Gender and Society

RA 9710 Play Stage

- Happened in children when they see
Gender and Development (GAD) the people around them owning a
- refers to the development specific gender
perspective and process that are
participatory and empowering,
Game Stage
equitable, sustainable, free from - Not based on gender but on
violence, respectful of human rights, function of individual in a group
supportive of self-determination and
actualization of human potentials Sex Gender
- achieve gender equality as a Biological (penis, SOCIALLY
fundamental value that should be vagina, ovaries, CONSTRUCTED
reflected in development choices testes, uterus); ROLES,
born with RESPONSIBILITIES,
Sex BEHAVIORS
UNIVERSAL CULTURAL
- biologically defined and genetically (factors related (Elements related
acquired differences between males to sex are the to gender vary
and females; chromosomal, same around the within and
hormonal and anatomical world, men have between cultures:
components penises and Ex. The roles of
Ex. Male and female genitalia, both women have men and women in
internal and external are different vaginas in every Kenya may be
country) different from the
- Women have 46 chromosomes
roles of men and
including two X and men have a Y
women in India);
Gender Learned behavior

- characteristics and roles of women GENERALLY CHANGES OVER

and men that are socially UNCHANGING TIME
constructed; expectation on what to (change is now (in the past, few
do possible with women became
- refers to the economic, social, surgical lawyers or
intervention): physician; today it
political, and cultural attributes and
does not vary is very common to
opportunities associated with being
fine women in
women and men; power is used and these professions);
shared varies within and
- Affects every structures of the between cultures
society; changes overtime
WHY IS GENDER A SOCIAL FACT
George Mead – the proponent of Symbolic
Interactionism Theory Social Fact – aspects of social life
that shape the behavior of individuals.
 Gender is a social concept – social and norms, rules, and laws; regulate
cultural differences as society assigns to conflict and discourage deviant
people based on their sex. behavior

Social construction of gender stipulates “All Crimes are Deviance, but not all
that GENDER ROLES are an “achieved Deviance are Crimes”
status” in a social environment, which
implicitly and explicitly categorize GENDER IS A CULTURE – SPECIFIC
people and therefore motivate social
behaviors.
CONSTRUCT
Gender has been defined as “the commonly
Examples of Social Facts
shared expectation and norms within a
1. Laws society about appropriate male and female
2. Mores behavior, characteristics and roles can be
3. Customs considered a social and cultural construct
4. Beliefs that differentiates females from males

roles and expectations are learned and they

DEVIANCE, CRIME, AND SOCIAL can change over time as well as vary within
CONTROL and between cultures

Social construction THE IDEOLOGY OF GENDER

- How we think and behave as DETERMINES:
females and males is not etched in
stone by biology but rather is a 1. What is expected of us
result of how society expects us to 2. What is allowed of us
think and behave based on what sex 3. What is valued in us
we are 4. The nature and extent of:
Disadvantage, Disparity, and
Deviance Discrimination
5. Contains norms and rules regarding
- Defined as a behavior that elicits a appropriate behavior
strong negative reaction from group 6. Determines attributes
members and involves actions that 7. Reproduces range of beliefs and
violate commonly held social norms; customs to support these norms and
varies widely across cultures, time, social rules
and situations 8. Determines the material reality of
Crime relative access of men and women
and claims over different resources.
Amounts to a violation of the
-
criminal law enacted by the society
GENDER CONCEPTS
Social Control Gender Equality
➢ Is the state or condition that affords
- Defined as any systematic means
women and men equal enjoyment of
and practices used to maintain
 human rights, socially valued goods, statuses that are associated with a
opportunities, and resources. particular gender status

