Showing papers in "Gender & Society in 1993"
TL;DR: In this paper, sexual identity formation among lesbians and bisexuals was examined and it was shown that coming out is not a linear, goal-oriented, developmental process, but a process of describing one's social location within a changing social context.
Abstract: This article examines sexual identity formation among 346 lesbian-identified and 60 bisexual-identified women. On average, bisexuals come out at later ages and exhibit less “stable” identity histories. However, variations in identity history among lesbians and bisexuals overshadow the differences between them and demonstrate that coming out is not a linear, goal-oriented, developmental process. Sexual identity formation must be reconceptualized as a process of describing one's social location within a changing social context. Changes in sexual identity are, therefore, expected of mature individuals as they maintain an accurate description of their position vis-a-vis other individuals, groups, and institutions.
337 citations
TL;DR: The content of the two sets of constructed social categories, "females and males" and "women and men" is so varied that their use in research without further specification renders the results spurious as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Western ideology takes biology as the cause, and behavior and social statuses as the effects, and then proceeds to construct biological dichotomies to justify the “naturalness” of gendered behavior and gendered social statuses. What we believe is what we see—two sexes producing two genders. The process, however, goes the other way: gender constructs social bodies to be different and unequal. The content of the two sets of constructed social categories, “females and males” and “women and men,” is so varied that their use in research without further specification renders the results spurious.
329 citations
TL;DR: The authors compared and analyzed the verbal commentary of two women's and men's athletic events: the "final four" of the 1989 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournament and the mixed-doubles matches of 1989 U.S. Open tennis tournament.
Abstract: This research compares and analyzes the verbal commentary of televised coverage of two women's and men's athletic events: the “final four” of the women's and men's 1989 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournaments and the women's and men's singles, women's and men's doubles, and the mixed-doubles matches of the 1989 U.S. Open tennis tournament. Although we found less overtly sexist commentary than has been observed in past research, we did find two categories of difference: (1) gender marking and (2) a “hierarchy of naming” by gender and, to a certain extent, by race. These differences are described and analyzed in light of feminist analyses of gendered language. It is concluded that televised sports commentary contributes to the construction of gender and racial hierarchies by marking women's sports and women athletes as “other,” by infantilizing women athletes (and, to a certain extent, male athletes of color), and by framing the accomplishments of women athletes ambivalently.
310 citations
TL;DR: The authors compared data from two independently conducted in-depth interview studies of male nurses: one by a female researcher and another by a male researcher, and observed differences in how the men in the samples framed their responses to questions in the two studies.
Abstract: Sociologists who use in-depth interview methods have become sensitized to the ways that race-ethnicity and class can form barriers to rapport with respondents, but the question of gender has been largely unexamined. This article compares data from two independently conducted in-depth interview studies of male nurses: one by a female researcher and one by a male researcher. Observed differences in how the men in the samples framed their responses to questions in the two studies are discussed. It is argued that in-depth interviewers can and should become sensitized to respondents' negotiation of the gendered context of the interaction, but the existing proscriptions against cross-gender research are challenged.
233 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated patterns of homicide between opposite gender relational partners for the twelve years of 1976 through 1987 based on Supplementary Homicide Report Data, comparing rates between couples in marital and non-marital relationships.
Abstract: Only a few studies have disaggregated homicide rates by relationship type or gender, with little investigation of homicide trends in adult marital and other intimate relationships. The current study documents patterns of homicide between opposite gender relational partners for the twelve years of 1976 through 1987 based on Supplementary Homicide Report Data, comparing rates between couples in marital and nonmarital relationships. Analyses reveal that the homicide rate for married couples declined somewhat during this period, although the drop in the rate of wives killing husbands was greater than the drop in the rate of husbands killing wives. However, homicides involving unmarried couples followed a very different pattern. Whereas the lethal victimization rate for men in unmarried relationships varied unsystematically over time from 1976 through 1987, the rate of unmarried women being killed by their male partners increased significantly. Findings demonstrate the importance of disaggregating homicide dat...
212 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the specific leadership roles of Black women activists and described the experiences of selected Black women from their own "standpoint" and offered explanations for the lack of recognition and non-inclusion of black women in the recognized leadership cadre of the civil rights movement.
