“Gender” and the Importance of “the Social Construction of Gender.”

Gender is defined as the state of being male or female. In most instances, this state is determined based on the biology of an individual’s genitalia. Those born

According to the Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences of Monash University, “Gender describes the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine.” (Nobelius, Ann-Marrie, med.monash.edu.au). Sex, says Ann-Maree,“ refers to biological differences; chromosomes, hormonal profiles, internal and external sex organs” (med.monash.edu.au). Sometimes people use these terms interchangeably. Sex has to do with you being biologically male or female, and gender has to do with being masculine, or feminine and is determined by society depending in the culture. The reason these terms are often mistaken is because, usually, if one is born male they are assigned a masculine role in society, and there is a difference in expectations with the masculine and feminine roles. These genders were created by society. There are cases where neither roles apply for a group of people or individuals. These ideals of gender roles being assigned are being challenged by individuals. For example a family member of mine is one of the individuals whom the

However, the definition of male or female relates back to anatomy, not the associated characteristics of the cluster. While males and females are associated with conformed behaviors, they are also associated with roles. When a male or female performs a duty of the opposites genders preconceived associated role it is often frowned upon rather than accepted because of the line between acceptable roles for each gender. Furthermore, Devor explains how the preconceived roles of gender such as women caring for children and dressing to impress a man or men striving for success while avoiding feminine actions such as the expression of emotion during a loss in competition creates a frowned upon

Gender is socially constructed, signifying processes and practices of conduct ("doing", "undoing" and "re-doing" gender) (West & Zimmerman, 1987; Deutsch, 2007; West & Zimmerman, 2007) based on an assigned sex category (Hird, 2000; Risman, 2004; Connell, 2010). Sex, in contrast, refers to the biological differences between men and women (chromosomes, hormones and genitalia) (Harding, 1996; Hird, 2000).

The social approach views gender as a social construction and states that “gender shapes and is shaped by social interaction” (Correll, Thebaud, Benard, 2007, p.1). It also views gender as an institutionalized system that puts people in two different categories: men and women, and organized relations of inequality based on these differences (Correll et al., 2007; Ferree, Lorber & Hess, 1999). Moreover, the social approach views gender as a product of cultural ideals about femininity and masculinity (Rudman & Click, 2008). This approach states that gender builds on the biological categories of female and male, but social constructionists tend to believe that biological sex differences affect only a limited number of physical traits (e.g., size, genitalia, and facial hair) and that psychological differences between the sexes are culturally created (Rudman & Glick, 2008).

The concept of gender has a strong social impact on me. When I was born, I was immediately assigned to a biological sex as a female with two X chromosomes. I was then socially classified as a girl in the society with feminine gender roles. Gender is defined as a social principle which attribute to the roles and expectations of males and females through the years of different societies (Phillips, 2005). Gender can be considered as behavioural, cultural and psychological traits

Gender stereotyping is an immense deal in today’s society. In present day, they are every where. Women and men of all ages experience this categorization.

Gender is set of characteristics that may be used to differentiate between female and male through the use of one’s gender or through gender identity therefore.

Iris Young defines humanist feminism’s form of oppression as “the inhibition and distortion of women’s potential to be in a society that allows the self-development of men” (Young 1984, 174). She makes note that for a humanistic feminist the form of oppression that women cannot be held to the same standard as men. The aim for humanist feminists is to have men and women stand as equals; equating the woman to the man. There is, however, another form of feminism, that embraces womanly characteristics: “Gynocentric feminism defines women’s oppression as the devaluation and repression of women’s experience by a masculinist culture” (Young 1984, 174). Rather than noting the key differences of men and women the Gynocentric feminist would much rather embrace what makes a woman a woman instead of ignoring these qualities. Instead of holding women to the same standard of men, womanly qualities are embraced and valued to the same extent that things are valued from a masculinist

People often believe they can replace “sex” with “gender” and it would mean the same thing. Although gender is often associated with sex, they are two different things. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, gender is “the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones)” (“Gender”). Sex is defined as “either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and most other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions” (“Sex”). With that said, sex refers to the biological state while gender refers more to a state of being or a way of expressing one’s self. Because people often interchange these two, society creates a locked stereotype for males to be masculine and females to be feminine. This mindset can create problems for both the sexes who may not wish to conform to the gender or gender

As we all know, gender plays a big role. People are influenced by the different types of socialization agents, such as the media, peers, family members and others around them. These agents play a big role in one’s life concerning their gender identity. They have a scene of determining how each gender should be in order to fit in. For example, the media would say in order to look sexy a woman should have straight hair or you should be a size 8 in order to look sexy.

Gender refers to the concepts o masculine and feminine whereas sex is the biological fact of being a male or female. According to the evolutionary approach, gender differences are neither deliberate nor conscious; they exist because they enhanced or helped men and women perform particular types of roles in the past. Therefore, the role differences we observe are more a product of our biological inheritance than acquired through socialisation.

Merriam-Webster provides two definitions for the meaning of gender. The first is simply that gender is a synonym for sex. The second, however, states that gender is “the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex (Merriam-Webster).” This is the definition for gender used in this paper, while sex is defined separately, as the biological differences between males and females.

The term ‘gender’ was coined by John Money in 1955: “Gender is used to signify all those things that a person says or does to disclose himself/herself as having the status of a boy or man, girl or woman, respectively” (Coleman and Money, 1991, 13). In

There are distinct differences between Sex and Gender. Sex is divided up into two divisions, male or female, based upon their reproductive system. Gender is the notion set by society on what social behaviours are acceptable for males and females, for example the expectation that females are more caring or nurturing than men. Gender can be further divided into two subcategorise: identity and stereotype. Gender identity is the concept that your sex and gender do not have to be the same but can different, i.e. a male at birth can identify as a female. These notions of acceptable behaviour set by society create gender stereotypes for both male and female, which can cause a person to reject their gender identity if they do not conform these gender stereotypes.