Identity: Race,

Ethnicity,

Gender, and

Sexuality Chapter 5

Gender

Gender – “a culture’s

assumptions about

the differences

between men and

women: their

‘characters,’ the

roles they play in

society, what they

represent.”

- Domosh and

Seager

• Gender is a social as well as biological difference.

• Modernization has reduced the inequalities but has NOT eliminated them.

• Even in Europe & the US equality has NOT been achieved.

• UK, India, Israel, Pakistan & the Philippines have had female leaders=the US has not

• Wages & barriers to economic & social advancement are found in the political and corporate realm

Gender Inequality • Women make 80 c. to the Male dollar-even accounting

for time off to raise kids.

• Over her career, the average U.S. woman loses $1.2 m. to wage inequity.

• Every industrialized nation except US & Australia have paid parental leave with a guaranteed job upon return

• Women over 65 are twice as likely to be poor as men.

• Women chose jobs closer to home

• Occupational segregation-women have less chance to advance-take lower paying jobs in more restricted locations

• Male dominance is a world-wide phenomenon

• In general Western women are better off than elsewhere

Female–Male Income Differences

Fig. 9-11: Women’s income is lower than men’s in all countries, but the gender gap is

especially high in parts of the Middle East, South Asia, and Latin America.

Demography & Health

• On average women live 4 yrs. longer than men

• Core countries-5 to 7 yrs. Longer

• World Bank=Africa +3 yrs, South America & Europe, US + 6 yrs.

• Women less likely to:

– Smoke

– Drink

– Eat too much

– Drive too fast

– Have very high stress

Quality of Life-Maternal Mortality Rates

• Western World rate is

5/100,000

• South Asia has highest

maternity mortality

rates=650/100,000

• Reasons:

– Inadequate medical care

– Excessive number of

pregnancies

– Malnutrition

– Lack of adequate birth

control

Female Infanticide-India • India-gender detection tests

often result in aborted females-the ratio of men to women in India is widening.

• Although outlawed-dowry still exists in India-families with sons receive payments from the bride’s parents

• Dowry deaths are common

• Laws against female infanticide & dowry deaths exist-but are not being enforced.

Women in India • Hindu culture attaches

great importance to the male dominated family.

• Hinduism teaches a reverence for all life-yet girls are still forced into arranged marriages-disputes over dowries “Bride Price” often results in the death of the young bride.

• Many dowry deaths are reported as “kitchen accidents” and never investigated.

Dowry Deaths in India - murders of brides (often by burning) when a dispute arises over a

dowry. Difficult to “legislate away” the power relationships that lead to

dowry deaths-female infanticide is also tied to the disempowerment of

women

China

• China’s traditional attitude

toward women-a burden

• Female infanticide was a

common rural practice-but

after the One Child Policy-it

rose in urban areas as well.

• Abortions in China are legal

after gender identification

tests

• Millions of female infants

die of food depravation,

denial of medical care,

abandonment or murder

Informal Economy –private, often home-based activities

such as tailoring, beer brewing, food preparation, or

vegetable gardening.

Women in

Subsaharan Africa

- populate much of the rural

areas, as men migrate to cities

for work.

- produce 70% of the region’s

food.

- only a small percentage of

women have legal title to their

land.

Family and Social Conditions

• Great contrast in treatment

of boys & girls that puts

females at a physical &

psychological disadvantage

• Many girls have to work 7

or mores hours a day as

children-married off as

early as possible;

– Mauritania 39% girls married

by age 15, 15% had children

– Bangladesh-73% married by

age 15, 21% had 1 child by

age 15

Women in Muslim Countries

• Many women in traditional or fundamentalist Islamic states live in isolation and servitude.

• Iran, Afghanistan & elsewhere women’s rights have eroded.

• Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1979 Revolution in Iran created a theocracy

• Taliban took over Afghanistan in 1997 & took women out of public life

Education & Opportunity

• Education is the key to

remove gender gap.

