Download Chapter 4, Our Gendered Identities

Chapter 4
Our Gendered Identities
Chapter Outline
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Gendered Identities
Gender Inequality
Gender and Socialization
Social Change and Gender
Gender and Sex
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Sex is used in reference to male or female
anatomy and physiology, and includes the
chromosomal, hormonal, and anatomical
components of males and females.
Gender (or gender role) refers to societal
attitudes and behaviors associated with the two
sexes.
Gender identity refers to the degree to which
an individual sees herself or himself as feminine
or masculine based on society’s definitions of
gender roles.
Issues for Thought:
“Wife” Socialization and the Heterosexual
Wedding
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Think about the ways you have been
socialized into a particular gender role.
What household chores were you assigned
when younger?
Were those different from those of your
siblings or friends of the opposite sex?
Did those prepare you for any particular
adult roles?
Sexism
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Traditional sexism is the belief that women’s
roles should be confined to the family and that
women are not as fit as men for certain tasks or
for leadership positions.
Modern sexism denies that gender
discrimination persists and includes the belief
that women are asking for too much—a
situation that results in resistance to women’s
demands.
Issues for Thought:
Challenges to Gender Boundaries
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Between 1 and 4% of live births are
intersexual.
 The child has anatomical, chromosomal, or
hormonal variations from the male or female
biology that is considered normal.
Transsexuals are raised as one sex, while
emotionally identifying with the other sex.
Transgendered describes an identity adopted
by those who are uncomfortable in the gender
of their birth.
Issues for Thought:
Challenges to Gender Boundaries
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Have transgendered individuals been politically
visible in your campus or community?
What are your own thoughts as to whether
gender is a dichotomy or a continuum along
which individuals may vary?
How do such challenges to gender boundaries
potentially impact our roles and experiences
within the family?
Gender Character Traits
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Masculine people are often thought to have
instrumental (or agentic) character traits –
confidence, assertiveness, and ambition – that
enable them to accomplish difficult tasks or
goals.
Feminine people are thought to embody
expressive (or communal) character traits –
warmth, sensitivity, the ability to express tender
feelings, and placing concern about others’
above self-interest.
Cultural Messages:
Masculinities
1.
2.
3.
Men are expected to distance themselves
from anything considered feminine.
A man should be financially successful, or at
least be working to support his family.
During the 1980s, a new cultural message
emerged that a man should be emotionally
sensitive and expressive, valuing tenderness
and equal relationships with women.
Nontraditional Occupations
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More and more
women are entering
nontraditional
occupations such as
the military.
Cultural Messages: Femininities
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The pivotal expectation for a woman requires
her to offer emotional support.
The ideal woman was physically attractive, not
too competitive, a good listener, and
adaptable.
She was considered fortunate if she had a
man in her life and was expected to be a good
mother and put her family’s and children’s
needs before her own.
New Cultural Models for
Women
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The professional woman: independent,
ambitious, self confident
The superwoman: A good wife and/or mother
attains career success and supports her
children by herself
The satisfied single: a woman (heterosexual
or lesbian, employed, possibly a parent) who is
happy and not in a serious relationship with a
male
Gender Expectations and
Diversity
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Stereotypes include:
 “strong black woman”…cultural messages
ranging from bitches and bad (black) mothers
to modern mammies…extremely educated or
a high school dropout, ambitious or listless,
sexy or ugly
 Latinas and Asian women as being more
submissive
 Latino men as patriarchal
To what extent do women and men
follow cultural expectations?
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In adult life, women seem to have greater
connectedness in interpersonal relations and,
perhaps due to gender stereotypes, are pushed
into caregiving professions.
Men tend to be more socially dominate,
competitive, and achievement-oriented.
But there is great individual variation; situational
context accounts for much of the difference.
Traits in Men and Women
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How females and males differ on height,
conceptualized as overlapping normal
distribution curves.
Gender Similarities Hypothesis
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Developed by Psychologist Janet Hyde,
the hypothesis holds that males and
females are similar on most psychological
variables.
Hyde found virtually no difference on most
traits, a few moderate differences, and
very few large differences.
Gender Similarities Hypothesis
Hyde found evidence of gender differences in:
1. Motor performance, especially in throwing
distance and speed.
2. Sexuality, especially male’s greater incidence
of masturbation and acceptance of casual
sex.
3. Physical aggressiveness.
Gender Inequality
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A situation in which males assume
authority over the female.
On the societal level, male dominance is
the assignment to men of greater control
and influence over society’s institutions.
There are no known societies where
women dominate men.
Male Dominance In Politics
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Before 1992, there had never been more than
two women among our 100 U.S. senators.
As of 2009, in the U.S. Congress, there were 17
women in the Senate and 76 in the House of
Representatives
Surveys report that 71% of the public say they
would be willing to vote for a woman for
president, but only 56% believe their family,
friends, and coworkers are willing to do so.
Women in Politics
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Nancy Pelosi attained the
political post of Speaker of
the House of
Representatives in 2007.
Although the number of
female senators and
members of the House of
Representatives has
increased, women remain
a minority in positions of
political power.
Male Dominance In Religion
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Most U.S. congregations have more female
than male participants, yet men hold more
positions of authority.
Women are prohibited from holding Catholic
clerical or lay deacon positions.
A majority of U.S. Catholic laypeople and
theologians believe the Catholic church should
ordain women priests. The Vatican disagrees.
Gender and Health
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Male infants have higher rates of infant mortality
and adverse conditions.
In the United States, around 105 boys are born
for every 100 girls, with boys outnumbering girls
under age eighteen.
Life expectancy for the total population reached
77.7 years in 2006—80.2 years for females and
75.1 years for males, a difference of 5.1 years
Life Expectancy, United
States, 1975–2020
Gender and Education
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Women have been the majority of college
students since 1979 and now surpass
men in the proportion of the total
population that are college graduates.
In 2007, women earned 57% of
bachelor’s degrees, 60.5% of master’s
degrees, 50% of first professional
degrees, and 50% of doctorates.
Gender and Education
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The changing gender balance in education
has led to cries of alarm that men/boys are
disadvantaged by educational systems.
However the data have made visible two
patterns:
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College achievement gap is greater among
racial/ethnic groups within gender categories
Apparent difference between males and
females in goals and attitudes toward
schooling
Male Dominance in The
Economy
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In 2008, women who were employed full
time earned 80% of what men earned.
Even in same occupational categories,
women earn less than men:
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In 2008, women CEOs earned $83, 356
versus male CEOS, who earned $103,948 on
average.
Overall, the earnings gap between men and
women narrowed in recent decades, but that
gap is widening slightly again.
Female-to-Male Earnings Ratio
Is Anatomy Destiny?
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Is male dominance anchored in biology?
 Biologists have relinquished deterministic
models in their thinking about gender and
family.
 Sociologists are finding complex interactions
among gender, social roles, and biological
indicators rather than categorical gender
differences.
Is Anatomy Destiny?
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It is safe to say that there is convergence on the
opinion that in gender, as well as other
behavior, biology interacts with culture in
complex and constantly changing ways that
cannot be reduced to biological determinism.
Although adult men and women seem to be
converging in social roles and personal
qualities, gender differences seem powerful in
younger years via the process of socialization.
Theories of Socialization
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Socialization
Process by which people develop their
human capacities and acquire a unique
personality and identity and by which
culture is passed from generation to
generation
Gender Roles
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Children learn much
about gender roles
from their parents,
whether they are
taught consciously or
unconsciously.
Parents model roles
and reinforce
expectations of
appropriate behavior.
Theories of Socialization
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Social Learning Theory
 Children learn gender roles as they are
taught by parents, schools, and the media.
Self-identification theory
 Children categorize themselves by age 3 and
identify behaviors in their families, the media,
and elsewhere that are appropriate to their
sex and adopt these behaviors.
Theories of Socialization
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Gender Schema Theory
 Children develop a frame of knowledge
about what girls and boys typically do, and
then use this framework to interpret and
think about gender.
Symbolic Interaction Theory
 Children develop self-concepts based on
social feedback: the looking-glass self.
Also important is their role-taking, as they
play out roles in interaction with significant
others such as parents and peers.
Settings for Socialization
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Boys and Girls in the Family
Play and Games
The Power of Cultural Images
Socialization in Schools
Boys and Girls in the Family
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Encouragement of gender-typed
interests and activities continues:
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Girls have more dolls, fictional
characters, children’s furniture, and the
color pink.
Boys have more sports equipment, tools,
toy vehicles, and the colors red, blue,
and white.
Boys and Girls in the Family
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Encouragement of gender-typed
interests and activities continues:
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Fathers more than mothers enforce gender
stereotypes, especially for sons. It is more
acceptable, for example, for girls to be tomboys.
