Case Studies

Topic Introduction to Sociology

Division of Industrial Revolution
labour - Rapid movement to cities
- People in cities are increasingly dependent on each other
- Factory workers can’t grow their own food or build their own house
- Trade their wages for food, clothing, shelter, and other items
- This specialization is the division of labor

Advantages = allows different groups to specialize in

various tasks, becoming particularly good at them &
creating a surplus to trade

Disadvantages = few options for those who don’t have

a desirable skill or product to offer others

Karl Marx Social Societies in history based on social conflict

Conflict Theory - Look at the economic relationship in the society (aka how things are
made and distributed)
- Groups with different resources and interests always struggle
Granovetter Imagine a scene where a group of people are together in the same place for a
Riot theory political protest- most have no intention of being violent. But a couple of those
are willing to cause mayhem. Why does it turn into a riot?

Granovetter: Our actions do not take place in a social vacuum, where we can
rationally and individually think through consequences- take place in a social
context in which our own behaviour is influenced by the setting and by the
behaviour of everyone around us.

Only a few willing to turn to violence=>a few more who are willing to resort to
violence if others take a lead=>larger group that will consider joining in if a
significant no. of protestors become aggressive=> most don’t want to take part
in violence, and will do so only if they see most of their fellow protestors
involved=>few more take part if everyone else is already doing so.

Hence, when they are all together, behaviour change

Real life example: Hong Kong Riots, Mass Shootings

W.E.B DuBois: Race matters becomes of the power that society gives it.
Race Conflict E.g: prejudice against Black workers and beliefs about their abilities and moral,
trade unions did not allow Black workers to join, and hence they could not get
manufacturing or trade work, and had more men out of work, higher rates of
poverty, more criminal behaviour- vicious cycle, and the prevailing beliefs
ultimately reinforced themselves: racial formation theory, as coined by Michael
Omi and Howard Winant.

The process through which social, political and economic forces influence how
a society defines racial categories and how those racial categories end up
shaping those forces

Omi and Winant argue that the concept of race came about as a tool to justify
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and maintain the economic and political power held by those of European
descent.

Max Weber and We are undergoing a process of rationalization, which includes three things
Modernity
1. Calculability: if we know the input, we can know the outputs
2. Methodical behaviour: a procedure is followed, and hence the result is
always going to be the same.
3. Reflexivity: thinking about what you’re doing, thinking reflexively.
Always looking for new ways to improve the process, and for new and better
and more efficient ways to do things- modern society is the society of
instructions, methodical procedures which are always being reflected on and
improved.
Why did this process of rationalization begin?
Weber attributes it to… religion
- The transition from traditionalism to modernity began with the
Protestant Reformation- for 100s of years, Catholic Church dominated
Medieval Europe until in 1517, a German priest named Martin Luther
denounced corruption in the church, setting of a series of new religious
movements that radically opposed Catholic dogma.
- Catholicism was the basis for the traditional worldview, and these new
movements were the origin of modern rationality.
o In Catholicism- from the structure of the social order to the
way you farmed- everything was God’s will.
o In Lutheranism: you have a divinely sanctioned place in the
world, but how well are you performing your role? The idea of
personal responsibility
- Rise of Calvinism- thanks, Mark!
o I am a measily little human, and am predestined, and whether I
am saved or damned is already preset, and I can’t change it.
o Success as a proof of election that you are part of God’s elect-
if you are financially successful, you are blessed by God, and
part of God’s elect. People no longer worked to meet their
needs, like they would in traditional society-> work was an end
in itself, and work to accumulate as much wealth as possible,
because wealth proves that you are saved.
- Effect: , a traditional society became an individualistic, capitalist society
focused on economic success, and naturally, the constant reflection on
your work to increase efficiency and productivity-> fits the
abovementioned criterias of calculability, and methodical behaviour.
Modern day example:

- The rise of burueaucracy: a hierarchy of positions with an extremely

clear chain of command
- Hierarchy is made up of variety of specialized roles, and is held
together by formal, written communications.
- People accomplish their work with technical competence, according to
detailed rules and regulations, and without regard to the particular
people they’re serving- they do it impersonally (see the DMV, or SMU
Administration. I hate them so much).
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- In a traditional society, the state ruled through traditional legitimacy, I

obey the king because that’s how it’s always been done

The 20th century M, W and D’s research was centered around the emergence of capitalism and
revolutions- industrial society, examining the economic and political revolutions of society.
what are the However, they were silent on the experiences of the vast majority of the world.
civil and social
revolutions of - Civil Rights Movement
today? How do - Women’s movement
they differ from - Fight for equality of the LGBT community.
Marx, Weber
and Durkheim’s
conception of
revolution?
Discuss this in
relation to
topics you have
learnt, such as
culture, race
and gender.
Topic Social Structure and Agency
The case of Penn U student and member of the Beta Theta Pi frat house died after a night
Timothy Piazza of drinking and hazing during a pledging ritual.
- Hazing often includes drinking games like beer pong, drinking
challenges where they consume different types of alcohol, binge
drinking, etc
- Timothy eventually consumed so much alcohol that he became
unconscious and unresponsive, after falling repeatedly down the stairs
and landing on his head, and his body was noticeably bruised, swollen
and bloodied, no one called for an ambulance until 12 hours later
- Died from lacerated spleen, fractured skull andbrain injuries
We behave differently in different situations
- Groups have an effecton who we are and what we choose to do
- We do not have total free will to select a course of action, and our
behaviours are influenced by external pressures
Group dynamic at work
- Unspoken set of rules that interfered with the judgment of some of the
brothers
Why be part of the fraternity?
- Why participate in the hazing ritual?
- Being a member of the frat-> valuable resource to them, hoping to
secure identity as part of the group
Durkheim and Durkheim’s study on suicides
integration - Key elements in society are integration and regulation.
- Altruistic suicide (seppuku)
- Farmer suicides in India (anomic)
- Egoistic suicide (George Sanders)
Sociological The complex interconnection between agency and social structure. All of our
imagination actions, large and small, shape the world in which we live and at the same time,
the social world shapes the actions we take.
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Individual’s action and identity is affected by the social structure, which

