The U.S. Social Security Administration has established an official poverty line. The poverty line ...

Answer to q. 1

b

Answer to q. 2

We learn gender-appropriate behavior through the socialization process. Our parents, teachers, friends, and the media all serve as gendered institutions that communicate to us our earliest, and often most lasting, beliefs about the social meanings of being male or female and about thinking and behaving in masculine or feminine ways. Many parents prefer boys to girls because of stereotypical ideas about the relative importance of males and females to the future of the family and society. Research suggests that social expectations also play a major role in this preference. We are socialized to believe that it is important to have a son, especially for a first or only child. For many years, it was assumed that a male child could support his parents in their later years and carry on the family name. Across cultures, boys are preferred to girls, especially when the number of children that parents can have is limited by law or economic conditions. In China, which strictly regulates the allowable number of children to one per family, a disproportionate number of female fetuses are aborted. In India, the practice of aborting female fetuses is widespread, and female infanticide occurs frequently. As a result, both China and India have a growing surplus of young men who will face a shortage of women of their own age. In the United States, some sex selection no doubt takes place through abortion. However, most women seek abortions because of socioeconomic factors, problematic relationships with partners, health-related concerns, and lack of readiness or ability to care for a child.

Answer to q. 3

a

Answer to q. 4

b

Answer to q. 5

Three factors are important in determining the gendered division of labor in a society:

(1) the type of subsistence base, (2) the supply of and demand for labor, and (3) the extent to which women's child-rearing activities are compatible with certain types of work. The earliest known division of labor between women and men is in hunting and gathering societies. While the men hunt for wild game, women gather roots and berries. A relatively equitable relationship exists because neither sex has the ability to provide all the food necessary for survival.

In most of these societies, women are full economic partners with men; relations between them tend to be cooperative and relatively egalitarian. Social practices contribute to gender inequality in horticultural and pastoral societies. In horticultural societies, a steady source of food becomes available. Women make an important contribution to food production because hoe cultivation is compatible with childcare. A fairly high degree of gender equality exists because neither sex controls the food supply. In agrarian societies, gender inequality and male dominance become institutionalized. Because agrarian tasks require more labor and greater physical strength, men become more involved in food production. It has been suggested that women are excluded from these tasks because they are viewed as too weak for the work and because child care responsibilities are considered incompatible with the full-time labor that the tasks require. As societies industrialize, the status of women tends to decline further. Industrialization in the United States created a gap between the nonpaid work performed by women at home and the paid work that increasingly was performed by men and unmarried girls. Men were responsible for being breadwinners women were seen as homemakers. In this new cult of domesticity, the home became a private, personal sphere in which women created a haven for the family. In postindustrial societies, the division of labor in paid employment is increasingly based on whether people provide or apply information or are employed in service jobs such as fast-food restaurant counter help or health care workers. Formal education is increasingly critical for economic and social success.

Answer to q. 6

d

Answer to q. 7

a

Answer to q. 8

Sexism directed at women has three components: (1) negative attitudes toward women; (2) stereotypical beliefs that reinforce, complement, or justify the prejudice and (3) discriminationacts that exclude, distance, or keep women separate. Although women are more often the target of sexist remarks and practices, men can be victims of sexist assumptions. Sexism is used to justify discriminatory treatment. When women participate in what is considered gender-inappropriate endeavors in the workplace, at home, or in leisure activities, they often find that they are the targets of prejudice and discrimination. Obvious manifestations of sexism are found in the undervaluing of women's work and in hiring and promotion practices that effectively exclude women from an organization or confine them to the bottom of the organizational hierarchy. Sexism is interwoven with patriarchya hierarchical system of social organization in which cultural, political, and economic structures are controlled by men. By contrast, matriarchy is a hierarchical system of social organization in which cultural, political, and economic structures are controlled by women. Patriarchy is reflected in the way men may think of their position as men as a given, whereas women may deliberate on what their position in society should be.

Gender inequality and a division of labor based on male dominance are nearly universal.

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