Page 188 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Unit 9: Gender and Stratification

Postmodern feminists claim that there is no fixed female identity. The socially constructed identities Notes
can be reconstructed or deconstructed. Thus the distinctions between sex and gender are criticized
from two perspectives : (i) ‘difference feminists’ who believe that “there are essential difference
between men and women and the social and cultural characteristics are seen to refer the biological
differences” and (ii) ‘postmodern feminists’ who “questioned whether sex is a clear-cut biological
distinction as is usually assumed”. In other words the features of biological motherhood do not
apply to women who cannot bear children. Thus “there is a biology-culture continuum rather
than a fixed biological/cultural divide and the categories male and female become more or less
arbitrary and the concepts of sex and gender become hopelessly entangled”.
Black feminists have prioritized differences based on race and challenge the tendency within
feminism to ignore it. They portray sexism and racism as interlinked systems of oppression and
highlight the particular range of gender, racial and economic disadvantages that confront “women
of colour”. Black feminists argue that women are not subject to common forms of oppression due
to their sex but ‘women of colour ‘in particular are more vulnerable to oppression and subjugation.
They criticize the liberal, Marxist, socialist and radical feminists for ignoring race as a category of
oppression and analysis. By assuming that gender is primary form of subordination, oppression
of class, sexuality and race become extensions of patriarchal domination. Radical feminists’
insistence that the elimination of sexism is key to the elimination racism is inadequate to “women
of colour” as they experience racism from white women as well as from men (Grant, 1993 in
Mandell, 1995 : 18). Thus an analysis of the intersection of class, caste, race, sexuality and gender
is important.
Therefore while earlier feminists struggled for a legally equal position for women and demanded
democratic rights, which included right to education and employment, right to own property,
right to vote, right to birth control, right to divorce, today feminists have gone beyond demanding
mere legal reforms to end discrimination between men and women. They have raised issues of
violence against women, rape, unequal wages, discriminatory personal laws, the sexual division
of labour, distribution of power within the family, use of religion to oppress women and negative
portrayal of women in media. Emancipation of women necessarily calls for challenging patriarchy
as a system which perpetuates women’s subordination. Several structures of society such as kinship
and family, class, caste, religion, ethnicity, educational institutions and state reinforce patriarchy.
Some of the experiences of multiple patriarchies can be illustrated by analyzing the dynamics and
interface of, social forces which institutionalize and legitimize patriarchy in society.
Structures of Patriarchy
The first lessons of patriarchy are learnt in the family where the head of the family is a man/
father. Man is considered the head of the family and controls women’s sexuality, labour or
production, reproduction and mobility. In a patriarchal family the birth of male child is preferred
to that of a female. The former is considered as the inheritor of the family while the later is
considered as paraya dhan. The Indian joint family is the “patriarchal family” and it was constituted
by a group of persons related in the male line and subject to absolute power of the senior most
male member. In the South Asian context kinship systems are largely based on patrilineal descent
which is the foundation of a pervasive patriarchal ideology that rationalizes the differential access
of men and women to the material and symbolic resources of society.
According to Gerda Lerner, family plays an important role in creating a hierarchical system as it
not only mirrors the order in the state and educates its children but also creates and constantly
reinforces that order. Family is therefore important for socializing the next generation in patriarchal
values. The boys learn to be dominating and aggressive and girls learn to be caring, loving and
submissive. These stereotypes of masculinity and femininity are not only social constructs but also
have been internalized by both men and women. While the pressure to earn and look after the

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