SOCIAL PROBLEMS WEEK 5

RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITY PART 2

● Discrimination
○ Denial of rights, privileges, and opportunities (behavior)
○ May or may not co-occur with prejudice and stereotyping
● Individual discrimination
○ Person-to person
○ ex. - police harassment, refusal of service, mistreatment and
microaggressions at work
○ Reflects societal patterns
● Institutional discrimination
○ Housing, healthcare, law, education, employment
○ Can co-occur or not with prejudice
○ Can be unintentional or unnoticed
● Institution: Healthcare
○ Disparities in treatment
■ Ex.- cancer, heart disease, HIV, stroke, mental health
○ Life expectancy- black women have much shorter life expectancy
○ Infant mortality (2016)- black people have the highest infant mortality rate
● Institution: Housing
○ Mortgage application denial, blacks and latinos are more likely to be
denied
○ Redlining and housing segregation (red areas have higher rates of
minorities and crime)
○ Discrimination by realtors/sellers
● Institution: employment
○ Hiring (white applicants with criminal record were more likely to get call
backs than black people without one)
○ Wages (black people make over 10,000 less)
○ Promotion
● Institution: education
○ Racial achievement gap
■ Test scores
■ High school completion- 2012 86% white graduated, 73% Hispanic
and 69% of black students
■ School segregation
■ In-school policing- disadvantaged students punished, 40% are
black but only 15% of students are black
■ College attendance and completion
● Institution: economy
○ Income inequality
○ Wealth inequality
● Institution: law
○ Incarceration
○ Arrest, sentencing, 2016 27% of all arrests were black people
○ Police
■ Profiling
■ Attitudes
■ Brutality
● REDUCING INEQUALITY
○ Where are we?
■ Signs of hope
● Decline of Jim Crow racism
● First black president
■ Signs of continuing trouble
● New symbolic racism
● Pervasive insitutional discrimination
○ Ways forward
■ Affirmative action
● US Dept of Labor: “For federal contractors and
subcontractors, affirmative action must be taken by covered
employers to recruit and advance qualified minorities,
women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans.
Affirmative actions include training programs, outreach
efforts, and other positive steps. These procedures should
be incorporated into the company's written personnel
policies. Employers with written affirmative action programs
must implement them, keep them on file and update them
annually.”
● A quota system? NO
■ Others
● More federal aid to working poor
● Strengthen AA programs
● Lessen residential segregation
● Self-reflection and education
WEEK 6
GENDER

Terms
● Sex (assigned at birth)
○ Primary sex characteristics->present at birth, ex. Reproductive organs
○ Secondary characteristics->emerge later, not directly involved in
reproduction, ex. Body hair, muscles, build, breasts
● Gender
○ Social or cultural differences that a society assigns based on sex; a social
construction
● Gender expression
○ Expectations for masculinity or femininity
■ Includes appearance, mannerisms, etc.

Where do gender differences come from?

1. Biology?
a. Evolutionary psychology: men needed to be strong, brave, and aggressive
to be hunters/providers, and women needed to be nurturing and fertile to
raise children
i. Critiques: (1) underestimating prehistoric gender variation; (2)
contemporary irrelevance; (3) justifies inequality by implying a need
for traditional gender roles
b. Testosterone levels , men have more
c. Children’s studies, boys show more aggression
d. Neurosexism- refers to gender differences result from men and women
having different brains
2. Culture?
a. Cultures vary greatly
b. Learning culturally-defined gender requires socialization

Agents of Socialization
● Family
● Peers
○ Boys more competitive sports, girls play more cooperative games
● School
○ Teachers subtly teach differently, give boys more praise
● Media
○ Tv shows have men as main characters/hero, women in negatively
stereotypical ways only good for beauty
 ● Religion
○ Bible advocates wives submission to men

Gender inequality GLOBAL

Maternal Mortality
● Pregnancy related death of mother within first 6 weeks
● Over 500,000 deaths contributed to by pregnancy (developing nations)
● Highest rates are in Africa (1/16). Lowest are in Western nations (1/2800)
● Reasons: lack of family planning, inadequate obstetric care and prenatal
nutrition, disease
● 550 deaths in US in 2015 from maternal mortality, 58,000 deaths in Nigeria the
same year
Violence
● Female genital mutilation- removal of female gentilaia for non medical reasons
● Ages of birth and 15
● Preparing for marriage and or ensuring virginity
● Mostly in african and asian countries- over 50% of women in these countries
● Culture thing mostly
● Costs $$$

● physical/sexual
● In all regions more than ⅕ women will experience sexual assault
● 38% of women murdered in 2013 were murdered by a partner

● Sex trafficking
● 90% of victims are women
● 83% for sex trafficking
● Americas, Europe, and east asia

● Education
● Girls are less likely to attend school
○ Worldwide, over 100 million girls out of school
○ Reasons include child marriage, safety, comfort, and poverty
○ Only 66% of counties have gender parity in primary education

● Health
● Child marriage- 650 million women were married before 18 years old
● Some countries more than 50 % of girls are child brides
● Risks- end of education, STDs, HIV, HPV, early pregnancy, maternal mortality
 ● Cervical cancer and HIV AIDS
● More common in poorer nations
● Mothers often lack testing and knowledge, passing it to children
● Lack of treatment

WEEK 7 GENDER CONT..

