experienced by the characters, that is the existence of gender inequality that occurred in it. So the readers can understand about gender inequality as reflected
in Tennessee Williams’The Glass Menagerie especially to find the problem how the gender inequality experienced by the characters in the play. I hope the finding
of this study can make the readers want to continue and find desire to reading other literary works.
1.6 The Review of Related Literature
In this thesis I use some books from the library that useful to help me find the information about the play and the teory that related to sociology, they are:
1. The American Tradition in Literature Tenth Edition by Barbara Perkins2002. This book is the source of my information so i can know about the play of The
Glass Menagerie itself, and also in this book I can find the biography by the author along with his works.
2. Sociology An Introduction by Alex Thio 1985. I use this book as one of references to find the explanation of the theory of gender and to find out problems
related to the gender itself. Here i know that sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having
as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between
individuals in the street up to the investigation of world-wide social processes. 3. Sociology in Our Times by Diana Kendall 1996. I also use this book as a
reference on the social problems that can support the statement of my problem. This book help me to make my analyze becomes clearer and easier, and I found
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many important data here. That family, gender and sexuality form a broad area of inquiry studied in many subfields of sociology. The sociology of the family
examines the family, as an institution and unit of socialisation, with special concern for the comparatively modern historical emergence of the nuclear family
and its distinct gender roles 4. Theory of Literature by Rene Wellek and Warren Austin 1967. In this book
said that, There are two approaches in analyzing literary works. They are intrinsic and extrinsic approach
And I also find some suitable and usefull references from the internet about gender itself to complete my data. Here i found that, Gender role is a term
used in the social sciences and humanities to denote a set of behavioral norms that accompany a given gendered status also called a gendered identity in a given
social group or system. Gender is one component of the gender or sex system, which refers to the set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological
sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed needs are satisfied Reiter 1975: 159. Every known society has a gender or sex system,
although the components and workings of this system vary widely from society to society. And here, knowledge of sociology helps me to get the deeper
understanding about gender inequality in my problem. Quoted from http:www.wordiq.comdefinitionGender_roleGender_roles_and_feminism
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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1
Gender
Gender is a social construction with important consequeces in everybody life. Gender is constructed both socially through social interactions as well as
biologically through chromosomes, brain structure, and hormonal differences. Gender refers to the social, psychological, and cultural attributes of masculinity
and femininity that are based on the above biological distinctions. Gender pertains to the socially learned patterns of behaviour and the psychological or emotional
expression or attitudes that distinguish males from females. Ideas about masculinity and femininity are culturally derived and pattern the ways in which
males and females are treated from birth onward. Gender is an important factor in shaping people’s self image and social identities. Gender is learned through the
socialization process and thus is and achieved status. Gender is a major source of social inequality, not only are man and women as signed different roles, but these
roles are also judged and rewarded unequally. Just as our society has inequalities based on race and ethic background, so it has inequalities based on sex. Men and
women have unequal access to social rewards.
Gender is a social construction with important consequences in everyday life. Just have stereotypes regardings raceethnicity have built in notions of
superiorty and inferiority, gender stereotypes hold that men and women are inherently different in attributes, behavior, and aspirations. Stereotypes define
men as strong, rational, dominant, independent, and less concerned with their
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appearance. Women are stereotyped as weak, emotional, nurturing, dependent, and anxious about their appearance.
Not only that, Gender is a status characteristic, which can be used to support discrimination in much the same way that other statused such as race,
religion, and age are used. It is the status of beeing a woman that influences a woman’s career aspirations, her hiring possibillities, her promotion changes, and
her salary, as much ass the personal qualifications she prossesses or gains throgh education. Much of the discrimination againts women is a matter of the upper
status group, men, retaining power, and privilege.
Gender role is a lifelong process whereby people learn the values, attitudes, motivation, and behaviour considered appropriate to each sex by their culture.
Even before a baby is born, its sex is a subject of speculation, and the different gender role relationships it will from birth on already are being decided. Tischler
1996:327 states that:
A scene from the early musical “Carousel” epitomizes in somewhat caricatured form some of the feelings that parents have about
bringing up sons as opposed to daughters. A young man discovers he is to be a father. He rhapsodizes about what kind of son expects to
have. The boy will be tall and tough as a tree, and no one will dare to boss him around, it will be alright for his mother to teach him
manners but she mustn’t make a sissy out of him. He will be good at wrestling and will be able to herd cattle, run a riverboat, drive
spikes, etc. Then the prospective father realizes, with a start that the child may be a girl. The music changes to a gentle theme. She wiil be
have ribbons in her hair, she will be sweet and polite just like her mother and suitors will flock around her. There’s a slightly
discordant note, introduced for comic relief from sentimentality, when the expectant father brags that she will be half again as
bright as a girls are meant to be, she must be protected, and he must
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find enough money to raise her in a setting where she will the right kind of man to marry.
A society reveals its cocepts of gender through the social roles it assigns to each sex. A social role is a set of expectations and behaviors associated with a
specific position in a social system. A gender role, then, is a social role associated with being male or female.
Different habits of men and women are explained by different roles in the process of evolution. Although life conditions have changed, both men and
women tend to follow their biological programs.Men tend to retain a firm sense of direction – they need to trace the game, catch it, and find the way home, while
women have a better peripheral vision that helps them to see what happening around the house, to spot an approaching danger, to notice changes in the
childrens behavior and appearance. Mens brains are programmed to hunting, which explains their narrow range of vision, while womens brains are able to
decipher a wider range of information
In our society , as in all others, males and females are socialized differently. In addition, each culture defines gender role differently. This process is not
limited to childhood but continues through adolescence, adulthood, and old age. From birth, parents interact differently with children depending on their sex, and
through this interaction parents can instill different values or traits in their children on the basis of what is normative for their sex. This internalization of
gender norms can be seen through the example of which types of toys children are typically given “feminine” toys often reinforce interaction, nurturing, and
closeness, “masculine” toys often reinforce independence and competitiveness
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that parents give to their children. Education also plays an integral role in the creation of gender norms.
Gender role definitions in Western society have reflected a tension between two oppsing forces the similarities between the sexes and the differences. This
focus on the home strengthened the value and role of women, who were seen as faithful Christians Protestants believed that everyone should read scripture, this
promoting female literacy, loving spouses, and responsible parents.There were thought to be few innate differences between the sexes, yet women remained
subordinate to their husbands. Men were dominant in the competitive economic and political worlds, while women held sway in sacred, moral, and emotional
sprheres, particularly in the family.
Gender roles is some persistent differences between men and women. Women eexperience a mandate to both marry and be a mother. Often, marriage is
viewed as the true entry into adulthood. And women are expected not only to become mother but to want to be mothers. Obviously, men play a role in these
events,but they do not appear to be as critical in identifying the life course for a man. Society defines men’s roles by economic success. Traditional gender roles
have most severely restricted females. Gender stereotypes have been consistent over time although the study of sex differences is a modern discipline. Research
has shown that while girls do have advantages in verbal abilities grammar, spelling and writing and boys do appear to be more advanced in their visual-
spatial abilities than girls, no sex differences in math concepts have been supported. This appears to affect career choices as there is a larger portion of men
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in jobs such as firefighters, doctors, and police officers and more women in nurturing type careers such as nurses and teachers. There are numerous theories
on why sex differences exist but most can be categorized in supporting either a nature or nurture theory. Those that support biological factors argue that people
behave as they do just because they are biologically male or female.
Men and women have traditionally played certain familiar gender roles. Sometimes these roles are very apparent. Gender roles are largely culturally
defined, and so vary over time, from one culture to the next, and even within a society. No matter what gender roles that play, will be maintain a single gender
identity. Gender identity cuts across to sexual preference. Being male or female includes having a personal sense of gender, as well as culturally defined norms
and roles.
