SOC 808 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Gender Inequality, Overconsumption, Grammatical Gender

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 808
• Professor: Mustafa Koc

Document Summary

This week we will be looking at gender differences in relation to food, in terms of division of labour at the domestic sphere (home) and the public sphere (workplace). Sociologists underline the fact that these differences are not based on biological differences but socially constructed. Gender refers to a social distinction based on culturally conceived and learned ideas about what constitutes appropriate appearance and behaviour for males and females. Gender is a social construction with important consequences in everyday life; gender stereotypes hold that men and women are inherently different in attributes, behaviour, and aspirations. Recognition of caring as a maternal role in patriarchal societies and the emergence of patriarchal division of labour. In industrial societies we see a tendency for separation of domestic sphere (home) from public sphere (work). Care work as domestic labour is not valued. Working mothers spend less time in breast feeding their babies.