Gender Roles and Women's Experiences: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Issues - Pr, Study notes of Conflictology

Download Gender Roles and Women's Experiences: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Issues - Pr and more Study notes Conflictology in PDF only on Docsity! The Girls Who Went Away  Interview with Ann Fessler o http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/07/13/midmorning1  What institutional forces were at play in shaping the destinies of these young women?  Issues o sexism o patriarchy Chapter 1 My Own Story as an Adoptee  Setting is the era between WW II and 1973 passage of Roe v. Wade when abortion became legal.  1.5 million babies put up for adoption during that time.  Growing affluence, with the New Deal and an expanding economy providing relatively good paying jobs after World War II created the Middle Class as we know it. Low interest mortgages and construction of the Interstate highway system caused the suburbs to grow.  baby boom from 1945 to 1960 during which women stay home and raise big family.  Institutional and social forces that affected women's lives after World War II: - Many women were forced out of the factory jobs and other "men's" jobs they had held during the war - The baby boom from 1945 to 1960 caused many women to stay home and raise big families. - Colleges were largely still closed to women  In 1950s women began to re-enter the workforce and women became liberated from the past in many ways - from the kitchen, from the home, from child rearing, - liberated from sexual norms  Cultural lag - increase in number of young people having sex but restricted access to birth control and sex education  cultural lag - sexual norms were changing but the shame associated with premarital pregnancy remained.  Stigma of being an unwed mother was great  it was unthinkable to keep an "illegitimate" child - options:  marry quickly  be sent away before the pregnancy was detected by the community  Agricultural societies have high birth rates because in a farm setting children are an asset - they can begin working at a young age.  In urban settings children are a liability because child labor laws prevent putting them to work until their teenage years and until that time they cost money to raise. 　 Chapter 2 Breaking the Silence  a discussion of the barriers to equality and independence and how these began to break down after World War II among the baby boom generation  larger percentages of young people became sexually active at younger ages  some barriers did remain o illegal to sell contraceptives to unmarried people o restricted access to birth control information o restricted access to sex education  the social stigma of being an "unwed mother" remained strong  what were the social causes of the increase in the numbers of out-of-wedlock births? What were the explanations at the time? i.e., who was blamed?  Why is the phrase, "giving away their babies" misleading?  Describe and explain the myths about the adoption process. o Re: forgetting and moving on, etc. o re: the individual having a choice among alternatives  Emotional experiences caused by the process and the events 18+  Consequences caused by the process and the events 23+ Chapter 3 Good Girls v. Bad Girls  What change took place in rates of premarital sex in the decades after World War II?  What was the percentage of first births to girls aged 15-19 conceived out of wedlock in those years?  In what ways did attitudes and behaviors change relative to dating and sex post-World War II (WWII) ? 30, 31  How did changes in the economy after WWII affect young people? o independence, commitment  To what extent was date rape a factor among the women Fessler interviewed ? 33  What institutional support were women able to access? 34  What role did peers play in this issue?  How did society "fail" in the author’s view? Chapter 4 Discovery and Shame  What was the most common "solution" to pregnancy before marriage?  What percentage married before the baby was born?  Why was marriage not an option for some?  What was the family’s response to news that their daughter was pregnant?  To what extent were the fathers held accountable?  Double standards?  Abandonment? Chapter 5 The Family’s Fears  How were young unmarried pregnant women treated by their family?  What is the relationship between social class and surrender?  To what extent was surrender a choice?  How did growth of the suburbs and increased upward mobility factor into the response to unmarried pregnancy?  Why did suburbs emerge in the post-war years? What factors contributed to the growth of the suburbs?  White flight  Racial inequality in post-war years  Differences in surrender rates by race  Illegal abortions  gender roles in the post-war years  treated harshly by their family  racial discrimination >>> improvements for whites relative to blacks. 102  What was the first affirmative action program in the U.S.?  GI Bill after WW II o College tuition o low interest home mortgages  growth of suburbs 105  dispersion of working people  residential segregation 107  gender roles 111  Racial and class differences in the process of surrendering 110  Illegal abortions - numbers? risks? 110  Post war gender roles consisted of... 111  to what extent were alternatives to traditional gender roles presented as attractive? 112+  How did the mass media reinforce a narrow view of family life? 115  What kinds of families tended not to surrender babies?  To what extent were women’s lives governed by the attitudes of the time? 　 Chapter 6 Going Away  labels "fallen women" "wayward girls"  For many of the women in this book the experience of being sent to a maternity home caused harm. What were some of the features of the process that caused many women to suffer irreparable harm?  what feelings did people have when they: o were told they would be sent away? o were actually sent away?  Feebleminded means what? Neurotic means what? Chapter 11 Every Mother but My Own  Fabricated info  why did she wait so long before contacting her birth mother?  