Exploratory behavior is encouraged more in boys
than in girls.
Household chores (number and kinds) adhere to
gendered notions.
However, this varies by race/ethnicity. For
example, African American girls are raised to be
more independent and less passive.
Play and Games
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Toys send messages
about gender roles.
What does this toy
say?
Play and Games
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Play is a significant vehicle through which
children develop appropriate concepts of
adult roles, as well as images of
themselves.
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Girls play in one-to-one relationships or in small
groups that are relatively cooperative and have few
rules.
Boys play in large groups, characterized by more
fighting and attempts to effect a hierarchical pecking
order.
The Power of Cultural Messages
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Media images often convey gender
expectations, called media frames.
Media frames guides us through what the
subject is and what its meaningful
qualities are.
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Females are likely to be shown trying to get a man’s
attention, their physical appearance is often focused
upon, and they can be the object of hate
(misogynistic images).
Males are more likely to be depicted in dominant,
agentic roles, and as the authoritative narrative or
voiceover, even when the products are aimed at
women.
Socialization in Schools
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More men are in positions of authority
(principals) and women are in positions of
service (teachers and secretaries).
Teachers pay more attention to males
than to females.
Males tend to dominate learning
environments from nursery school to
college.
SAT Score by Family Income,
2009
Social Change and Gender
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Changes in men’s and women’s social
roles have been influenced by changes in
structural forces and by active change
efforts.
 The Women’s Movement
 The Men’s Movement
Social Change and Gender
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The Women’s Movement
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The 19th century saw a feminist movement develop,
but from 1920 until the mid-1960s, there was virtually
no activism regarding women’s rights and roles.
The Civil Rights Movement provided a model by
which the Second Wave of the Women’s Movement
challenged accepted traditional roles and strove to
increase gender equality.
Some women of color and white working-class
women find the Women’s Movement irrelevant to
their personal and social struggles and experiences.
Women’s Movement Issues
Ethnicity and Gender
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Native Americans,
members of what were
once hunting and
gathering and hoe
cultures, have a complex
heritage that varies by
tribe but may include a
matrilineal tradition in
which women owned
houses, tools, and land.
Social Change and Gender
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Men’s Movements
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As the Women’s Movement encouraged changes in
gender expectations and social roles, some men
responded by initiating a men’s movement.
The first National Conference on Men and
Masculinity was held in 1975.
Focus is on changes that men want in their lives and
how best to get them
One goal has been to give men a forum in which to
air their feelings about gender.
Social Change and Gender
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Men’s Movements
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Antifeminists believe that the Women’s Movement
caused the collapse of the natural order, one that
guaranteed male dominance, and they work to
reverse this trend.
Profeminists support feminists in their opposition to
patriarchy.
Masculinists tend not to focus on patriarchy as
problematic, but work to develop a positive image of
masculinity, one combining strength with tenderness.
Personal and Family Change
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Sometimes in response to increased and
available options, individuals reconsider
earlier choices regarding gender roles.
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Additionally, increased opportunities may
lead to mixed feelings and conflicts, both
within oneself and between men and
women.
The Future of Gender
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Gender identity will remain important, as it
continues to change in response to social
forces and events.
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Some argue that maintaining traditional
gender roles will be supported and
encouraged, while others argue that
gender inequality will be swept aside.
Quick Quiz
1. Jack believes that a woman’s “place” is
in the home. Jack’s point of view is an
illustration of __________ sexism.
a) modern
b) neo
c) traditional
d) post-modern
Answer: c
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Jack believes that a woman’s “place” is
in the home. Jack’s point of view is an
illustration of traditional sexism.
2. Consider the statement: “Discrimination
against women in the labor force is no
longer a problem.” This reflects
__________ sexism.
a) neo
b) modern
c) traditional
d) post-modern
Answer: b
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The statement: “Discrimination against
women in the labor force is no longer a
problem.” This reflects modern sexism.
3. In which of the following religious
categories are women prohibited from
holding positions?
a) the pastorate within Protestant
Christian churches
b) rabbis in Reform Jewish
congregations
c) feminist evangelicals
d) Catholic clerical or lay deacon
Answer: d
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Women are prohibited from holding
positions in the Catholic clerical or lay
deacon.
4. Biological theories of gender difference
were initially offered by
a) biologists.
b) primatologists.
c) zoologists.
d) Geneticists
Answer: b
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Biological theories of gender difference
were initially offered by primatologists.