- Define and explain Gender Inequality in your own words
- Use key terms such as Glass ceiling accurately
- Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
- Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic
This lesson focuses on Gender Inequality: examine the gender pay gap and the barrier called the glass ceiling.
Examine the gender pay gap and the barrier called the glass ceiling.
Key ideas
Weber: three dimensions of inequality
Max Weber agreed that economics matters but argued stratification has three separate dimensions. Class is a person's market situation, their income and wealth prospects. Status is social honour or prestige, which does not always match wealth. Party is power: the ability to get one's way through organisations and politics. Together they shape a person's life chances, the opportunities they have to get on in life. Weber's model explains puzzles Marx cannot, such as the high status of a low-paid nurse.
Marx: two great classes
Karl Marx argued that capitalist society is split between the bourgeoisie, who own the means of production such as factories and land, and the proletariat, who own only their labour and must sell it to survive. Because employers profit by paying workers less than the value they create, Marx saw exploitation and class conflict as built into capitalism, predicting it would end in revolution. Critics note the growth of a large middle class and that revolution did not arrive in advanced capitalist societies as he expected.
Key term — Glass ceiling: The invisible barrier of attitudes and practices that stops women and minorities reaching the top jobs, despite their qualifications.
What is the glass ceiling?
The unseen barrier of attitudes and practices that prevents women and minorities reaching top positions despite their ability.
Answer: The unseen barrier of attitudes and practices that prevents women and minorities reaching top positions despite their ability.
- Claiming the gender pay gap means women are illegally paid less for identical work Equal pay for equal work is required by law, for example the Equality Act 2010 in the UK; the pay gap is an average across different jobs, hours and career breaks, which is why sociologists explain it through occupational segregation, part-time work and the glass ceiling.
- Saying Marx and Weber agreed about stratification They differ fundamentally: Marx saw two classes defined by ownership driving history towards revolution, while Weber saw three dimensions of class, status and party shaping life chances.
Practice
The bourgeoisie own the means of production; the proletariat own only their labour, which they must sell to survive.
Class: market situation and economic prospects; status: social honour and prestige; party: power through organisations.
Any valid example, e.g. recruitment that relies only on word-of-mouth among existing staff, reproducing an all-white workforce without any individual intending discrimination.
Absolute poverty is lacking basic needs like adequate food and shelter; relative poverty is lacking what is needed to participate in the normal life of one's society.
Quick check
Which of these best defines "Glass ceiling"?
Apply the poverty cycle to a child growing up in overcrowded housing.
- Gender Inequality: examine the gender pay gap and the barrier called the glass ceiling.
- Weber: three dimensions of inequality: Max Weber agreed that economics matters but argued stratification has three separate dimensions.
- Stratification: The layering of society into hierarchies of unequal wealth, power and prestige, such as social classes.
- Watch out for: claiming the gender pay gap means women are illegally paid less for identical work