summary

Niharika Dar

SOC 101-011

Professor Chuck Galli

February 3rd, 2014

Week 5 Reading Summary

In The Architecture of Inequity: Sex and Gender, Sociologist David M. Newman discusses four

main topics: sexism and gender discrimination on the personal level, the ideology behind the concept of

sexism, gender inequality within global and national institutions, and the pervasiveness of universal

gender based inequality. Gender, according to Newman, plays a huge role as an identifier of ones place

in within society’s stratification system. Based on this position in society, the distribution of society’s

most valuable resources is also allocated. Thus, although huge advances have been made in the battle for

women’s social, legal, political, and economic equality, the struggle is still very much a relevant part of

today’s global landscape.

Newman begins with a discussion on how gender discrimination and sexism is propagated on a

personal level. Newman defines sexism as, “a system of beliefs that asserts the inferiority of one sex and

justifys discrimination based on gender-that is, on feminine or masculine roles and behaviors.” In the

United States (as well as most other nations), the pervasive culture is one of a patriarchy in which the

dominant “cultural beliefs and values” favor men. In other words, in a patriarchy, men have the ability to

influence the political, economic, and personal decisions of other individuals, especially women, because

men have more of an access to valued resources. On the other side of the spectrum are matriarchies,

which have seldom been seen in the world. Additionally, because men tend to dominate in most societies

it’s sexism towards women that has more “cultural legitimacy” and is more likely to be observed in social

institutions. Nevertheless, it is important to note that discrimination against men coupled with male

gender stereotyping is also a concern.

Over the years, gender stereotypes in the United States have not changed much. Throughout

history, women have been perceived as more easily influenced, more dependent, and the more passive

gender. In fact, some sexism that occurs on the personal level is actually a result of the thought that men

can have that women need help and that helping women is a form of benevolence on their part. However,

men (the dominant sex in most societies) are unable to understand the degree to which this gender

discrimination and sexism present in society is harmful towards the less dominant sex as men take for

granted the social arrangement that has served their own interests. Newman cites the example of human

objectification as evidence of this phenomenon. Since men are not as often subjected to their entire worth

being degraded to their physical appearance they cannot understand the problem that women have with

actions akin to lewd comments and wolf whistles. On the other hand, women who are constantly being

objectified, see those same actions as a reminder of their worth being determined by their physical

appearance.

Communication is vital to personal level interactions and, by that regard, to sexism as it is

expressed on a personal level. At the most rudimentary level, women and men communicate both verbally

and nonverbally differently from each other. For example, woman are most likely to be polite and

deferential when they speak which makes them seem less powerful and consequently leads to questions

about their skills or qualifications. Additionally, women tend to act more ‘ladylike’ and ‘feminine’ by

acting more restrained. On the other hand, a man’s masculinity is gauged by his expansiveness which can

signal power and dominance.

In the military, misconduct against women is pervasive. This harassment lies “at the crossroads of

power and gender” since the military is known for having a masculine culture and many male soldiers

don’t think that a powerful woman in the military has acquired her power legitimately. Thus, military

Niharika Dar

SOC 101-011

Professor Chuck Galli

February 3rd, 2014

leaders who happen to be women are a catch-22 for male soldiers because they simultaneously occupy a

superior position based on their officer status and a subordinate status based on their gender.

Violence against women, according to Newton, is the epitome of sexual domination at a personal

level. Violence against women is a problem that is present globally and often is represented as rape. In

the United States, rape is the most frequently committed but least reported violent crime. In many

societies rape is used as means of social control. For example, rape against women is often seen during

wartime as a tactic that is used to not only exact terror or revenge against the ‘enemy’ women, but also

the men who view those same women as their property.

American society, according to Newman, has a tendency to assume that rapists are individuals

who have flaws rather than to assume that rape is problem that occurs due to societal failings. This is part

of the reason that some forms of sexual violence like marital rape are ignored or marginalized simply

because they don’t fit our mold of what sexual violence (or its perpetrators) should look like. In the

United States, there is also a culture of victim blaming in the case of rape. Many, including sometimes the

woman who has been raped, fault the woman who was raped (at least partially) for putting themselves in

a risky situation in the first place. Thus, many men and some women don’t always see violent sexual

assault or rape as a form of victimization.

