Gender Differences: The Nature and Nurture of Gender

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Gender DifferencesThe Nature and Nurture of
Gender
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The Nature of Gender

• The sex chromosome determines gender (23rd pair).
• X chromosome is received from the mother.
• X or Y can be received from the father.
• XXfemale
• XYmale
• During 4th and 5th prenatal months, different
  brain wiring patterns develop.

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The Nurture of Gender

• Role the behaviors we expect of those who occupy
  a particular social position.
• Gender roles our expectations about the way men
  and women behave.
• Women decorate the home, care for children, do
  the dishes.
• Men drive the car, manage finances, initiate
  dating.

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The Nature of Gender

• Married women do 90 of the laundry and 13 of
  the car maintenance.
• 90 of the time in two parent families, the
  mother stays home with sick children, arranges a
  baby-sitter, and calls the doctor.

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The Nature of Gender

• Gender roles vary across cultures.
• In nomadic societies there are equal amounts of
  work among women and men.
• In agricultural societies, women work in the
  fields and men herd the cattle or sheep.
• In the Ivory Coast, men build while women perform
  crop work, causing them to work three more hours
  per day than men do.

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The Nature of Gender

• Gender roles have also limited womens rights and
  power.
• In 2002 women were 14 of the worlds national
  legislators, 5 of the presidents and prime
  ministers, and 0 of the Nobel awardees in
  economics.

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The Nature of Gender

• Gender identity our sense of being male or
  female.
• Gender typed the acquisition of a traditional
  masculine or feminine role.
• Social learning theory assumes that children
  learn gender-linked behaviors by observing and
  imitating and by being rewarded or punished.
• Nicole, youre such a good mommy to your dolls.
• Big boys dont cry, Alex.

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The Nature of Gender

• Gender schema theory combines social learning
  theory with cognition.
• Gender becomes a lens (schema) through which you
  view your experiences.
• Both the gender schema theory and the social
  learning theory lead to gender-typed behavior.
• I am male thus, masculine, strong, aggressive
  or I am female therefore, feminine, sweet, and
  helpful.