Soc. 3251W Race, Class, and Gender

In response to Question 1, I think it's interesting that this is the question you ask, specifically because I think that often when people examine gender and gender roles we tend to ask questions just like this and think about how or why they might be changed or removed. Nicole asked a similar question in her response (Question 2, The division of sexes).

I believe that a society shapes itself, and that we "can" do anything and change anything that we want to, over time, as attitudes and values shift. So I can't help but wonder whether a more interesting question might be whether we should be engaged in changing the basic assumptions of gender in our society.

Are those concrete divisions in place for an important reason that's central to the functioning of our society? Does that function change depending on what you view as important? Are you more apt to support increasing gender ambiguity if you believe that the role of society is to provide for the happiness of all of the people participating than if you believe that the role of society is to generate wealth or power for the groups in power in a given society?

I don't know, myself, but I'd be interested to see what other people think of this.

"Do you think society would be different if the gender roles were reversed? (If men were the ones that were supposed to watch teh children and be emotional and women were the tough ones)."

I think this is a very interesting question. We always think that women's biological "role" is not only to bear children but also raise them, take care of them, etc. Almost all societies, in my opinion, do not place the same importance on fatherhood as they do on motherhood and women's role in bringing up children. WOmen tend to be the better parents and so I wonder if there are biological reasons for that, or as sociologists would argue that this is "sociall constructed". Instead of the question of parenthood, or role reversal, I would be intersted in knowing how power reversal between men and women would change a society. WOuld women be sexist if they had more power than men? Would inequality between the genders, races, etc. be the same in a women dominated world?

"Women tend to be the better parents"

I'd call that an unfair stereotype. I know lots of great fathers and plenty of really awful mothers. It also depends on what you mean by "better", for how long you mean, which gender (if either or both) that applies to, etc etc.

Babies are physically dependent on their mothers for a while, sure, but after that, saying that women are better parents is just a gender role that you've been taught is true and had reinforced through observation of societal norms.

"Would women be sexist if they had more power than men?"

People in power tend to want to remain in power, because it's an advantageous position, and will attempt to protect themselves from threats to that power.

If sexism is an effective means to retain power in a given society, I think that it's plausible that either or any gender in power would use it, provided it was marginally acceptable to those others in power.

I don't think there's anything inherently masculine or male to sexism. Rather, we learn from society to hold any attitudes we might have about relative power positions. It's equally sexist, in my opinion, to assume that men are categorically less capable to raise children past their dependency stage as it is to say that women can't commit to a job like a man would.

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