Abstract: In spite of their performance of highly valuable roles in the civil rights movement, southern Black women (such as Septima Poinsette Clark, McCree Harris, Shirley Sherrod, Diane Nash, Johnnie Carr, Thelma Glass, Georgia Gilmore, and JoAnn Robinson) remain a category of invisible, unsung heroes and leaders. Utilizing archival data and a subsample of personal interviews conducted with civil rights leaders, this article (1) explores the specific leadership roles of Black women activists; (2) describes the experiences of selected Black women activists from their own “standpoint”; and (3) offers explanations for the lack of recognition and non-inclusion of Black women in the recognized leadership cadre of the civil rights movement. The modern southern-based struggle is most illustrative of how the interlocking systems of gender, race, and class structure Black women's movement leadership and participation.
198 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined changes in men's attitudes toward the family provider role using data from the National Opinion Research Center, General Social Surveys for 1972 through 1989 and found that structural change in the economy of the family that has changed men's experience as breadwinners is the major force altering gender expectations about family roles.
Abstract: This article examines changes in men's attitudes toward the family provider role using data from the National Opinion Research Center, General Social Surveys for 1972 through 1989. Men's attitudes have become more egalitarian over this period; however, men approve more of sharing provider-role enactment than of sharing provider-role responsibility. Cohort succession was a more important source of change than change within cohorts. Differences among men in attitudes toward the provider role were associated with differences in men's provider-role experiences, although there was a time lag between change in actual experience and change in attitudes. The findings suggest that structural change in the economy of the family that has changed men's experience as breadwinners is the major force altering gender expectations about family roles. Attitudes among some groups of men, those not directly affected by these changes and married men who gain privileges from the breadwinner status, however, continue to reflect...
155 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated whether and how sex and race affect access to and rewards for job authority, using 1980 survey data for 1,216 employed workers, and they examined whether, net of human-capital characteristics, sex, race, and gender affect access and compensation for authority.
Abstract: This study investigates whether and how sex and race affect access to and rewards for job authority, using 1980 survey data for 1,216 employed workers. The authors examine whether, net of human-capital characteristics, sex and race affect access to and compensation for job authority. In addition, the authors examine whether the translation of credentials into authority and earnings varies depending on workers' sex or race.
143 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that male and female servers in integrated wait staffs "do gender" by performing gendered service styles, even when men and women are coservers, job titles and dress codes suggest that providing service in a fine dining restaurant is waitering, whereas serving in a coffee shop is waitressing.
Abstract: Work organizations construct gender relations by two mechanisms. First, they allocate men and women to different positions. Instead of the traditional pattern of firm-specific segregation of waiters and waitresses, quantitative data show that most restaurants in this study have integrated wait staffs. Second, work organizations define job performances in gender terms. Qualitative data from five illustrative restaurants show that male and female servers in integrated staffs “do gender” by performing gendered service styles. Even when men and women are coservers, job titles and dress codes suggest that providing service in a fine dining restaurant is waitering, whereas serving in a coffee shop is waitressing. Focusing on gendered styles of services expands our definition of gender and has serious implications for efforts to achieve occupational integration.
106 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the sexist work experiences of a sample of women lawyers in a medium-sized midwestern city and found that women with careerist orientations (versus feminist orientations) report more sexual harassment.
Abstract: This article examines the sexist work experiences of a sample of women lawyers in a mediumsized midwestern city. Specifically, it focuses on reports of discrimination, gender disparagement, and sexual harassment as components of gendered systems that maintain and reinforce inequalities between men and women on the job. The relationships between these experiences, professional role orientation (feminist versus careerist) and structural work characteristics (types of workplace and deegree of tokenism) are explored. Respondents report lower levels of discrimination at the more visible and legally protected “front door” (in recruitment and hiring) than on the job (in salary, promotion, and job assignments). For the most part, private (versus public) sector employees and those in token positions report higher levels of sexist behavior. Contrary to expectations, those with careerist orientations (versus feminist orientations) report more sexual harassment. The interrelations and implications of these findings f...
79 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed an approach to cross-national research on the status of women that merges theoretical and methodological concerns, focusing on three dimensions of women's status: political, economic, and cultural.
Abstract: This article develops an approach to cross-national research on the status of women that merges theoretical and methodological concerns. The approach consists of understanding the concept status of women within three dimensions—political, economic, and cultural. The article differentiates between a public and a private domain within each dimension. To understand and compare the status of women in different countries, it is argued that it is imperative to study the interrelationships among the dimensions and domains of status of women. Contrasting the approach taken here with that of extant research on gender inequality and with efforts to locate a universal measure of women's status provides an illustration of the complexity involved in analyzing the status of women, the meaninglessness of talking globally about a single measure of status of women, and the necessity to go beyond male-centered measures of status to capture more fully women's status and experiences.
