Kenia Fuentes

Professor Alvarado

On Gender: Witt. Chapter 12

1. Social construction of gender is the socialization process of children taking on certain

roles linked to their biological sex. Parents reinforce male-female differences through
actions such as dressing boys in blue and dressing girls in pink. Another example of this
is toys; girls are given dolls to play with while boys receive toy trucks. Parents teach their
children to take on gender roles through these actions. These actions teach boys to be
masculine, aggressive, etc. and it teaches girls to be soft, sweet, etc. These gender roles
are learned through the actions of parents.

2. As our textbook describes, feminism is the term for the belief in social, political,
economic equality for women. There are three waves to describe the feminist ideal. The
first wave marks the start of the feminist movement. It includes the first major
accomplishment of the feminist movement, granting women the right to vote. During this
time the 19th Amendment of the Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote
in national elections. The second wave of feminism emerged in the 1960s. Betty
Friedans (feminist) book The Feminine Mystique played a crucial part during this time.
In her book she argued society was at fault for womens demeaning roles. This led
Friedan to establish the National Organization for Women (WOW) to fight for the
equality of women. This organization led to the development of a new structure with
enhanced opportunities for women. The third era began in the 1990s and is often referred
to as the postfeminist era. This wave arose on the account of a generation shift. During
this era feminist placed greater emphasis on agency and subjectivity, committed to
personal empowerment, more open to sexuality, and commemorate diversity. This led to
feminist focusing on social justice and a global perspective so that other voices have the
opportunity to be heard. Although feminists have made great progress they still face
sexism and institutional discrimination. Sexism is the belief that one sex is superior to the
other. It typically refers to male prejudice and discrimination against women. And
institutional discrimination is an arrangement in the social system that denies a group
access to resources and opportunities as part of social norms. In order for feminism to
grow, women need to break the glass ceiling. According to our text, glass ceiling refers to
an invisible barrier that blocks the promotion of qualified individuals in the work
environment because of gender, race, or ethnicity.

3. Men are likely to perform higher paying occupations such as lawyers, pharmacist, and
police officers. While women are more likely to perform lower paying occupations such
as child care workers, receptionists, etc. Yet, even when both genders have the same
occupation men tend to be paid more. There are significant wage gaps between males and
females; women earn 78 cents for every dollar men earn overall. Institutional
discrimination can partly be blamed for this wage gap. Women are robbed of
opportunities and equal rights due to men being in control of major institutions. Civil
Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in public accommodations and publicly
owned facilities on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, and gender, was one
 manner of resolving institutional discrimination. Affirmative Action programs were
another policy implemented to destroy discrimination.

4. Women not only juggle work outside of home but also deal with housework. The term
second shift is used to describe the double responsibility women take working outside
and within the home. More women tend to partake in second shifts as opposed to men. In
my opinion it is possible to equalize the second shift. First of all, both partners must be in
agreement of shared work within the home. For example, if husbands do not wish to help
their wives around the house then there will never be an equal balance of the second shift.
But if there is agreement of balance, then the couples must construct a schedule to
balance out the work of the second shift.