➢ All human beings are free to develop Gender Diversity

their personal abilities and make
choices without the limitations set ➢ Extent to which a person’s gender
by stereotypes, rigid gender roles identity, role, or expression differs
and prejudices. from the cultural norms prescribed
for people of a particular sex
➢ Different behaviors, aspirations and
needs are considered, valued and Gender Dysphoria
favored equally
➢ Conflict between a person’s physical
➢ Their rights, responsibilities and or assigned gender and the gender
opportunities will not depend on with which he/she/they identify.
whether they are born male or - Very comfortable with the gender
female they were assigned, sometimes
➢ The end goal described as being uncomfortable
with their body or being
Gender Equity uncomfortable with the expected
➢ Is the process of being fair to roles of their assigned gender.
women and men. - To discomfort or distress that is
➢ Treatments that is different but associated with a discrepancy
considered equivalent in terms of between a person’s gender identity
rights, benefits, obligations and and that person’s sex assigned at
opportunities birth
➢ The means to go there
BIOLOGY AND GENDER
Gender Identity
Hormones
➢ Inherent sense of being a boy or
male, a girl or female ➢ Chemical substances secreted by
➢ An alternative gender (genderqueer, glands throughout the body and
gender non-conforming, boygirl, carried by the bloodstream. The
ladyboy) which may or may not same sex hormones occur in both
correspond to a person’s sex men and women, but differ in
assigned at birth or to a person’s amounts and in the effect that they
primary or secondary sex have upon different parts of the
characteristics body (Testosterone and Estrogen)
➢ a person’s gender identity is not
necessarily visible to others
Chromosomes
➢ The normal human body contains 23
Gender Roles pairs of chromosomes. A
➢ continuation of the gender status, chromosome is a long thin structure
consisting of other achieved containing thousands of genes,
which are biochemical units of
heredity and govern the
 development of every human being 9. Males are 3 to 10 times more likely
(Males: XY; Females: XX) to stutter.
10. Although both sexes lose hearing on
EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS OF either end of the spectrum, males
tend to lose more hearing of high
GENDER pitched sounds, while females tend
to lose more hearing of low pitched
Biological Approach
sounds. People have noted that as
➢ Human behavior have been coded time goes on, males and females
by our genes because they are literally lose the ability to hear each
adaptive other.
11. Females are significantly better at
Sociological Approach distinguishing between shade of
➢ Thousand years ago there was a various colors than males.
division of labor between men and 12. Blood flow is more evenly
women, Men were the hunter- distributed in the male body. In
gatherers, breadwinners, while females it is concentrated around
women were at home acting as the core organs and the pelvic region.
angel of the house and looking after 13. There are about 1,000 genes that
vary between males and females
the children
with regards to the liver. This is why
25 BIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES the sexes process everything from
alcohol to Tylenol at different rates.
1. Most babies born with birth defects 14. Females tend to have a broader face
are male. If a female has a defect, than males.
she still has another copy of X 15. The external occipital protuberance
chromosome is bigger in males than in females
2. Veins males tend to be larger. 16. The male jaw bone is heavier that
3. Males are 4 times to be larger. the female jaw bone.
4. Females tend to have more vertical 17. Some studies have found men to
foreheads, while male’s foreheads have more standard deviation in IQ.
tend to be sloped. This has been spun by the media to
5. In males, fat gets deposited between partially account for why both more
organs. In females, it forms a ring mentally handicapped individuals as
around the abdomen. This is why well as geniuses tend to be male.
you can typically tell someone’s sex 18. Women tend to gather a greater
from an MRI, and why liposuction is proportion of their energy from
easier in females. aerobic respiration; men tend to
6. Perhaps unexpectedly, males have spend more time in anaerobic
longer eyelashes on average. respiration, relatively speaking.
7. The first finger of a female’s hand is 19. The top edge of the eye socket is
usually longer than the third. With much sharper in females than in
males, it’s usually the other way. males.
8. Only females can pass mitochondrial 20. Females have better peripheral
diseases on to their offspring. vision than males, while males are
 typically better at scanning. This is
thought to have evolutionary origins
(hunter vs gatherer)
