SOC263H5 Chapter 3: Chapter 3 soc.docx
Document Summary
Gender refers to the social construction of difference that is largely organized around biological sex: to suggest that gender is a social structure is to see gender as a central organizing feature of social life, gender relations are historically variable, cultural, ideological, biological, sexual, political, and material, gender involves identity, power, exploitation (treating people unfairly) and oppression (unjust, gender affects almost every aspect of social life and is often the basis of differential access to resources and power in canada and in other western societies, research on families and unpaid labor shows that women are disproportionately responsible for household labors, childcare, and emotion management in families and for caring for older relatives, compared to women, men tend to be concentrated in industries, labor markets, occupations, and jobs that are characterized by higher salaries, more benefits, greater autonomy, and higher status, gender inequality is often grounded in the relations of social reproduction and sexuality.