Republic of the Philippines

UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN PHILIPPINES

PEDRO REBADULLA MEMORIAL CAMPUS
Catubig, Northern Samar
Web: http://uep.edu.ph; Email: [email protected]
SCHOOL ID: 600078

GENDER AND SOCIETY

Sociology of Gender
At the end of the lesson, the students are able to:
4. Define sociology of gender, social constructionism and gender role.
5. Define the difference between masculinity and femininity.
6. Identify gender categories.
7. Differentiate gender and sexuality identity.

Sex and Gender

The sociology of gender examines how society influences our understandings and perception of differences
between masculinity (what society deems appropriate behaviour for a “man”) and femininity (what society
deems appropriate behaviour for a “woman”).

We examine how this, in turn, influences identity and social practices. We pay special focus on the power
relationships that follow from the established gender order in a given society, as well as how this changes
over time.

Sex and gender do not always align. Cis-gender describes people whose biological body they were born into
matches their personal gender identity. This experience is distinct from being transgender, which is where
one‟s biological sex does not align with their gender identity. Transgender people will undergo a gender
transition that may involve changing their dress and self-presentation (such as a name change). Transgender
people may undergo hormone therapy to facilitate this process, but not all transgender people will undertake
surgery. Intersexuality describes variations on sex definitions related to ambiguous genitalia, gonads, sex
organs, chromosomes or hormones. Transgender and intersexuality are gender categories, not sexualities.
Transgender and intersexual people have varied sexual practices, attractions and identities as do cis-gender
people.

People can also choose to be gender queer, by either drawing on several gender positions or otherwise not
identifying with any specific gender (nonbinary); or they may choose to move across genders (gender fluid); or
they may reject gender categories altogether (agender). The third gender is often used by social scientists to
describe cultures that accept non-binary gender positions.

Sexuality is different again; it is about sexual attraction, sexual practices and identity. Just as sex and gender
don‟t always align, neither does gender and sexuality. People can identify along a wide spectrum of sexualities
from heterosexual, to gay or lesbian, to bisexual, to queer, and so on. Asexuality is a term used when
individuals do not feel sexual attraction. Some asexual people might still form romantic relationships without
sexual contact.

Regardless of sexual experience, sexual desire and behaviours can change over time, and sexual identities
may or may not shift as a result.

Gender and sexuality are not just personal identities; they are social identities. They arise from our
relationships to other people, and they depend upon social interaction and social recognition. As such, they
influence how we understand ourselves in relation to others.

Gender
The definition of sex (the categories of man versus woman) as we know them today comes from the advent of
modernity. With the rise of industrialisation came better technologies and faster modes of travel and
communication. This assisted the rapid diffusion of ideas across the medical world.
Sex roles describes the tasks and functions perceived to be ideally suited to masculinity versus femininity. Sex
roles have converged across many (though not all) cultures due to colonial practices and also due to
industrialisation.

Sex roles were different prior to the industrial revolution, when men and women worked alongside one another
on farms, doing similar tasks. Entrenched gender inequality is a product of modernity. It‟s not that inequality did
not exist before, it‟s that inequality within the home in relation to family life was not as pronounced.

In the 19th Century, biomedical science largely converged around Western European practices and ideas.
Biological definitions of the body arose where they did not exist before, drawing on Victorian values. The
essentialist ideas that people attach to man and woman exist only because of this cultural history. This includes
the erroneous ideas that sex:
 Is pre-determined in the womb;
 Defined by anatomy which in turn determines sexual identity and desire;
 Differences are all connected to reproductive functions;
 Identities are immutable; and that
 Deviations from dominant ideas of male/female must be “unnatural.”

There is more variation across cultures when it comes to what is considered “normal” for men and women, thus
highlighting the ethnocentric basis of sex categories. Ethnocentric ideas define and judge practices according
to one‟s own culture, rather than understanding cultural practices vary and should be viewed by local
standards.

Social Construction of Gender

Gender, like all social identities, is socially constructed. Social constructionism is one of the key theories
sociologists use to put gender into historical and cultural focus. Social constructionism is a social theory about
how meaning is created through social interaction – through the things we do and say with other people. This
theory shows that gender it is not a fixed or innate fact, but instead it varies across time and place.

Gender norms (the socially acceptable ways of acting out gender) are learned from birth through childhood
socialisation. We learn what is expected of our gender from what our parents teach us, as well as what we pick
up at school, through religious or cultural teachings, in the media, and various other social institutions.

Gender experiences will evolve over a person‟s lifetime. Gender is therefore always in flux. We see this
through generational and intergenerational changes within families, as social, legal and technological changes
influence social values on gender. Australian sociologist, Professor Raewyn Connell, describes gender as a
social structure – a higher order category that society uses to organise itself:

Gender is the structure of social relations that centres on the reproductive arena, and the set of practices
(governed by this structure) that bring reproductive distinctions between bodies into social processes. To put it
informally, gender concerns the way human society deals with human bodies, and the many consequences of
that “deal” in our personal lives and our collective fate.

Like all social identities, gender identities are dialectical: they involve at least two sets of actors referenced
against one another: “us” versus “them.” In Western culture, this means “masculine” versus “feminine.” As
such, gender is constructed around notions of Otherness: the “masculine” is treated as the default human
experience by social norms, the law and other social institutions. Masculinities are rewarded over and above
femininities.

Take for example the gender pay gap. Men in general are paid better than women; they enjoy more sexual and
social freedom; and they have other benefits that women do not by virtue of their gender. There are variations
across race, class, sexuality, and according to disability and other socio-economic measures.