Gender Equality is a social order in which women and men share the same opportunities and the same constraints on full participation in both the economic
and the domestic realm. Gender equality is central to economic and human development in a country. Removing inequalities gives societies a better chance to
develop. When women and men have relative equality, economies grow faster, childrens health improves and there is less corruption. Gender equality is an
important human right. Gender equality and womens empowerment are human rights that lie at the heart of development and the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals. Despite the progress that has been made, six out of ten of worlds poorest people are still women and girls, less than 16 percent of the
worlds parliamentarians are women, two thirds of all children shut outside the
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school gates are girls and, both in times of armed conflict and behind closed doors at home, women are still systematically subjected to violence. That is why UNDP
integrates gender equality and womens empowerment in its four main areas of work: poverty reduction, democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery,
and environment and sustainable development. Rossi 1964:261 states that: The traditional conception of masculine and feminine are
inappropriate to the kind of world we can live in during the second half of the twentieth century. An androgynous conception of sex role
means that each sex will cultivate some of the characteristics usually associated with the other in traditional sex role difinition.
Rossi proposed that boys be socialized to be tender and expressive so they will later feel free to express these equalities in their social relationships. He also
recomends that girls be inculcated with achievement need, workmanship, and assertiveness so they will feel free to express these equalities in their adult life .
This socialization strategy is assumed to ultimately enable both men and women to develop the full range of human equalities regardless of their gender. The
movement towards gender equality, especially in Western countries, began with the suffragette movement of the late-19th century. Then there was a change in
relation to a womans property rights in marriage. This situation has begun to change in recent years. As more and more women have entered the job market,
husbands have begun to share responsibilities of home with their wives. It is also easy for a working wife to feel responsible for any problems her children might
have. Whereas she may feel guilty for not staying at home, her husband is likely to assume that it is normal, and he will be take care their home. Gender equality
is also the goal of the equality of the genders or the sexes, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality. And Megawati Soekarno
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Putri also talked about gender in her speech about gender equality that should happened in this country. Megawati Soekarno Putri Metro TV, June 9th 2011,
11:50 am said that: Gender should not differentiate between men and women, because
they are actually equal. Who can distinguish them is actually a level of intelligence and their intellect. When sister is smarter than
her brother, then who will be success and stand out must be the sister, not the brother. Similarly, women also can be a president, it
can be happen because of knowledge and the level of her intelligence, no different from the man who can become a
president.
It is clearly seen that Megawati did not agree the existence of gender differences between men and women in the opportunity to get a
chance to success and become a leader. It can be seen from her background that Megawati was a former president of the Republic of
Indonesia, which once headed and powerful in Indonesia.
Gender Inequality refers to the obvious or hidden disparity between gender. Gender inequality can further be understood trough the mechanism of
sexism. Discrimination takes place in this manner as men and women are subject to prejudicial treatment on the basis of gender alone www.wikipedia.org.
Gender inequality is one which has been publicly reverberating through society for decades. The problem of inequality in employment being one of the most
pressing issues today. In order to examine this situation one must try to get to the root of the problem and must understand the sociological factors that cause
women to have a much more difficult time getting the same benefits, wages, and job opportunities as their male counterparts. The society in which we live has
been shaped historically by males. The policy-makers have consistently been male
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and therefore it is not surprising that our society reflects those biases which exist as a result of this male-domination. It is important to examine all facets of this
problem, but in order to fully tackle the issue one must recognize that this inequality in the workforce is rooted in what shapes future employees and
employers education. Gender inequality refers to the obvious or hidden disparity between individuals due to gender.
