Gender: Functionalism:

Question 1

Functionalist view on gender

Answer 1

• Argue that men and women have separate roles in society that are based on biological differences which mean that society runs smoothly.
• They say that as women give birth and nurse their children, it is natural that they do childcare.
  -This role leads to a division of labour where women complete domestic tasks and men act as the breadwinners.

Question 2

Murdock:

Answer 2

• Studied gender roles in 200 societies and found that women were located at home because of their biological function (bearing children).
• Women’s physique means that they are unable to perform strenuous tasks.
• He concluded that all societies he studied had evident divisions of labour which means these universal divisions are functional.

Question 3

Parsons and Bales:

Answer 3

• Men have an instrumental practical role.
• Women have an expressive caring role.
• These roles run to a smoothly running society and explain different experiences for men and women in the labour market.

Question 4

Human capital theory:

Answer 4

• Human capital = The amount of skill and knowledge a person has. These are obtained through education and training
• By investing in your education it helps develop human capital. - - This means that short-term losses (paying for an extra year at uni) lead to long-term gains (having a masters and better skills)
• Human capital theory explains gender inequalities happen due to women have less human capital than men. - This is because men have more commitment and women prioritise the family which means women have less skill due to the lack of time in the working environment.

Question 5

Rastogi:

Answer 5

Human capital is the knowledge, competency, attitude and behaviours that are embedded in an individual

Question 6

Evaluation of functionalism:

Answer 6

• Functionalists ignore the way that society is structured to prevent women from succeeding – not in a womens control.
• Functionalism only looks at the experiences of white middle class people and doesn’t look at other social groups experiences
• Feminists such as Oakley have shown that gender roles are socially constructed through the family rather than being due to biological reasons.