21. During heart attacks, males
experience the “classic” symptoms
like chest and jaw pain, while for
females the symptoms can be quite
diverse. In fact, it can often be
confused for heart burn.
22. Females’ blood contains more water
and about 20% less red cells.
23. Although female brains are better at
many other tasks, male brains are
geared towards giving them better
special cognition.
24. Females tend to get motion sickness
more easily, especially if they are
pregnant.
25. Males die more from almost every
disease except breast cancer, female
reproductive disorders, and benign
tumors
 Gender and Socialization
Socialization
➢ lifelong process of forging identity Peer Groups
through social interaction
➢ made up of people who are similar in
➢ It is the process of inheriting and
age and social status and have
disseminating norms, customs and
common interest.
ideologies. (Clausen, 1968)
➢ Peer groups are important to
Albert Bandura (Social Learning adolescents in a new way, as they
begin to develop an identity
Theory)
separate from their parents and
➢ “most human behavior is learned exert independence
observationally through modelling;
from observing others, one forms an School
idea of how new behaviors are ➢ serve as latent function in society by
performed, and on later occasions socializing children into behaviors
this coded information serve as a like teamwork, following a schedule,
guide for action and using textbooks.
➢ Basically established for the purpose
John Locke (Tabula Rasa)
of socialization
➢ Human mind at birth is nothing but a
blank slate. It is the notion that the Religion/Church
human mind receives knowledge ➢ avenue of socialization for many
and forms itself based on experience people. It is highly regarded as a
alone, without any pre-existing major force in the formation and
innate ideas that would serve as a development of individual’s moral
starting point and spiritual life.
➢ Implies that individual human beings ➢ Many of these institutions uphold
are born “blank” and that their gender norms and contribute to
identity is defined entirely by their their enforcement through
experiences and sensory perception socialization
of the outside world
Government
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
➢ many of the rites of passage people
Family go through today are based on age
norms established by the
➢ It is widely acknowledge as the most government. Each time we embark
influential factors of a child. on one of these new categories –
➢ Mothers, fathers, siblings, senior, adult, taxpayer – we must be
grandparents, plus members of an socialized into this new role
extended family teach the child
what he or she needs to know
Mass Media GENDER DIFFERENCES
➢ refers collectively to all media
technologies, including the internet,
Social Connections
cellphones, television, newspapers, ➢ Play
film and radio which are used for - compared to boys, girls talk more
mass communications, and to the intimately and play less aggressively,
organizations which control these noted by Eleanor Maccoby (2002)
technologies. from her decades of research on
➢ It influences our attitudes and gender development
behavior through the images and - play in smaller groups, often talking
messages it convey with one friend. Boys more often do
larger group activities, play with
GENDER SOCIALIZATION boys and girls play with girls, sex
➢ Is the process through which differences grow larger
children learn about the social ➢ Friendship
expectation, attitudes, and - women – at least in individualistic
behaviors associated with one’s cultures are more likely than men to
gender. describe themselves in relational
➢ As children, attain a sense of their term, welcome help, experience
own gender identity (i.e., knowing relationship linked emotions, and be
whether they are a girl or a boy), attuned to other’s relationships
they pay heightened attention to - In conversation, men are more focus
information related to gender, and on tasks and on connections with
especially to same-gender models large group, whereas women focus
➢ Children learn at a young age that on personal relationships (Tannen,
there are distinct expectations for 1990).
boys and girls. Cross-cultural studies ➢ Vocations
reveal that children are aware of - In general, women are more
gender roles by age two or three. At interested in jobs dealing with
four or five, most children are firmly people. Men are interested in jobs
entrenched in culturally appropriate with things like, driver, engineer.
gender roles (Kane 1996). Diekman et al., 2010
➢ acquire these roles through ➢ Family Relations
socialization, a process in which - Women’s connections as mothers,
people learn to behave in a daughters, sisters, and grandmothers
particular way as dictated by bind families (Rossi and Rossi, 1990)
societal values, beliefs, and attitudes
➢ Empathy
Ex. society often views riding a
