Around the world, gender is the primary division between
people. Every society sort’s men and women into separate groups and give them
different access to property, power, and prestige. These divisions always favor
men as a group. This is known as gender stratification.
According to historian and feminist Gerda Lerner there is
not a single society known where women-as-a-group have decision-making power
over men (as a group). Consequently, sociologists classify females as a
minority group.
Some analysts believe that in hunting and gathering
societies, women and men were social equals and that agricultural societies
also had less gender discrimination than is common today .In these societies,
women may have contributed about 60 percent of the group’s total food. Yet,
around the world, gender is the basis for discrimination.
Difference between sex and gender are defined as Sex refers
to biological distinctions between males and females. It consists of both
primary and secondary sex characteristics. Gender, in contrast, is what a
society considers proper behaviors and attitudes for its male and female
members. Sex physically distinguishes males from females; gender refers to what
people call “masculine” and “feminine.”
Credit: Notes from James M Henslin, “Sociology- A Down to
Earth Approach”
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