Gender stratification - Essay Example

? Gender stratification Introduction Throughout history women around the world have taken a back seat in exercising various roles. It is worth noting that with for many years men tend to acquire more physical, social and status as compared to women especially in matters concerning education. As such, men are more aggressive in education matters and this has been the major reason behind men occupying most of the highly regarded prestigious offices. As often is the case, the inequalities often witnessed in work places and the education sector are blamed on sexism or male prejudice as well as, and the discrimination that is majorly based on gender. Sexism, as used in this context, refers to the situation in which men are seen as superior beings and therefore, regarded as better suited to take on challenging tasks and education fields. On practical perspective, sexism has had severe consequences on women. As widely cited, sexism has always made women to strive to avoid impressing careers often seen as belonging to men. Perhaps, this might be hinged on the fact that their objective is to avoid the societal impression that they are much less desirable as mothers or spouses or even less feminine. Gender stratification often encompasses all the aspects of a person’s social life cutting across the social classes. As such, it relates the probabilities of both genders to the unequal access to property, power and prestige due to the sex differences. This area of interest explores social patterns coupled with cultural practices. When one dives into the mechanics of society workings, certain features are common to each and every community. In connection to this, there also exist differences in characteristics, traditions and customs. More particularly the differences observed in institutions of learning concerning the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics clearly points out this extended form of stratification. Gender identity is the classification of one as either male or female. It is how an individual sees himself or herself. It is the apparent manifestations that result from the personality of an individual. It has the ability to reflect on ones gender identity. Gender identity is self identified and results from intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Many at times gender identity can be confused with gender roles. The latter denotes behavior manifested by factors acquired through observation; this can be exemplified by behavior and appearance. Thus, the gender role is often an outward expression of a person’s gender identity. This article will endeavor to expound on such gender stratification, with a focus on gender construction, gender socialization and the role of media. This being the case, five articles will be analyzed in a move to have a broader view of this discussion. Body According to the Broyles (2009) the gender pay gap of women in the United States that experiences and education accounted for most of the widespread gender gap. According to the findings of this article, work function and the employer accounts for most of the pay gap. Indeed, women hold positions in the lower paying chemistry positions. This article, well points out that work place diversity within the STEM professions is less likely to occur without the wage parity between men and women in the STEM professions. Elaborating further on this subject, this article asserts that, a way of achieving gender pay equity in the STEM professions must involve the federal tax incentives in order to ensure compliance with the standards stipulated by the federal pay equity standards. Giving a back up on this issue, the article by Shapiro and Williams point it out that, stereotype threats have played a role in undermining women performance as well as, reducing the interests of women in STEM fields (Shapiro & Williams 74). In one study, they observed that negative stereotypes presented by parents and the teachers shaped the interests of women and their abilities in the performance of STEM field. Indeed their approach is complemented by the psychological phenomenon which reveals additional ways in which women are undermined in STEM fields. As such, women underrepresentation in STEM fields has been attributed to the gender differences in the availability of the aptitude at the high end of the control conditions. Research carried on the nature of stereotypes reveals that white males are less affected by stereotypes than their fellow blacks. As such, men have been portrayed as being stronger in math’s related disciplines, and even perform much better in standardized tests when the gender stereotypes are made salient. To arrest the situation, certain self affirmation tests have been formulated. These tests are quite different from the threatening domain. It is also noted that informal professional network has greatly contributed to women underrepresentation in the male dominated STEM disciplines (Xu & Martin, 2011) point it out that. Notably, informal networks are comprised of work related and social relationships as well as, discretionary patterns of interaction (Xu and Martin, 2011). As such women have suffered on the demerits the IPNs through a number of ways. First the homophily in networks formation implies that people tend to interact more with their own kind. In STEM field men are likely to develop same sex networks, as opposed to women. In addition, the exclusion of women in the dominating male networks pushes women to the margins of social networks and further disconnects them from the power and resource centers. In terms of strength, women experience a less stable, less diverse as well as, weaker IPNs indeed, this limitation s significantly contributes to the disadvantages experienced by women including, reduced access to critic information as well as, lesser opportunities for advancement and less social as well as professional and the administrative support. It has also been pointed out that men tend to value IPNs more for career promotions as compared to women. Women find time to be a distractive factor in their networking effort. From the psychology of women, it has been pointed out that women who are exposed to computer role models are negatively affected. As such women experience a reduced sense of belonging by interacting with the stereotypical role of the models. As the long term exposure of computer scientists who fit in the current stereotypes of the media, explains the prevailing gender disparities in the computer science participatory. However, exposure to computer scientists who are viewed as role models significantly helps to improve the interests of women in the STEM field (Cheryan, Dury &Vichayapa 2012). In the current situations women are often exposed to stereotypes of those that can be deemed as socially inevitable and isolated, this displays the message of being socially awkward and as well as, obsessed with the technology. Indeed, such stereotypes are viewed as incompatible with the female gender role. Additionally, women who aren’t identified with the STEM fields have less concern on the gender stereotypes and instead they often contemplate on whether they can fit with the people in the STEM field. This turns out to be a strong indicator of the negative gender stereotypes. Research would be done on social stratification by analyzing the role of the informal professional net workings and the faculty development. In this method sample data is collected by direct interview of the participants and further develop the quantitative approach for large scale data (Xu and Martin, 2011). As such role of