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Ellyn Barkley

December 13, 2010

SOCI 122

Sociology of Gender

Robin Leidner

Extra Essay

While the inequality between men and women in the workplace has been

evident, the approaches taken to attempt to correct this situation come in many

forms. Some groups approach the situation by using Lorbers case of completely

degendering society while others prefer to emphasize the distinctive differences

between men and women. Each of these methods have pros and cons, and they

affect different people in different ways.

First, it is important to expand on the intricacies of each approach. Lorbers

case for degendering essentially insists that if society approached men and women

in the same way, that is, without distinguishing between men and women, then that

would eliminate any gender-based discrimination. The argument is that this would

lead to all judgments to be based on actual merit and results, and not presumptive

ideas based on the persons gender. On the other hand, some people prefer to put

the emphasis on the fact that men and women are inherently different, and

therefore have different strengths and weaknesses. Both of these approaches are

looking to reduce, and hopefully eventually eliminate, any discrepancies between

gender in society, and specifically in the workplace. Despite the fact that these two

approaches are almost polar opposites, they do have some similarities. Both look to

raise the value of womens abilities in a global sense in comparison to mens; in

degendering the attempt is to raise women to the same status of men, and the other



approach looks to emphasize how the women have certain abilities that make them

unique and therefore valuable.

For Lorbers case of degendering, there are both pros and cons. The case as a

whole is very similar to the general idea of other social movements, such as civil

rights, which looked to treat all races the same, or gay rights, which looks to treat

people of all sexualities the same. The benefits of looking at a society through this

lens is that people are theoretically then judged based only on their actions; it

should eliminate predetermined judgments. This would hopefully eliminate the gap

in wages between men and women, job placement and opportunities, and other

opportunities in life, such as education, housing, etc. Degendering would put a

higher emphasis on what people have done in their past to improve themselves,

such as education, community service, and previous employment. Another

important side effect of this would be that it would hopefully help reduce

inefficiencies in the workplace that result from an old-school approach to business

where employment is granted based on word of mouth and connections, which

tends to lend itself to an old-boy network, as Freedman calls it. On the other hand,

there are also some ways in which this may not be the best option, and these

negatives are covered by the positives of the other approach.

Since these two approaches are essentially opposites, the benefits of the

second approach cover the negatives of Lorbers degendering. Those people that

claim that women have distinctive attributes, concerns, and responsibilities than

men prefer to argue that, rather than treating men and women the same, women

should be respected and valued for their unique traits. One of the biggest benefits of



this is when looking at women as mothers. Since motherhood, and bearing children,

is one case where men really have nothing comparable in their lives, it is important

to note that women have important information on how this sector. For example, if

there were major problems with birthing procedures in hospitals, new mothers

would have much more accurate information on how this could be fixed. Another

area where this is important is unpaid work in the home. Since women make up the

majority of housekeepers, and there are no unions or groups representing these

women, they are the best source of information for complaints and unfair treatment

in the home. If the invisible work of the home was approached through a

degendered approach, then it would seem that men would then be asked about

problems and issues in the home, even though they dont have as much experience,

which would theoretically dilute the information about problems in home life.

Another very important issue that this approach is that it is better at tackling issues

of domestic violence. In a degendered society, the fact that men and women have

very major physical differences would be ignored, and women would be at even

more risk to be subjected to domestic violence.

One way to compare the two theories is to look at how they would affect

people currently in the workplace. In the case of degendering, the biggest change

would be that, theoretically, wages would average out to the same amount for

people in the same positions regardless of gender, which would mean that mens

salaries would decrease and womens would increase. It also would hopefully

eliminate the gap in employment, which might then cause more men to be

unemployed while employing more women. The other approach would be less



likely to affect men as much as it would just make the situation better for women.

Women would be paid more for the work they do, since it would be valued more,

and it would increase the number of women hired. Theres a possibility that it

would even create more specific jobs for women based on their unique abilities.

As can be seen from this, there are definitely advantages and disadvantages

to both cases of eliminating inequality between men and women; however, it is

important to keep in mind that any progress is good progress. As with most things,

the best answer is most likely an approach that takes the best qualities of each and

forms something new. As long as people are still thinking about solutions and

caring about the problems, however, progress will continue to be made.

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