TL;DR: This article found that women are more likely than men to report hearing sexist jokes and remarks, referred to by their first names, to be asked whether they are lawyers, and to receive compliments about their appearance rather than their achievements.
Abstract: Research on the entry of women into occupational settings confirms the importance of the structural composition of the workplace insofar as women are treated as tokens. This study examines women lawyers in terms of three consequences of tokenism: visibility, polarization, and stereotyping. The results from a survey of lawyers in southern Arizona (N = 112) indicate support for the theory of tokenism. Women are more likely than men to report hearing sexist jokes and remarks, to be referred to by their first names, to be asked whether they are lawyers, and to receive compliments about their appearance rather than their achievements. These results highlight important gender differences in legal careers; it remains to be seen whether changes in women's numerical representation alone will be sufficient for changing the relations between dominants and tokens in legal workplaces.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the ways that sexual risk behaviors are related to race, class, and gender among low-income, culturally diverse women in South Florida and find that race is a major factor that places women into an underclass position.
Abstract: This article focuses on the ways that sexual risk behaviors are related to race, class, and gender among low-income, culturally diverse women in South Florida. Data concerning sexual risk (frequency of condom use) and gender (decision making with regard to condom use and gender attitudes) are presented in terms of race and class variations. Results indicate that, in general, these women have a high degree of knowledge about acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), a quite contemporary awareness of women's gendered subordination, and a lack of trust in heterosexual relationships. Attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge, however, are not translated into sexual behaviors with men partners that would reduce their vulnerability to infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The data indicate that race is a major factor that places women into an underclass position. Consequently, without socioeconomic resources, gendered behaviors have a direct influence on sexual risk. Multivariate analyses indicate th...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined whether wives' relative resources and material conditions affect husbands' domestic labor within varying economic development contexts and found that wives' material conditions and relative resources have no consistent, significant effects on husbands' regularity of housework participation.
Abstract: The study described in this article examines whether wives' relative resources and material conditions affect husbands' domestic labor within varying economic development contexts. The study tests: (1) whether wives' relative resources increase husbands' regularity of housework participation and (2) whether the effects of wives' relative resources on husbands' regularity of housework participation vary in quantity and effect at different levels of economic development. The study indicates that wives' material conditions and relative resources have no consistent, significant effects on husbands' regularity of housework participation. Levels of national economic development also have little effect.
TL;DR: In this paper, empirical data on the dynamics of marital bargaining in the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in male infertility and the extent of the woman's agency in trying to resolve the situation, using interview data from nine married couples and three additional wives.
Abstract: This article provides empirical data on the dynamics of marital bargaining in the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in male infertility and the extent of the woman's agency in trying to resolve the situation, using interview data from nine married couples and three additional wives. Although there were too few cases for demographic variation among the categories, the research did indicate that choice and altruism entailed dynamics distinguishable from patriarchal bargains, and, if there was subtle coercion, it was exerted in ways quite different from that experienced by the wives who felt openly pressured.
TL;DR: Weitzman et al. as discussed by the authors found evidence that female characters and female relationships receive considerably more attention in recent books by both conventional illustrators and Black illustrators than they did in the late 1960s.
Abstract: The authors mark the twentieth anniversary of the classic study by Weitzman et al., which found considerable gender stereotyping in picture books for preschool children, by replicating and extending their study with an updated sample that includes books by Black illustrators. The authors find evidence that female characters and female relationships receive considerably more attention in recent books by both conventional illustrators and Black illustrators than they did in the late 1960s. They also find, consistent with the liberal feminist aims of Weitzman et al., evidence that male and female characters are shown in a more egalitarian fashion than they were in the late 1960s in books by mainstream authors. Finally, they discover that, consistent with the aims of recent Black feminist theorists, Black illustrators are more apt than others to highlight women's involvement in an ethic of caring and an ethic of personal accountability.
TL;DR: This paper developed a framework for cross-national comparisons of contemporary women's movements and concluded that there cannot be one correct feminism, because each of these factors shapes a particular movement, and therefore there is no one correct women's movement.
