Concept of GenderMaria Kambouri

University of Reading

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What is it?

Does it matter?

Who decides?

Gender

3

By the end of this session students should be able to: Define what it is meant by gender Discuss the impact of gender on children’s

development Reflect on their own values around gender

Objectives

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Define Gender

5

“ The knowledge that each individual belongs to one sex and not the other and that certain physical and behavioural attributes distinguish the two sexes.”

(Schaffer, 2009)

Sex and Gender: What is the difference?

Born with Biological

characteristics Universal Not changeable

Learned Social

characteristics Diverse,

culturally different

Changeable

SEX GENDER

Statements about Women and Men Quiz

_____ 1. Women give birth to babies, men do not.

_____ 2. Girls are gentle; boys are rough.

_____ 3. Women breastfeed babies; men can bottle-feed babies.

_____ 4. Doctors are men; nurses are women.

Gender or Sex?S

S

G

G

_____ 5. Boys don’t cry.

_____ 6. Boys are good at math and science and girls are good at language and history.

_____ 7. When one thinks of an engineer, one hardly ever thinks of a woman.

_____ 8. Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food and yet earn only 10% of the world’s income and own less than 1% of the world’s property.

Gender or Sex?

G

G

G

G

_____ 9. Boys’ voices break at puberty, girls’ do not.

_____ 10. A girl gets expelled from school for being pregnant, while the boy who impregnated her is neither judged nor expelled.

_____ 11. Kindergarten teachers should be women; men are not good at taking care of young children.

Gender or Sex?

S

G

G

Gender: the definition

Gender: refers to the roles and responsibilities of men and women that are created in our families, our societies and our cultures. The concept of gender also includes expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviours of both women and men (femininity and masculinity).

(UNESCO’s Gender Mainstreaming Implementation Framework, 2003)

To sum up…

Gender = social and cultural construction or interpretation of differences between the sexes (masculinity/femininity)

Sex = biological distinction/differences (male/female)

Gender identity develops as the child moves through cognitive stages of understanding.

Children gradually construct their understanding of their own gender identity.

Kohlberg (1996)

Chromosomes. XX = female and XY = maleOr does it?

Internal organs External organs For 1.7% of all births the distinction is

unclear. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia Androgen insensitivity syndrome

Congratulations, it’s a ………….

Discussion

If sex is unclear in science terms, how or why do we feel so obliged to place people in

gender differentiated categories?

Natural and inevitable organiser at the core of our identity?

Simply a social construct?

Deeply embedded psychodynamic internal model of ‘self’?

‘Gendered’ children

Boy or girl? Why?

Schemas help organizing & sort Child uses the knowledge they have

to sort the world into categories New information is categorised accordingly Not only people. Sandra Bem.

Gender Schema Theory

Observation of the social world Watching Learnt behaviour Imitation and identification Rewards for ‘appropriate’ behaviour Bandura

Social learning & social cognitive theory

Freud first Nancy Chodorow Object-relations theory Internalize characteristics of what it is to be

female from the mother/child relationship – nurturing, caring. etc

Psychoanalytic Theory

Object relation theory Theory of developing ‘self from a psycho

analytical perspective Child build understanding through the

emotions evoked from first experiences of ‘objects’ (e.g. mother’s breast).

Conflict has to be resolved in order to move forward

Object-Relation Theory

What will you wish for….??

Gender Equality

Women and men have equal conditions for realising their full human rights and for contributing to, and benefiting from, economic, social, cultural and political development.

The result of the absence of discrimination on the basis of a person’s

sex

What would a gender-responsive classroom look like?

Does the teacher walk around the class and talk to girls and boys equally?

Does the teacher call on girls and boys equally?

Do girls and boys have equal opportunities to go to the chalkboard during a lesson?

Teaching-learning process

Only boys in the front with the

teacher?

Or teachers learning together with the children?

Classroom Environment

How are girls and boys depicted in posters and images?

Balance in the number of pictures of boys and girls in posters and decorations?

How are girls and boys women and men depicted?

Balance in the number of pictures of girls and boys, women and men?

What about play opportunities?

• Reflection of socio-cultural and historical values of a given society

• Contents of textbooks considered “legitimate knowledge”

Why Are Textbooks Important?

Gender in Textbooks

Think of your work place, your home and then the wider environment.

Do we live in feminised or masculinised society?

Is gender visible and does it impact on what you do?

Spend 10 minutes discussing in groups.

Parity on the road to Equality

PARITY

equal participation of both sexes in different levels of education

Focus on access, is a quantitative

concept

EQUALITY

achievement of equal outcomes for women and men

Broader social changes

Browne, N. (2004). Gender Equity in the Early Years, Maidenhead: Open University Press

Davies, B. (1989). Frogs and Snails and Feminist Tales, London: Unwin Hyman Ltd

UNESCO’s Gender Mainstreaming Implementation Framework (2003). Baseline definitions of key concepts and terms. (http://www.rodicovstvo.sk/buletin/gender_def_Equal_TCA_June.htm)

Ryde, R. (2012). Questioning Gender, London: Sage Publications Ltd

Schaffer, R.H. (2006). Key Concepts in Developmental Psychology, London: Sage Publications Ltd

Woodhead, M. and Montgomery, H. (2003). Understanding Childhood: and interdisciplinary approach, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd in association with The Open University

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