consists of rules, resources, statuses, roles, groups, networks and institutions,
but this social structure is also shaped by individual’s action and identity.
Micro-sociology Microsociology focuses on individual identities and small scale interactions with
and others
Macrosociology - Symbolic interaction (a type of micro-sociology) studies human
interaction by focusing on the words and gestures we use and the
meanings we create about the world.
Macrosociology: focuses on the large scale societal structures, including groups
and institutions, as well as social forces such as norms.
Veiled and Perspective of veiling
Unveiled - When you’re in a hijab, someone sees you and treats your accordingly.
Women I feel more free- especially men, they don’t look at your appearance,
they appreciate your intellectual abilities, and respect you.
- Veiling, the muslim practice of wearing a hijab (hair covering)
- How do Muslim communities expect women to behave? Should they
wear a veil or hijab? And if so, why?
Veiling based on belief that men are prone to sexual impulses, hijab would
protect women
- Diverse attitudes toward their gender roles as muslim women
- Some felt liberated from the male gaze, and were more comfortable
being in public among amen
- Others felt men took them more seriously as students/professionals if
they wore a veil
- Assertion of Muslim identity as a visible way to forge connections with
other Muslims
- On the other hand, many unveiled interviewees saw hijab as a means
for men to dominate women, assert gender differences, and reinforce
patriarchy
- Used to “control women”
- Deemed hijab not necessary to prove their religious piety, since they
viewed veiling not as a divine commandment but a political and
cultural practice designed to differentiate Muslim women from
Westerners and help men manage women’s sexuality.
Women exercised agency in deciding whether or not to veil
- But their choices must be understood in the context of social structure,
esp rules and resources provided by cultural expectations, religious
traditions and political climate
- Each interpreted rules of their faith individually, sort out how to follow
the rules of their religion and use regulations as a resource to navigate
the social world
- Wearing hijab to gain respect, express religious identity
- Not wearing veil symbolized challenge to male domination
Weigh benefits against cons
- Benefits of building ties in Muslim community against potential risk of
religious and ethnic discrimination
- By making choices about veiling, they influence social structure,
including norms and attitudes concerning veiling in communities where
Muslims are a religious minority
- Framing veiling as empowering and liberating- changed what it means
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to wear a hijab
- Technically, those who chose not to wear a veil also challenged Muslim
norms, while tacitly reinforcing Western attitudes about veiling.
Ultimately- our individual actions, agency, can both reinforce the social
structure or transform it
- There is a constant interaction between agency (ability to act of our
own will) and social structure (resources we tap into as well as rules we
must navigate)
- Sociological imagination- C Wright Mills
Structure of The distribution of resources and opportunities across society that shapes the
Opportunity choices individuals make.
Reflexivity The ability to evaluate our position in the social world
Evaluate the rules we are expected to follow
Evaluate the resources we have at our disposal or can acquire.
Takeaway on People’s behaviour is shaped by social structure, the individual self, and most
social structure importantly, the interplay between social structure and the individual
and agency
Social structures are boundaries that shape people’s individual and collective
behaviour. Social structures are comprised of visible and invisible aspects, such
as: social status; groups; networks; social institutions.

Your social status shapes your life chances.

Individuals do not have an innate sense of self. Rather, they develop it through
processes of socialization (and re-socialization which occurs throughout your
life)

Individuals develop a sense of self by a keen awareness of the “Generalized

Other” and through agents of socialization (i.e family, schools, peers)

When individuals make decisions, they are not constrained entirely by the
social structure, not entirely from their own agency. Rather, they typically
choose between a set of options, weighing the interplay of structure and
agency.
Topic Social Class, Inequality and Poverty
Social class There is some consensus that a mix of education, occupation, income and
wealth are important in determining one’s class position
- Tend to be heavily correlated with each other
- Individual level: take a combination of income, education, occupation
and determine class status
- Group level: relationship to resources
Dennis Gilbert Model of Class Structure (see notes)
Social class of It can affect your annual income
origin - “class pay gap” or class ceiling can exist within the same occupation
- Friedman & Laurison 2019, UK study: same degree, from same uni, but
those from a lower social class background earned avg of GBP 7,000
less per year.
- Promotions and cultural capital are crucial mechanisms
o Rivera: class advantage and commitment penalty- advantages
are given to workers who have markers of elite status with
roughly equal credentials, but NOT for women (“commitment
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penalty”
o Job seekers from high socioeconomic class backgrounds were
more likely to receive a job interview than job seekers from
lower socioeconomic class backgrounds
o However, for female job applicants, high class signals can help
or hurt them
o On one hand, it can compensate for their lower status of being
female. On the other hand, they may perceive higher class
women as being more competent but less warm, and women
get penalized more for being perceived as less warm
- Marko Piteska at SMU
o How supervisors respond and evaluate workers from the
middle-class more favourably
Home ownership
- Example of asset, ideally whose value builds up over time
- Changing somewhat with ‘financialization’ of ecoomy
- Influenced by a variety of favtors shaping who is able to buy property
that will appreciate
- US: race shapes access to neighbourhoods
- Middle class blacks more likely to live in less advantaged
neighbourhoods than comparable whites
- Discrimination against specific buyers

Wealth
- Intergenerational transfers; help accumulate wealth
- In US: most financial exchanges happen amongst wealthy whites
(parents to kids)
Social class Measured by a consideration of a combination of income, wealth, occupation
and education

Social class is not quite achieved based on our individual merits but shaped far
more by our social class of origin than we have appreciated
- Social class of origin shapes our outcomes and life experiences through
our lives in ways large and small.
The working Author Barbara Ehrenreich tried to survive on these types of low-wage jobs in
poor order to understand the daily struggles of the working poor, an experience
described in her book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. She
worked as a diner waitress, motel maid, housecleaner, and Walmart
salesperson and found it nearly impossible to cover the cost of rent, gas, and
meals. Benefits that the middle and upper classes may take for granted, such as
paid sick leave, didn’t exist at these jobs; when Ehrenreich was sick, she had to
go to work anyway because she couldn’t afford to lose a day’s wages. As she
pointed out, long days on the job, sometimes followed by a shift at a second
job just to make ends meet, leaves low-wage workers with little energy or
spare time to look for better jobs or to attend college.
Topic Culture
Early thinkers Marx: economic relations/material reality shape cultural beliefs and ideologies
on culture
Weber: cultural beliefs shape your material reality

Durkheim: symbols & beliefs deployed in rituals and generate a sense of

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community (collective consciousness via national anthem, flag, etc)

Example of
cultural capital:
Annette
Lareau’s
Unequal
Childhoods:

Example of
cultural capital:
Jessica
Calarco’s
Negotiating
Opportunities

Topic Economic Sociology

Economic The sociological approach to the economy
sociology - The economy is a word we use to describe how we make, buy and sell
things
- It counters the idea that people are “rational” and behave in ways that
are economically rational
- E.g: ways that maximise our economic wellbeing.
Economic sociology assumes that markets (buy, sell make) are socially
constructed.
Even When Americans think about fixing gender equality, they tend to focus on the
Breadwinning work place- but what about their own houses?
Wives Don’t
Get Equality at Women progression
Home - Surpassing men in obtaining college degrees
- Going to formerly male dominated occupations like law and medicine
- Record number of women candidates elected to congress
But still lagging at home
- Widespread belief that women should take on bulk of domestic
responsibilities
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- Married American mothers spend almost twice as much time on

housework and child care than married fathers
- While more American mothers, esp those with young children are far
more likely to be working now than in the past decades, they spend
more time on child care today than moms in the pass

How is women’s success at work treated at home?

