Symbolic Capital and gender

To analyse global gender-related political, social and economic differences, the concept of symbolic capital is used to explain the importance of gender for inequality in political participation or in the financial sector, among others. It can be found as an approach to explaining migration movements, labour
market segregation, different career paths, unequal pay and the poverty of women or the perception of gender in public space, for example, in the naming of streets and squares or the work with male and female homeless people. Symbolic capital manifests itself in a gender-based perception, social recognition, valuing and acknowledgement in social space. This is visible in discourses, where it is a matter of equal appreciation and women empowerment. Different types of
capital, such as physical, economic, social or political capital, legitimized and transformed into reputation, influence, status and prestige determine the position of a person in the respective social fields. Symbolic capital is the basis of power relations which, embedded in social structures and conventions, illustrate
the connection between (non-)existing different types of capital and opportunities in the labour market. Associated with this is a division into positive and negative symbolic capital and illustrates social construction processes in the form of dualistic opposites such as woman-man. This explains individual action as well as the development of social structures. The connection of gender with
symbolic capital demonstrates the rigidity of systems based on difference, which are also always dependent on other social categories and intersectional connections.