Like the family, religion, race, and other social institutions, gender affects the roles men and women play in a society. In most western societies, economic growth depends on people of different classes working in different jobs and accepting different rewards and benefits. Gender functions in a similar manner to organize society. For many years, the U.S. labor force operated under the assumption that most workers were men with wives and children at home to support. Salaries, hours, employer expectations, and the structure of businesses all reflected this assumption, and shaped the way that women were hired, fired, or compensated.
Gender involves differences in power.
Like race and social class, gender orders social relationships in such a way that some individuals have greater power than do others. In every society, the roles women and men assume accord women fewer opportunities and privileges. They usually have less say than their husbands in family decisions and less authority than men in the workplace. Because women hold far fewer positions in governing bodies, they have little impact on decisionmaking or public policies. Gender inequality may also be structured and perpetuated by the economy, the political system, and other social institutions.