Min Myint

Professor Ortega

Sociology 1

April 14, 2017

On Gender: Witt Ch. 12

Social construction of gender is socially constructed and the sociocultural influences that

surround an individual. When these children are born, their genders are identified and according

to their genders society had already set up blue color for boy and pink for a girl. Gender of the

newborn shapes how they will grow up, the type of career they choose, and the type of friends

they make. Children were told to act according to their gender. Words such as Boys dont cry

You hit like a girl are constant reminder of this gender inequality and these were introduced to

the children in their early ages.

sFeminism is a social movement in which its goal is to promote womens right in society

and equality for women. The first wave of feminist movement in United States began in Upstate

New York during the summer of 1848. The very first Womens Right convention was held on

July 19, 1848 and it was attended by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and others. They

were mocked and criticized for their movement but they were not afraid to fight for their cause,

which was legal and political equality for women. One of their biggest victories was the

ratification of 19th Amendment because women can vote just like men. The second wave of the

feminism started around the 1960s and came into full force in the 1970s. The second wave

started because women were cut off from society, their access to economic, educational, social,

and cultural resources. Due to this oppression, Betty Friedan found the National Organization for

Women (NOW) in 1966 where she served as to fight for womens equality in society. Feminists
like Friedan fought to open up career opportunities for women rather than getting married and

having children. The third wave of feminism was part of the generational shift where younger

women were not satisfied with the image that the feminism holds. Before the third wave,

feminism was viewed as white, upper-middle class, and heterosexual. The third wave feminists

are more open to sexuality and diversity of race, gender, class and ethnicities. Sexism is

described as prejudice and discrimination based on the idea that one sex is superior to the other.

On the other hand, institutional discrimination is described as the societys systematical

operations of denying women to job opportunities and resources. The term glass ceiling means

an invisible barrier that limit individuals from getting promoted due to their gender, race,and

ethnicity.

Men are likely to perform in jobs such as firefighters and police officers, aircraft pilots,

mechanical and civil engineers. On the other hand, women are likely to perform in jobs such as

dental hygienists with 98.3% of female in the field. The next occupation with high female

percent is childcare workers, typists, receptionists and registered nurse. In 2013, the median

income for men was $50,033 while the median income for women was $39,157. This statistics

show that men earn more money than women even though society claims that equal pay for

equal work. There were only three jobs out of 141 jobs in which women earn more than men.

Those three include bakers, wholesale and retail buyers, and computer occupations.

The second shift is the word that described the womens burden of taking care of the

family after she got off from work. This is very common in most of the household. My aunt

works, as a Clinical MD and she would cook food and does chores after coming back from her

work. I think this still exists because society expects women to the meet the standards of being a

woman in a household. And these standards include taking care of the children, cooking food,
doing laundry, grocery runs, PTA meetings, and etc. I think it is possible to equalize the second

shift in a household but it needs dedication from both husband and wife. If they can share the

responsibilities and taking turn throughout the week, I think we can get the weight off the

womens shoulders in a household.