- Look at heterosexual breadwinning wives who outearn their husbands
- 29% of married women in the United States fall into this category,
growing
- When wives are professionally successful, couple are often reluctant to
acknowledge women’s status as the breadwinner
- In one study of families where wives earned at least 80% of the total
household income, researchers found that in just 38% of the couples
did both husband and wife say that “breadwinner” was an appropriate
label for the woman- even the wives were actually less likely to think
themselves as breadwinners than their husbands

Why is there this reluctance?

- Could be that couples in the U.S continue to idealize and privilege a
family structure with a male breadwinner and a female homemaker
- Recognizing women as breadwinners threatens the idea that a family
fits into that mold
- When wives earn more than husbands, couples often reframe the value
of each spouses’ work to elevate the husband’s work as being more
prestigious and downplaying the importance of the woman’s job
Economic Why do we say the economy is socially constructed?
sociology
assumes that 1.We socially determine what can be bought and sold
markets (buy, - We place limits on what we think belongs in the market
sell make) are - E.g: cannot buy organs, cannot buy people, etc
socially - Example of cultural constraint on business- our cultural and moral
constructed. values places a limit on the market
- Thought of organ sale is upsetting to most people and considered
inappropriate
2. We determine what appropriate currencies are
- Gov plays a huge role in determining his
3. We socially determine the laws of the market
- Should there be a redistribution of wealth? If so, how much?
- role of taxes
- Certain economic actors like corporations cannot act in unconstrained ways
- e.g: limitations on how much they can pollute, lobby government
- Bringing Marx back: super rich, tax evasion and inequality
- the rich actually pay lower taxes than the poor.
- see slide
The Rich Really In America, in 2018, 400 wealthiest Americans last year paid a lower total tax
do Pay Lower rate, spanning federal, state and local taxes, than any other income group.
Taxes Than You
by David In 1960s and 1950s, wealthy paid vastly higher tax rates than the middle class
Leonhardt, or poor. Since then, taxes that hit the wealthiest the hardest (estate tax,
dated Oct 6, corporate tax), have plummeted, while tax avoidance has become more
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2019. common. Trump’s 2017 tax cut also helped push the tax rate on the 400
wealthiest households below the rates for almost everyone else. In 2018, the
overall tax rate for the richest 400 housholds last year was only 23%, meaning
that their combined tax payments equalled less than ¼ of their total income.
This was 70% in the 1950 and 47% in the 1980.

For middle-class and poor families, picture is different

- Federal income taxes has also declined modestly, but they have not
benefitted from the decline in corporate tax or estate tax
- They now pay more in payroll taxes (which finance Medicare and Social
Security) than in the past
The Gender Wage gap between men and women in the U.S
Wage Gap - Intersectionality matters here- not all women are the same, neither are
all men
- Black women tend to earn less than white women
- Black men tend to earn less than white men
Gap shrunk a little over time, but still remains
Common Pattern in other countries

This income gaps exists because of three reasons

- Human capital theory
o Income is based on skills. You acquire skills from school or
elsewhere. In the labour market, people will pay for workers
with the right skills
o Wage gaps occur because some people a) don’t have skills or b)
don’t have skills that are in demand.
- Self-selection into occupations (gendered segregation of work)
o Women are usually responsible for childcare, and many
researchers believe that this is an important factor in the wage
gap
o Women may pick jobs they feel can balance with childcare
duties
o These jobs may be lower paid, part time, etc
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o Occupational preference formation

o Asked 8th grade boys and girls to self assess their competence
at math
o Math is one subject which is broadly seen to be the one that
boys are naturally better at
o Boys self assessed their competence as higher at Math than
girls, even though objectively their test scores etc were about
the same.
o When asked if their self assessment would shape whether they
pursued higher levels of study in this area, it was found that
they would
o Follow up indicate that boys were more likely to pursue STEM
fields and assess their competence as higher in these fields
than girls with similar objective test scores
- Employer discrimination
Refer to slides compilation
Who is a Cultural idea that both boys and girls can be very smart, but only boys can be
brilliant “super” smart
student? - Evidence that in fields where “raw” intelligence is deemed to be
important, lesser presence of women (math,philo)
2.5 year long study focusing on how teachers respond to girls vs boys rule
break

The necessity of Gendered interactions in an organization

diversity - Having women working at companies- esp those targeting female
consumers- improves their likelihood of success by 144%
Consequences of homogenous teams
- E.g: facial recognition software developed by all white engineering
teams led to software not recognizing black features
- Lack of diversity of thought in science has led to the failure to identify
o How disease manifests differently in men and women (e.g
heart attacks)
o Design of car safety
Diversity in Diversity refers to difference
STEM: What it - Diversity is a property of groups, not individuals
is and why it - Groups of individuals possess diversity, a single man is not.
matters by Diversity in social identity
Kenneth Gibbs - Race/ethnicity, gender disability status, nationality, religious affliation,
Jr, dated sexual orientation, socio-economic background
September 10 Diversity critical to excellence
2014 - Scientific talent is not innate, but cultivated
- Teams, not individuals, conduct scientific research
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- Esp in the case for problem solving- Prof Scott Page found that progress
often results from diverse perspectives->ability to see a problem
differently, not simply “being smart” is often the key to a breakthrough
Lack of diversity represent a loss of talent
- Scientific advancement reliant on scientific talent (the end result of a
process of potential being cultivated)
- No evidence to suggest that this scientific potential varies across
racial/ethnic and gender lines
- Hence, large and persistent underrepresentation of certain social
groups from the enterprise represents the loss of talent
Enhancing diversity is key to long term economic growth and global
competitiveness
- Most children born in America are non white, half of all children born
are female
- Continued underrepresentation of minorities and women represents a
challenge to US’ ability to long term cultivate an adequate, domestic
scientific workforce, esp when there’s a broad underrepresentation of
up to 75% of the potential talent pool.

