Gender

Sex is the biological difference between men and women. Gender is the social construction of the difference between males and females. We often talk about gender difference and inequality.

Discussion Preparation:

• Read Chapter 11
• Watch the video on the feminist movement TheF-Word (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.).

Discussion

• Discuss what is the feminist movement and what are their objectives.
• Using the video as your guide, discuss if the movement has met its objectives?
• What does the future hold for gender equality in the U.S.. Discuss using one of the perspectives. Include “intersectionality” Refer back to Chapter one to see how it fits in with DuBois’ discussion and apply to feminism and race.

Comment on classmate’s postClassmate’s post

The feminist movement is the movement where feminists ask for changes by expressing their appeals about treatment and rights in the different aspects of society. The feminists have different appeals, for instance, political rights, wage levels, and many other nondiscriminatory actions for women. In general, feminists hope that women can have the same rights as men.

Watching this video, I see the movement has not yet met its objectives. There is still a great degree of inequality between men and women in society even though women have been making gradual progress throughout these recent decades. For instance, as the video has mentioned, women only have control over a small portion of wealth in the current world even though their participation in the labor force is highly valuable. Though the legal system and political system have been made improvements for women’s rights and we have world leaders who are female, women still seem to have little say on a lot of political matters. Furthermore, there appears to be disagreement within the feminist movements, which is in particular regard to the methods of protesting and demonstrating.

In my perspective, gender equality is very hard to reach the goal. The more society develops, the more diverse and sophisticated racism will be. It could be an issue that is more complex than most people would expect. In conflict theory, men currently appear to possess more resources in society compared to women. The empowerment of women may lead men to the loss of control over resources and redistribution of the resources in society. Therefore, it is possible that some people, especially men, may not be supportive of the feminist movement. Moreover, Dubois’ discussion about the factors of race and genders shed light on how different factors can be intersectional when it comes to the formation of oppression and discrimination. For instance, African American women may face both racial and gender discrimination. It seems that DuBois’ thoughts about race and gender helped establish a foundation for the idea of intersectionality. The struggle for racial equality is rather similar to the struggle for gender equality, and they are both connected. The attitudes of prejudging and discriminating are what we should struggle against. Although it is difficult to eliminate these stereotypes, everyone contributes a common voice to alleviate this stereotype. Also, obtaining understandings of different races and genders would be crucial in these movements.