Gender : Gender And Equality

Gender derives its formative meaning from culture and societal values, it is not a universal entity as there are various cultures, societal values, beliefs, and preferred ways of organizing collective life across the globe and even within a single culture the meaning of gender varies over time. