GENDER ROLES

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GENDER ROLES

• Sex refers to biological differences between
  males and females
• Gender refers to the cultural expectations
  attached to feminine and masculine roles.

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The socio-biological view (Biological determinism)

• Gender roles are biologically determined and
  are, therefore, fixed and unchangeable.
• Wilson Males are genetically programmed to be
  more promiscuous females are prone to remain
  loyal to one partner.
• Fox - history shows that men are hunters, while
  women are nurturers.

Write down stereotypical characteristics of
men and women
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• Goldberg - males have an in- built dominance
  tendency
• NB. This view has gained increasing credibility
  in recent years (ref Why men dont iron).

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Consensus theory

• Parsons In the family, men tend to perform the
  instrumental tasks (a concern with achieving a
  task or goal) and women perform expressive tasks
  (concerned with affection and emotion
• The consensus view is that these gender roles are
  natural, inevitable and functional.

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The Feminist view

• In most societies there is gender inequality and
  women tend to be the losers in terms of power,
  status and pay.
• This system of gender inequality benefits men at
  the expense of women.

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The Feminist view

• Friedan It was not womens biology that held
  them back from competing with men on equal terms,
  but the feminine mystique
• This was an ideology that defined what it was to
  be truly feminine, e.g. sensitive, intuitive.
  BUT this implies that women are not naturally
  rational, logical and assertive.

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The feminist view (continuted)

• Friedan argued that the feminine mystique
  prevented women from seeing their potential and
  kept them locked in their roles as as wives,
  mothers and carers.
• Kate Millett developed the concept of
  Patriarchy male domination. She argued that
  the oppression and exploitation of women by men
  are build into every aspect of the way society is
  organised.

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Cross-cultural evidence about Gender (Social
Constructionism)
Gender is based on nurture socialisation and
social environment- Each society creates its own
set of gender expectations. Can you think if any
examples that illustrate this?

• Ann Oakley -the Mbuti Pygmies of the Congo have
  very little division of labour by sex men and
  women hunt together and share responsibility for
  childcare.
• Margaret Mead - differences in childrearing
  techniques in three New Guinea tribes extract
  from soc in focus page 40.

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Gender as Socially constructed

• On the basis of cross-cultural evidence, it is
  difficult to conclude that differences between
  women and men in social roles are purely the
  result of biology.
• Sociologists have therefore explored the role of
  culture in shaping male and female gender
  identities.
• In particular, the part played by gender
  socialisation.

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GENDER ROLE SOCIALISATION

• Much of our identity and behaviour is the result
  of experiences of interaction with other people,
  especially during childhood.
• Our gender identity is no exception. Gender
  expectations are transmitted to the next
  generation through gender role socialisation.

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Gender role Socialisation The Family

• Gender identity stems from
• imitation of parental role models
• parents rewarding gender-appropriate behaviour
  (manipulation)
• parents discouraging gender-inappropriate
  behaviour
• Parents adopting different modes of speech and
  terms of endearment depending on the gender of
  the child

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The Family (continued)

• Mothers preoccupation with female childrens
  appearance
• Parents giving children gender-specific toys,
  books and games (canalisation)
• Children being dressed in gender-specific clothes
  and colours
• Parents assigning gender-specific household
  chores to children
• parents socially controlling the behaviour of
  girls more tightly than boys.

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TASK - THE FAMILY GENDER ROLE SOCIALISATION

• Find the following studies and note down their
  evidence
• Moss (1970)
• Will, Self and Datan (1984)
• Oakley (1981)
• Damon (1977)
• Statham (1986)

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Gender role Socialisation Education

• Until the 1990s the hidden curriculum transmitted
  gender-stereotyped assumptions about feminine
  behaviour through teacher expectations,
  timetabling, career advice, textbook content
  etc..
• There still remains gender differences in subject
  choices, especially in H.E.
• Working class girls are still following
  traditional gender routes - leave school at 16,
  temporary jobs, marriage, motherhood.

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Education (continued)

• The hidden curriculum, through teacher
  expectations, may be resulting in working-class
  boys following traditional gender routes into
  manual jobs. Controlling masculine behaviour may
  become more important than ensuring boys receive
  a good education.
• Young males may reject academic work because of
  equating learning with femininity.

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TASK EDUCATION AND GENDER ROLE SOCIALISATION

• Find the following studies and note down their
  evidence
• Sue Sharpe (19761994)
• Michelle Stanworth (1983)
• Dale Spender (1983)
• Lobban (1974)
• Thomas (1990)
• Christine Skelton (2002)

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Gender role SocialisationThe Peer Group

• Working class boys may reject the goals of
  schooling and set up anti-school subcultures
  (Paul Willis)
• Mac An Ghaill - such subcultures may be a
  reaction to a crisis in masculinity, as
  working-class boys learn that traditional
  working-class jobs and roles such as breadwinner
  and head of household are in decline

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The Peer Group (continued)

• Membership of deviant subcultures may confer
  status on boys for exaggerating masculine values
  and norms while negatively sanctioning behaviour
  defined as feminine.
• There is an assumption that men and women have
  different sexual personalities. If women behave
  in a similar way to men, they will be labelled
  and will develop a reputation (Sue Lees)

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Gender role socialisationThe Mass Media

• Feminists are critical of a range of mass media
  that socialise females into either domestic or
  sexualised patterns of femininity
• Popular literature, especially fairy tales and
  childrens stories, portray females as the weaker
  sex and males as heroes
• Childrens books portray traditional gender roles

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The Mass Media (continued)

• Magazines for teenage adolescents encourage them
  to concentrate on appearance and romance rather
  than on education and careers
• Womens magazines are apprentice manuals for
  motherhood and domesticity
• Adverts continue to show women disproportionately
  in domestic roles and emphasise their physical
  looks and sex appeal at the expense of ability
  and personality

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The Mass Media (continued)

• New lads magazines and pornography assert a
  very traditional view of masculinity organised
  around interpreting women as sexual objects,
  sport and drinking culture.

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TASK THE MASS MEDIA AND GENDER ROLE
SOCIALISATION

• Find the following studies and note down their
  evidence
• Gay Tuchman (1981)
• Angela McRobbie (1982)
• Marjorie Ferguson (1983)

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Quiz

• What does the biological determinism theory
  suggest about gender?
• What is social constructionism?
• What does the above approach suggest about gender
  roles?
• Who did Margaret Mead study in 1935?
• What is gender role socialisation?
• What does Goldberg suggest about something being
  inbuilt in males?
• What does consensus theory suggest about gender
  roles?

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Homework

• Download this powerpoint and find out details of
  the studies or any that I have missed out using
  your photocopied booklets.
• Read pages 43-44 and make notes from the
  photocopied booklet.