Exam 7: Gender Inequality

In Canada today, what proportion of women vote in elections, compared to men?

Claudia works for a company where only women are employed. She realizes that they are all underpaid, considering the numerous skills they bring to their jobs. Why is it UNLIKELY that the equal-pay-for-work-of-equal-value policies can help her and her fellow workers get their wages raised?

Men who enter politics tend to come from a law or business background and women candidates tend to come from a career in social work or education.

A young woman becomes emotionally distraught upon being told the family pet has died. She gets teary-eyed and her boyfriend defends her emotionality to his teasing male friends as "part of being a woman." Which of the following terms best characterizes his statement?

A young woman working at a minimum-wage job has trouble paying her rent, and sells some of her possessions; later her power is shut off, and eventually she gets evicted and lives on the street. What component of her life is the core of her disadvantage?

What are the effects of social policies such as affirmative action, and employment and pay equity, on the lives of women? Who benefits? Who doesn't?

Jason met with his high school guidance counsellor to discuss what courses he should be taking in order to be accepted into the nursing program at university. His counsellor told him that if he wanted to go into the medical profession he should be a doctor. What is the sociological term for the assumptions made in this statement?

Mark identifies as a feminist and believes that women are disadvantaged in the public sphere. He is very involved with rally groups aimed at pressuring the government to fund more subsidized daycare centres. Which feminist perspective has Mark adopted?

The popular opinion today is that men and women are equal in our society. However, women are often equated with "care giving." Describe and explain how the construction of gender roles impacts women in the creation of sex segregation in occupations and the creation of the double day of labour.

What have many feminists said about current forms of employment and pay equity?

In addition to looking after her two young children and working full time, every evening Olimpia has to stop by her father's apartment to make him dinner, clean, and make sure he takes his medication. What group in our society is Olimpia part of?

A father is advising his teenaged daughter as to which kind of career path to seek, with the following "appropriate" recommendations: nurse, teacher, social worker. What is this father doing by framing these as appropriate occupations for his daughter?

Consider the gendered experience of social stratification. For example, a lower-class black woman, a member of the working poor, experiences racial taunts and harassment at work. According to sociologists, what is the term that most aptly describes her position?

Which of the following is an activity that women spend less time doing than men?

What are the two areas of policy development that relate to inequality in the workplace? How are they the same?