Assignment 4: Gender and Paid Work

1. Based on the lecture slides, the difference between sex and gender is that sex is the biological difference between a male and a female. It is only based on whether the person is a boy or girl. Gender focuses on the characteristics of male and females that we, as a society, view each sex. For example, the way a male or a female dresses, feels, and how we idtentify ourselves.

2. I was doing gender before I went to the zoo this morning with my nieces and sister in law. I wouldn't leave the house without repainting my nails AND making my nieces do their hair!

3. A) The researchers used interviews, with open ended questions, as their method. Their study was based on a population of 11-14 year olds and the sample size was 44 middle school students.

B) One limitation that the research had was the non-diverse population. The majority of the study was done on white participants. The lack of diversity in ethnicity, race, and religion leans towards a bias towards the study/results.

C)Most females and males believed that there should be gender equality with boys and girls. They showed that if they were to exchange from a male to female, or female to male, they would still expect to be treated the same. However, there were contradictions when discussing jobs for the different sex's which I assume pertains to the concept of "gender roles".

D) Middle-schoolers described "girly-girls" as always worrying about their appearance, such as afraid to get dirty, ruin their hair/nails, and "tomboys" as athletic and not caring about their appearance.

E) I believe that children grow up in a nature/learned environment. For example when children are young-toddlers, infants, etc- they unaware and do not think about the diffence between boy and girls, including toys. For example, my niece is 3 years old and she loves cars, trucks, etc. At such a young age children are engaged by what looks appealing to them. Whether it be the colors, the way they look, or the way they sound, children choose their toys and interests based on what they find fun. I believe in nature/learned because children lean towards certain things from their interests, and parents/society are the ones to either accept their choices or not. For example, in my child development class in high school, one of the pre-schoolers, a boy, loved to play dress up and roll play. He put the heels on for fun and his father freaked out when he saw. He then learned that "boys do not wear heels". Children grow up and learn what is apparently right from wrong from parental and societal influence.

Quiz
1.F__ In the year 2000, 64.6 percent of mothers with children younger than age 6 were part of the labor force.
2.F__ The number of working mothers with children ages 6 to 17 increased by 15 percent between 1975 and 1980.
3.F___ During the period 1995 to 2001, the number of working mothers with children younger than age 6 increased by more than 5 percent.
4.T__ In the last five years on the chart, the percentage of working mothers with children younger than age 18 decreased.
5.T__ The number of working mothers with children younger than age 6 went above the 50 percent mark for the first time between the years 1980 and 1985.
6.T__ The number of working mothers with children ages 6 to 17 has not been below 70 percent since 1980.
7.T___ The number of working mothers with children younger than age 6 decreased between 1997 and 2001.
8.F___ In 1955, fewer than one-fourth of all mothers with children under age 18 were part of the U.S. workforce.
9.T__ Working mothers with children younger than age 6 have always made up a smaller percentage of the workforce than those who have children ages 6 to 17.
10.T___ In the year 2001, more than three-fourths of all mothers of children ages 6 to 17 were part of the labor force.        

6)I believe that women are doing as well as I expected. Many mothers want to stay home with their children, instead of working. However, not everyone is fortunate enough to have the option of being a stay at home mom. Compared to the past many mothers work hard to support their family.