Abstract: This article develops a framework for cross-national comparisons of contemporary women's movements. The article focuses on the international context and cross-national influences, the nature of the state, the absence or presence of other movements, the effects of conservative or liberal political environments, the effects of centralization or dispersion within the movement itself and on feminist involvement in political parties and elections. Because each of these factors shapes a particular movement, the article concludes that there cannot be one correct feminism.
TL;DR: The authors found that women who provided services directly related to their husbands' work may have been the most satisfied with their involvement, while women who did not provide services were less satisfied with the satisfaction of their involvement.
Abstract: Recent feminist literature has begun to call attention to the diverse linkages between work and family, including the extensive work married women often do for their husbands' careers. Using a longitudinal sample of American women born around 1910, this study employs quantitative and qualitative data to compare different aspects of wives' support and to develop an understanding of how women of their generation constructed their involvement. The authors begin their analysis by comparing wives' support across husbands' occupations and then examining differences in activities and the ways in which women describe their relationships to their husbands' work. They find considerable variation in the way women constructed their relationships to husbands' careers. The evidence suggests that women who provided services directly related to their husbands' work may have been the most satisfied with their involvement.
TL;DR: In this article, the historical circumstances surrounding the inclusion of gender in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act reveal how race, class, and gender operate in complex and contradictory patterns to shape social policy.
Abstract: An examination of the historical circumstances surrounding the inclusion of gender in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act reveals how race, class, and gender operate in complex and contradictory patterns to shape social policy. Two levels of analysis are presented. One focuses on political conflict within the state. The other is a textual analysis of the actual congressional debate on the gender amendment to Title VII.
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the shifts that occurred in these bargains during the past 40 years in terms of the submerged networks of feminist consciousness that have existed in Catholic convents for decades and concludes with a description of the current crisis occurring within religious orders as they experience a decline in membership and rapidly increasing median ages of members.
Abstract: Despite the classic patriarchy of the Roman Catholic church, American Catholic nuns entered into patriarchal bargains that latently gained them access to resources and status within the system. By means of educational advancement and professional careers, encouraged by the male hierarchy as necessary to performing the works of the church, nuns gained both informal power in the system and an awareness of their disadvantaged position. This article analyzes the shifts that have occurred in these bargains during the past 40 years in terms of the submerged networks of feminist consciousness that have existed in Catholic convents for decades. The article concludes with a description of the current crisis occurring within religious orders as they experience a decline in membership and rapidly increasing median ages of members.
TL;DR: The Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act established two distinct views of employment discrimination and two different enforcement structures, one aimed at sex and the other at race discrimination.
Abstract: When passed, the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act established two distinct views of employment discrimination and two different enforcement structures—one aimed at sex and the other at race discrimination. To explain this bifurcated approach to employment discrimination, it is necessary to examine not only social class but also gender and race relations. Sex and race discrimination bills addressed some of the problems of postwar capitalism in the United States. At the same time, however, the bifurcated discrimination policy enforced women's dependence on men in families. But it did this differently for white men than it did for men of color.
Abstract: In this article, gender-differentiated employment practices are examined with a focus on different mechanisms of labor control in the South Korean textile industry, a prototypical Third World industry based on export-oriented industrialization. The analysis focuses on how labor control mechanisms, such as gender segregation in jobs and authority relations in the factory, the nature of worker dependency (based on the different forms of employment relationships), and subcontracting interact with gender and produce different outcomes for men and women workers in spinning and weaving and clothing industries. These practices are used to maintain the competitiveness of the South Korean product in the international market as well as for the maximization of profit in the textile industry.
TL;DR: This paper analyzed U.S. court cases involving reproductive technologies in terms of their implications for reproductive choice, mothers' versus fathers' rights, definitions and evaluations of parenting, and the nuclear family structure.
Abstract: This article analyzes U.S. court cases involving reproductive technologies in terms of their implications for reproductive choice, mothers' versus fathers' rights, definitions and evaluations of parenting, and the nuclear family structure. The analysis reveals that the courts have tended (a) not to recognize how social conditions shape women's reproductive choices, (b) to promote fathers' rights more than mothers' rights, (c) to ignore the social relationships that constitute childbearing and child rearing and value men's over women's biological contribution to these processes, (d) to reflect certain assumptions about the proper roles of mothers and fathers, and (e) to privilege the nuclear family. The implications of developing reproductive technology policy for an understanding of the relationships among gender, reproductive technologies, and the state are considered, and recommendations for the equitable regulation of these technologies are offered.
