Gender and Social Construction

What are the most important issues facing women in the

workplace today?

The world?

Topics

Gender Roles: Feminism, Ethics, Tokenism, Entrepreneurship, Around the World

Careers: Opting Out, Opting In, Dual

Workplace: Image, Power & Politics, Interviewing, Harassment

Syllabus

BE ON TIME Email me if you aren’t going to be here Put your section # in the email subject Name documents properly No, you can’t make up missed

assignments Please note the REQUIRED days

Assignments: Individual

Professionalism Parlor Student Info. Sheet Assessments (online + in class) Current Event Analysis (X2) Speaker Reflection Career Case Study Interview Personal Self Reflection

Assignments: Team

Powerful Women Presentation Issue Impact Presentation

Teams of 4 or 5? Same teams for both? Assigned or chosen?

What this class doesn’t do

Foster man-bashing

Focus on the negative (woe is me)

Accept the status-quo

What this class does

Looks for solutions to issues women face

Creates/offers solutions where there are none

Forces you to engage and be active (even when the topics are uncomfortable)

What is social construction?

Doesn’t exist in the “natural” world

Invention of society

•$ £¥€

Its existence is dependent on OUR culture and practices

•Varies from time and place

So where does our social construction of gender begin?

What is the first question people usually ask a pregnant woman?

Baby steps

What adjectives do people use to describe boys v. girls?

These are then embedded into how we behave as we develop and how we view the world

Kids & gender

Think about what types of toys you had as a kid

These social constructions impacted decisions

How you dressed What toys you played with Your hobbies The sports you played How you performed in school Your major

Solutions to avoid furthering gender’s social construction

Change your approach!

How to talk to little girls

Other Solutions

Fight the system from the start ;)

What else…?

Why are we talking about this?

Social construction impacts they way we behave and treat others

•Whether we accept/realize it or not!

Part of the reason this course exists

Glass Ceiling = Wrong Metaphor

Women may not have equal access to some entry-level positions

Assumes a single, homogenous or absolute barrier to women

Suggests all barriers to women are unseen

Progress

23% of CEO positions (if healthcare, non-profit, social service, etc. are included)

•Outside of the Fortune 500 = >

There has actually been HUGE social change in just the last 20 years

More Progress: Education

57% Bachelor’s 59% of Master’s 48% of PhDs

Absolute barriers are a thing of the past!

REQUIRED ATTENDANCE