The American Dream in the 21st Century

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5 Whose Dream? Gender and the American Dream Gender and the American Dream Sandra L. Hanson T HE AMERICAN DREAM has been a dominant theme in U.S. culture from the very beginning. It is an old dream. Although how the Dream is defined has shifted, it is still a major element in our national identity, and it is assumed that the Dream is for all Americans. Alexis de Tocqueville commented on the “charm of anticipated success” in his classic Democracy in America (Cullen 2003). The Dream is an enticing one. Cullen 2003 notes the irony that the Dream began with the Puritans who believed in manifest destiny and the notion that they had no control over their successes or failures. It is also ironic that this Dream remained alive through periods of American history when racial apartheid and slavery existed and when large groups of Americans (e.g., women and African Americans) could not vote. This chapter focuses on gender and the American Dream. A certain mystique is associated with this Dream. The Dream is demystified here in that a potential gender divide in values and opportunities often associated with the American Dream is examined. First, some background on gender and a number of indicators of achievement associated with the American Dream are provided. Additional background on gender and attitudes about inequality and what it takes to get ahead is discussed. A unique series of public opinion polls on the American Dream is then examined to determine the presence and extent of a gender divide in the definition of the Dream and the ability to achieve it. Additionally the chapter considers whether these attitudes about the American Dream and current opinions on the economy and President Barack Obama have changed over time. Zogby International conducted these surveys beginning in 1998. The most recent surveys are from 2009. 78 ■ Sandra L. Hanson Background The American Dream in the Twenty-first Century Jim Cullen (2003) and others (Ho 2007; Johnson 2006; Moen and Roehling 2005; Newman 1993; Shapiro 2004; Sherraden 1991) have suggested that the American Dream and this “glue” that binds us together may be unraveling, as we see a growing wealth gap, ongoing race inequality, an expanding poor immigrant population, and continued sexism in all aspects of American life. Perhaps the twenty-first century is not a time of increasing progress toward the American Dream. The definition of the American Dream is multifaceted. Does the Dream refer to wealth, religious freedom, freedom of expression, political reform, educational attainment, or access to housing and health care? In the end, historically and today, the Dream is all these things, but it is especially about wealth (Garfinkle 2006). It is about money. In the United States, status (wealth) is believed to be achieved, not ascribed. It is presumed that those who do not achieve are less worthy and work less hard. Thus, inequality is justified, and the Dream can stay alive in the context of one of the wealthiest nations with one of the greatest wealth divides. Cullen 2003 suggests that this loyalty to a Dream that does not exist is a blind loyalty. The next section briefly examines a number of indicators of gender equality in areas of life associated with the American Dream involving education, income, occupations, politics, and opportunity. The Reality: The Gender Divide Education. Women and girls have made considerable gains in the U.S. education system in the past century (AAUW 2008). However, gendered education systems, gender tracking, and the hidden curriculum continue to result in equally confidant and intelligent boys and girls leaving adolescence with two different outcomes. Boys experience gains in selfesteem and standardized test scores (especially in science), and girls experience losses in both of these areas (AAUW 2008; Osborne 2001; Prettyman 1998). Although young girls do not start out with low achievement in science, early in the high school years, many girls experience the beginning of a departure from science areas typified by enrollment in fewer science courses, lowered achievement, and increasingly negative attitudes (Hanson 2009; NSF 2008). This “chilling out” occurs even for young women who have shown promise and talent in science. Whose Dream? ■ 79 Today women attend college and graduate from college at a higher rate than men, but they enter majors that assure them of positions in lower-status, lower-paid female-dominated occupations (Lindsey 2005). Almost half of women who enter college with science-related interests switch to other majors (ibid.). Some research has suggested that women...