TL;DR: In this article, a production regime of "familial hegemony" was found in a Hong Kong electronics factory, and the social construction of gender has to be inserted into a theory of production politics to explain the specific forms and processes of this hegemonic regime.
Abstract: Drawing on Burawoy's framework of “factory regimes” and concepts of power and practice from Foucault and de Certeau, this article depicts a production regime of “familial hegemony” found in a Hong Kong electronics factory. It suggests that the social construction of gender has to be inserted into a theory of production politics if the specific forms and processes of this hegemonic regime are to be explained. In this particular case, ethnographic data capture how an everyday culture of familialism, built around notions of gender norms and behavior, is actively constructed by management and workers to serve their respective interests on the shopfloor.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship between sexuality and gender in medical opinion on homosexuality in men and women from 1900 to 1950, and found that the relationships between gender and sexuality vary in historically and socially specific ways.
Abstract: What is the relationship between gender and sexuality? Some theories claim that they are two distinct systems of stratification, whereas others claim that they are bound tightly together. By looking at medical opinion on homosexuality in men and women from 1900 to 1950, this article examines the relationship between sexuality and gender. Interpretive analysis of articles on homosexuality appearing in medical journals during this time suggests that the relationship between sexuality and gender varies in historically and socially specific ways.
TL;DR: The authors pointed out that researchers from different cultural and intellectual traditions also vary in the extent to which they willingly accept limits on their ability to generalize across national or cultural boundaries, and that this eagerness to generalise is a more widespread phenomenon.
Abstract: Diane Margolis (September 1993) has raised important issues in her recent article comparing women's movements in different countries and proposing several hypotheses for testing in further research. This is a laudable effort, as comparisons of social issues in different cultural and political settings are indispensable for an understanding of single-culture phenomena as well as variations in interational perspectives. To respond to Margolis's call for further reflection, I offer several comments and criticisms-both substantive and methodological -based on my own work with women's movements in a number of countries, especially in South and Southeast Asia, and an acquaintance with the global situation through secondary sources and international conferences. Obviously, generalizations drawn from a particular nation or region reflect the larger social, political, and economic contours of their places of origin. But researchers from different cultural and intellectual traditions also vary in the extent to which they willingly accept limits on their ability to generalize across national or cultural boundaries. In an earlier essay entitled "The World Is Not Like Us" (Papanek 1980), I criticized U.S. sociologists for being overly eager to extend conclusions drawn from U.S. studies to the rest of the world. I now think that this eagerness to generalize is a more widespread phenomenon. I have noted, for example, that many Indian scholars emphasize specificity over "generalizability," whereas the work of some Latin American scholars (or others writing about countries in Central or South America) shows an eagerness to generalize, "at least to the Third World," that equals or exceeds that of U.S. writers. Theories and ideologies that are widely accepted in particular intellectual milieux may also exacerbate such tendencies, particularly if they also make claims of global applicability.
TL;DR: In this paper, a scholar of Hanna Papanek's stature in cross-national studies has commented so thoughtfully on my article and incorporated some of her corrections in the final version, acknowledging her assistance there.
Abstract: I am gratified that a scholar of Hanna Papanek's stature in cross-national studies has commented so thoughtfully on my article. A response such as hers is what I hoped the article would elicit. Professor Papanek was generous enough to read an early version of the article and write a long critique. I incorporated some of her corrections in the final version, acknowledging her assistance there. But I thought her substantive comments, especially those on the summary hypotheses, deserved full exposure; therefore, I suggested she submit them to Gender & Society as a Comment. I am most happy she did. Because I had the opportunity to make changes, some of Professor Papanek's criticisms do not apply to the final version. I did state explicitly that the article was limited to readily available English-language materials and that they were used illustratively; no exhaustive review was intended. I am sure also that Professor Papanek is correct about the ideological dangers of using a single source for one country or region and I hope that I and others will be able to avoid this pitfall in the future. In response to Professor Papanek's comments on the term 'Third World," I tried to remove it from my text by using geographical terms instead. I could not, of course, change the language in quoted material. Even the geographical terms I used can be faulted as being insensitive to class and rural-urban differences within nations and regions. I am not aware that anyone has yet discovered a language that can simultaneously allow us broad analytical concepts and the specificity of fine differences. (Social science awaits its Seurat.) Finally, I want to clarify the point about violence against women. It is, I still think, a more urgent issue than economic equality. Although the latter is important, women must be able