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Feminism and Stratification

There are different models that attempt to describe the relationship between gender and stratification. One model is the sex-differences model which discusses the differences in behavior and attitude when called on the labels of male and female. Further, it is attempting to locate the true difference when all "socialization is removed ". The inequalities that exist are due to many of the processes that are essential in normal socialization. However, these processes are removed. Another model is the sex-roles model which employs socialization, rather than ignoring it, to attempt to uncover the differences in gender and how people choose to identify to discover gender roles. Some sociologists do not agree with this sex-roles approach because it does not fall under the normal sociological “understanding of social roles”. This is because most express a connection between oneself and other people. However, the sex-roles approach discusses two “polarized and internally persistent sets of predispositions”. Most “theorists of gender do not agree on any one comprehensive theory of stratification”. Also, “feminist analyses have developed gender parallels to the critiques of models of race that fail to address inequality as a function of something other than “difference”. There are many different sociologists who argue that gender is organized "differently for Whites and Blacks" within race. These theorists continue to argue that gender also significantly impacts race differently for men and women. Similarly, gender also impacts the organization of class and class impacts the organization of gender.

Historical Context of Feminist Sociology

While the Equal Pay Act focused solely on equal pay for equal work regardless of sex, the Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed in a fight against discrimination of any kind in the workplace. A major form of discrimination many women face in the workplace is sexual harrassment. Sexual harassment is a form of illegal discrimination based on an abuse of power which can range from “inappropriate jokes” to “outright sexual assult” and more (Conley 312).15 While sexual harassment is not a form of discrimination uniquely faced by women, when it occurs in the workplace it often involves the subordination of women by a male superior or coworker.14 The Equal Pay Act and Title VII were some of the first ways that the United States began to shift its mentality about women’s rights, and how women should be treated in the workplace, and in society.

Starting in the early 1990s, several instances of sexual harassment and abuse became well known and started a push for women to open about their own encounters with harassment. The allegations by Anita Young that Justice Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her was one of these instances. After Thomas was confirmed as a justice on the Supreme Court regardless of these allegations, more women began to speak out. In surveys taken after the hearings, it was reported that “between 40 and 65 percent of women claim to have experienced sexual harassment on the job”(Sapiro).14

(1)	Ferree, M., & Hall, E. (1996). Rethinking Stratification from a Feminist Perspective: Gender, Race, and Class in Mainstream Textbooks. American Sociological Review, 61(6), 929-950. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20

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(2)	Maccoby, Eleanor and Carol Jacklin. 1974. The Psychology of Sex Differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

(3)	Hess, Beth B. and Myra Marx Ferree, eds. 1987. Analyzing Gender: A Handbook of Social Science Research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

(4)	Andersen, Margaret and Patricia Hill Collins, eds. 1992. Race, Class and Gender: An Anthology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

(14) Sapiro, V. (2018, November 23). Sexual Harassment: Performances of Gender, Sexuality, and Power: Perspectives on Politics. Retrieved October 20, 2019, from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/sexual-harassment-performances-of-gender-sexuality-and-power/DE92180CFBBBA29FAF9B6D77D4B9B074/core-reader.

(15) Conley, D. (2019). You may ask yourself: an introduction to thinking like a sociologist (5th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton.