Gender, which is different from sex, is defined as the social construct of being masculine or feminine, represented as a spectrum. Gender identity, however, is ones own perception of being male, female, or neither. In other words, it is how a person sees themselves.
A popular theory explaining the stages of gender development was proposed by Kohlberg
(1966)1
. He theorised that there were three stages of gender development, namely, gender labelling, gender stability and gender constancy.
According to Kohlberg, the first stage, gender labelling, occurs around the age of 3 and involves the child being able to differentiate between boys and girls. This is usually through simple physical characteristics or activities engaged in such as length
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This is usually through observation of gender models, e.g. parents and other influential adults. Some children, however, struggle during this stage, as their internal feelings may not match what society expects of them. Many of these children may grow up to understand that they are transgender, or any other non-binary gender. Two of the main theories that influence gendered behaviour in children are social and biological theories.
Biological theorists believe that gender is affected by factors that are predetermined by the sex of the child, for example, hormones and sex organs. Biological theorists of gender therefore believe that sex causes gendered behaviour, e.g. the fact that a female has much lower levels of testosterone will lead to gendered behaviour, e.g. passiveness.
Social theorists believe that gender is influenced by factors that are in the environment in which the child is brought up in. This can include parents, peer groups and the media.
A study that can be used to support biological explanations of gendered behaviour and consistency is that conducted by Dr Imperato-McGinley (1970)2. She travelled to Cuba to investigate rumours of children that were being raised as girls growing penises and
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Looking at social factors, the influence of parents and other relevant adults in the lives of children have been noted as the main factor in gendered behaviour and consistency in said children. A study that can be used to explain the effect parents have on their children behaving gender consistent was conducted by Lytton and Romney (1991)3.
In this study it was found that parents subconsciously influenced their children on what gender appropriate or not. For example, buying boys more active toys such as cars and buying girls less active or passive toys such as dolls reinforces gender stereotypes. Parents were also found to say less obvious things such as "Boys like football" or "Stop running around like that, you're a girl". All of these play a significant part in gendered behaviour an consistency, as parents, or any other relevant adult, are usually role models for children, and they usually try to do things that would please these adults.
This study was, however, conducted in the western world so it may not be applicable to other parts of the world. There is, however, significant evidence to support heavily enforced gender stereotypes in the Middle East and Africa ("Majority of men
The second stage is when the female protagonist has to confront her biological femaleness. This happens with the little girl in 'Remember the Titans' when she starts spending time with Coach Boone's children, who are more conventionally "girly". At first she scorns them, but after a while a friendship grows up between them. She...
Gender refers to psychological and emotional characteristics that cause people to assume, masculine, feminine or androgynous (having a combination of both feminine and masculine traits) roles. Your gender is learned and socially reinforced by others, as well as by your life experiences and g...
Garbarino, J. (1992). Children and families in the social environment, New York, NY: Walter De Gruyter Inc.
The clusters of social definitions used to identify persons by gender are collectively known as “femininity” and “masculinity.” Masculine characteristics are used to identify persons as males, while feminine ones are used as signifiers for femaleness. People use femininity or masculinity to claim and communicate their membership in their assigned, or chosen, sex or gender. Others recognize our sex or gender more on the basis of these characteristics than on the basis of sex characteristics, which are usually largely covered by clothing in daily life.
People often believe a person 's gender is based on their biological sex; biological sex is defined as the anatomy you are born with. Gender is the identity of a person based on their environment and how they have been influenced. Which shows that the biological makeup of a person and what gender they identify with has nothing to do with each other. Today gender and sexuality has become so fluent that gender role stereotypes should be changed too; over decades of powerful movements have been made to change stereotypes but the work is not over.
According to Hochschild, “attitudes toward men’s and women’s roles have been referred to as gender ideologies” (as cited in Helgeson, 2012, p. 68). There are currently three different gender role ideologies that can be measured through the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (ATWS). The three ideologies include egalitarian, the belief that men and women should equally share in both household and workforce duties, traditional, the belief that women only do housework and men only are in the workforce, and transitional, the belief that it is okay for women to enter the workforce, however, they still do proportionally more household duties. Cultural differences also affect individuals’ gender role attitudes, depending on how “expectations for men and
Gender differences are influences on gender behavior in the way that one must fit through the assumptions and inevitable confusion to distinguish the reality of the assumption. Men and women are obviously different inherently, but not in what they can and cannot do. Men and women are different and have different roles because this is society presented them to the world. Women have the most difficulty getting through these complicated times. There should be equality among all men and women of all races and ethnicity. This is a never-ending issue. We as a society should always know and act on the importance of gender roles, gender equality, and challenges with education in developed and developing countries.
Gender differences are best understood as a process of socialization, to organize the roles each individual have to fulfil in society. From parents to teachers, religions, media, and peers; we observe and make sense of the behaviors exhibited by the people around us since young. We imitate and construct our own understanding of how to be of a particular gender, and of how to position ourselves. Parents socialize their children based on their biological sex, and this process starts as soon as the sex of the baby is known. Gender is hence socially constructed.
femininity. She first expresses two different ways of thinking about the nature of gender: as
When considering gender and sex, a layman’s idea of these terms might be very different than a sociologist’s. There is an important distinction: sex, in terms of being “male” or “female,” is purely the physical biological characteristic differences – primarily anatomical differences. (There are also rare cases of “intersexual” individuals as outlined in the Navarro article, “When Gender Isn’t a Given”.) Gender, on the other hand, is an often misconstrued concept that is commonly mistaken as synonymous with sex. A non-sociologist might surmise the following, “men act masculine and women act feminine, therefore, it must follow that gender is inherent to sex,” however, this is not necessarily the case.
The thought of gender is that people are born either female or male, but that they learn to associate behavior patterns with each sex. Gender identity is when people develop a gender identity that is a perception of themselves as masculine or feminine, early in life. Gender identity often corresponds to a person’s biological sex, is learned in early childhood and usually remains relatively fixed throughout life. Gender stereotypes are expectations on how people will look, act, think, and feel due to their gender (Benokraitis, 2015).
Interacting with others, in the context of a social institution, is a common phenomenon that takes place every day. Through this socialization, members within society interact and learn about what is expected of them. These social expectations are most commonly communicated through socialization agents, such as the family, media, peers, and religion. To start, the family is one of the social institutions that each individual is born into. By interacting with parents, and maybe even brother and sisters, a baby begins to understand what behavior is and is not normal and expectable. Through the influence of family members and the individual 's interaction with others in society, the individual begins to form his/her own views and beliefs. This view of the family is known as the functionalist theory. When considering whether different age groups agree that it is best for a family if the man is the money maker and the woman takes care of the home and family, it is crucial
“Gender”: refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.[2]
Gender equality is most definitely a basic human right; however, “gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society” (UN, 2011) today. A project that is attempting to improve gender equality is Millennium Development Goal number three, which is aimed at promoting gender equality and empowering women. However, the UN (2011) states that this millennium development goal cannot be reached if 50% of the world’s people are not afforded equal rights and opportunities. Hillary Clinton (2014) states, “the role and rights of women, their freedom, equality and dignity is the unfinished business of the 21st century.” The themes that will be explored in this paper are the need to empower women, education, and reproductive health. My learning on gender equality has been substantial, and ultimately makes me want to promote positive change for women throughout the world. I believe that it is essential to see women as a cardinal part of the society of which they live in, as they make up 50% of the world today.
Gender refers to the psychological, social, and cultural differences between males and females. Gender also means the physiological and anatomical differences between the male and female bodies. Most socio-biologists believe differences in sex are a result of differences in the thinking and behavior of men and women. They argue gender identity is formed through socialization. Gender structures every aspect of an individual's life through social relationships and all forms of interaction with society including work.