How do you Improve team dynamics

create an
environment
that supports
and encourages
diverse
perspectives
and ideas?

Topic: Family and Marriage

Singaporeans: Singapore’s Sandwich generation- people who financially support and care for
Sandwich the older and younger family members at the same time
Generation
Most of those in the sandwiched group would be working individuals between
the ages of 30 and 60, but several and retirees in their 60s and 70s who are
caring not only for their children and grandchildren, but also their parents

Becoming especially prevalent as Singapore’s life expectancy increases, at

almost 85 years.
- Retirees no longer the eldest in their families
- Problem expected to worsen as fertility rates drop and life
expectancies continue to soar
- Furthermore, the twilight years are not spent in good health-
proportion of adults with three or more chronic diseases nearly
doubled between 2009 and 2017
- Having trouble carrying out daily living activities
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Likely trend is giving informal care to more formalised and professional care.
Topic Gender and Sexuality
Social In 2009, runner Caster Semenya won a gold medal in the women’s 800-meter
expectation race at the World Championships. Semenya smashed the previous African
about what it record and improved her own personal best by eight seconds in eight months,
means to be a an almost unheard-of feat.9 But there were whispers: Semenya’s time was too
man or woman fast. And just look at her, one of the other athletes said. The track & field
governing body expressed suspicion about whether she qualified to run with
women. Later that year, Caster Semenya went through “gender verification
testing.”10 The purpose of the testing, said officials, was to determine if
Semenya is “really” a woman. For almost a year, she was unable to compete
while tests were administered and analyzed. While the results of the so-called
gender test were never revealed, Semenya was cleared to compete with other
women

Her situation reveals a lot about social expectations about “what it means” to
be a man or a woman: what you’re supposed to look like, how you’re supposed
to sound, how strong you are, how emotional you are, what your interests are.
These are gender norms, or social definitions of behavior assigned to particular
sex categories. While gender norms can and do change through time, place,
and context, the thing they have in common is that they are socially-
determined and socially-enforced. Most of usare treated according to how
we’re perceived. And these gender perceptions are generally assumed to
match our biological sex.
Nature and Think of the phrase “boys will be boys.” The expression suggests that certain
nurture in behaviors are inevitable for boys. But it doesn’t account for how the traits we
action attribute to boys are learned. Through socialization, we learn about gender
from family, peers, teachers, coaches, and other influential people in our lives.
We also learn gender messages from media; commercials, TV shows, movies,
songs, video games, internet memes, and magazines all have something to say
about gender.

Consider the link between girls and the color pink. We aren’t born with color
preferences, we learn them. Believe it or not, in the early 1900s, pink was
considered a boy’s color and blue a girl’s color. It wasn’t until the 1940s that
the colors became gender-coded in the way we know them today.12 We now
take the color scheme for granted because it’s in the fabric of society. Browse
the toy aisles at Target and Wal-Mart and you’ll see pink products marketed
toward girls. Pink is a primary Victoria’s Secret color. You can buy a pink and
black Muddy Girl Compact Bolt-Action Rifle at Cabela’s. Meanwhile, clothes,
bikes, and toys for boys are awash in blue and gray. People have choices in
what they buy, of course, and many of us stray from the color norms, but the
notion of boy colors and girl colors remains entrenched in American society.

High rising Linguists call this high-rising terminal; you may know it as “uptalk.” What about
terminal, uptalk ending sentences with words spoken in a low, almost croaky tone? That’s
and vocal fry referred to as vocal fry.And if modern linguistic research is any indication, you
probably associate both vocal fry and uptalking with women, particularly young
women.
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These speech patterns have social consequences. People who use vocal fry are
seen as less trustworthy, less competent, and less educated than those who
don’t, and their prospects for landing a job can be affected by the way they
talk.19 People who use both vocal fry and uptalking are even more
disadvantaged due to stereotypes about the kind of people who use them.
Intersectionality Kimberle Crenshaw (lawyer)
: Black women? - Gender: always seen in terms of white women
How is racial - Race: always seen in terms of Black men
and gender - But where does that leave Black women?
oppression Expectations to nurture and protect the community at the expense of black
experienced? women
- Minority/disadvantaged, so don’t let any dirty secrets out
- Domestic violence
Matrix of social positions
May advantage/disadvantage you from context to context
- Ie: some evidence that black women are not penalized when they
express “anger” because of the already existent stereotypes
Intersectionality The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood by Sharon Hays
: race, class &
motherhood What is intensive mothering?
- The state of being self consciously committed to child rearing
- Dedicated to the child to the point that she takes better care of the
child than herself, even if it means cutting back hours or setting aside a
whole day for the child to do whatever he/she wants
- Children require consistent nurturing by a single caretaker who will
expend an abundance of energy, time and resources for the child, and
may also require research on what the child needs at every stage of
development
- Intensive mothers see themselves as the primary caregiver for the
child; men cannot be relied upon for that
But this ideology conflicts with that of the workplace
- Women must be nurturing and unselfish while engaged in child rearing,
but be competitive and ambitious at work

Mother while black by Dawn Marie Dow (integrated motherhood)

- Sociologists identified a set of hegemonic ideologies that influence
women’s work and family decisions
- Assert that (a) a mother’s primary responsibility is child rearing and
father’s is bread winning
- (b) mothering should occur in a self-sufficient nuclear family
- © employement conflcits with motherhood

Nonetheless, the number of employed mothers has increased significantly, a

partial result of women’s rights movement
- Why do mothers engage in paid employment?

Alternative mothering ideology- integrated mothering

- African American middle and upper middle class employed mothers
feel accountable to regarding their family and work decisions
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- Poor and working class African American women describe how they
reject dominant cultural depictions and understanding of their lives.

In “We Don’t How immigrant families from the Philippines “claim through gender the power
Sleep Around denied them by racism.”
Like White Girls
Do,” sociologist Espiritu’s Filipino subjects rarely identified themselves as Americans because
Yen Le Espiritu they equated American-ness with Whiteness.
- Feeling marginalized and not fully American, they noted differences in
gender norms between cultures.
- They argued that Americans –especially American women –lack sexual
morality: “In America… sex is nothing.”36
- The “ideal Filipina” was constructed to be “everything American
women were not: she is sexually modest and dedicated to her family;
they are sexually promiscuous and uncaring.”37
- This created a lot of restrictions on and expectations about young
Filipina-American women, who struggled between their parents’ ways
and American ways. (Of course, restrictions on and expectations for
young women’s sexuality is not restricted to Filipino families; research
on the topic spans the globe, through many generations.)