Employment rate
● Increasing numbers of working women; gender gap narrowing
● Full time vs. part time
● Fulltime
○ Women 43%
○ Men 57%
● Parttime
○ Women 64%
○ Men 36%
Gender wage gap
● 98 cents to a man’s $1

Gendered jobs
● Men dominated jobs: CEO’s (>70%), judges, lawyers, doctors and surgeons,
engineers
● Women dominated jobs: RNs (>90%), k-12 teachers, social workers, counselors,
HR managers, psychologists, accountants
● Casualty? Do we underpay “women’s work”, or relegate women to lower paying
jobs?
○ Remember functionalist and conflict perspectives
○ Seems to be a bit of both
● Gender make up affects job pay:
○ We pay men and women differently for the same work, and jobs rated of
similar worth
○ Research finds that a 10% increase in proportion of women is associated
with up to a 5% decrease in hourly wage per decade
● And, gender affects job aspirations:
○ Socialization
○ Sexism (discrimination)
○ Glass ceiling vs glass escalator
The most gendered job- “parenthood”
● “The price of motherhood”
○ Regardless of career, women are still the primary parent
 ○ Workplaces continue to be unaccommodating to working parents
○ So women have to prioritize
○ The mommy tax->wages lost when motherhood reduces working abilities
■ Can reach over a million dollars over a lifetime
○ Lack of paid maternity leave, quitting; stereotypes of mothers
○ Motherhood penalty: men$ > nonmothers $ > mothers $
● Consequences: women and their children become dependent financially on male
partners or in poverty

Parenthood and Working

● 95% of fathers work full time, regardless of the age of their children
● Mothers work full time at different rates based on the age of children

Household inequality
● With most fathers working full time, who works the “second shift” (housework and
childrearing)
● Women!
○ Even when they work more
○ Even and especially when they earn more
○ Even when they and their (male) partner have egalitarian attitudes
○ Even in childhood
○ Whether they are married or not

Sexual Harassment and Violence

● 81% of women (and 43% of men) report sexual harrassment more than ¼ report
sexual assault
● Perpetrators are usually known
Explanations
● Cultural explanation, i.e. rape culture
○ Women: sexual objects, slut shamed, victim blamed
○ Men portrayed as sexually aggressive with the right to women
■ incels-> involuntary celibates: ideology; terrorist violence
● Structural explanation: men harassers have power over their victims
○ Example in employment, education, etc. inability to fight back
○ Rape is more common in societies where women have less power
Sexual Harassment and violence outcomes
● Victims change their life instead of pursuing harasser
● Justice is rarely sought or served
○ Of every 1,000 sexual assaults:
■ 230 are reported to police
 ■ 46 lead to arrest
■ 5 lead to felony conviction
○ First experience is most often at 14-17 years old or younger

Intersectionality
● “Once you’ve blended the cake, you cant take the parts back to the main
ingredients”
Intersectionality: Gender X Race
● Intersectionality-> how race, class, gender, etc. intersect and overlap to create
unique forms of advantages and disadvantages
○ I.e. it is not a simple co-occurence of racism, sexism, classism, etc., but a
unique product
● E.g. poverty rates (2014):
○ All women: 16.1% (men 13%)
○ White women 11%
○ Black women 28%
○ Hispanic women 25%
○ AI/NA: 27%
● Gender: men make more than women
● Race: asians, then whites make more than other races

Other types of gender inequality: a non-binary look

Transgender inequality
● Discrimination
○ Experienced by 65% of trans people (2015)
○ Loss of job, eviction, harassment, loss of relationships, denial of medical
services
● Violence
○ 2019: at least 27 deaths of trans or GNC people: mostly black trans
women (intersectionality)
○ Reports of physical and sexual assault
● Homelessness
○ Experiences by about ⅓ of trans people
○ LGBTQ people make up 20-40% of homeless youth
● Health
○ Worse access to healthcare due to stigma, cost, lack of insurance
○ Mental health and suicide
○ Need for knowledgeable, trans-inclusive healthcare providers