stereotype threat could be determined by comparing the performance of female students who had been earlier own asked to reveal their gender before the exam against with those that reported their gender after the exam. This could also be studied by comparing the performance of female students after they are told that prior exams had shown gender differences and compared with the performance of the same female students if they are not told that prior exams did not show gender differences (Shapiro & Williams, 2012). In addition, female students could also be done by requesting female students to picture a boy having a ball and a girl having a doll. This would be compared with performance in Math’s when they are not asked to picture either a boy or a girl. Determining the role of the gender gap pay of the STEM professions human capital, labor market structure and the employer discrimination could be studied in order to a certain the effects of each of the elements (Broyles, 2012). Furthermore, the influence of the computer role models on the aspirations of women academically could be studied by randomly selecting a number of females and exposing them to stereotypic role models through a corporate task (Cheryan, Dury & Vichayapa, 2012). Their reaction on the likelihood of joining STEM field could be ascertained. In examining race and ethnicity, the proportion of women of different races and ethnicity who had joined STEM field is ascertained. Social construction comes into play in that, some family choices have significantly contributed to the gender disparity, making it an uphill for women to achieve similar levels of human capital (Crumb, 2010). As such, at times, second shift in responsibilities prevents women from achieving their education and job experience, following that the choices available for women are often linked to relative deprivations of either caring for a child or looking for a better job. The society has trained women to take family responsibilities while, men are trained to be aggressive in exploring the outside world. Notably, gender, is assigned at child birth, the announcement by a doctor that a child is either male or females observing of the genitals puts group them to one camp that is supposed to conform to the stipulated norms. As such, different societies construct gendered language using a number of different avenues. It is the way a society expects its male and females to behave and conduct themselves. The construction of gendered language is distinctively dissimilar to the mode via which men achieve dominance on the assumed weaker sex. Indeed language reflects the reality and thus it is of concern to reconsider the words uttered. This is a step towards achieving equality in the unequal gender arrangements that are in existence. The society expects varying attitudes and behaviors girls and boys. Notably, and instead they have crowded themselves art related fields. Indeed, education systems at higher institutions of learning have often encouraged men to take on more of the STEM related disciplines as oppose to women. Notably, a girl who displays interests in the STEM related disciplines is less encouraged as a boy with a similar interest. Gender socialization plays a key role in social stratification and equality in men, as well as, women in all aspects including STEM. For instance, women relating well with university professors and role models are more likely to be picked on in the field originally thought to be a man’s field. Men and women are expected to build their careers differently. This arises from different biological and psychological makeup that characterizes both. As illustrated in the psychology of women and quarterly journal, Television and movies has often depicted engineers and scientists in a stereotypical manner. For instance, the big bang theory, and movie of revenge of the Nerds and the real genius (Cheryan, Dury, and Vichayapa 2012), Indeed, the media has played a key role on the gender stratification the portrayal of certain roles as being masculine has caused women to avoid pursuing certain fields. In addition, sexism being portrayed by the media makes women feel inferior or rate themselves negatively. It should be noted that sexism is associated with inequality among the genders more particularly in the form of discrimination resulting in workplace comparable positions. As such, sexism being depicted by the media encourages inequality in a number of ways. Indeed, by making the female gender feel inferior in relation to the male gender, the society eventually accepts such inferiority complex by women as the true conformation. Thus, when such situations occur, women join the STEM field race having fewer expectations as well as, a lower self esteem which eventually results to underperformance and indeed lower achievements. It worth noting that in light of these articles, Gender socialization plays a key role in social stratification towards equality in men as well as, women in all aspects including STEM proper relations are inevitable. For instance, women relating well with university professors and role models are more likely to picked on in the field originally thought to be a man’s field. Men and women are expected to build their careers differently. This arises from different biological and psychological makeup that characterizes both genders. As such, different societies construct gendered language using a number of different avenues. It is the way a society expects its male and females to behave and conduct themselves. The construction of gendered bodies results in admiration. Individuals who are able to fashion themselves in a way, become the center of attraction in their respective societies. Men have been epitomized in a number of situations. In the context of women, a gendered body linked with family life. This construction of gendered language is distinctively dissimilar to the mode via which men achieve dominance on the assumed weaker sex. Examining the male base generics which are often seen as an indicator as well as a reinforcer of the system in which women are perceived to be weaker. Indeed language reflects the reality and thus it is important to reconsider the words uttered. This is a step towards achieving equality in the unequal gender arrangements that are in existence. Media has played a key role on the gender stratification the portrayal of certain roles as being masculine has caused women to avoid pursuing certain fields. In addition sexism being portrayed by the media makes women to feel inferior or rate themselves negatively. It should be noted that sexism is associated with inequality among the genders. More particularly, it results in the differences in the work place especially in comparable jobs. References Broyles, P. (2009, Oct). The gender pay gap of STEM professions in the United States. International Journal of sociology and social policy; 29 214-236. Cheryan, S., Dury, B. and Vichayapa, M. (2012), August). Enduring influence of stereotypical computer science role models on women academic performance. Journal of psychology of women Quarterly. 37(1) 72-79. Crumb, C. (2010, July). Questioning white males advantaged in STEM: Examining disparities within college major by gender and race/ethnicity. Education Researcher. 39:656 Shapiro, J. and Williams, A. (2012, Dec). The role of stereotype threats in undermining girls and women performance and interest in STEM fields. 2012: 66175-183. Xu, Y. and Martin, C. (2011, Oct). Gender differences in STEM Disciplines: from the aspects of informal professional networking and the faculty development.6 August 2011: (28) 134-154. Read More