Gender and Family

1
Chapter 4

• Gender and Family

2
Chapter Outline

• Understanding Gender and Gender Roles
• Gender and Gender Socialization
• How Family Matters Learning Gender Roles
• Gender Matters in Family Experiences
• Constraints of Contemporary Gender Roles
• Gender Movements and the Family

3
True or False?

• The only universal feature of gender is that all
  societies sort people into only two categories.

4
False

• In some cultures, there are more than two gender
  categories.
• Among some Asian and Native American societies,
  for example, men or women become berdaches.
• They then live as members of the opposite sex.
• The Hua of Papua, New Guinea, perceive gender as
  fluid, capable of changing over the individuals
  life span.
• In other societies, alternative categories (for
  example, the Hjira of India) are socially
  recognized for individuals who are neither male
  nor female.

5
True or False?

• Parents are not always aware that they treat
  their sons and daughters differently.

6
True

• Most parents are not aware that they treat their
  sons and daughters differently because of their
  gender.
• Although parents may recognize that they respond
  differently to sons than to daughters, they
  usually have a ready explanationthe natural
  differences in the temperament and behavior of
  girls and boys.
• Parents may also believe that they adjust their
  responses to each particular childs personality.

7
Gender Roles

• A gender role is the role a person is expected to
  perform as a result of being male or female in a
  particular culture.
• Gender-role stereotypes are beliefs that males
  and females, as a result of their sex, possess
  distinct psychological and behavioral traits.

8
Gender Roles

• Gender role attitudes are beliefs regarding
  appropriate male and female personality traits
  and activities.
• Gender role behaviors are actual activities or
  behaviors that we or others engage in as males
  and females.
• Gender identity refers to being male or female.

9
Gender Roles and Jobs

• Even sex-segregated jobs such as nursing and
  firefighting can be performed by either gender.

10
Gender Differences

• Men and women are more similar than different.
• Innate gender differences are generally minimal.
• Differences are encouraged by socialization.
• Within any society there are multiple versions of
  masculinity and femininity, one of which comes to
  dominate our thinking about gender.

11
Bipolar Gender Role

• The dominant model used to explain malefemale
  differences.
• In this model, males and females are seen as
  polar opposites, with males possessing
  exclusively instrumental traits and females
  possessing exclusively expressive ones.

12
Traditional Views of Masculinity and Femininity
Implications

1. If a person differs from the male or female
   stereotype, he or she is seen as being more like
   the other gender.
2. Because males and females are perceived as
   opposites, they cannot share the same traits or
   qualities.
3. Males and females are believed to have little in
   common with each other, and a war of the sexes
   is alleged as the norm.

13
The Wage Gap by Gender and Race
Year White men Black men Hispanic men
1970 100 69 NA
1975 100 74.3 72.1
1980 100 70.7 70.8
1985 100 69.7 68
1990 100 73.1 66.3
1995 100 75.9 63.3
2000 100 78.2 63.4
2003 100 78.2 63.3
14
The Wage Gap by Gender and Race
Year White women Black women Hispanic women
1970 58.7 48.2 NA
1975 57.5 55.4 49.3
1980 58.9 55.7 50.5
1985 63 57.1 52.1
1990 69.4 62.5 54.3
1995 71.2 64.2 53.4
2000 72.2 64.6 52.8
2003 75.6 65.4 54.3
15
Gender Theory

• The idea that social relationships are based on
  socially perceived differences between males and
  females that justify unequal power relationships.
  
• Focuses on
• How specific behaviors or roles are defined as
  male or female.
• How labor is divided into mans work and womans
  work, both at home and in the workplace.
• How different institutions bestow advantages on
  men.

16
Social Learning Theory

• Emphasizes learning behaviors from others through
  rewards and punishments and modeling.
• This approach has been modified to include
  cognitive processes, such as the use of language,
  the anticipation of consequences, and observation.

17
Modeling

• Playing dress up is one way children model the
  characteristics and behaviors of adults. It is
  part of the process of learning
• what is appropriate for someone of their gender.

18
Cognitive Development Theory

• Asserts that once children learn gender is
  permanent, they independently strive to act like
  proper boys or girls because of an internal
  need for congruence.

19
How Parents Socialize Children

• Four very subtle processes
• Manipulation
• Channeling
• Verbal appellation
• Activity exposure

20
Childhood Gender Socialization

• Generally, daughters are given more
  responsibilities than are sons.

21
Gender Role Socialization

• Parents, teachers, and peers are important agents
  of socialization during childhood and
  adolescence.
• Ethnicity and social class also influence gender
  roles.

22
Traditional Male Roles

• Emphasis is on dominance and work, whether for
  whites, African Americans, Latinos, or Asian
  Americans.
• A mans central family role has been viewed as
  being the provider.
• For women, there is greater role diversity
  according to ethnicity.

23
Contemporary Male Gender Roles

• As contemporary male gender roles allow
  increasing expressiveness, men are encouraged to
  nurture their children.

24
Traditional Female Roles

• Among middle-class whites the emphasis is on
  being a wife and mother.
• Among African Americans, women are expected to be
  instrumental there is no conflict between work
  and motherhood.
• Among Latinos, women are deferential to men
  generally from respect rather than subservience
  elders, regardless of gender, are afforded
  respect.

25
Changes Affecting Contemporary Gender Roles

• Acceptance of women as workers and professionals.
• Increased questioning of motherhood as a core
  female identity.
• Greater equality in marital power.
• Breakdown of the instrumental/ expressive
  dichotomy.
• Expansion of male family roles.

26
Limitations of Contemporary Gender Roles Men

• The provider role limits mens father and husband
  roles.
• Difficulty in expressing feelings.
• A sense of dominance that precludes intimacy.

27
Limitations of Contemporary Gender Roles Women

• Diminished self-confidence and mental health.
• Association of femininity with youth and beauty
  creates a disadvantage as women age.
• Ethnic women may suffer both racial
  discrimination and gender-role stereotyping,
  which compound each other.

28
Difficulties in Changing Gender-role Behavior

• Each sex reinforces the traditional roles of its
  own and the other sex.
• We evaluate ourselves in terms of fulfilling
  gender-role concepts.
• Gender roles have become an intrinsic part of
  ourselves and our roles.
• The social structure reinforces traditional roles.

29
Social Movements Dedicated to Changing Gender
Roles

• Gender-reform feminism
• Gender-resistant feminism
• Movements designed to emphasize how gender
  overlaps with other bases of oppression, like
  age, race or class.
• Profeminist mens movements
• Most current mens movements attempt to reconnect
  men with families.