Gender Identity And Gender Roles Essay
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Gender Roles and Gender Identity
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The emphasis has shifted from the individual's learning experience to the creation of the texts or representations that construct our notions of gender. In the Indian context woman is defined as an ambivalent person. Woman is located in myth and popular culture as both goddess and Shakti as virtuous and evil. Women were not only revered and worshipped but also controlled through a direct regulation of her sexuality. Religion is powerful social institution that shape gender identity in society. There are sacred spaces where only men are allowed to ender and not women. There are norms defined by which only men can perform certain duties or obligations pertaining to religious activities but also reinforce and legitimize gender roles assigned to men and women in society.
Gender identity is conveyed and structured by both verbal and non-verbal means. The gender classification is influenced by the semantic structure of language. Lakoff has suggested that generic terms in language may influence cognitive structure and attitudes towards gender superiority. The term man means human being in general while woman refers to female. The term bachelor conserves its original meaning of single man while spinster has acquired the negative connotation of old maid.
Language is another medium through which gender identities are imposed or reinforced. Site Map. Search Enter your search terms Submit search form Web Sociologyguide. H Mead C. In a social justice context, oppression is what happens when individuals or groups of people are discriminated against or otherwise treated unjustly, whether by the government, private organizations, individuals, or other groups. The word comes from the Latin root "opprimere," which means "pressed down. The categories describe patterns of behavior and not necessarily belief systems. A person can have strong beliefs in favor of social equality and still practice oppression through their actions.
In many cases, these categories of oppression overlap in such a way that one person can potentially deal with multiple forms of oppression and privilege at the same time. The experience of multiple and differing forms of oppression is described by the term " intersectionality. Sexism , or the belief that cisgender men are superior to cisgender women on the basis of sex, has been an almost universal condition of civilization. Whether rooted in biology or culture or both, sexism tends to force women into subservient, restrictive roles that many do not want, and to force men into dominant, competitive roles that many do not want.
Heterosexism describes the pattern in which people are assumed to be heterosexual. Since not everybody is heterosexual, the outliers may be punished with ridicule, restriction of partnership rights, discrimination, arrest, and even death. Cisgender refers to people whose gender identity is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. Cisgenderism or cisnormativity is a form of oppression that assumes that everyone who is assigned male at birth exists as a man and everyone who is assigned female at birth exists as a woman. Cisgenderism discriminates against and does not take into account people who do not identify with their assigned sex at birth, and the gender roles associated with them or those who do not have clearly defined or binary gender roles binary transgender people or nonbinary transgender people.
Classism is a social pattern in which wealthy or influential people congregate with each other and oppress those who are less wealthy or less influential. Classism also establishes rules about whether and under what circumstances members of one class may cross over into another class—for example, via marriage or work. Whereas bigotry means having an intolerance for people of other races and religions, racism assumes that those from other races are actually genetically inferior human beings. Racism acts on this belief with political, systemic, social, and institutional power. In other words, by doing gender, we reinforce the notion that there are only two mutually exclusive categories of gender.
The internalized belief that men and women are essentially different is what makes men and women behave in ways that appear essentially different. Gender is maintained as a category through socially constructed displays of gender. Doing gender is fundamentally a social relationship. One does gender in order to be perceived by others in a particular way, either as male, female, or as troubling those categories. Certainly, gender is internalized and acquires significance for the individual; some individuals want to feel feminine or masculine.
Social constructionists might argue that because categories are only formed within a social context, even the affect of gender is in some ways a social relation. Social constructionists would say that gender is interactional rather than individual—it is developed through social interactions. Gender is also said to be omnirelevant, meaning that people are always judging our behavior to be either male or female. It is the result of socialization, but it also has a biological basis. Gender identity typically falls on a gender binary—individuals are expected to exclusively identify either as male or female.
However, some individuals believe that this binary model is illegitimate and identify as a third, or mixed, gender. Individuals whose gender identity aligns with their sex organs are said to be cisgender. Transgender individuals are those whose gender identity does not align with their sex organs. These people generally dress according to how they feel but do not make an drastic change within their sexual organs. Transsexuals, however, take drastic measures to assume their believed identity. This includes hormone therapy and sexual reassignment operations. What causes individuals to sense a sort of confusion between their biological gender and their gender identity? This question is hotly contested, with no clear answer.
Some scientists argue that the sense of confusion is a biological result of the pre- and post-natal swinging of hormone levels and genetic regulation. Sociologists tend to emphasize the environmental impetuses for gender identity. Certainly, socialization, or the process of transferring norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors to group members, plays a significant part in how individuals learn and internalize gender roles and subsequently impact their gender identity.
Though the medical emphasis in some conversations about gender identity is frequently scrutinized by sociologists, there is clearly some biological basis to gender, even if it has more to do with appearances and social presentation than identity formation. Women have two X chromosomes, where men have one X and one Y chromosome. However, despite the deep relationship to biology, gender identity cannot only be biologically determined.
However, gender identity has a larger social component that needs to be considered. On college campuses, gender-restrictive dorm housing is facing opposition by individuals who identify as neither a man nor a woman. Many public spaces and workplaces are instituting gender-neutral bathroom facilities. Gender identity has become a piece of international law as a branch of human rights doctrines. The Yogyakarta Principles, drafted by international legal scholars in , provide a definition of gender identity in its preamble.