These families held up these gender norms as a means to regain the power
they’d been denied because of their race.
- The young women were expected to uphold the image of a “good
Filipino girl.” In doing this, the young women weren’t only keepers of
the home; they were protectors of cultural authenticity. They were
expected to maintain gendered norms and ethnocultural
ones(ethnocultural refers to cultural influences of the ethnic groups to
which we belong).
LGBTQ and LGBTQ feminists noting that the discourse on coming out typically encourages
Intersectionality people to openly acknowledge their sexuality to spread awareness and “refuse
and Feminism to hide.” But for some people coming out is not only difficult, but dangerous

Alan Pelaez Lopez explains that some undocumented LGBTQ people feel they
can’t come out –being undocumented is stressful enough on its own. Some
LGBTQ folks live in areas where they don’t have a community they can turn to
when they feel alone.
- Others have families with religious or cultural traditions that mean
choosing between coming out and having a place to live and food to
eat.42 Intersectional feminism stresses the importance of taking all
social relations into consideration, so we don’t erase the full set of
people’s experiences.

An inclusive feminism takes into account the needs of all women and their
differences along lines of race, social class, religion, gender expression, body
type, and (dis)ability.43
Comparing Sharon Hays asserts that asserts that the Intensive Mothering ideology “is the
Sharon Hays vs dominant ideology of socially appropriate childrearing in the United States.”
Patricia Hill Hays (1999:8) argues, “appropriate childrearing is child-centered, expert-
Collins guided, emotionally absorbing, labor intensive and financially expensive.” She
Case Studies

goes on to state“[t]here is an assumption that the child absolutely requires

consistent nurture by a single primary caretaker and that the mother is the best
person for the job (Hay: 8).” While Hays (1999)acknowledges that not all
mothers are able to actualize the practices related to Intensive Mothering she
claims all mothers adjudicate their decisions about work and family in
relationship to this ideology- this view became wide ranging acceptance in
work and family scholarship, esp for U.S context.

Patricia Hill Collins challenges this view that women from different racial and
class backgrounds experience motherhood in the same manner
- She argued that African-American communities have “recognized that
vesting one person with full responsibility for mothering a child may
not be wise or possible. As a result, othermothers- women who assist
bloodmothers by sharing mothering responsibilities- traditionally have
been central to the institution of Black motherhood (Collin2000:178).”
Indeed, historically African-American families have used othermothers
to assist and support them in raising their children. Collins also notes
that while African-American mothers share certain experiences and are
faced with similar challenges there is diversity in how they respond to
these experiences and challenges. Indeed as the opportunities for
African-Americans more generally have expanded, African-American
mothers’ current and historical social class positions are becoming
increasingly diverse which influences their response
Examples of Intersectional feminism
intersectionality - Gender and class
- Generally, reproductive right discussed in terms of preventing
pregnancy- but what about how Native and African American have
been coerced and forced into sterilization?
- LGBTQ feminist- encourages people to come out- but in some
countries, doing so is dangerous
Race and gender intersect to perpetuate inequalities
- Rebecca Glauber
- This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to
explore the intersections of gender and race on fathers' labor market
outcomes. Fixed-effects models reveal that for married whites and
Latinos, the birth of a child is associated with an increase in hourly
wages, annual earnings, and annual time spent at work.
- For married Black men, the birth of a child is associated with a smaller
increase in hourly wages and annual earnings but not associated with
an increase in annual time spent at work. Furthermore, married Black
men do not experience an increase in hourly wages or work hours
because of a reduction in their wives' work hours. In contrast, married
whites and Latinos earn more when their wives work less. These
findings imply that gendered workplace and family experiences differ
among fathers and that not all men benefit from specific family
formations in exactly the same way.
- Glauber also found no motherhood wage penalty for Hispanic
women, and a wage penalty for Black women only after they have
at least two children. However, all White mothers experienced a
wage penalty. One reason for these racial differences might be that
motherhood and work haven’t historically been separate in Black
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and Hispanic families, which might increase overall motivation to

work. Glauber also suggests that there might be a “floor” to the
motherhood wage penalty. That is, African-American and
Hispanic/Latino women already earn less than White women; there
may not be much room for their wages to fall even more.55 Overall,
Glauber’s work indicates that race and gender intersect with
workplace experiences to create and support gendered inequalities.
Intersectional Sara Baartman, member of the khoikhoi tribe, symbol of colonialism- presented
sexuality as the quintessential Black female erotic body, labelled as hypersexual and
exotic

Notions of sexuality- political consequences

Brute culture- black men as savage predators, used to justify slavery and Jim
crow laws. These sexualized caricatures were used to justify slavery and
later the Jim Crow system of discrimination, which legally enforced
segregation between Blacks and Whites in the southern U.S. Since Black
women were convincingly portrayed as over-sexualized and tempting, their
continued rape by slave owners could be justified.102 Once Black men were
convincingly portrayed as dangerous predators, then lynching or murdering
Black men for even looking at a White woman could be justified.103 Scholars
like bell hooks and Patricia Hill Collins stress that these extremely sexualized
images still exist, though in softer or subtler forms. Modern images, instead
of being mobilized to justify colonialism, are used to justify capitalism: we
use racialized bodies to sell stuff. 104

Intersectionality Advertising 
in the media  
Similarly, sociology professors, Anthony Barnum and Anna Zajicek, argue in
their work, "An Intersectional Analysis of Visual Media: A case of Diesel
Advertisements," that an intersectional approach is needed in order to
understand identities and power relations in visual media. Barnum and Zajicek
assert that an intersectional perspective allows for the deconstruction of
hegemonic representations in advertisements, and is a more holistic approach
to analyzing media compared to research that focuses on single dimensions of
inequality. The professors performed an intersectional analysis of Diesel
advertisements by focusing on concepts of racialized gender and gendered
race.  From the analysis of  Diesel’s advertisement campaign “Nature: Love it
While it Last,” it is concluded that women are presented in more submissive
positions than men, regardless of their race/ethnicity.  However, within four
examples of women whose bodies are bound or constrained by nature, it is
shown that the ways women are presented as submissive are different
depending on their race/ethnicity. While the white women are constrained by
plants or vines, the Black woman is constrained by a snake, drawing reference
to the biblical symbolism of “Eve and the serpent betraying the race of man.”
(Barnum and Zajicek, 121) 
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Why is silicon An article on gender in the technology industry, “Why Is Silicon Valley So Awful
valley so awful to Women?”, described women who had dealt with all of these issues.44
to women? Regarding the expectation to be nice and not complain, software engineer
(institutional Tracy Chou’s experience was that men who worked as engineers were not held
inequality) to the same standard; excuses were made for male engineers who were
difficult co-workers. The tech industry is male-dominated, and gender norms
have been slow to change. “I am angry that things are no better for a 22-year-
old at the beginning of her career than they were for me 25 years ago when I
was just starting out,” says Bethanye Blount, one of the women mentioned in
the article.

