find it easier to concentrate?
Boys – 76%
Girls – 75%
Boys -24%
Girls – 25%
In which do you feel more successful?
Boys – 83%
Girls – 74%
Boys -17%
Girls – 26%

16. Do Split-Gender Classes Really Work?
I feel that I have improved my behavior at school in a single-gender class:
Boys: 83%
Girls: 78%
I have improved my self-confidence in a single-gender class:
Boys: 76%
Girls: 69%
I have increased my desire to succeed in school in a single-gender class:
Boys: 89%
Girls: 70%
I am earning grades that I am proud of in a single-gender class:
Boys: 85%
Girls: 74%

17. Journal Question – DUE WEDNESDAY
In a page Journal:
Based on what you know about the differences between boys and girls (both in “doing gender” – including the pressures in doing so – and in the education setting), what do you think is the best learning environment – single-sex or co-ed – and why?
Use details from your own experiences, the notes, and our class discussions to help answer this question.