The second major point that Newman discusses is the idea of biological difference between men

and women as the basis for the ideology of sexism. For example, since women are the gender that gives

birth to children they are naturally more nurturing and those natural tendencies of women are an

explanation of the professions that they get involved with outside the home such as teaching and social

work. Newman disagrees with the idea that because men and woman are biologically different, sexism is

justified. Newman argues that the problem with this rationale is that it confuses sex with gender and that

in a society where men and women have increasingly similar responsibilities the biological rationale for

gender inequality and sexism seems difficult to support.

Newman’s third point discusses the relationship between certain social institutions and gender

inequality. He defines institutional sexism as the “subordination of women that is part of everyday

working of social institutions.” Newman argues that institutional sexism makes equality between the

genders even more difficult to attain because it magnifies and extends women’s disadvantages. One of the

institutions that Newman discusses is healthcare. For example, while women are more likely to be the

focus of “intrusive medical care” and there are doctors that specialize solely in woman’s health (but few

that specialize in men’s health), the scientific research on women’s medical issues is still rather limited. In

fact, much research being done on new treatments or medications does not include women in its clinical

trials for fear of the liability risk associated with women.

Another institution that Newman discusses is the media. The creation and production of media

still tends to be controlled by men and the portrayal of women in media continues to be traditional and

stereotypical. However, there is also the idea that is depicted by the media that women must achieve

economically and educationally while still ‘looking good’. This depiction of women chooses to ignore the

fact that there are very real political, economic, and social forces at play in most societies that can impede

a woman’s path to personal and professional success. Finally, the physical representation of women in

media is an issue that is discussed by Newman. The media still portrays women in ways that are grossly

unrepresentative of ‘real’ women especially with regard to weight and size. Thinness is still something

that is valued in the media and this idea can also be propagated through society in very unhealthy ways

Niharika Dar

SOC 101-011

Professor Chuck Galli

February 3rd, 2014

such as seen in pro-anorexia (or ‘pro-ana’) websites that exist to encourage sometimes excessive and

dangerous weight loss as ‘healthy’. Newman also addresses gender inequality within the social institution

of family. During the times where agriculture was the primary means of existence, Newman argues that

complete male dominance in the family was balanced by the need for women to work alongside men and

contribute to the household economy. However, after industrialization the family economy transferred to

outside the home and because work outside the home became the man’s job, women’s work was

disvalued in the larger society. Even today, gender inequality is still present in family. For example,

housework is still typically a woman’s job regardless of her own (out of home) employment status or her

partner’s employment.

One of the major institutions that Newman targets is the economy. Even today, women have less

earning power in the labor market than men and the wage gap is a global phenomenon that is present, to

varying degrees, in most countries around the world. A woman’s success in the labor market is very

much influenced by the fact that, as a woman, she generally has more responsibilities at home and this

impacts her ability to ‘prove’ that she is a good, committed employee. Moreover, men can assume that

women will not be able to be good, committed employees regardless of their actual abilities or

commitment to their job. Still, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women who work in

traditionally ‘male’ fields including law, administration, and medicine. However, gender based

segregation can occur within these (and other) professions as well. For example, although more and more

women are getting involved in the field of law, women lawyers are still promoted at a lower rate than

male lawyers and women are underrepresented in high positions like judges on federal or district courts.

Additionally, while there has been a significant increase in female participation in traditionally male

dominated fields, segregation still exists in that there is still very minimal influx of men entering more

traditionally female jobs. Overall, Newman argues that because there is gender inequality in the economy

and in the labor market, society as a whole loses because an individual is not necessarily free to select the

job that he or she would be able to do the best work in.

The fourth and final topic discussed by Newman is the pervasiveness of gender inequality around

the world. Globally, women remain physically, politically, socially, and economically disadvantaged in

most societies. Generally, gender inequality is “woven into the institutional and cultural fabric” of these

societies and thus can be difficult to alter. However, Newman mentions that to a certain extent women’s

lives around the world are showing signs of improving and that this improvement is partially a result of

“global forces of change, which sometimes spread democratic values and humanitarian principles.”

In conclusion, Newman’s discussion of sex and gender hinges on the idea that gender based

inequality stems from the institutional and cultural fabrics of societies and is expressed widely on a

personal level through different means. Newman argues that in order to eliminate gender based inequality

first men have to realize and understand their role in gender inequality and then there has to be a

fundamental transformation of “institutional patterns and cultural values”- a process that Newman himself

admits will be extremely challenging.