Gender inequality is constructed both socially through social interactions as well as biologically through chromosomes, brain structure, and hormonal
differences. Gender systems are often dichotomous and hierarchical, binary gender systems may reflect on to the inequalities that manifest in numerous
dimensions of daily life. Gender inequality stems from distinctions, whether empirically grounded or socially constructed. Gender inequality can further be
understood through the mechanisms of sexism. Discrimination takes place in this manner as men and women are subject to prejudicial treatment on the basis of
gender alone. Sexism occurs when men and women are framed within two dimensions of social cognition. In our society there are inequalities based on sex,
man and women have unequal access to social rewards. This gender stratification reflects male dominance, the social situation in which more power and prestige
are given to men than to women. Benevolent sexism takes place when women are viewed as possessing low degrees of competency and high degrees of warmth.
Although this is the result of a more positive stereotype of women, this still contributes to gender inequality as this stereotype is only applied to women who
conform to the caring or nurturing stereotypes, with the remaining women still being discriminated against as they are not viewed in this positive light. Also, this
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form of sexism has negative effects as well, as these notions of women include the idea that women are weak and in need of the protection of men.
Gender inequalities often stem from social structures that have institutionalized conceptions of gender differences. From birth, parents act toward
children on the basis of the child’s sex. Baby boys are perceived to be less fragile than girls and tend to be treated more roughly by their parents. Girl babies are
thought to be cute, sweet, and cuddly and receive more gentle treatment Kendall 1996:361. And here Popenoe 1986:334 states that:
Men and women are different physically, and they think, feel, act, and relate to others in different ways. Mens are rational, and
womens are emotional. Men go out and earn living, women are mother and homemakers. Men seek money and power, women find
fulfillment through their husband and children.
Differential treatment continues as children grow. Parents tend to use physical punishment on boys more often than on girls, and boys especially are
strongly discouraged from playing with the ‘wrong’toys, such as dolls.
The man’s world outside the home was viewed as a harsh and heartless jungle in which men needed strenght, ambition, and aggresion. Woman’s world
was the home, and her job was to comfort and care for husband and children, maintaining harmony and teaching her children to comform to society’s norms.
Thio 1985:242 said that:
Men are supposed to be ambitious and agrresive. Women, shy, easily intimidated, and passive. Men should be strong and
atheletic; women, weak and dainty. It is bad form for men, but not for women, to worry about their apprence and aging. Men should
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hold back their emotions and must not cry, but women are expected to be emotional, even to cry easily.
Gender differences are also commonly found in employment, career and the acceptance of wages between men and women. There are three main reasons
for the deferential between man’s and women’s wages, that they are: 1.
Human capital factors. On this condition there are some factors that influence, such as education, experience, training, and commitment to
work. Human capital factors account for less than half of the gap in the earnings between man and woman.
2. Institutional barriers such as occupational seregation.
3. And discrimination.
Wage differentials occur with job segregation because concentraining only in certain fields, women increase the supply of workers for these jobs and
decrease their own wages. Socialization , training, and costom have made it difficult for women to enter male-dominated fields, although more and more
women are doing so,many barriers still remain. Occupations staffed may be given higher prestige than those staffed by women. Men’s work, no matter what it is,
tends to be seen as more prestigious. To the high degree, the job market is still segregated by gender . The
worlds of “men’s work” and “women’s work” are as different, they are vastly unequal in power, pay and prestige. In some case, whole industries and
occupations are dominated by one sex or the other, such as coal mining and logging or nursing and textile manufacturing all most all female. In other cases,
man and women work in the same setting but hold different position, where men menage the office, whilw women do the clerical work. “Female” occupations not
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only pay less than “male” occupations but usually offer fewer benefits such as health insurance and pension plans , fewer oppurtunities for promotions, and less
job security. Gender inequality specifically addresses the interface between human
rights obligations and trade rules as well as the linkages between intellectual property norms and gender issues. Finally, a number of concrete approaches to
improving the gender sensitivity of both international trade activities and policy- making are examined. These include an exploration of “gender trade impact
assessment” as a tool to ensure gender-conscious trade policy formulation, a review of some capacity-building experiences targeted specifically at women, an
examination of information and communication technologies as empowering tools for women traders, as well as an analysis of the gender dimension of fair trade and
other corporate social responsibility initiatives. The views expressed in this volume are varied and no straightforward conclusions can be established.
