5.6 Conclusion
“The future of our earth may depend upon the ability of all women to identify and develop new definitions of power and new patterns of relating across difference.” – Audre Lorde, 1984
In this chapter, we have explored the relationships between gender and power to answer the question, why does gender inequality exist? We began considering how gendered systems of power are dependent on gender inequality and learned a basic formula for the construction of systems of power: policies that create inequity + ideas that justify inequity = inequitable systems that benefit one group and marginalize others. Then, we considered how the global legacies of capitalism, heteropatriarchy, white supremacy, and settler colonialism produce and sustain gender inequality around the world. We also looked at how gendered systems of power impact individuals, and finally, we saw how individuals impacted by gendered systems of power can build power for revolutionary social change.
Review Learning Objectives
Now that you have completed this chapter, you should be able to:
- Explain how binary gender is embedded in unequal systems of power.
- Describe how binary gender norms and unequal systems of power can impact individuals.
- Describe the role of binary gender norms in the conquest and colonization of the global south.
- Explain why successful social movements to dismantle unequal systems of power require the leadership of women, people who are LGBTQIA+, and People of the Global Majority.
- Explain how violence reinforced heteropatriarchal gender norms.
Questions For Discussion
- Why is an intersectional analysis of unequal systems of power necessary?
Answer: Intersectionality identifies the cumulative impact of intersecting systems of power, which work together to create unique categories of privilege and/or marginalization for individuals and communities within unequal systems of power. - What are three ways that, based on three examples, gender can be privileged or marginalized in the interpersonal domain of power?
Answer: Three examples of how gender can be privileged or marginalized in the interpersonal domain of power tokenism, microaggressions, and internalized oppression. - How can people who have benefited from settler colonialism participate in decolonization?
Answer: For those who have benefited from colonization, decolonization can mean a personal divestment of colonial power across structural, disciplinary, cultural, and interpersonal domains of power. - Why are social movements led by transgender and non-binary people and PGM critical to dismantling unequal systems of power?
Answer: Dismantling unequal systems of power requires honoring the specific knowledge of people who are marginalized by unequal systems of power and taking our lead from them in movements to shift power toward a more just society.
Real But Not True: Check-in
Let’s take a moment to reflect on what you’ve learned in this chapter about socially constructed gender.
Tools of Sociology:
What specific examples of the tools of sociology have been discussed in this chapter?
- Sociological Imagination
- Research-based Evidence
- Social Theory
Socially Constructed: Sexual Norms
- What examples of gender being imposed, enforced, reproduced, challenged, and changed have you discovered in this chapter?
Real in Consequence: Social Stigma
- What examples of real consequences for violating or conforming to socially constructed gender have you discovered in this chapter?
Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion
Open Content, Original
“Conclusion” by Nora Karena is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“Real but Not True: Check-in” by Nora Karena is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“Real But Not True Puzzle Images” by Nora Karena and Katie Losier are licensed under CC BY 4.0
the meanings, attitudes, behaviors, norms, and roles that a society or culture ascribes to sexual differences (Adapted from Conerly et.al. 2021a).
the unequal distribution of power and resources based on gender.
interconnected ideas and practices that attach identity and social position to power and serve to produce and normalize arrangements of power in society.
a complex competitive economic system of power in which limited resources are subject to private ownership and the accumulation of surplus is rewarded.
(a merging of the words heterosexual and patriarchy) is a system of power in which cisgender and heterosexual men have authority over everyone else. This term emphasizes that discrimination against women and LGBTQIA+ people is derived from the same sexist social principle (Valdes, 1996).
a complex system of racist power that is based on discredited racist enlightenment-era social science and constructed through policies and practices that privileged white people over people of other races, based on the racist ideas that that there are meaningful differences between people in different racial categories, that White people are physically and culturally superior, and that they are therefore entitled to dominate other people in other racial categories.
is an unequal system of power that relies on white supremacy to justify removing established indigenous residents of colonized territory so that the land can be occupied by settlers and its resources used for the benefit of the occupying power.
purposeful, organized groups that strive to work toward a common social goal.
an acronym that stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual, Plus a continuously expanding spectrum of gender identities and sexual orientations.
describes how multiple social locations overlap and influence each other to create complex hierarchies of power and oppression, and that overlapping social identities produce unique inequities that influence the lives of people and groups (Crenshaw, 1989).
a right or immunity granted as a benefit, advantage, or favor. While privileges can be earned in some systems, privileges can also be unearned and based on social location. For the purpose of describing unequal power arrangements in systems of power we will be referring to those privileges that are “unearned advantages, exclusive to a particular group or social category, and socially conferred by others” (Johnson, 2001).
a process of social exclusion in which individuals or groups are pushed to the outside of society by denying them economic and political power (Chandler & Munday, 2011).
the practice of making only a superficial or symbolic effort to diversify an organization by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups to give the appearance of equality.
are statements that indirectly reference stereotypes to assert the dominance of the aggressor.
a process of individuals within an oppressed group incorporating and accepting the prejudices of the dominant society (Pheterson, 1986).
(multiple interrelated meanings) (1) A political process that included a transfer of power back from a colonial government to an indigenous one. For example, when India became independent from the British Empire in 1947. (2) For those who have benefited from colonization, decolonization has also come to mean a personal divestment of colonial power across structural, disciplinary, cultural, and interpersonal domains of power. (3) A cultural process of identifying and challenging cultural domains of colonial power so that pre-colonial ways of being and knowing can be reclaimed, recovered, and reimagined.
describes people who identify as a gender that is different from the gender they were assigned at birth.
a group of people who live in a defined geographic area, who interact with one another, and who share a common culture (Conerly et al. 2021).
an awareness of the relationship between a person’s behavior, experience, and the wider culture that shapes the person’s choices and perceptions. (Mills 1959)
a systematic approach that involves asking questions, identifying possible answers to your question, collecting, and evaluating evidence—not always in that order—before drawing logical, testable conclusions based on the best available evidence.
