Lec 3 gender & hr

What is GENDER

Lecture 3

Gender

‘Gender’ refers to the socially constructed roles, responsibilities, identities and

expectations assigned to men and women.

It contrasts with the fundamental biological

and physiological differences between males and females, which are known as

secondary sex characteristics.

Difference between Sex & Gender The terms ‘sex' and ‘gender' are closely linked, yet

they are not synonyms. Robert Stoller, in the 1960s, has drawn the

distinction between them. He suggested that the word ‘sex' be used to refer

to the physical differences between men and women, while the term ‘gender' be used in connection to the behaviour and cultural practices of men and women.

Difference between Sex & Gender

Definition of "Sex"The term ‘sex' is easy to understand. It simply refers to the natural biological differences between men and women, for example, the differences in the organs related to reproduction.


Definition of "Gender""Gender refers to the cultural, socially-constructed differences between the two sexes. It refers to the way a society encourages and teaches the two sexes to behave in different ways through socialisation.”


In simple words, gender refers to differences in attitudes and behaviour, and these differences are perceived as a product of the socialisation process rather than of biology.

Gender also includes the different expectations that society and individuals themselves hold as regard to the appropriate behaviours of men and women.

Difference between Sex & Gender Gender does not concern women only, but it

relates to both sexes. Gender issues are not women issues; they are rather issues pertaining to both men and women.

Viewing gender as a socially-constructed phenomenon implies that gender, contrary to sex, is not the same over the world. It varies between and within societies and it can change over time.


Sex (Biological difference) Gender (Social difference)

Difficult to change (we are born male or female)

Can be changed since gender identity is determined by society.

Throughout history and across cultures, sex differences exist.

At different times in history and in different societies, gender roles are different.

Policies respond to sex differences in areas to do with the physical body.

Policies can respond to gender stereotype and traditional gender roles.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER

Sociologists explain gender roles according to several theoretical perspectives, general ways of understanding social reality that guide the research process and provide a means for interpreting the data.

A theory is an explanation. Formal theories consist of logical interrelated

propositions that explain empirical events.


Sociological perspectives on gender also vary according to the level of analysis atwhich they events.

Macrosociological perspectives on gender roles direct attention to data collected on large-scale social phenomena, such as labor force, educational, and political trends that are differentiated according to gender roles.


Micro sociological perspectives on gender roles direct attention to data collected in small groups and the details of gender interaction occurring, for example, between couples and in families and peer groups.


Early sociological perspectives related to gender roles evolved from scholarship on the sociology of the family.

These explanations centered on why men and women hold different roles in the family that in turn impact the roles they perform outside the family.

To a large extent, this early work on the family has continued to inform current sociological thinking on gender roles.


Functionalism Functionalism, also known as “structural

functionalism,” is a macro sociological

perspective that is based on the premise that society is made up of interdependent parts, each of which contributes to the functioning of the whole society.


Functionalism Functionalists seek to identify the basic elements

or parts of society and determine the functions these parts play in meeting basic social needs in predictable ways.

Functionalists ask how any given element of social structure contributes to overall social stability, balance, and equilibrium.


Preindustrial Society.

Functionalists suggest that in preindustrial societies social equilibrium was maintained by assigning different tasks to men and women.

Given the hunting and gathering and subsistence farming activities of most

preindustrial societies, role specialization according to gender was considered a functional necessity.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER In their assigned hunting roles, men were frequently away

from home for long periods and centered their lives around the responsibility of

bringing food to the family.

Domestic roles near the home as gatherers and subsistence farmers and as caretakers of children and households were assigned to women. Children were needed to help with agricultural and domesticactivities

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER Children were needed to help with agricultural and

domestic activities. Girls would continue these activities when boys

reached the age when they were allowed to hunt with the older males.

Once established, this functional division of labor was reproduced in societies throughout the globe.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER Women may have been farmers and food

gatherers in their own right, but they were dependent on men for food and for protection. Women’s dependence on men in turn produced a pattern in which male activities and roles came to be more valued than female activities and roles.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER Contemporary Society

Similar principles apply to families in contemporary societies.

When the husband–father takes the instrumental role, he is expected to maintain the physical integrity of the family by providing food and shelter and linking the family to the world outside the home.


While the wife–mother takes the expressive role, she is expected to cement relationships and provide emotional support and nurturing activities that ensure the household runs smoothly.


If too much deviation from these roles occurs, or when there is too much overlap, the family system is propelled into a state of imbalance that can threaten the survival of the family unit. Advocates of functionalist assumptions argue, for instance, that gender role ambiguity regarding instrumental and expressive roles is

a major factor in divorce (Hacker, 2003).

Gender

Gender roles differ between cultures and communities and over time.

Goldberg - males have an inbuilt dominance tendency

NB. This view has gained increasing credibility in recent years (ref “Why men don’t iron).

Consensus theory

Parsons: In the family, men tend to perform the instrumental tasks (a concern with achieving a task or goal) and women perform expressive tasks (concerned with affection and emotion]

The consensus view is that these gender roles are natural, inevitable and functional.