• In India, over all illiteracy is

55%, for women it is 65% to

75%

• Progress in education &

literacy lags in South Asia &

Sub-Saharan Africa

• There is also a sharp contrast

between urban & rural areas

• Barriers remain in certain

professions-even in the West

Economy & Productivity

• Women in the periphery

produce over ½ the food,

build homes, dig wells, plant

& harvest crops, make

clothes, etc.

• Women in Africa work hard:

– Cultivating corn & staple

crops

– Walk long distances for water

– Gather firewood

– Take care of the children

– Cook the meals

Women in the Labor Force

• Core Nations-35% to 39%

of the labor force are

women

• Middle & South America

about 24% to 29% of the

labor force are women

• Sub-Saharan Africa-37%

are women-about 80%

work on plantations.

• Asia about 50% of the

labor force are women-

mostly on farms

Politics & Public Life

• US & Canada did not grant enfranchisement to women until 1920.

• Several women have been leaders of their nations-but no woman has ever ran or been elected as President of the US

• US-half of all voters are women:

– yet only 8/100 Senators are women

– 2/50 governors are women

– 53/435 House members are women

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

President of Liberia

Elected with a stunning 60 %

of the vote

This Harvard-educated

Grandmother, the first

woman

elected to lead an African

country faces huge

challenges

Nov. 2005 election

Race –a categorization of humans based on skin color and

other physical characteristics. Racial categories are social and

political constructions because they are based on ideas that

some biological differences are more important than others.

The Human Race

• Technically race is not a correct term-since we are all the same race or species-human.

• Example-all dogs are the same species-yet great variation in size, color, shape, etc.-FAR LESS VARIETY IN HUMANS.

• Human subspecies exhibit a difference in gene frequency-e.g. northern Europe-blue-eyed dominant, southern Europe brown-eyed is dominant

Four Basic Human Stocks

• Negroid stock from

African sources

• Australoid stock of

Southeast Asia origins

• Mongoloid stock which

arose in East Asia

• Caucasoid stock from

Southwest Asia &

European sources

• These stocks are based on

skin color, physique,

facial shape and hair style

Skin Color

• Skin color is determined by melanin or pigment-dark skin originated in low latitudes-light skin originated at high latitudes.

• Melanin is a pigment that protects the inner layers of skin from damage from ultraviolet rays.

• Darker skin produces more vitamin D.

• Skin color not a reliable indicator of racial relationships-e.g. Aboriginal Australians & Sub-Saharan Africans are dark-skinned, but not closely related genetically.

• Why do Tropical South Americans have lighter skin than Tropical Africans?-Arrival time-South American indigenous population arrive there between 13,000 to 30,000 years ago-thus not enough time for more melanin development.

Physique & Physical Traits

• Bergmann’s Rule-people in

warmer climates tend to be

more slender-people in cooler

climates tend to be more squat-

this also applies to animals

• Heads-cephalic index-ratio of

width & length of skull-

Europeans—long heads,

Japanese—round heads.

• Noses-warm, moist climates—

short,wide, flat noses; Low

latitudes deserts, high latitude

dry zones—long narrow noses

Physique & Physical Traits

• Hair- general tendency; Asians—straight hair; Europeans—curly hair, African—wooly hair.

• Eyes-epicanthic folds-small piece of overlapping skin that give the eyelid a distinctive appearance-the fold is present in East Asians, South African San people and Native Americans

Race as a Social Category

• Race is more difficult to use as a social category due to

increased mixing of races.

• In Africa-darkness of pigmentation is still the basis of

“racial” divisions, to some degree in India-Aryan,

Dravidian.

