What’s In The Media? Gender Stratification Special

By: Gabriella Spivak

Sex is the biological distinction between females and males. Men are 10% taller than women, 20%heavier, and 30% stronger, especially in the upper body. Despite the actual physical differences, men are made to appear taller andmore powerful than women by Society.

Gender is our personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being a male and female. Transgender which refers to the woman on the right, is the spectrum of genderambiguity and is the various ways in which ourGendered behavior, activities, dress, and identities do not match Up neatly with the assumption that there aretwo biological categories-Male and female.

This is a cover of Parade Magazine with a mom and her three sons. This falls under the topicof Gender Stratification because women today are given the role to stay at home while thehusband works. The mom is dressed in pink while her sons are in blue. That is a clear example of gender attitudes and activities that society today links to each sex.

Society today defines high-paying professions as masculine. Women continue to enter a narrow range of occupations, with almost half In clerical or service work. Furthermore, the greater ajob’s income and prestige,the more likely it is that theposition will be held by a Male. The average female full-time worker earns about77 cents for every dollar Earned by a male full-time employee.

The mass media which Includes television,Newspapers, magazines, Advertisements Etc. reinforces gender roles as well. Women are Presented as passive, fragile, and dependent while men are presented as active, strong, and Independent as shown inThe advertisement forThe movie, “The GreatGatsby.”

In some countries, boys areseen as more valuable thangirls- because boys can help with hard work. Here the man Is depicted as a tough,Masculine figure in the adFor the medicine Prilosec OTC

In the United States and other industrial societies, Women working for income is now the rule rather than the exception. Half of the U.S. married couples depend on two incomes.

In some societies, women have greater power thanmen. Matriarchy is the concept of “rule bymothers” and is a form of social organization in which females areDominant over males.

Female involvementIn politics is increasing as Well, although very slowly at the highest levels. Hilary Clinton is one of themany women includingSarah Palin and Condoleezza Rice paving the way for womenseeking a political career.

While women fit thedefinition of a minority group,most white women do not think of themselves this way. A minority is any category of people, distinguished by physical or culturaldifference, that a societysets apart and subordinates.