Gender and Inequality

Gender inequality today, in our society, centers on a fewspecific topics.

• Gender segregated work: a concentration of men and women in specific sectors of the work place and economy.
• Pay equity: there is a pay gap between men and women in comparable jobs. This is the result of labor market segmentation where women are provided separate and unequal positions in the market.
• Work at home: although many dual income families profess that a working couple should share household chores and child rearing responsibilities, research indicates that women continue to have to carry the majority of this responsibility. This is sometimes referred to as the "second shift" where the woman works all day and then comes home to her second job of wife/mother/housekeeper.

Can the perspectives in Sociology possibly shed some lighton this issue?

Functionalist Perspective

The FP may note that as a social organization, the familyfunctions more efficiently with a division of labor. Thus any family will look to the most qualified individualfor a particular task and that task will be assigned to that person.

The functionalist also view that a person's standing in thesocial order is a function of their choices in life. This may provide some explanation for the differences injobs attained by women and men and the difference in pay:

• Men and women expend different amounts of energy on work related tasks.
• Women make occupational choices that allow them to spend more time with the kids and family.
• In some sectors of the economy there is an over-crowding of women thus forcing the wages down due to the excessive availability of workers.

Conflict Perspective

The CP supports that the gender gaps in the economy andelsewhere are a function of male dominance of society.

• Although the importance of physical power is not as important in industrial and post-industrial societies, men continue to have power over the household as "heads of the household", control over property, earning power and dominance in the government.
• Some attest that the ownership of the means of production (primarily men) is extended into the power over women.

Feminist Perspective

Although principally a form of the Conflict Perspective, theFeminist Perspective has a number of diverse perspectives on the issue ofgender inequality.

• Liberal Feminism: gender inequality is equated with equality of opportunity. The solution is through the creation of opportunity for women.
• Radical Feminism: contend that male dominance is the source of all forms of human oppression from gender issues to racism and classism. Solutions rest in social change brought about through radical legislation and revolution.
• Socialist Feminism: contends that women are exploited by the economic forces as they provide a dual role in the economy of both a worker and a homemaker. In this manner they are both paid and unpaid for their labor. Solutions rest in the restructuring of work place culture and a realization of the importance of homemaking in the economy.
• Multicultural Feminism: it is important to realize that issues of social class, color and disability are all magnified by gender. A black person may be oppressed but more so is a black woman (for example).