• Racism-a belief that your race is superior to others-

– Apartheid in South Africa ended in the 1990s

– Racial Segregation in the US not banned-but still de facto

On Racism and Colonialism - “Colonial racism was a major element in that conception of

‘Empire’ which attempted to weld dynastic legitimacy and

national community. It did so by generalizing a principle of

innate, inherited superiority on which its own domestic

position was (however shakily) based on the vastness of

overseas possessions, covertly (or not so covertly) conveying

the idea that if, say, English lords were naturally superior to

other Englishmen, no matter: these other Englishmen were no

less superior to the subjected natives.” - Benedict Anderson

• Racial Categories are typically imposed on people

through:

– Residential segregation-(Milwaukee, Detroit)

– Racialized divisions of labor

– Racial categories defined by governments

Population in the U.S. by Race, 2000 In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau allowed Americans to categorize themselves as one

race or more than one race.

Estimated

Percentage of U.S.

Population by

Race and

Ethnicity until

2050 In 2000, the U.S.

Census Bureau

calculated race and

Hispanic origin

separately. Estimates

are that by 2050, the

“White, non-Hispanic

population will no

longer be the majority.

Residential Segregation

• The “degree to which two or more groups live

separately from one another, in different parts of

the urban environment.”

– Massey and Denton

Highest Rate of

Residential

Segregation for

African

Americans:

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Lowest Rate of Residential Segregation for

Hispanics/Latinos: Baltimore for Asians/Pacific Islanders:

Baltimore, Maryland

Invasion and Succession: new immigrants to a city often move to areas occupied by older

immigrant groups.

Identities in Neighborhoods change over time:

Sense of Place

• We infuse places with

meaning and feeling, with

memories and emotions.

• Our sense of place becomes

part of our identity and our

identity affects the ways we

define and experience

place.

Ethnicity

• Ethnicity –

a constructed

identity that is tied

to a place … it is

often considered

“natural” because it

implies ancient

relations among

people over time.

Ethnic Patterns & Processes

• Ethnicity is NOT the same as

race, but it is as important.

• It is culture, NOT race, that

dominates the world’s patterns

today

• Ethnicity is more difficult to

define

– Shared cultural traits

– Common history

– Treasured cultural landscapes

– Perceived threat to language or

religion

Ethnic Mosaics

• Ethnic comes from the

Greek word for people or

nation “ethnos”

• Ethnic often used to

describe a neighborhood or

a cuisine.

• Ethnic enclaves are

common in urban areas;

“China Town,” “Little

Italy,” or “Little Mexico.”

• Racial or ethnic identity

often a matter of self

perception.

“Welcome to

Little Havana”

Ethnicities in Chicago

Fig. 7-5: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and European

Americans are clustered in different areas of the city.

Cultural Revival & Linkage

• Ethnic dispersal takes place-yet links to the old

neighborhood or homeland remain. This linkage is aided

by modern media & communication.

• African-Americans demonstrated against South African

apartheid.

• Irish-Americans sent money to support the I.R.A. in its

struggle against Britain.

Hispanic Americans in the U.S.

Fig. 7-2: The highest percentages of Hispanic Americans are in the southwest and

in northern cities.

African Americans in the U.S.

Fig. 7-1: The highest percentages of African Americans are in the rural South and in

northern cities.

Native Americans in the U.S.

Fig. 7-4: The highest percentages of Native Americans are in parts of the plains,

the southwest, and Alaska.

How does a place change when the people who live there

change?

Sexuality and Space

Where people

with a shared

identity

cluster, how

do they create

a space for

themselves?

Power

Relationships

• Power Relationships

assumptions and structures about who is in control, who has power over others.

Through power relationships, people create places where they limit the access of other peoples

Belfast, Northern Ireland

How do Power Relationships factor into

How People are Counted?

The U.S. Census undercounts:

- minority populations

- the homeless

The Gross National Income (GNI)

does not count:

- unpaid work of women in the household

- work done by rural women in poorer countries

• Ethnic Groups in Los

Angeles

• Barrioization – when

the population of a

neighborhood changes

over largely to

Hispanics.

• cultural landscapes

change to reflect

changing populations

• strife is usually tied to

economic change

THE END