- When surveyed, women are far
motorcycle as a masculine activity
more likely to describe themselves
and therefore, considers it to be part
as having empathy or being able to
of the male gender role
feel what another feels to rejoice
with those who rejoice and weep
 with those who weep (O’Brien et al., Gender Roles Vary with Culture
2013)
Despite gender role inequalities, the
Dominance majority of the world’s people would ideally
like to see more parallel male and female
- From Asia to Africa and Europe to
roles. A 2010 Pew Global Attitudes survey
Australia, people rate men as more
asked 25, 000 people whether life was more
dominant, driven, and aggressive.
satisfying when both spouses work and
Moreover, studies of nearly 80, 000
share child care, or when women stay home
people across 70 countries show
and care for the children while the husband
that men more than women rate
provides. In 21 of 22 countries, most chose
power and achievement as
both spouses working
important (Schwartz & Rubel, 2005).
- These perceptions and expectations Gender Roles Vary Over Times
correlate with reality. In essentially
every society, men are socially - In the past half century a thin slice
dominant (Pratto, 1996). Men’s of our long history, gender roles
names have come first; “King and have changed dramatically.
Queen”, “his and hers”, “husband - In 1938, just 1 in 5 American
and wife”. approved “of a married woman
earning money in business or
Aggression industry if she has a husband
capable of supporting her”.
- Psychologists mean behavior
- Behavioral changes have
intended to hurt. In surveys, men
accompanied this attitude shift. In
admit to more aggression than
1965 the Harvard Business School
women do.
had never granted a degree to a
- In laboratory experiments, men
woman, In its 2016 class 41% of
indeed exhibit more psychological
students were women.
aggression.
- Things have changed at home too. In
- In Canada and the U.S., 8 times as
the mid 1960s American married
many men as women are arrested
women devoted seven times as
for murder (Statistics Canada, 2010;
many hours to housework as did
FBI, 2014)
their husbands (Bianchi et al., 2000).
Culture and Gender SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND
Culture - is shared ideas, attitudes, INEQUALITY
behaviors, and traditions by a large group
and transmitted across generations. Stratification
- the shaping power of culture in - refers to a system in which groups of
ideas about how men and women people experience unequal access to
should behave. basic, yet highly valuable, social
- the disapproval they endure when resources
they violate those expectations
(Kite, 2001)
• Before 1859, married women were
not allowed to own or control
property
• Before 1909, abducting a woman
who was not an heiress was not a
crime
• Before 1918, women were not
permitted to vote
• Before 1953, employers could
legally pay a woman less than a man
for the same work
• Before 1969, women did not have
the right to a safe and legal abortion
(Nellie McClung Foundation N.d.)
Gender and Sexuality
2. Heredity
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES OF 3. Sexual orientation
MEN AND WOMEN 4. Race
5. Culture
- Physical differences in size and 6. Class
anatomy are obvious, the question
of psychological differences CULTURE VS BIOLOGY
between the genders is a LOT
MORE COMPLICATED AND - Sex, gender and sexual orientation
CONTROVERSIAL has noted that culture influences
- Neuroscientist explained that men how each of these is defined and
and women are equally smart, but embodied
each sex uses different pats of the
brain to solve problems or achieve Culture
goals - Regulates our lives and influence the
development of personality at every
Women
turn, primarily by prescribing and
- Better at packing carefully of a limiting what he will be require to
family holiday because they have acquire for the development of our
more brain cells in the prefontal personality
cortex, the area which control
judgment, planning, and Gender
conscientiousness - Central to culture life, society’s
views of gender are reflected in and
Men
promoted by a range of social
- More volatile and swift to anger in a structures and practices
crisis because the part of their brain,
the amygdala, which processes fear Examples of social practices
and anger, is much larger than a - Communication that announces
women’s social views of gender and seeks to
Science has also proved that women have persuade us that these are natural,
far more cells in the part of the brain that correct ways for men and women to
controls empathy be and to behave
- Customs whereby a woman takers
Something unique about the structure and her husband’s name if she marries
functioning of the female brain which gives - Within families, parents routinely
women a distinct advantage when it comes allow sons greater freedom that
to intuition daughters

