LESSON 4: Theoretical Analysis of Gender

OBJECTIVES

1. To deducing the theoretical analysis of Gender.

TIME FRAME

2 weeks

OVERVIEW

Hello! Hope you are safe and well. At this point, we look into the major theoretical paradigms
addresses the significance of gender in social organization. Another major concept that we are going to
learn in this lesson is the concept of Feminism.

ACTIVITY

Instruction: Describe each photo in one (1) word.

1. ________________________ 2. _______________________________
 ANALYSIS

Explain how you came up with your answers from the activity in one (1) sentence.
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ABSTRACTION

STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

The structural-functional paradigm views society as a complex system of many separate but
integrated parts. From this point of view, gender functions to organize social life.

Members of hunting and gathering societies had little power over the forces of biology. Lacking
effective birth control, women were frequently pregnant, and the responsibilities of child kept them close
to home. At the same time, men’s greater strength made them more suited for warfare and hunting game.
Over the centuries, this sexual division of labor became institutionalized.

Industrial technology, however, opens up a vastly greater range of cultural possibilities. Since
human muscle power is no longer the main energy source, so the physical strength of men becomes less
significant. And the ability to control reproduction gives women greater choice in shaping their lives.
Modern societies have come to see that traditional gender roles waste an enormous amount of human
talent; yet change comes slowly, because gender is deeply embedded in social mores.

SOCIAL-CONFLICT ANALYSIS

The social-conflict point of view, look at gender not just a difference in behavior but disparities in
power. Historically, ideas about gender have benefited men and limited the lives of women, in a striking
parallel to the ways whites have benefited from oppressing racial and ethnic minorities (Lengermann
&Wallace,1985). Thus, the conflict theorists claim, conventional ideas about gender promote not
cohesion but division and tension, with men seeking to protect their privileges while women challenge
the status quo.

Friedrich Engels, develop a theory of gender stratification. He noted that in hunting and gathering
societies the activities of women and men, although different, had comparable importance. A successful
hunt brought men great prestige, but the vegetation gathered by women provided most of a group’s food
supply. As technological advances led to a productive surplus, however, social equality and communal
sharing gave way to private property and, ultimately, a class hierarchy. Men gained pronounces power
over women. With surplus wealth on their hands, upper-class men wanted to be sure of paternity, so they
would be able to pass on property to their heirs; they could do this only by controlling women’s sexuality.
The desire to control property, the, led to monogamous marriage and the family. Women were taught to
remain virgins until marriage, to stay faithful to their husbands thereafter, and to build their lives around
bearing and raising children.
 According to Engles, capitalism intensifies this male domination. First, capitalism creates more
wealth, which confers greater power on men as owners of property and as primary wage earners. Second,
an expanding capitalist economy depends in tuning people-especially women – into consumers and
encouraging them to seek personal fulfilment through buying and using products. Third, to support men
in the factories, society assigns women the task of maintaining the home. The double exploitation of
capitalism lies in paying low wages for male labor and no wages at all for female work.

FEMINISM

Feminism is the advocacy of social equality for men and women, in opposition to patriarchy and
sexism. The “first wave” of the feminist movement in the United States began in the 1840s as women who
opposed slavery, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, drew parallels between the
oppression of African Americans and the oppression of women. Their primary objective was to secure the
right to vote, which was finally achieved in 1920. But other disadvantages persisted and a “second wave”
of feminism arose in the 1960s and continues today.

BASC FEMINIST IDEAS

Feminism views the personal experiences of women and men through the lens of gender.

1. The importance of change. Feminist thinking is decidedly political, linking ideas to action,

2. Expanding human choice. Feminist maintain that cultural conceptions of gender divide the full range
of human qualities into two opposing and limited spheres: the female world of emotions and cooperation
and the male world of rationality and competition. As an alternative, feminist propose a “reintegration of
humanity” by which each human can develop all human traits (French, 1985).

3. Eliminating gender stratification. Feminism opposes laws and cultural norms that limit the education,
income and job opportunities of women.

4. Ending sexual violence. Today’s women’s movement seeks to eliminate sexual violence. Feminist argue
that patriarchy distorts the relationships between women and men, encouraging violence against women
in the form of rape, domestic abuse, sexual harassment and pornography (Dworkin, 1987)

5. Promoting sexual autonomy. Finally, feminism advocates women’s control of their sexuality and
reproduction. Feminists support the free availability of birth control information. Also, most feminists also
support a woman’s right to choose whether to bear children or terminate a pregnancy, rather allowing
men- as husbands, physicians and legislators – to control women’s sexuality.

TYPES OF FEMINISM

LIBERAL FEMINISM

Liberal Feminism is based on classic liberal thinking that individuals should be free to develop their own
talents and pursue their own interests. It accepts the basic organization of our society but seek to expand
the rights and opportunities of women. It also supports the Equal Rights Amendment as a means of ending
many limitations on women’s aspiration.

Liberal feminists also endorse a reproductive freedom, for all women. They respect the family as a social
institution, but seek changes including widely available maternity leave and child care for women who
wish to work. With their strong belief in the rights of individuals, liberal feminists do not think that all
women need to move collectively toward any one political goal. Both women and men, through their
individual achievement, are capable of improving their lives if society simply ends legal and cultural
barriers rooted in gender.

SOCIALIST FEMINISM

Socialist feminism evolved from the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, partly as a response ti Marx’s
inattention t gender. From this point of view, capitalism increases patriarchy by concentrating wealth and
power in the hands of a small number of men.

Socialist feminist rejects the reforms sought b liberal feminism as inadequate. The bourgeois family
fostered by capitalism must change, they argue to replace “domestic slavery” with some collective means
of carrying out housework and child care. This goal can only be realized through socialist revolution that
created a state- centered economy to meet the needs of all. Such a basic transformation of society
requires women and men to pursue their personal liberation together, rather than individually, as liberal
feminists maintain.

RADICAL FEMINISM

Radical feminism too, finds the reforms of liberal feminism inadequate. Moreover, radical feminist claim
that even a socialist revolution would not end patriarchy. Instead, this type of feminism holds that gender
equality can be realized only be eliminating the cultural notion of gender itself. The foundation of gender,
say radical feminists, is the biological fact that only women bear children. Radical feminists, therefore,
look toward new reproductive technology to separate women’s bodies from the process of childbearing.
With the demise of motherhood, radical feminist’s reason, the entire family system could be left behind,
liberating women, men and children from the tyranny of family, gender and sex itself. Thus, radical
feminism envisions a revolution much more far-reaching than that sought by Marx. It seeks an egalitarian
and gender-free society.