Deck 5: The Gendered Life Course

Question 1

With respect to gender,

A) most social scientists believe biology is more important than learning as a determinant of behaviour
B) girls learn to be girls and boys learn to be boys through biological changes
C) it is largely socially determined and socially constructed
D) our society is structured to privilege females
E) it can be understood separately from age

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Age and gender

A) are not related
B) intersect and are interrelated
C) are just two independent social markers
D) are only characteristics of individuals
E) are only aspects of social structure

Answer 2

B

Question 3

There are two revolutions that have been transforming societies like Canada. One is a

A) decreased longevity revolution
B) ethnicity revolution
C) gender revolution
D) age revolution
E) social class revolution

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The life course is a temporal phenomenon. Therefore, the best data to assess it are

A) cross-sectional
B) longitudinal
C) deductive
D) inductive
E) grounded

Question 5

How has the life course changed?

A) it is less predictable today, in that most deaths occur in later life
B) people can now expect to enjoy many years in which parents and adult children jointly survive
C) women now play a much smaller role in the paid workforce
D) women's lives have become much less fluid
E) a gendered public/private sphere distinction, with men's life courses played out in the public sphere and women's in the private sphere

Question 6

Canadian census data suggest that approximately ____ percent of Canadians over the age of 15 live in common-law unions, a 229 percent increase since 1981.

A) two
B) ten
C) twenty
D) thirty
E) forty-five

Question 7

While common-law unions have increased in Canada, there are strong regional variations. Which one of the following has the highest figures for cohabitation?

A) Ontario
B) Alberta
C) British Colombia
D) Northwest Territories and Nunavut
E) Quebec

Question 8

While common-law unions have increased in Canada, there are strong regional variations. Which one of the following has the lowest figures for cohabitation?

A) Ontario
B) Alberta
C) British Colombia
D) Northwest Territories and Nunavut
E) Quebec

Question 9

Which of the following is true about cohabitation?

A) older people rather than younger people are more likely to cohabitate
B) women have higher rates of cohabitation that men
C) among those aged 25 to 29, there is double the percentage of people cohabitating, compared to those aged 45 to 49
D) Quebec does not have a high rate of cohabitation
E) cohabitation became common during the 1950s

Question 10

Which of the following statements is true about premarital and postmarital cohabitation?

A) women are more likely to live in premarital common-law unions, whereas men are more likely to live in post-marital common-law unions
B) men are more likely to live in premarital common-law unions, whereas women are more likely to live in post-marital common-law unions
C) women and men engage in premarital common-law unions and post-marital common-law unions to the same extent
D) neither women nor men are likely to live in premarital common-law unions, whereas women are more likely to live in post-marital common-law unions
E) men are more likely to live in premarital common-law unions, whereas men and women live in post-marital common-law unions to the same extent

Question 11

With respect to a cohabitating relationship or a legal marriage

A) women tend to marry (or cohabitate with) men that are younger
B) women tend to marry (or cohabitate with) men that are older
C) women tend to marry (or cohabitate with) men that are the same age
D) women tend to cohabitate with men that are younger, but marry men that are older
E) women tend to cohabitate with men that are older, but marry men that are younger

Question 12

The fact that women marry (or cohabitate) at younger ages than men, establishes what is called

A) a gender revolution
B) a stem family
C) an age stratification gradient
D) a mating gradient
E) an age dependency ratio

Question 13

The baby boom was a result of

A) a stall in the overall trend of increasing fertility in Canada in the 20^th century
B) a change in the timing of women's life course events
C) a substantial increase in fertility
D) women having their children at later ages than did women both before and after them
E) women bearing on average 4.3 children

Question 14

Canadian data suggest a convergence in the fertility behaviour of Canadian women. Not only are women having fewer children, they are also much more likely to have

A) one child
B) two children
C) three children
D) four children
E) five children

Question 15

It is possible that childlessness among Canadian women may increase

A) because sterility is increasing among men
B) if fertility clinics and reproductive technology fail
C) if women wait until later ages to try and become pregnant
D) because Canadian adults have embraced the idea of childlessness
E) because infertility is increasing among women

Question 16

While fertility has converged to a two-child average, some families have three children. Which of the following characterizes women who have a third child?

A) they are more likely to have had their first child over the age of 25
B) they are more likely to be engaged in the paid labour force
C) they are more likely to be born somewhere other than Canada, the United States or Europe
D) they are less likely to attend religious services frequently
E) they are less likely to have two children of the same sex

Question 17

In Canada, the median age of a first birth is now approximately

A) 26 years for women, and 30 years for men
B) 26 years for women, and 26 years for men
C) 29 years for women, and 33 years for men
D) 32 years for women, and 35 years for men
E) 30 years for women, and 40 years for men

Question 18

While there is convergence among women and men in the number of children born, the age at which the first child is born

A) is usually 28 for women, 30 for men
B) is usually 30 for women, 35 for men
C) does not vary
D) varies substantially
E) has not be investigated

Question 19

If children born into a common-law union and children born to single mothers are considered together, approximately _____ percent of children are born outside of legal marriage in Canada.

A) two
B) eighteen
C) thirty
D) forty-five
E) sixty

Question 20

Children born into a common-law union in which parents do not subsequently marry are _____ to experience family breakdown than children born into legal marriage not preceded by a common-law union.

A) two times more likely
B) three times more likely
C) two times less likely
D) three times less likely
E) as likely

Question 21

Prior to changes in divorce law in 1969, the only legal grounds for divorce was

A) psychological abuse
B) physical abuse
C) adultery
D) unhappiness
E) irreconcilable differences

Question 22

How did changes to divorce law in 1986 make it easier to end unhappy marriages?

A) inclusion of "unhappiness" as grounds for divorce
B) an increase in the period of separation need to be eligible for divorce
C) broadening the definition of "adultery"
D) a reduction in the period of separation needed to be eligible for divorce
E) appointing more female family court judges

Question 23

Research suggests that people who cohabitate and then legally marry are

A) less likely to divorce
B) more likely to divorce
C) equally likely to divorce
D) always going to divorce
E) never going to divorce

Question 24

People who cohabitate before marriage

A) are more likely to be men
B) are a self-selected group who have more casual attitudes about relationships and are more prone to divorce when things get difficult
C) have demonstrated that engaging in a "trial marriage" ensures marital success and longevity
D) are less likely to divorce
E) usually do not have children

Question 25

Although rates of remarriage have declined, about _____ of marriages involve at least one spouse who has been previously married.

A) one-fifth
B) one-quarter
C) one-third
D) one-half
E) two-thirds

Question 26

Women's greater financial independence as a result of their participation in the labour force has been put forth as one factor to explain

A) lower remarriage rates among women
B) higher remarriage rates among women
C) higher remarriage rates among men
D) increased common-law unions
E) decreased divorce rates

Question 27

Women have always been more likely than men to be lone parents. However, the reason for this today is different from the past. The major reason in the past was

A) the early death of husbands
B) never-marriage
C) marital dissolution
D) that men did not want the children
E) that women were more economically independent

Question 28

Which of the following is true about lone parent households?

A) they are more likely to be headed by a man
B) they are less likely to experience poverty
C) over half of lone female-headed families with at least one child under the age of 18, have incomes below the Statistic Canada's Low Income Cut Offs
D) fathers always provide child support to female-headed lone parent families
E) of families with at least one child under the age of 18, less than five percent are headed by a lone parent

Question 29

Of families in Canada with at least one child under the age of 18, almost _____ percent are headed by a lone parent.

A) one
B) five
C) fifteen
D) nineteen
E) thirty-nine

Question 30

Which of the following statements is true about same-sex unions?

A) there are plenty of data available on the numbers of people in same-sex unions
B) same-sex unions are not likely a growing phenomenon of family living
C) more men than women are likely engaged in same-sex unions, if we accept that more men are homosexuals
D) it is unlikely that people in same-sex unions have been previously involved in a heterosexual marriage
E) it is unlikely that some portion of people in same-sex unions have had children

Question 31

Among the Canadian population aged 65 and over, widows

A) outnumber widowers by a factor of five to one
B) are outnumbered by widowers by a factor of five to one
C) are more likely to remarry than widowers
D) are more likely to remarry much sooner than widowers
E) are more likely to remarry someone younger

Question 32

Being single refers to the

A) never married
B) widowed
C) separated
D) divorced
E) unattached

Question 33

What started to change in the family and life course in the 1970s?

A) large scale decreases in women's labour force participation
B) the mating gradient disappeared
C) fertility started to decrease substantially
D) age at marriage began to decrease
E) cohabitation became an unacceptable living arrangement

Question 34

Statistics Canada data suggest that the overall increase of women in the labour force has led to

A) 25 percent of workers being women
B) 32 percent of workers being women
C) 46 percent of workers being women
D) 50 percent of workers being women
E) 62 percent of workers being women

Question 35

Canadian data comparing labour force participation in 1976 to 2004 suggest

A) women and men's participation have both decreased
B) women and men's participation has stayed the same
C) women's participation has increased, while men's has declined
D) men's participation has increased, while women's has declined
E) women's and men's participation have both increased

Question 36

In Canada, there has been an increase in the women's labour force participation rate and a decrease in the male labour force participation rate. This trend has been explained by

A) an increase in the labour force participation of young women, particularly mothers, and the voluntary and involuntary retirement of older men
B) an increase in the labour force participation of older women, and the voluntary and involuntary retirement of middle-aged men
C) a decrease in the labour force participation of older women, and the voluntary and involuntary retirement of older men
D) an increase in the voluntary and involuntary retirement of older women, and an increase in the labour force participation of young men, particularly fathers
E) an increase in the labour force participation of young women, and older men

Question 37

Women earn approximately _____ of what men earn.

