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Gender Issues

This document discusses gender issues and defines key related concepts. It defines gender as the social definitions and expectations of being male or female, distinct from sex which refers to biological attributes. Gender issues are important to understand because equitable participation of both sexes is needed for development. Explanations for gender relations and inequality include biological, cultural, and material factors, though culture and social arrangements rather than biology largely account for perceived differences.

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Abdur Rahman
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96 views3 pages

Gender Issues

This document discusses gender issues and defines key related concepts. It defines gender as the social definitions and expectations of being male or female, distinct from sex which refers to biological attributes. Gender issues are important to understand because equitable participation of both sexes is needed for development. Explanations for gender relations and inequality include biological, cultural, and material factors, though culture and social arrangements rather than biology largely account for perceived differences.

Uploaded by

Abdur Rahman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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UNDERSTANDING GENDER ISSUES

INTRODUCTION

OBJECTIVES
It is hoped that by the end of this unit, you should be able to:
 Discuss the meaning of gender and distinguish it from sex
 Understand why gender issues are important
 Explain gender relations

Gender refers to the social definitions of being male or being female. These definitions influence
the behaviours of male and female and their positions in society. This is why gender is said to
consist of the roles, expectations, behaviour, opportunities and privileges associated with the sexes.
Being socially designed, these roles, expectations etc change over time and vary from place to
place. In other words, what is expected of men and women and the roles assigned to them change
from time to time and may vary from one society to another.
Sex simply refers to the division of organisms into male and female. It comprises of relatively
fixed qualities in the realm of biology such as hormones and chromosomes.
The distinction between sex and gender can also be illustrated as shown through their
characteristics below:

Sex Gender
Division of organisms into Social interpretations of the sexes
Male and female
Relatively fixed/unchangeable Dynamic (Gender identities change)
Realm of biology (chromosomes, Realm of culture (roles, expectations
hormones, etc. opportunities, constraints etc)
Gender is learnt

The linkage between gender and sex is that social definitions are given to purely biological
attributes

Why are gender issues important?


Gender issues are important in the understanding of development and development efforts of
nations because there cannot be sustainable human development without equitable participation
by men and women. Gender issues are not only important for academic understanding; but
governments and nongovernmental organizations have paid increased attention to gender issues in
their quest for equitable participation for men and women in all spheres of life.
Rohrbaugh (1981) argues that gender is the most important determinant of any individual’s life
experience. (These different experiences are not absolutely based on the biological differences of
men and women but on the social descriptions of their lives). This means that human beings are
born male or female but they learn to be men and women or boys and girls from their experiences.

Explanations for gender relations


Why is it that in virtually all human societies, men and women have different roles and
expectations and face different constraints and opportunities? Why do women tend to have a lower
status in many societies and why do they seem to be oppressed more? Why do men tend to have
greater power (ability to make others do what they may not want to do) than women? Explanations
for how gender distinctions produce inequalities vary from biological to cultural and material
reasons but over time, some of these explanations have been found to be inadequate to explain
gender relations in the light of new development.
Gender relations have been attributed to biological reasons. The fact that females carry pregnancy
has been used to justify their restriction to the domestic sphere and the expectation that they should
perform other related roles. Those who believe that biological factors are responsible for gender
inequality argue that ‘sex is destiny’. Functionalists use the biological differences between men and
women to justify gender inequality in the society. According to them, gender inequality “reflects
the distribution by sex of traits required for group survival – toughness for men, nurturance for
women – with the former being given greater weight in the public arena of political and economic
activities (Hess et. al. 1993: 207)”.

A structural-functionalist, Talcott Parson (1949) describes male and female roles as being
instrumental and expressive respectively. Males, in their instrumental roles are expected to be
breadwinners while females in their expressive roles are responsible for the socialization of
children and the stabilization of adult personalities. This theory has been used to justify the division
between the public and private spheres as spheres for male and female respectively. Similar
arguments are those of the human biogrammar by Lionel tiger and Robin Fox (1972).
From the conflict perspective, inequality between men and women results from social and cultural
arrangements and not nature. In other words, culture and cultural dictates rather than biological
facts account for the supposed male superiority and female inferiority. In the materialist position,
the Marxian and feminist positions form the focus of consideration. The first approach of the
Marxian perspective attributes the subordinate status of women to the institution of private
property sustained by monogamous marriage. This approach has its roots in Friedrich Engels’
work. According to Engels (1972), the monogamous family emerged as the acquisition of private
property, especially private ownership of the forces of production developed. It was a device of
controlling women so that the paternity of offspring who would inherit their fathers’ property was
not in doubt. The second approach under the Marxian perspective sees the subordination of women
as being caused by capitalism. This approach, championed by Eliz Zaretsky, argues that capitalism
exploits women through the separation of wage labor and unpaid housework (George 1990:28).
The third approach is that by proposed Mariarosa Della Costa, who argued that women sustained
capitalism by reproducing the labour force and surplus value needed for the survival of capitalism.
According to her, women should demand payment for housework and repute to participate in wage
labour (George 1990; 28).
The various strands of the Feminist theory have explained social life and human experience from
a woman-centred standpoint. They have explained gender differences, inequality and oppression.
Liberal feminism seeks equal opportunities and rights for men and women; while radical feminism
believes that patriarchy is at the roots women’s oppression. Socialist feminism attributes the
subordination of women to the ways in which people in each society organize to produce and
distribute the basic necessities of life.

Gender Relations
Gender relations are best understood within social institutions. They take different forms under
different circumstances but more often than not, they take the form of male dominance and female
domination. The dominant- dominated role is tied to gender roles and the perceptions of such roles
in the society.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
1. Define gender and distinguish it from sex.
2. Discuss the importance of gender issues.
3. Explain what you understand by gender relations.

SUMMARY
In this unit, we defined the term gender and distinguished it from sex; discussed the
importance of gender issues and explained gender relations.

REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS

Giddens, A. (1994). Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.


Olurode, L and O. Soyombo (eds.) (2001), Sociology for Beginners. Ikeja: John West
Publications
Charon, J.M. (1999). The Meaning of Sociology: A Reader. New Jersey:Prentice Hall.

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