Results from a survey of 210 women in the technology industry (specifically

Silicon Valley) indicate that the experiences of the women in the article aren’t
uncommon:45
47% of the women reported being asked to do lower-level tasks that male
colleagues were not asked to do, such as taking notes and ordering food;
87% experienced demeaning comments from male colleagues;
66% felt excluded from networking opportunities because of their gender;
60% reported unwanted sexual advances (many coming from a superior).

With experiences like this, it’s not surprising that women leave the tech
industry at more than twice the rate men do. Women hold approximately 25%
of computing and mathematical jobs in the U.S., and the percentage of
computer and information science majors who are women is lower now (18%)
than at its peak in 1984 (37%).4

Women are For full-time and part-time workers in the U.S., women earned 83% as much as
paid less than men in 2015. This disparity in pay is amplified when we consider race and
men ethnicity as well. White men have higher hourly wages than women of all races,
but the highest earners of all groups are Asian-American men. The wage gap
has narrowed significantly in recent decades, but some groups of women have
made much more progress than others. For example, White women earned 60
cents for every dollar earned by White men in 1980; it’s now 82 cents. In
comparison, Black women earned 56 cents for every dollar earned by White
men in 1980; this has only increased to 65 cents.47

One reason for this wage gap is that many jobs in the U.S. economy are low-
paying and more likely to be held by women. The low-wage jobs that women
mostly do–food preparation, restaurant servers, cosmetology, cleaning,
housekeeping, teaching assistants, child care, elderly care, home care aides,
office work, cashiers–are projected to increase. Women of color are heavily
represented in these low-wage jobs.

There are fewer low-wage jobs “for men,” and they pay more. Examples
include carpet installers, construction laborers, drywall installers, janitors,
painters, roofers, stock clerks, taxi drivers, butchers, head cooks, equipment
cleaners, maintenance workers, and security guards.
Motherhood Sociologists’ work shows us that inequalities are more complicated than we
Case Studies

penalty and often assume. Take the motherhood penalty, the systematic disadvantages in
fatherhood wages, benefits, and other career factors that are associated with motherhood.
bonus Studies of mothers who work show that the costs of raising a child are
disproportionately felt by women.50

Michelle Budig and Paula England showed that the wage penalty increases with
the number of children, with a 7%wage penalty per child.51 Further, Shelley J.
Correll, Stephen Benard, and In Paik’s work shows that not only were mothers
perceived as less competent at their jobs, but fathers were sometimes seen as
more competent.

Fathers’ paychecks sometimes even increased from being a parent. This benefit
in wages and perceived competence is called the fatherhood bonus. Check
Figure 2: there isn’t a single state where mothers, on average, make as much as
fathers.52
Class interacts with the motherhood penalty and fatherhood bonus. The bias is
strongest at the extremes. High-income men enjoy the biggest wage bump,
while poor women suffer the biggest penalty. In other words, as Michelle Budig
puts it, “families with lower resources are bearing more of the economic costs
of raising kids.”53
Glass Ceiling The term became popular after it was used in a1986special report in the
Wall Street Journal that focused on obstacles women encountered in
corporate America.60 The report mentioned several problems: being
excluded from an important meeting or informal networking session that
takes place between men on a golf course, not being offered an executive
position even after a series of promotions, blatant stereotypes about
women being unfit for management, and assumptions that women would
prioritize family over career.

Social closure- perpetuating inequality?

Clinton vs Donald Trump-> trump given much more leeway to say things
with are degratory to women and promote sexual assault

Raw statistics- state level in U.S only 39 women served as governors .

Even in Supreme Court level- while 3/9 of Supreme Court justices are
women, they are treated differently- transcript of oral arguments before
the court showed that male justices interrupt the female justices nearly
three times as often as they interrupt other male judges

Race and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is a well-known and highly-respected professor of
Ethnicity African American Studies at Harvard University. He has written dozens
of books and made fifteen documentary films, one of which won an
Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Program. In 2006, Gates
produced and hosted African American Lives, a groundbreaking show on
PBS that traced the family background of some of the most notable
African Americans through historical research and DNA testing.

In the midst of his research for the show, Gates made a startling
Case Studies

discovery. He knew that not all of his ancestors were from Africa, but
when he investigated his history in more depth, he learned that his
ancestry was about half African and half European. One of the most
prominent scholars of the African American experience had a much
more complex family history than he realized.

A few years later, the story got even more complicated. On July 16, 2009,
Gates was returning home to Cambridge, Massachusetts, from a trip
overseas and was unable to open the door to his house. A neighbor in
the mostly-White neighborhood noticed Gates and his driver attempting
to force the door open and called the police.

The officer who responded ordered Gates to exit the house and asked
him to prove that he was a professor at Harvard and owned the house.
Gates eventually complied, but repeatedly asked the officer for his badge
number and name. The officer warned Gates that he was acting in a
disorderly manner and ultimately handcuffed and arrested him. While
charges against Gates were dropped, the mugshot of the world-
renowned professor revealed something very deep and disturbing about
race in the United States.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., may have an equal number of ancestors from
Europe and from Africa—he may technically be just as much White as he
is Black—but his African descent seemed to matter most that day in
Cambridge. Although it’s impossible to know for certain, Gates was
convinced that neighbors would not have called the police, and officers
would not have been so aggressive, if his skin was white.