Costs of being a man in a patriarchy

 ● When masculinity becomes harmful
○ “Toxic masculinity is a narrow and repressive description of manhood,
designating manhood as defined by violence, sex, status and aggression
● Suicide
○ Men more than 3x as likely as women
○ White men accounted for about 70% of suicides in 2018
● Violence and victimization: prevalence of man on man crime
○ Men account for > 80% of arrests for: murder, forcible rape, robbery,
burglary, weapons
○ It is no longer true that men are the most violent crime victims (46% in
2018)
○ Still, 81% of violent crime is male victim and male offender
○ Homicide victims are most often 15-24 year old men; in 2018, over 75% of
murder victims were men
● Law
○ Men are less likely than women to avoid incarceration, and receive longer
sentences
○ Men make up 93% of federal and state prison inmates
○ Men are awarded less child custody

Reducing gender inequality

● Change how we socialize children into gender roles
● Crack down on gender discrimination and sexual harrassment
● fund childcare

WEEK 8 SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Terms to know
● Sexual orientation-> sexual attraction to a gender (more than two genders)
○ Heterosexual- sexual attraction to a different gender
○ Homosexual- sexual attraction to the same gender
○ Bisexual- sexual attraction to own and another gender
○ Polysexual- sexual attraction to multiple (but not necessarily all) genders
○ Pansexual- sexual attraction to all genders: attraction regardless of gender
○ Asexual- lack of sexual attraction
■ Some asexuals, called demisexuals and graysexuals experience
sexual attraction in some circumstances
■ (One who does experience sexual attraction is called an allosexual)
■ Note: sexual orientation is different from romantic orientation
Demographics
 ● Hard to count
○ Blurry conceptualizations
● Find same sex relations appealing- men 5%, women 5.6%
● Attracted to people of same sex- men 6.2%, women 4.4%
● Identify as gay or bisexual- men 2.8%, women 1.4%
● At least one sex partner of same sex during past year- men 2.7%, women 1.3%
● At least one sex partner of same sex since turning 18- men 4.9%, women 4.1%
● Prevalence of LGBTQ
○ What percentage of Americans do you think identify as LGBTQ? Survey
guesses around 20%
○ Real estimate is 4.5% (less than 14 million)

Explaining sexual orientation: nurture vs. nature

● Genetic explanations
○ Twin studies- higher chance that twins will have same sex FALSE not
genetic
○ Prenatal hormones
○ Fraternal birth order
■ AKA NO GAY GENE
● Social and cultural explanations
○ Sexuality socialization-> acquiring norms, attitudes, symbols, values, etc.
about sex and sexuality
● Agents of socialization:
○ Parents
○ Peers
○ Media
○ Education
○ Government
● The final verdict:
○ Some influence from both biology and socialization
■ Genetic predispositions + environmental variations affecting trait
expression

Heteronormativity & Heterosexism

● Heteronormativity
○ The belief that heterosexuality is the default and norm
■ Gender binary
■ Sex, gender, gender roles
○ Personal and cultural
○ Blatant and subtle
 ● Heterosexism
○ An ideological system that denies, denigrates, and stigmatizes any
nonheterosexual form of behavior, identity, relationship, or community
○ Declining
○ Related to
■ Country’s wealth
■ political beliefs
■ Age
■ Education
■ Religion

Discrimination and Inequality

● Education
○ Bullying, violence, isolation
○ “An emphasis, in a factual manner and from a public health perspective,
that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and
that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state”
alabama state code
● Discrimination
○ Restrictions
○ Legal protections
● Support
○ Legal bans
○ Lack of training
● Absences and dropping out

Employment
● Employment rate
○ Gay and bisexual men < heterosexual men
○ Lesbian women > heterosexual women
● Income
○ The gay wage gap
○ The lesbian premium
● Discrimination and harassment
○ Discrimination
○ Jokes
○ Hiding

Healthcare
● Mental health
 ○ Depression and suicidality
● Substance use
○ Marijuana
○ Opiods
○ Alcohol
○ Treatment
● Healthcare
○ Preventative care
○ STDs
● Physical and sexual abuse

Law
● Family rights
○ Marriage
○ Children
● Military service (DADT)
● Religious loopholes

Not illegal in ohio

● Foster care discrimination based on sexual orientation
● credit/lending discrimination based on sexual orientation
● School discrimination and bullying based on students’ sexuality
● Health insurance discrimination based on sexual orientation
● Conversion therapy
● Panic defense
● Hate crimes

Economy
● Poverty (2019)
○ LGBTQ: 21.6%
○ CisHetero: 15.7%

Reducing Inequality
Efforts:
● Teach children acceptance; reject heteronormativity
● Improvements to schools
● Confront discrimination