Gender And Gender-Conflict Theory

Introduction

Since 1900, the share of women in the U.S. labor force has tripled, and it continues to rise (Macionis, 2015). However, according to a study by Koch, Konigorski, and Sieverding (2014), when placed in a job interview situation, women who interact with subtly sexist men tend to perform worse on areas in which women are negatively stereotyped, such as math. This may make is difficult for women to enter professions which are dominated by men, including engineering or corporate management. The theory that will be explored in this paper is conflict theory, specifically gender-conflict theory.

Current Trends in the Data

Koch et al. (2014) worked with 99 German students of the University of Heidelberg and found that stereotype threat

caused female students to perform poorly in math tests, but not language tests. In the study, male and female students were randomly assigned to be interviewed by either a subtly sexist interviewer or a neutral interviewer in a job application setting. Then they were given a math test and a language test, which resulted in the females in the sexist setting performing significantly worse on the math test than the females in the neutral setting or the males in either setting (Koch et al., 2014).
A similar 2009 study by Logel, Walton, and Spencer found that female engineering students who interacted with more sexist men prior to taking an engineering test received significantly lower scores than females who interacted with less sexist men or males who took the test.

These men were not overtly sexist, which showed that “even subtly sexist behavior may trigger social identity threat in women” (Logel et al., 2009, p. 1090).

These studies may suggest that in male-dominated fields there are typically unwelcoming environments for women. Male-dominated fields include such prestigious professions such as engineering, building trades, architecture, lawyers, physicians, and corporate managers (Macionis, 2015). This may result in inequality between men and women as women face the additional challenges of sexism and stereotype threat to succeed in professions in which men

dominate.
According to Powell and Sang (2015), women do, in fact, encounter sexism on a daily basis in male-dominated fields. Through interviews, Powell and Sang found that whether it be through humor or blatant sexism, “women experience gendered treatment in everyday interactions with peers,” (p. 919) including other women. This is not an issue that can be easily addressed, either. Simon and O’Brien (2015) showed that “when a woman confronts a man for sexism, she violates a strong prescriptive stereotype that women should be nice” (p. 254). They found that, when a female experimenter confronted a man for a sexist comment, that man typically wanted to avoid that experimenter in the future and even considered her incompetent (Simon & O’Brien, 2015).
Stereotype threat worsens a woman’s performance in a subject in which they are stereotyped as inferior by causing anxiety and mind- wandering (Lu, Feng, Yu, Tian, & Hong, 2015). If a test is necessary for an interview, this can mean that women with sexist interviewers will perform worse and be less likely to receive a position due to a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.
Beyond the interview, a study by Chiaburu, Sawyer, Smith, Brown, and Harris (2014) showed that, under stereotype threat, women in a male-dominated field will be less likely to perform acts of civic virtue, therefore doing less to advance their careers. Not only were they less likely to perform these acts, such as attending a meeting that was not mandatory, but they were generally not expected to perform these acts either (Chiaburu et al., 2014). However, this difference in expectations can result in underperformance by women and “unequal performance evaluations or selection decisions within organizations” (Chiaburu et al., 2014, p. 191). This effect is worsened by men often excluding women from key events in organizations, which could help them advance their skills, knowledge, and career (Powell & Sang, 2015).
Stereotype threat may be the main reason that women may underperform in male-dominated domains since “research does not point to any overall differences in intelligence between males and females” (Macionis, 2015, p. 309). Stereotype threat and sexism, in general, is a hurdle that will be difficult to get over and difficult to get rid of because only about 20 percent of U.S. adults identify themselves as feminists (Macionis, 2015).
Thinking Critically
The social conflict theory seems to be a valid explanation for the issue of stereotype threat. The theory suggests that the world is full of inequality and that such inequality brings about conflict but also change. Gender-conflict theory, specifically, focuses on inequality between men and women. The data collected shows that there is quite a bit of inequality between men and women when it comes to male-dominated fields.
In order to join or succeed in one of these fields, women have to overcome significantly more hurdles than men do. They have to ignore any of the subtle or blatant sexism they tend to experience in everyday interactions with their peers. Only by ignoring this sexism can they perform to the best of their ability. If they do not ignore this sexism, they are struck down by anxiety and distractions that prevent them from performing as well as they are able to. Since male-dominated fields are typically very prestigious, it can be much harder for a woman to have a prestigious career than for a man too.
This inequality can cause conflict in the form of feminism.

Feminists fight for equality and, therefore, demand that they are treated fairly. They may call out others for being sexist, which may result in the person who was called out forming an aversion to the feminist. Even so, feminism slowly but surely brings about change, which is evident in the previously mentioned fact that the women workforce in the U.S. has grown considerably in the past 100 years. Thus, the social conflict theory holds completely true.

Social Responsibility

The entirety of society holds some form of responsibility in overcoming the inequality women face in male-dominated domains. It is the responsibility of everybody, but especially those who are already successful in such professions, to remain neutral and avoid sexism when speaking to women peers or subordinates. In addition to this, each individual must make a decision about whether or not to practice feminism or consider themselves a feminist.

If a majority of people fight for equality for women in the workforce, there may be a result that consists of an increase of women in more prestigious fields. This can be a very positive thing for society because it allows for new ideas and perspectives in those professions, which can create progress. Overall, society can benefit from

feminism.
That being said, these fields should not be completely dominated by women. There needs to be a balance. Society needs to fight to take away the extra difficulties women face in these fields, but society does not need to make it easier for women to get careers in these domains than men. There needs to be a limit to how much easier it becomes for women to join these fields or society will be faced with the opposite problem.