Masculinity and Femininity

Masculinity
Professor Connel defines masculinity as a broad set of processes that include gender relations and gender
practices between men and women and “the effects of these practices in bodily experience, personality and
culture.” Connell argues that culture dictates ways of being masculine and “unmasculine.” She argues that
there are several masculinities operating within any one cultural context, and some of these masculinities are:
 hegemonic;
 subordinate;
 compliant; and
 marginalised.

In Western societies, gender power is held by White, highly educated, middle-class, able-bodied heterosexual
men whose gender represents hegemonic masculinity – the ideal to which other masculinities must interact
with, conform to, and challenge. Hegemonic masculinity rests on tacit acceptance. It is not enforced through
direct violence; instead, it exists as a cultural “script” that are familiar to us from our socialisation. The
hegemonic ideal is exemplified in movies which venerate White heterosexual heroes, as well as in sports,
where physical prowess is given special cultural interest and authority.

Masculinities are constructed in relation to existing social hierarchies relating to class, race, age and so on.
Hegemonic masculinities rest upon social context, and so they reflect the social inequalities of the cultures they
embody.
Femininity
Professor Judith Lorber and Susan Farrell argue that the social constructionist perspective on gender explores
the taken-for-granted assumptions about what it means to be “male” and “female,” “feminine” and “masculine.”
They explain: women and men are not automatically compared; rather, gender categories (female-male,
feminine-masculine, girls-boys, women-men) are analysed to see how different social groups define them, and
how they construct and maintain them in everyday life and in major social institutions, such as the family and
the economy.

Femininity is constructed through patriarchal ideas. This means that femininity is always set up as inferior to
men. As a result, women as a group lack the same level of cultural power as men.

Women do have agency to resist patriarchal ideals. Women can actively challenge gender norms by refusing to
let patriarchy define how they portray and reconstruct their femininity. This can be done by rejecting cultural
scripts. For example:
 Sexist and racist judgements about women‟s sexuality;
 Fighting rape culture and sexual harassment;
 By entering male-dominated fields, such as body-building or science;
 Rejecting unachievable notions of romantic love disseminated in films and novels that turn women into
passive subjects; and
 By generally questioning gender norms, such as by speaking out on sexism. Sexist comments are one of the
everyday ways in which people police and maintain the existing gender order.

As women do not have cultural power, there is no version of hegemonic femininity to rival hegemonic
masculinity. There are, however, dominant ideals of doing femininity, which favour White, heterosexual, middle-
class cis-women who are able-bodied. Minority women do not enjoy the same social privileges in comparison.

The popular idea that women do not get ahead because they lack confidence ignores the intersections of
inequality. Women are now being told that they should simply “lean in” and ask for more help at work and at
home. “Leaning in” is a limited way of overcoming gender inequality only if you‟re a White woman already
thriving in the corporate world, by fitting in with the existing gender order. Women who want to challenge this
masculine logic, even by asking for a pay rise, are impeded from reaching their potential. Indigenous and other
women of colour are even more disadvantaged.

Source: Zevallos, Z. (2014) „Sociology of Gender,‟ The Other Sociologist, 28 November. Online resource:
https://othersociologist.com/sociology-of-gender/ Retrieved at: https://othersociologist.com/sociology-of-gender/#:~:text=The
%20sociology%20of%20gender%20examines,for%20a%20%E2%80%9Cwoman%E2%80%9D).
 Gender Role
A gender role is a set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable,
appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex. These are usually centered on
opposing conceptions of femininity and masculinity, although there are myriad exceptions and variations. The
specifics regarding these gendered expectations may vary substantially among cultures, while other
characteristics may be common throughout a range of cultures.

Various groups have led efforts to change aspects of prevailing gender roles that they believe are oppressive
or inaccurate, most notably the feminist movement.
The term „gender role‟ was first coined by John Money in 1955 during the course of his study of intersex
individuals to describe the manners in which these individuals express their status as a male or female, in a
situation where no clear biological assignment exists.

Background
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines gender roles as “socially constructed roles, behaviours,
activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women”. However debate
continues as to what extent gender and its roles are socially constructed (i.e. non-biologically influenced), and
to what extent “socially constructed” may be considered synonymous with “arbitrary” or “malleable”. Therefore,
a concise authoritative definition of gender roles or gender itself is elusive.

Some systems of classification, unlike the WHO, are non-binary or gender queer, listing multiple possible
genders including transgender and intersex as distinct categories. Gender roles are culturally specific, and
while most cultures distinguish only two (boy and girl or man and woman), others recognize more. Androgyny,
for example, has been proposed as a third gender. Other societies have claimed to see more than five
genders, and some non-Western societies have three genders – man, woman and third gender. Some
individuals (not necessarily being from such a culture) identify with no gender at all.

Gender role – defined as referring in some sense to cultural expectations according to an understood gender
classification – should not be confused with gender identity, the internal sense of one‟s own gender, which may
or may not align with categories offered by societal norms. The point at which these internalized gender
identities become externalized into a set of expectations is the genesis of a gender role.

Gender roles are usually referenced in a pejorative sense, as an institution that restricts freedom of behavior
and expression, or are used as a basis for discrimination.

Because of the prevailing gender role of general subordination, women were not granted the right to vote in
many parts of the world until the 19th or 20th centuries, some well into the 21st. Women throughout the world,
in myriad respects, do not enjoy full freedom and protection under the law. Contrariwise because of the
prevailing perception of men as primarily breadwinners, they are seldom afforded the benefit of paternity leave.

Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/gender-role/