Socialization and Gender Roles

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Socialization and Gender Roles

• Frigillana

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Sex and Gender

• Sex refers to the biological characteristics with
  which we are born.
• Gender refers to the learned attitudes and
  behaviors that characterize people of one sex or
  the other.
• Gender roles are the characteristics, attitudes,
  feelings, and behaviors that society expects of
  females and males.
• Gender identity, usually learned in early
  childhood, refers to ones perception of him or
  herself as either masculine or feminine.

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Gender Quiz Are Women and Men Different?

1. T/F Women are the weaker sex.
2. T/F Boys are more group-centered, active, and
   aggressive than girls.
3. T/F Women are more emotional than men.
4. T/F Women talk more than men.
5. T/F Women suffer more from depression.
6. T/F Women are more likely than men to divulge
   personal information.
7. T/F Men smile more than women.
8. T/F Women and men dont care whether a baby is a
   boy or a girl.
9. T/F Most women are confident about managing their
   financial affairs.
10. T/F A heart attack is more likely to be fatal for
    a man than for a woman.

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Gender Quiz Are Women and Men Different?

1. False Women are the weaker sex.
2. True Boys are more group-centered, active, and
   aggressive than girls.
3. False Women are more emotional than men.
4. False Women talk more than men.
5. True Women suffer more from depression.
6. False Women are more likely than men to divulge
   personal information.
7. False Men smile more than women.
8. False Women and men dont care whether a baby is
   a boy or a girl.
9. False Most women are confident about managing
   their financial affairs.
10. False A heart attack is more likely to be fatal
    for a man than for a woman.

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Nature-Nurture Debate
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Nature-Nurture Debate

• Arguments favoring Nature (biological
  differences between men and women) come from the
  following sources
• Developmental and Health differences
• Effects of sex hormones (chemical substances
  secreted into the bloodstream)
• Sex differences in the brain
• Unsuccessful sex reassignment

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Nature-Nurture Debate

• Arguments favoring the Nurture side of the
  debate, suggesting that culture shapes human
  behavior, come from
• Cross cultural variations in gender roles
• Cross cultural variations in male violence
• Successful sex assignment particularly with
  intersexuals (people born with both male and
  female sex organs).

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Nature-Nurture Debate

• What can we conclude?
• Women and men exhibit some sex-related genetic
  differences.
• Cross cultural research shows much variation in
  characteristics typically ascribed to men and
  women.
• Nature and Nurture clearly interact to explain
  our behavior.

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How we learn gender roles

• Social learning theory
• People learn attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors
  through social interaction.
• Learning occurs through reinforcement or
  imitation and modeling.
• Cognitive development theory
• Children acquire female or male values on their
  own by thinking, reasoning, and interpreting
  information from their environments.
• Gender schema theory suggests people have mental
  organization systems (schemas) to help them
  identify as male or female.
• Feminist approaches
• Gender is a role that is socially constructed.
• Focus on power differences and inequality.

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Who teaches gender roles?

• Parents
• Talking and communication patterns
• Setting expectations
• Providing opportunities
• Toys, Sports, and Peers
• Toys tend to be sex typed
• Female athletes still face institutional barriers
• Young children prefer same sex play partners

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Who teaches gender roles?

• Teachers and Schools
• In elementary and middle school, boys usually get
  more time to talk, are called on more often, and
  receive more positive feedback.
• In high school, counselors may steer students
  into gender-typed futures.
• In college, there are gender differences in
  academic discipline.

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Who teaches gender roles?

• Books Textbooks
• Many books show gender typed behaviors
• More nonstereotypical books are now available
• Popular Culture and the MediaThere are many sex
  stereotyping examples in
• Advertising
• Newspapers and Magazines
• Television and other Screen Media
• Music Videos

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Traditional Views and Gender Roles

• Instrumental roles direct men to be procreators,
  protectors, and providers.
• Expressive roles direct women to provide
  emotional support by being warm, sensitive, and
  sympathetic. Women are the kinkeepers and family
  mediators.

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Traditional Views and Gender Roles

• Benefits
• Promote stability, continuity, and predictability
• Expectations are clear
• Costs
• For men, losing a job can become catastrophic.
• Women can feel trapped in exhausting, never
  ending tasks of housekeeping.
• Both men and women can be unhappy.

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Gender Roles at Home

• The second shift refers to the household work
  and child care many mothers face after coming
  home from work.
• Mens and womens perceptions of their domestic
  contributions vary.

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Gender Roles in the Workplace

• Two key issues affect women, men, their partners
  and families
• Sex discrimination continues to exist in many
  professions.
• Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance
  or other conduct that makes a person
  uncomfortable and interferes with her or his
  work.
• Many men are confused about what sexual
  harassment is and many women are reluctant to
  report it.

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Contemporary Gender Roles

• Gender and the consumer marketplace
• Numerous examples exist where women are
  overcharged for car and home repairs or receive
  inaccurate financial advice.
• Gender and Communication
• Deborah Tannen, a sociolinguist, suggests men and
  women have different communication styles that
  include
• Different purposes
• Different rules
• Different ways of interpreting communications

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Religion and Gender Roles

• Parenting
• Religion shapes gender roles and family roles in
  many ways. Example the Ten Commandments.
• Domestic Roles
• Religion shapes the division of labor in the
  home. In evangelical households, wives spend more
  time on traditional womens work.
• Role models
• Religion influences role models. For example,
  many Christian colleges remind female students to
  not work outside the home, though this is in
  conflict with their female professors working.

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Current Gender Roles Changes and Constraints

• Role conflict refers to the frustration and
  uncertainties a person experiences when
  confronted with the requirements of incompatible
  roles.
• Are we waging war against boys and men?
• There are concerns about mens and boys
  development, especially with respect to
  education.
• Some argue this concern is a backlash against
  girls and womens progress.
• Is Androgyny the Answer?
• In Androgyny, both culturally defined masculine
  and feminine characteristics are blended in the
  same person.

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A Global View Women around the World

• The Gender Development Index (GDI) is used to
  rank countries
• Its indicators include life expectancy,
  educational attainment, income, and intentional
  commitment to equality principles and policies.
• Top Ten countries are United States, Canada,
  Australia, Japan, Iceland, the Scandinavian
  countries, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
• Bottom Ten countries are in Africa, including
  Ethiopia, Niger, and Sierra Leone.

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A Global View Women around the World