Gender identities, and the malleability of the gender binary, vary across cultures. They are biologically male, but dress and behave in a manner that Polynesians typically consider female. In the Indian subcontinent, a hijra is usually considered to be neither male nor female. The hijra form a third gender, although they do not enjoy the same acceptance and respect as individuals who identify along the gender binary.
The xanith form an accepted third gender in Oman, a society that also holds a gender binary as a social norm. The xanith are male, homosexual prostitutes whose dressing is male, featuring pastel colors rather than the white clothes traditionally worn by men, but their mannerisms are coded as female. Xanith can mingle with women where men cannot. However, similar to other men in Oman, xanith can marry women and prove their masculinity by consummating the marriage. This extreme cultural variation in notions of gender indicate the socially constructed nature of gender identity. Men in Montreal Dressed in Drag : The image above exemplifies the subjective and personal understanding people have of their own gender identities.
Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be appropriate for people of a specific sex. Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex. There has been significant variation in gender roles over cultural and historical spans, and all gender roles are culturally and historically contingent. Much scholarly work on gender roles addresses the debate over the environmental or biological causes for the development of gender roles. The following section seeks to orient the reader to the sociological theorization of the gender role and discuss its application in an American context.
Gender role theory emphasizes the environmental causes of gender roles and the impact of socialization, or the process of transferring norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors to group members, in learning how to behave as a male or a female. Social role theory proposes that the social structure is the underlying force in distinguishing genders and that sex-differentiated behavior is driven by the division of labor between two sexes within a society. The division of labor creates gender roles, which in turn, lead to gendered social behavior. With the popularization of social constructionist theories of gender roles, it is paramount that one recognize that all assertions about gender roles are culturally and historically contingent.
This means that what might be true of gender roles in the United States for one cultural group likely is not true for another cultural group. Similarly, gender roles in the United States have changed drastically over time. There is no such thing as a universal, generalizable statement about gender roles. One main thread in discussions about gender roles in the United States has been the historical evolution from a single-income family, or a family unit in which one spouse typically the father is responsible for the family income, to a dual-income family, or a family unit in which both spouses generate income.
Before the rise of feminism in the s and s and the influx of women into the workforce in the s, women were largely responsible for dealing with home matters, while men worked and earned income outside the home. While some claim that this was a sexist structure, others maintain that the structure simply represented a division of labor, or a social system in which a particular segment of the population performs one type of labor and another segment performs another type. In , sociologist Talcott Parsons developed a model of nuclear families in the United States that addressed gender roles.
Family structures vary across cultures and history, and the term nuclear family refers to a family unit of two parents and their children. Parsons developed two models of gender roles within the nuclear family. His first model involved total role segregation; men and women would be trained and educated in gender-specific institutions, and high professional qualifications and the workplace would be intended for men. Male participation in domestic activity would be only partially desired and socially acceptable.
Further, in the case of conflict, the man would have the final say. Parsons contrasted this first model with a second that involved the total integration of roles. In the second model, men and women would be educated in the same institutions and study the same content in classes. Outside the educational milieu, women and men would both perceive career to be important, and equal professional opportunities for men and women would be considered socially necessary. Both parties in a marriage would bear responsibility for housework and child rearing. Finally, neither gender would systematically dominate decision making.
However, total role segregation was closer to the reality of the United States in the s, whereas a total integration of roles is increasingly common in the United States today. Currently, more women than men are enrolled in college, and women are expected to earn more graduate degrees than men over the next several years. However, in most contexts, women are still expected to be the primary homemakers, even if they are contributing to household income by working outside the home. Gender roles vary significantly across cultures. Indeed, all gender roles are culturally and historically contingent, meaning that they cannot be analyzed outside of their cultural and historical contexts.
This section attempts to provide a few examples of variation in gender roles and the lives of women in various places around the world. Governments in Europe are typically more active in governing the lives of their citizens than the U. As such, European governments have used their social powers to encourage equality between men and women. In Sweden, for example, all working parents are entitled to sixteen months paid leave per child, with the cost shared by the government and the employer. Through policies such as parental leave, European states actively work to promote equality between genders in childrearing and professional lives. As is the case for many women in the United States and in Europe, many women in Chile feel pressure to conform to traditional gender roles.
These social barriers to gender equality exist in the face of legal equality. Chilean law has recently undergone some drastic changes to support gender equality. Until recently, women lost their right to administer their own assets once they were married, with their husbands receiving all of their wealth. Now, a woman is allowed to maintain her own property. Previously, women were legally required to live with and be faithful and obedient to her husband, but now it is not law. Chile grants both men and women the right to vote and had one of the first female presidents in the world.
Women are gaining increasingly prominent positions in various aspects of government. The prominence of female politicians is working to undo traditional stereotypes of women belonging only in the domestic sphere. Women in Japan are usually well-educated and employed, though gender dynamics emerge in regards to social pressure to find a husband. Historically, gender has been an important principle of Japanese social stratification but the cultural elaboration of gender differences has, of course, varied over time and within social class. After World War II, the legal position of women was redefined by the occupation authorities.
Individual rights were given precedence over obligation to family. Women were guaranteed the right to choose spouses and occupations, to inherit and own property in their own names, and to retain custody of their children. Women were granted the right to vote in However, gender inequality continues in family life, the workplace, and popular values.
