@article{Leffler_2015, place={Washington DC: American Sociological Association.}, title={Comparative Gender Stratification}, url={https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/comparative-gender-stratification}, abstractNote={ Gender stratification systems vary greatly around the world. To examine differences and similarities, we need to be able to map the places, regions, and ethnic groups that we will discuss. So first we will first brush up on cartographic skills. We also need to know some basics about how various places operate: their demographics, economics, social structures, etc., and how these issues affect and reflect gender dynamics. So our second goal is to practice global literacy by considering some aspects of how various places operate. Moving from spatial to temporal comparisons, we will then consider gender relations in various historical periods. We will track chronological changes not only across the eons but also across the days of our own lives: how do current events reflect and affect gender stratification? Now we are ready to drill down to some specifics. How and why do the relative situations of women and men compare across times and cultures? We begin with the first question: how do they compare? Across time, how do they change; how remain stable? Across space, how do they resemble one another; how differ? Exploring these questions leads us to some methodological and conceptual quagmires. We will try to dig ourselves out, or at least to find some digging tools. Next come the why questions: why the differences? Why the similarities? Why does change occur; why, stability? We will discuss biological and ideological/idealist causal theories (arguments), followed by the approach that underlies the rest of the course: materialism. We will apply materialism to different modes of production (MOPs) and resource control. We will examine how these affect gender relations within societies. We will examine how well biology, idealism, and materialism predict particular outcomes of deliberate attempts to promote equality. If time permits, we will close by applying our intellectual tools to India, Nigeria, and China.}, journal={TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology}, author={Leffler, Ann}, year={2015}, month={Apr.} }