THE SUBSTANTIAL VARIATION Example of social structure

WITHIN EACH SEX IS A RESULT OF - Judicial system, if parents are
separated it is often difficult for a
DIVERSITY IN: father to gain child custody
1. Experience
 - Some countries are patriarchal, Extraversion
means ruled by men
- Reflects sociability, assertiveness,
BEHAVIORAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN and positive emotionality, all of
which have been linked to
MALES AND FEMALES ACC. TO sensitivity to rewards
MCCRAE AND COSTA - Women tend to score higher than
men on warmth, gregariousness, and
Neuroticism positive emotions
- Whereas men score higher than
- The tendency to experience women on assertiveness and
negative emotion and related excitement seek seeking
processes in response to perceive
threat and punishment Dominance
- Anxiety, depression, anger, self
- Contain traits such as bossy,
consciousness, and emotional
domineering, and assertive
liability
- Men tend to be more dominant and
- Women have been found to score
agentic than women, and exhibit
higher than men on neuroticism
higher levels of these traits
- One facet of neuroticism in which
women do now always exhibit Openness/intellect
higher scores than men is Anger or
Angry hostility - Imagination, creativity, intellectual
curiosity, and appreciation of
Agreeableness aesthetic experiences
- Women score higher than men on
- Comprises traits relating to altruism
facets of aesthetics and feelings;
- Involves the tendency toward
men score higher on the ideas facet
cooperation, maintenance of social
harmony and consideration of the MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM
concerns of others
VENUS (Haddock and McGeorge, 2001)
- Women scores higher than men
Stereotypical Stereotypical male
Conscientiousness female behavior behavior
- Traits related to self discipline, Emotional Logical
organization, and the control of Sensitive Insensitive
impulses, and appears to reflect the Passive Aggressive
ability to exert self control in order Responsible Autonomous
to follow rules or maintain goal 10 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT
pursuit
- Women score higher than men on
GENDER PSYCHOLOGY
some facets of conscientiousness 1. Men change their minds two to
such as order, dutifulness, and self three times more often than women
discipline 2. Based on the total number of people
tested since IQ tests were devised,
 women have a slightly higher descriptive and prescriptive aspects
average IQ than men (Vaugh and Hogg, 2011)
3. Women are better than men at - Tell us what women and men are
remembering faces like, but also what should be like
4. Men are more pessimistic when (Heilman, 2001)
predicting their work results - Beliefs and attitudes about
5. Men are more likely to help than masculinity and femininity. When
women people associate a pattern of
6. Most women tend to believe that behavior with either women or men,
they are only good at certain tasks, they may overlook the individual
but not capable of being good at variations and exceptions and come
everything to believe that the behavior is
7. Women are more fearful and inevitably associated with one and
anxious not the gender (Linda Brannon,
8. Women are twice more talkative 1996)
9. Men think about sex every 7
seconds SOCIAL ROLE THEORY
10. The female brain is much more
adept at reading subtle facial and - Gender stereotypes are determined
verbal emotional expressions by roles
- Argues that gender stereotypes
According to Janet Shibley Hyde, male and stem from the distribution of men
females from childhood are more alike than and women into distinct roles within
different on most psychological variables, a given society (Eagly et al, 2000)
resulting in what she calls
Two Core Dimensions
- Agency, including traits such as
GENDER SIMILARITIES HYPOTHESIS independence, aggression, and
assertiveness
- Gender difference had either no or a - Communion, including traits such as
very small effect on most of the caring, altruism, and politeness
psychological variables examined - Men are generally seen to be high in
agency and low in communion;
Few main differences Women are generally perceived to
- Men could throw farther, they were be high communion but low in
physically aggressive; Masturbated agency
more; held more positive attitude
about sex in uncommitted UNDERSTANDING SEXUALITY
relationships
- Sexuality covers a broad spectrum,
Gender Stereotypes and is also deeply personal. It is
about understanding the sexual
- Defined as widely shared and feelings and attractions we feel
simplified evaluative image of social towards others
group and its members and has both - Everyone’s sexuality is different
 - Some people are attracted to only Asexual
on sex, and others are attracted to a
diversity of people regardless of sex - Someone who does not experience
and gender sexual attraction
- Not the same as celibacy
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO - Not a gender identity or a hormone
imbalance, not also a disorder or a
CONSIDER ATTRACTION WHEN fear of sex or relationship
TALKING ABOUT SEXUALITY - Demisexual people feel sexual
attraction only after they develop a
- Emotional attraction may not strong emotional bond with
develop until you start to get to someone
know someone after a period of
time Transgender
- While some people experience - Acc to Youth Central, person
physical and sexual at first sight, identifies with the opposite gender
some do not - Can be male to female or female to
male. After their change, they may
DIFFERENT TYPES OF SEXUALITY be think themselves as heterosexual,
gay, lesbian, bisexual or another
1. Heterosexual sexual identity
- People are attracted to the opposite
sex Transexual
2. Homosexual
- A person who started changing to
- Attracted to the same sex; 10% of
their desired gender by using
young Australians experience same-
surgery, hormones or both
sex attraction, most during puberty
➢ Lesbian – common term for female Intersex
homosexuals
- Condition where a person is born
➢ Gay – for male homosexuals with reproductive organs, genitalia
or sex chromosomes that are not
DIFFERENT TYPES OF SEXUALITY just male or female. Also known as
HERMAPHRODITE
Bisexual
- Some intersex people identify as
- Attracted to men and women still both male and female and others as
consider themselves to be mainly neither
straight or gay - Some undergo surgery to make
- Sexual feelings towards both them either male or female
genders but only have sex
intercourse with one
- Identify as queer or pansexual to
show they are attracted to different
kinds of people