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.

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

7. Different Cultures Tunisia - Prostitution China – bride selling
Japan – Beauty/Pain in Advertising
Africa – Female Circumcision

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 Class Really Work?
Single-gendered is preferred
Find it easier to concentrate
Like learning the best
Have more friends in a single-gender house
Feel more successful
Improved behavior, self-confidence, attitude
Increased desire to succeed, independence in learning
Higher grades

16. Boys comments There are not girls to make them like us
There are not distractions
You can’t say things to girls that you can say to boys
Boys understand each other
Raise my hand more
Boys tend to think alike

17. Girls comments Can’t get side tracked by boys
If you mess up girls don’t care; boys laugh
Don’t get embarrassed to go to the bathroom
Boys are loud and I can’t concentrate
Girls learn different than boys
Don’t like to talk around boys
Not afraid to be wrong or have a different opinion
We socialize better with teachers

18. Journal Question 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.