Nonetheless, with regard to the developing countries’ experiences reviewed here, it can be said that international trade has, in a number of cases, contributed to the
redistribution of income in favour of women. This is generally due to the numerous employment and business opportunities created by trade in the
manufacturing and services sectors. As a result, not only is the status of women in society and within their households enhanced by their capacity to earn income,
countries as a whole also benefit from women’s work as it significantly contributes to export competitiveness and industrial diversification. Gender
inequality and discrimination is argued to cause and perpetuate poverty and vulnerability in society as a whole. Household and intra-household knowledge
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and resources are key influences in individuals abilities to take advantage of external livelihood opportunities or respond appropriately to threats. High
education levels and social integration significantly improve the productivity of all members of the household and improve equity throughout society. Gender
Equity Indices seek to provide the tools to demonstrate this feature of poverty. Men and women receive significantly different economic rewards for their
work. Men’s work moved away from the home, women’s became more home centered and lost its commercial value. Women’s work was considered “useful,”
men’s work had monetary and exchange value and so contributed to the market economy. Power and prestige in a market system can be gained mainly through
earning money, those with the most earning power will have the highest status. Men’s work has ranked as much more important than women’s work.
The number of women in the workforce has increased dramatically in recents decades, but a pattern of gender inequality on the job continues. Women
still tend to be channeled into traditionally “feminime” occupations and to earn less than men even thought they may perform comparable jobs. Current efforts to
close this gap focus on the notion of comparable worth, basing wages on the amount of skill, effort, responsibility, and risk the job entails, plus the amount of
income the job produces. And men’s power in the workplace sets the stage of gender bias, which can be especially strong when women enter traditionally male
occupations. The darkest aspect of gender bias is sexual harrasment, the demand that someone respond to or tolerate unwanted sexual attention from a person with
power over the victim. Since men and women have had different life experiences, the issues they approach are different, and even when they have similiar concerns,
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they approach them from different perspectives. For example, women who enter politics today typically do so for different reasons from men. Men often embark
on a political career to make business contacts or build on them, a natural extension of their livelihood, women generally become involved because they
want to help. This difference in interest is relevant to the likelihood of their future success.
There are many kinds of gender inequality which are as follows:
1. Natality inequality
In this type of inequality a preference is given for boys over girls that many male-dominated societies have, gender inequality can manifest itself in the
form of the parents wanting the newborn to be a boy rather than a girl. There was a time when this could be no more than a wish a daydream or a nightmare,
depending on ones perspective, but with the availability of modern techniques to determine the gender of the foetus, sex-selective abortion has become common in
many countries.
2. Professional or Employment inequality
In terms of employment as well as promotion in work and occupation, women often face greater handicap than men. A country like Japan and India may be quite
egalitarian in matters of demography or basic facilities, and even, to a great extent, in higher education, and yet progress to elevated levels of employment and
occupation seems to be much more problematic for women than for men.
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3. Ownership inequality
In many societies the ownership of property can also be very unequal. Even basic assets such as homes and land may be very asymmetrically shared. The
absence of claims to property can not only reduce the voice of women, but also make it harder for women to enter and flourish in commercial, economic and even
some social activities. This type of inequality has existed in most parts of the world, though there are also local variations.
4. Household inequality
There are often enough, basic inequalities in gender relations within the family or the household, which can take many different forms. Even in cases in which
there are no overt signs of anti-female bias in, say, survival or son-preference or education, or even in promotion to higher executive positions, the family
arrangements can be quite unequal in terms of sharing the burden of housework and child care.
5. Special opportunity inequality
Even when there is relatively little difference in basic facilities including schooling, the opportunities of higher education may be far fewer for young
women than for young men. Indeed, gender bias in higher education and professional training can be observed even in some of the richest countries in the
world.
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2.2 Literature