Conclusion: consequences of race in daily life is very real, but genetics of

race is messy- there is no discovery of a gene for race, no gene that
determines which racial category someone falls into or that clearly
separates members of one race from members of another
Race: the The connection between phenotype and the value, quality, or goodness of
Human human beings is ingrained in society.
Phenotype
Think about words that pop into your head when you hear the colors yellow,
red, black, and white. In another in-class survey of students, some words
commonly associated with the color yellow included docile, cowardly, cautious,
and sunny. Red triggered words such as fire, stop, blood, and aggressive. The
color white brought to mind words such as purity, cleanliness, and innocence.
In contrast, black triggered words like evil, bad, and satanic. Black is the color
people wear at funerals and symbolizes death, while white is the color worn by
brides, doctors, and nurses. White is the absence of color and represents being
good, positive, and pure

These associations may seem meaningless, but there is evidence that they can
affect the way we see other people. In famous experiments carried out in the
early 1940s, Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark presented children with identical
dolls, one with white skin and yellow hair and the other with brown skin and
black hair. They asked the children which doll was nice, which one was bad,
which they preferred to play with, and other questions. Both White and Black
Case Studies

children favored the “White” doll. They preferred to play with the White doll
and thought it was nicer, and they were more likely to say that the Black doll
was “bad.” The preference for the White doll was particularly strong among
Black children who attended highly-segregated schools in Washington, D.C.

Racial identity and self awareness can develop as early as age three-
segregation can damage Black Children’s self esteem and self concept.

Racism in Swedha Rajaram recounts an incident where she heard taxi driver telling her
Singapore mother “I normally don’t pick up Indians. They are quite smelly. I didn’t know
you all were Indians”

Regardless of Race- The Dialogue, organised by OnePeople.sg

We associate certain traits with races

- All Indians are from India
- Speaking well for a Malay, void deck weddings

Renting properties
- 2019 survey conducted found that Singaporean Indians and Malays are
the most affected groups when it comes to facing ethnic discrimination
when renting properties
- (49%) of SI and (34%) Singaporean Malays, compared to 18%
Singaporean Chinese
- Individuals are excluded from tenancy based on ethnicity, blatantly
stating in advertisments “no Indians/prcs/malay”
- End up having to pay higher premiums because of theirlimited
negotiation power.
- Presently, URA and Council for Estate Agencies regulatory frameworks
do not include discrimination conflicts
- Stereotypes fuelled by troublesome tenants
- E.g: PRC X take care of rented units, damaging place and ignoring laws
- Indians cooking South Asian cuisine- cooking curry X clean up, deep
cooking stains left everywhere and having to spend money on
renovation
Implicit bias: Martin returning home when Zimmerman began to follow him- he called 911 to
Trayvon Martin report a suspicious person walking around the neighbourhood. Altercation
and George ensued, Martin died from gunshot wound
Zimmerman - Why did he think he was a criminal?
- Hoodie?
- Skin colour?
Evidence of implicit bias- impact our behaviour and how we treat others

Implicit bias shapes our beliefs and assumptions:

- America- We think of white
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Stereotypes Media framed residents trying to find water and food after the storm
and Media differently
Representation
s Black boy- ‘looting a grocery store’
White residents: ‘finding bread and soda from a local grocery store’

Ronald Reagan-> usage of the term ‘welfare queen’ to refer to Black women he
said were conning the government by living luxuriously on generous welfare
checks
- Exploited well known stereotypes to appeal to white voters
In reality, Kathyrn Edin and Laura Lein conducted interviews with nearly 400
single mothers in several cities, most of whom received welfare, and found that
they were careful with money and had to find ways to survive month to month

Racism and In 2002, almost 400 pairs of individuals were sent out across eight cities in
Discrimination Minnesota, Montana, and New Mexico to ask about renting an apartment.23
case study The two members of each pair had almost identical backgrounds—they
were the same gender and roughly the same age, had the same number of
children, and had similar incomes and jobs. But they looked different: one
member of each pair was White, the other was Native American. In these
three states, where many Native Americans live, that difference had a
substantial impact on how they were treated as they searched for a place to
live.

In one case, a 43-year-old White woman asked about a two-bedroom

apartment in Billings, Montana. She was told that the unit was open and
available, she was given a form to complete and a business card, and she was
shown two other units that looked similar to the one that was advertised. A day
later, her Native American teammate, a woman with the same characteristics,
asked about the same unit. She was given the same form and a business card,
but was told that the agent was too busy to talk. She was not shown any
apartments, and was asked to come back a few days later.

This case was not an exception. The White applicant was favored in at least a
quarter of cases in each city where the experiment was conducted. The careful
design of the research project—called an audit study—meant that the
applicants were perfectly matched according to all characteristics that would
make them more or less attractive renters; the only thing that differed was
their race. In other words, something about the real estate agents, the firms for
which they worked, or perhaps the real estate industry as a whole led to the
different treatment of Whites and Native Americans.
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Racism and the Decades ago, real estate agents developed a money-making scheme based
housing market on racial fears. They would go to White homeowners and warn them that
Black families were about to move into their neighborhood (whether or not
this was true). Whites, panicked at the thought of integrated
neighborhoods or falling home prices, often wanted to sell quickly and
move. The real estate agents would buy houses cheaply from the White
families they had frightened into a quick sale and then sell them at well
above market value to Black families eager for a share of the American
dream. More recently, in 2012, Wells Fargo Bank settled a lawsuit with the
U.S. Department of Justice alleging that the bank targeted Blacks and
Latinos with the subprime loans that led to the collapse of the housing
market in 2008, even when those clients qualified for lower-risk, lower-cost
loans. As this example shows, discrimination hasn’t gone away.

Institutional Racism embedded in our core institutions

racism
Declaration of Independence- we hold these truth …all men are created
equal. But slave counts for only 3/5 of a person according to the
Constitution

Important social programs implemented in 1900s designed specifically to

provide assistance to White americans and exclude the Blacks as much as
possible
- Social security- retirement benefits for the elderly, unemployment
benefits, programs to assist low incme women
- But the 1935 legislation that created it covered only certain jobs,
mainly in industry and commerce; it excluded many jobs held by the
Black population at the time, such as farm and domestic work. As a
result, in the 1930s over 60% of all Black workers, and nearly 75% of
Black workers in the South, didn’t qualify for Social Security
benefits.
- Additionally, federal funds that supported the poor and veterans
were controlled by local officials, who frequently discriminated
against Blacks. Funds intended to help citizens train for stable jobs,
ensure financial stability in retirement, and build wealth were often
only available to Whites. Katznelson says this created a form of
“policy apartheid” that mainly benefited Whites.27 (Apartheid is the
formal policy or practice of political, legal, economic, and/or social
discrimination against a particular group.)