A) 100 percent
B) 95 percent
C) 85 percent
D) 71 percent
E) 65 percent

Question 38

While the gender wage gap has been reduced, women still only earn 71 percent of what men earn. Research in Canada has demonstrated that less than one-half of the gap is due to differences between men and women in wage-determining characteristics. The rest of the wage gap is usually explained by

A) education
B) work experience
C) gender discrimination
D) union status
E) industry/occupation

Question 39

The gender wage gap is smaller for

A) married than non-married workers
B) younger than older workers
C) female than male workers
D) First Nations than non-First Nations workers
E) high school educated than university educated

Question 40

Men and women's engagement in part-time employment

A) is the same: 25 percent of both men & women work part-time
B) is the same: 5 percent of both men and women work part-time
C) differs: 10 percent of women and 21 percent of men work part-time
D) differs: 30 percent of women and 11 percent of men work part-time
E) differs: 50 percent of women and 11 percent of men work part-time

Question 41

Which of the following statements is true about part-time employment?

A) women are more likely to work at a part-time job in their later years
B) men are less likely to work at a part-time job in their later years
C) more men than women work part-time
D) employment patterns have long-term consequences for income, as part-time work tends not to have pension benefits
E) employment patterns are always a choice

Question 42

Women contribute approximately _____ of the income in dual-income families.

A) two-thirds
B) one-half
C) one-third
D) one-quarter
E) one-fifth

Question 43

Which of the following statements is true about women's wages in the family?

A) women contribute about one-half of the income to dual-income families
B) women's contribution to the family has increased substantially since the mid-1960s
C) women are the "junior partners" in their marriages
D) women have power as a result of their proportionately higher financial contribution
E) women's incomes are relatively unimportant to families

Question 44

Men and women tend to work in different occupations. For example, men are more likely to be engaged in which type of job?

A) secretarial work
B) teaching
C) nursing
D) waitering
E) managerial

Question 45

With respect to the labour force,

A) women and men tend to work in similar occupations
B) women work in a broad range of jobs across all sectors
C) men are concentrated in jobs where they "help" people
D) all men have "good" jobs
E) a good portion of the wage difference between men and women can be accounted for by their differential occupation and industry placement

Question 46

One of the explanations that has been offered to account for the fact that men and women work in different jobs is a set of explanations called materialist explanations. These are based on

A) political economy theory
B) social exchange theory
C) continuity theory
D) age stratification theory
E) role theory

Question 47

Which of the following industries is predominately male, that is, more than 55 percent of workers are men?

A) business
B) finance
C) real estate
D) manufacturing
E) health care

Question 48

Which of the following is true about the intersection of the family and work life courses?

A) for women, they do not intersect very well
B) they are structured on a dual-earner model
C) the workplace is based on the assumption that workers have significant family and domestic responsibilities
D) most Canadian women do not work outside of the home for any considerable period of time
E) men are often required to make personal accommodations for work

Question 49

There are several reasons that women make accommodations to balance work and family. One of the reasons is

A) work is user friendly
B) unpaid work is considered real work and valued
C) women are less likely to be the managers of the household and the caregivers of others
D) many professional "career-type" occupations contain age-related expectations about career progress
E) most workplaces provide childcare facilities

Question 50

Being _____ is a major predictor of women's poverty in later life.

A) unattached
B) unemployed
C) unemployable
D) uninterested in working
E) childless

Question 51

Younger people are more likely than older people to be cohabitating.

Question 52

A recent change in fertility behaviour in Canada is that couples are having children at younger ages.

Question 53

Same-sex unions are an increasingly acknowledged and probably growing form of family living.

Question 54

Male labour force participation has increased between 1976 and 2004.

Question 55

As women have increased their labour force involvement, they have decreased the number of children they have.

Question 56

Discuss the links between gender, biology, society, and age.

Question 57

Discuss some of the methodological challenges involved in studying the gendered life course.

Question 58

What is meant by the mating gradient?

Question 59

Is gender role structure an important determinant of family size? Provide examples to illustrate your answer.

Question 60

What are the implications of cohabitation and common-law marriages for children born into them?

Question 61

Discuss the relationship between divorce, cohabitation, and remarriage. Are there gender differences? What are the implications? Are they different for men and women?

Question 62

Discuss the relationship between women and lone-parenting. What are the implications?

Question 63

How do the implications of being single differ for women and men?

Question 64

Why do men tend to concentrate in certain jobs and industries and women in others?

Question 65

Why do the family and work life courses for women not intersect easily?

Question 66

Discuss the changes in fertility behaviour that have occurred for Canadian women. What are the implications of these changes?

Question 67

Compare the past and present family life course. What are the similarities and differences? Has anything remained the same? Discuss the structural lags that still exist in the gender revolutions transforming our society.

Question 68

Discuss the trends in labour force participation since the 1970s. What factors have been identified that contribute to the gender wage gap? Do you expect this gap to get smaller in the future? What changes need to take place before we will be able claim gender equality in the workplace? Provide suggestions.

Question 69

Discuss the implications of women's labour force patterns, particularly the effects of part-time work and the gender wage gap, on women's contributions to the family, and quality of life in later years.

Question 70

Why must women make accommodations to balance life and work? Is it likely that workplaces will be able to help manage these family-work conflicts? Why or why not? How does the future look for Canadian women as they age?