Two approaches to the study of Sexism and Gender inequality o Gender role analysis  the approach focuses on learned behaviors that are defined as masculine or feminine  gender role analysis emphasizes characteristics that individuals acquire during the course of socialization such as:  high or low aspirations  independent or dependent behaviors and ways of relating to others  this explanation suggests that because men see women as less profitable they pay them less  it suggests that women are taught to aspire for less o Structural analysis  emphasizes factors that are external to individuals which favor males and produce sex inequality such as  the organization of all the major social institutions (designed to favor men)  the concentration of power (tends to favor male control)  the legal system (bias toward men)  organizational barriers such as the dual labor market  well-paying, secure jobs with benefits are more accessible to men  low-paying, insecure jobs with no benefits are more accessible to women and minorities  structural analysis proposes that social systems can be designed to create a pool of low- paid labor which enables economic elites, global corporations, owners of industry, etc. to maximize their profits.  These two approaches differ in how they explain the causes and effects of gender discrimination and therefore also differ in the solutions they propose for the elimination of gender inequalities. Both approaches give us important insights in the problem. Class lecture notes  Lenore Weitzman’s classic study of gender role socialization o studied 18 award winning children’s books published 1967 to 1971 o her content analysis of these books found that  females were virtually invisible  ratio of male pictures to female was 11:1  ratio of male animals to female was 95:1  the activities of boys and girls varied greatly  boys were active and outdoors  girls were passive and most often depicted indoors  the activity of the girls typically was that of some service for the boys  adult men and women (role models) were different  men led  women followed  females were passive  males active  not one woman in any of these award winning books had a job or profession  women were always wives and mothers  Update of Weitzman, et al study o Females are no longer invisible - included in books equally. o And women have roles beyond family roles. o But no behavior was shared by a majority of the females but all males were portrayed as independent and active. o Girls expressed no career goals o And there were no adult female role models to provide ambition o The researchers found that only one woman in the entire 1980s collection of 24 books had an occupation outside of the home, and she worked "as a waitress at the Blue Tile Diner"  A 1994 study by Crabb and Bielawski also found that Caldecott Award-winning children’s books were still portraying females in traditional roles. o A large majority of female characters were depicted using household artifacts and most male characters using nondomestic production-oriented tools and objects.  These researchers found little change over the past two decades.  A 1993 replication of the Weitzman study by Clark et al (surveying approximately 800 children’s books) showed female characters portrayed in more egalitarian ways than they were in the 1960s and 1979s.  Further research needed...  Two children’s books by the same author, Dean Walley, illustrate the bias toward traditional occupation roles o What Boys Can Be  Fireman, baseball player, bus driver, policeman, cowboy, doctor, sailor, pilot, clown, zoo manager, farmer, actor, astronaut, president o What Girls Can Be  Nurse, stewardess, ballerina, candy-shop owner, model, actress, secretary, artist, nursery school teacher, singer, dress designer, bride, housewife, mother o The ultimate goal presented for boys is to become president o The ultimate goal for girls is to be mothers o Only three of the male occupations are performed inside compared with eleven of the female jobs  Classic study by Laurel Richardson o a group of mothers were presented with "Adam" a six-month old dressed in blue overalls o the mothers were allowed to interact with Adam and then responded to questions o a second group were presented with "Beth" a six-month old in a pink frilly dress o again, they interacted with Beth and responded to questions o compared to Adam, Beth was described as  sweet, had a soft cry, was smiled at more often, offered a doll to play with more o Beth and Adam were the same six-month old  Conclusions o from birth onward males and females have differential socialization experiences o have different expectations placed upon them o people respond to them differently depending upon their sex o female and male social experiences differ from birth onward  their interactions are different o male and female social environments have significant differences which have consequences that we sometimes mistakenly attribute to genetic differences  Sexism or Gender Discrimination or Gender Inequality  Symbolic Interactionism o view society as the sum of all people’s interactions  language is significant in defining social realities because it provides people with shared meanings  concern today linguistic sexism o the word he is used to refer to all humans  chairman, mankind, female doctor, woman lawyer o Everyone loves his mother. Grammatically correct but not inclusive o Everyone loves its mother. Inclusive but distorts reality o Everyone loves their mother. Inclusive but ungrammatical o All people love their mothers. Inclusive and grammatically correct o From an anthropology textbook from "back in the day."  "Man, being a mammal, breast feeds his young.  Sexist language o Modern Man, Man and his environment, Mankind  English grammar rules require the use of the masculine pronoun as the default. o The father took the child with him. o A citizen, when asked to serve his country, should do so. o Man, being a mammal, breast feeds his young.  "The more education an individual attains, the better his occupation is likely to be and the more money he is likely to earn." Time, 1986  Functionalist Perspective o The parts of society (social institutions, social classes, gender categories, division of labor, all the other parts...) work together to maintain the society. o Problems with gender roles stem from historical changes such as  shift from agricultural to industrial economic base  shift from rural population bases to urban  decline of infant mortality  decline of birth rate  growth of suburbs  traditional gender role  women give birth and take care of children  men provide economic support  historical change disrupt these roles  but attitudes and expectations about gender roles have changed at a slower rate  i.e., cultural lag o Resolution  change expectations to conform with actual conditions  redefine gender roles toward full equality  change social institutions to eliminate sexual discrimination  return to a stable past because a shift to greater equality is dysfunctional  the traditional roles were efficient because they meshed in a productive way  Conflict Perspective and Feminist Perspective  See perspectives see exploitation and oppression as universal human problems  men used greater size and strength to force women into subservient position  then created social institutions and ideologies that served to perpetuate male power and authority  men gain by o paying women less o excluding them from positions of economic control and political power o men gain from women’s subordinate role in the family  Resolution o Liberal feminists largest group in the women’s movement o National Organization of Women (NOW) o liberal tradition values freedom and individual liberty o call for a vigorous government to attack all forms of prejudice and discrimination o tougher legislation punishing gender discrimination in hiring and promotion o new initiatives against sexual harassment o longer sentences for rapists and other sex offenders o call for changes in the family, schools and mass media o to end socialization into rigid gender roles o allow freedom to follow own unique paths  Socialist feminists o they agree with liberals but argue that exploitation of women arises from the capitalist system o argue that only basic changes in the economic system can liberate women o need to do more than attack sexism o need to eliminate the racism and economic exploitation that lie at the root of the capitalist system if women are to be free  Socialism:  How might humans unintentionally make the planet uninhabitable?  Why do anthropologists believe that it would be inaccurate to characterize hunting and gathering societies as "nasty"?  What are the social costs when students are taught that "primitive" societies are nasty?  What social, political and economic conditions and policies were contributing factors to the growth of the U.S. middle class?  Before the New Deal legislation of the 1930s, specifically the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of June 16, 1933, Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 among others and the G.I. bill of the 1940s the U.S. middle class was relatively small. There was no national minimum wage before 1933!  Before the 1930s the class structure looked like this: o Upper class - a small number of economic elite families o Middle class - a class composed of professional and managers such as medical doctors and corporate executives business people o Working class - the toiling masses earning sub-poverty wages  The middle class suburban way of life and the middle class itself was socially constructed as a result of... o New Deal legislation enacted after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidential election in 1932.  creating minimum wage laws, rights for working people to form unions, regulation of banking to limit speculation and predatory lending, creating Social Security, establishing the eight hour day, 40 hour work week in1938 o The G.I. bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944) that offered veterans low interest rate housing mortgages and college tuition benefits. o Construction of the national highway system in 1956 (the interstate highway system) that made the suburban living arrangement possible. o Cheap oil, coal and natural gas for transportation and home and industry.  In history books, "the less said about the recent past, the better." Why? 239 What need are they meeting?  Why do high school graduates today know more about the war of 1812 than about the Vietnam War???  Why did Buddhist monks in Vietnam set themselves on fire? From class lectures: o World Empires o When did they first develop? o What caused them to develop? o How did they rule? o How long did individual empires survive? o How do empires sustain themselves? o How did the industrial revolution affect the growth of empires in the modern era? o Why and how did the British Empire become so powerful? o What factors caused the growth of the British Empire? o What is colonialism? o In what ways was colonialism a contributing factor of World War I (WW I)? o How did World War II (WW II) change the balance of power in the world? o In what ways was colonialism a factor in the Vietnam War? o How and why do high school history textbooks distort and limit information about the Vietnam War? o What are the Pentagon Papers? o Why were they written? o Why were they kept secret from the American people? o What is napalm? o What role did photographic images from Vietnam play in the public debate over the war? o What is the significance of these terms and events? o French Indochina o Vietnam o Laos o Cambodia o After World War I (WW I) there arose a liberation movement in Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh to free Vietnam from French colonialism. As a student in Paris Ho Chi Minh tried to meet with President Wilson at the signing of the peace treaty ending WW I to persuade him to use his influence with France to persuade them to end French colonialism in southeast Asia (Vietnam, etc.). Ho’s Declaration of Independence from France was modeled