Aid to Dependent Children Program

established in 1935 for families that generally had only one parent or
caretaker; yet funds were withheld from Black families who qualified.28 In
fact, about one-third of Black children who qualified for ADC did not receive
assistance. In the 1940s, Texas, Kentucky, and Mississippi didn’t participate
in the program at all, so children in these states didn’t receive any
assistance.

GI Bill
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Aimed to reintegrate veterans returning from World War II. Massive

numbers of young people were deployed during the War, and the GI Bill
applied to roughly 80% of men who were in their 30s and had families. As a
result of the bill, millions of families were able to purchase homes, start
businesses, and send themselves and their children to college. But Black
veterans struggled to access the benefits they were owed. The GI Bill was
distributed federally but controlled locally, and Black veterans, particularly
in the South, were often denied GI Bill funds that were available to White
vets.
Persistence of Throughout American history, race has been used to justify a hierarchy
racial inequality based on skin color and ancestry. It has fooled people into thinking that
success and failure are driven by psychological, genetic, intellectual,
biological, and cultural differences between racial or ethnic groups.30 These
beliefs persist today. Surveys of Whites in the U.S. show that they are more
likely to attribute racial gaps in education and labor market success to
differences in motivation, cultural inferiority, or genetics. Blacks and
Latinos, on the other hand, are more likely to attribute racial differences in
achievement and economic success to discrimination. One study examined
responses to a national survey asking why “Blacks (are) in their current
state?” Only 31% of Whites responded that discrimination was a central
reason for continuing racial disparities, compared to 61% of Blacks

An audit study focusing on the treatment of Native Americans; similar

studies have shown stark differences in the treatment of White and Black
individuals who have inquired about apartments, home loans, or jobs. One
study advertised iPhones on a common online marketplace and showed
pictures of either a Black or a White hand holding the phone. The ads with
White hands were much more likely to receive a response.

Another study sent resumes to employers with distinctively “Black names”

like Lakisha or Jamal vs White sounding names like Emily or Greg- white
names more likely to be contacted

I S M O N E Y S P E N T O N G I R L’ S E D U C AT I O N   WA S T E D ? ( I N T E R S E C T I O N A L I T Y F O R
G E N D E R A N D E D U C AT I O N )

January 26, 2017

Education is an important step in a Child’s overall development, all over the world. Education lays
the foundation for a Bright Future. Yet when it comes to Educating a Girl, there is Gender Bias of
Humongous Proportion. According to the United Nations, ‘Women are over half of the world’s
population, yet they do two-thirds of the world’s work, earn one-tenth of the world’s income, and
own less than one-hundredth of the world’s property. The ratio of dropouts for girls at different
levels of is more than boys.

 Of the 1.3 billion people in poverty, 70% are women.

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 Women earn three-fourths the income that men earn in the non-agricultural sector.
 Women occupy only 10% of the parliamentary seats and only 6% of cabinet positions in 55
countries around the world.
 Of the total burden of work, women carry an average of 53% in developing countries and
51% in industrial countries.
 Of the world’s 900 million non-literate persons, 65% are women due to the lack of
educational opportunities.
 Worldwide, 76 million more boys are enrolled in primary and secondary school than girls.

In many countries, it is very much clear that the girl child is discriminated against from the earliest
stages of life, through her childhood and into adulthood. It is more common in countries where men
outnumber women and particularly in Third World Countries. In most Developing and
Underdeveloped countries, girls are required to fulfill a vital role within the home and are often
unable to attend school as well as complete their domestic tasks. They are often considered
‘temporary property’ as girls move to a husband’s home after marriage; it is not thought to be
economically sound to invest in their future. It is considered more economically viable to spend
money educating a son who will remain at home, than to expend hard earned funds on a child who
will leave. Education for girls and women is an urgent priority as they are can play an essential part
in the development of the economy and also because they harbour the future of the world in their
wombs.

Why Girl Child does not get Education or Does not get Proper Education?
 Indifference in attitudes and practices against girl child including their health and well-being.
 Illiterate Parents and guardians have little awareness of the importance of education,
particularly for girl children
 Financial constraints of various types interfere in the education
 Various domestic responsibilities along with the necessity to earn money from 13-14 years
of age
 Crisis at home snub need to study, i.e. no parental support, densely populated houses with
bad lighting
 Peer pressure from non-school going friends who discourage the pursuit of education.
 Lack of aspiration as the only professional options are the traditional one’s which don’t
require education
 Discrimination, or the perception of discrimination, by higher caste peers and teachers at
school
Why Girl Child Education is important?
 The importance of the role of women in society cannot be overlooked. Especially important is their
role as the traditional primary caregivers to children. When women are given the opportunity to
have a voice in charting their own destinies, they can improve their lives and the lives of their
children who are future of a country.
 Educating a girl child removes some of the heavy burdens from poor families around the
world as such a child is seen as a bread winner in most Third World countries.
 Gender equality and the advancement of women have the potential to bring developments
in all spheres of life like economy, health, care etc.
 Girls become aware of family planning which is essential for proper care of the existing
children.
 Education also lowers infant mortality as numerous children die needlessly because their
mothers were denied an education earlier in life.
 Women are at risk for early marriage and pregnancy and education will reduce maternal
deaths in childbirth.
 Awareness about HIV/AIDS leads to a Healthy population and prevention of diseases.
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What Steps can be taken so that a Girl Child gets Education? What would it take to improve girls’
access to education?
 Parental and community involvement: Families and communities must be important
partners with schools in developing curriculum and managing children’s education.
 Low-cost and flexible timetables: Basic education should be free or cost very little. Where
possible, there should be stipends and scholarships to compensate families for the loss of girls’
household labour. Also, school hours should be flexible so children can help at home and still
attend classes.
 Schools close to home, with women teachers: Many parents worry about girls traveling long
distances on their own. Many parents also prefer to have daughters taught by women.
 Preparation for school: Girls do best when they receive early childhood care, which
enhances their self-esteem and prepares them for school.
 Relevant curricula: Learning materials should be relevant to the girl’s background and be in
the local language. They should also avoid reproducing gender stereotypes.
There was a time when people thought that it was not necessary to educate girls. Now we have
begun to realize that girls’ education is essential. The modern age is the age of awakening of girls.
They are trying to compete with men in all spheres of life. There are many people who oppose girls’
education. They say that the proper sphere of girls is the home. So, they argue that the money spent
on girl’s education is wasted. This view is wrong, because girl’s education can bring about a silent
resolution in the society.