The Feminist view

In most societies there is gender inequality and women tend to be the losers in terms of power, status and pay.

This system of gender inequality benefits men at the expense of women.

The Feminist view

Friedan: It was not women’s biology that held them back from competing with men on equal terms, but the feminine mystique

This was an ideology that defined what it was to be truly feminine, e.g. sensitive, intuitive. BUT this implies that women are not naturally rational, logical and assertive.

The feminist view (continuted)

Friedan argued that the feminine mystique prevented women from seeing their potential and kept them locked in their roles as as wives, mothers and carers.

Kate Millett: developed the concept of Patriarchy: male domination. She argued that the oppression and exploitation of women by men are build into every aspect of the way society is organised.

Cross-cultural evidence about Gender (Social Constructionism)

Ann Oakley -the Mbuti Pygmies of the Congo have very little division of labour by sex; men and women hunt together and share responsibility for childcare.

Margaret Mead - differences in childrearing techniques in three New Guinea tribes – extract from soc in focus page 40.

Gender is based on ‘nurture’ – socialisation and social environment- Each society creates its own set of gender expectations. Can you think if any examples that illustrate this?

Gender as Socially constructed

On the basis of cross-cultural evidence, it is difficult to conclude that differences between women and men in social roles are purely the result of biology.

Sociologists have therefore explored the role of culture in shaping male and female gender identities.

In particular, the part played by gender socialisation.

GENDER ROLE SOCIALISATION

Much of our identity and behaviour is the result of experiences of interaction with other people, especially during childhood.

Our gender identity is no exception. Gender expectations are transmitted to the next generation through gender role socialisation.

Gender role Socialisation: The Family

Gender identity stems from: imitation of parental role models; parents rewarding gender-appropriate behaviour

(manipulation); parents discouraging gender-inappropriate

behaviour; Parents adopting different modes of speech and

terms of endearment depending on the gender of the child;

The Family (continued)

Mothers’ preoccupation with female children’s appearance;

Parents giving children gender-specific toys, books and games (canalisation);

Children being dressed in gender-specific clothes and colours;

Parents assigning gender-specific household chores to children;

parents socially controlling the behaviour of girls more tightly than boys.

TASK - THE FAMILY & GENDER ROLE SOCIALISATION

Find the following studies and note down their evidence:

Moss (1970) Will, Self and Datan (1984) Oakley (1981) Damon (1977) Statham (1986)

Gender role Socialisation: Education

Until the 1990s the hidden curriculum transmitted gender-stereotyped assumptions about feminine behaviour through teacher expectations, timetabling, career advice, textbook content etc..

There still remains gender differences in subject choices, especially in H.E.

Working class girls are still following traditional gender routes - leave school at 16, temporary jobs, marriage, motherhood.

Education (continued)

The hidden curriculum, through teacher expectations, may be resulting in working-class boys following traditional gender routes into manual jobs. Controlling masculine behaviour may become more important than ensuring boys receive a good education.

Young males may reject academic work because of equating learning with femininity.

TASK: EDUCATION AND GENDER ROLE SOCIALISATION Find the following studies and note down their

evidence: Sue Sharpe (1976;1994) Michelle Stanworth (1983) Dale Spender (1983) Lobban (1974) Thomas (1990) Christine Skelton (2002)

Gender role SocialisationThe Peer Group

Working class boys may reject the goals of schooling and set up anti-school subcultures (Paul Willis);

Mac An Ghaill - such subcultures may be a reaction to a ‘crisis in masculinity’, as working-class boys learn that traditional working-class jobs and roles such as breadwinner and head of household are in decline;

The Peer Group (continued)

Membership of deviant subcultures may confer status on boys for exaggerating masculine values and norms while negatively sanctioning behaviour defined as feminine.

There is an assumption that men and women have different sexual personalities. If women behave in a similar way to men, they will be labelled and will ‘develop a reputation’ (Sue Lees)

Gender role socialisationThe Mass Media

Feminists are critical of a range of mass media that socialise females into either domestic or sexualised patterns of femininity:

Popular literature, especially fairy tales and children’s stories, portray females as the weaker sex and males as heroes;

Children’s books portray traditional gender roles;

The Mass Media (continued)

Magazines for teenage adolescents encourage them to concentrate on appearance and romance rather than on education and careers;

Women’s magazine’s are apprentice manuals for motherhood and domesticity;

Adverts continue to show women disproportionately in domestic roles and emphasise their physical looks and sex appeal at the expense of ability and personality;

The Mass Media (continued)

‘New lads’ magazines and pornography assert a very traditional view of masculinity organised around interpreting women as sexual objects, sport and drinking culture.

TASK: THE MASS MEDIA AND GENDER ROLE SOCIALISATION Find the following studies and note down

their evidence: Gay Tuchman (1981) Angela McRobbie (1982) Marjorie Ferguson (1983)

Quiz

What does the biological determinism theory suggest about gender?

What is social constructionism? What does the above approach suggest about gender

roles? Who did Margaret Mead study in 1935? What is gender role socialisation? What does Goldberg suggest about something being

inbuilt in males? What does consensus theory suggest about gender

roles?

Lec 3 gender & hr

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