after the United States’ Declaration of Independence from England. Wilson refused to meet with him. o Being rejected by the American revolutionary model Ho turned to the only other existing revolutionary model, the Russian Revolution. He became a communist in Paris. Traveled to China and joined with the Chinese communists who were trying to organize a revolution to free China from colonial control by western powers (England, France, U.S., etc.). o The Chinese rebels split into two factions. Those who wanted to model their revolution after the Soviet Union’s, an urban insurrection. And those believed that China was a nation of peasants with too few urban industrial workers (3 percent of the population) to stage an urban uprising. This second faction believed China would find a different path to liberation, through peasant guerrilla warfare. Ho worked and learned from this faction, led by Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong wrote a manual on guerrilla warfare that became a revolutionary model for rural colonial nations all over the world. o During WW II there existed joint operations between the U.S. military and the Red Army in China against Japanese occupation in China. The U.S. military was influenced to develop its own special forces as a result of those joint operations. The phrase "Gung ho" comes from those military contacts. o Compare 19th century and World War I and II battlefields with those in Vietnam o Before Vietnam War the battlefield was like a football field. o The scrimmage line was like the front between the combatants. o You could see who was winning the war or the game by observing the movement of the front or the scrimmage line. o The ground war in Vietnam involved search and destroy and ambush and capture and interrogation. There was no front. o The Vietnamese National Liberation Front (NLF) engaged in guerrilla warfare. The NLF was a peasant army. There was also a North Vietnamese Regular Army operating in South Vietnam. The U.S. engaged both of these forces. o Guerrilla warfare is comparatively cheap to wage o Battle of Dien Bien Phu o Philip and Daniel Berrigan - The Catonville Nine o Daniel Ellsberg - The Pentagon Papers o Body counts o Free-fire zones o Strategic Hamlets o My Lai o Winter Soldier hearings o "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it." o Guerrilla war strategy and tactics o What made combat in Vietnam particularly difficult for American soldiers? o What is the social cost when students don’t learn about such things? o What quotes regarding the Vietnam do textbooks include from Martin Luther King? o What else do they include or exclude about the war and the movement against it? o Identify at least six theories of the Vietnam War? o Do events in one period affect events in another period in the world of high school history books? o What are the social costs of not letting students learn from the lessons of the Vietnam War? Chapter 10 Down the Memory Hole: The Disappearance of the Recent Past o Sasha o Zamani o History textbooks limit and distort our understanding of the recent past. o Examples discussed in Chapter 10 are 9/11 and Iraq Wars. And as we discussed in class, Health care reform. Biased news corporations broadcast misinformation and disinformation and thus spread ignorance about recent events. Media watchdog organizations such as Media Matters can help us fact-check so-called news stories. Case in point the current health care reform debate. o Seven giant insurance companies dominate the health insurance business. If there is a public option the insurance companies and their stockholders will lose out on millions of dollars of business. A public option means that subscribers can keep their present health insurance or choose a public insurance plan. Another proposal is to offer national health insurance, such as Medicare, for everyone. Medicare covers everyone over age 65. All other industrial countries have for decades offered national health insurance o links to video clips shown in class: o Freda Berrigan discussing her father, Phillip Berrigan who took part in a civil disobedience action called the Catonsville Nine, called "My Father, the Activist." http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=dtY886ceRCQ&feature=PlayList&p=6A5DD82CDC443686 o Former insurance company VP turned whistle blower Wendel Potter.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0- M10jDkmm0&feature=PlayList&p=95EBD54944FF7AC4 　 Chapter 11 Progress Is Our Most Important Product o Archetype of progress - important theme in high school history textbooks o "The land of promise" o Note the picture that suggests that "progress" rather than disease and dispossession of their land and culture by European settlers doomed the Indians. How does it do this? o Growth = progress in high school history texts o and progress is always good. o No textbook suggests that "growth" could have negative consequences such as increased air pollution or oil depletion or declining real wages. o The theme of progress helps people believe that their society has been a boon and not a course to humankind and the planet. o Faith in progress promotes the status quo. Thus, we don’t need change. We don’t need institutional changes or policy changes to reduce injustices. We just need more of the same... o Belief in progress helps the upper class defend itself against the injustices of social class inequalities. Progress implies that everyone’s share of the pie is getting bigger; therefore just be patient. o Progress fits in with Social Darwinism - that the lower classes are lower due to their own shortcomings. o In an economy dependent on consumer spending the idea of progress promotes consumption - newer is better, bigger is better, etc. o Internationally, money and wealth flow from the poor to the rich countries and from the rich to the poor, i.e., in both directions. But the NET flow is from the poor to the rich. o The rich countries are rich in part because poor countries are dominated economically and militarily by the rich nations.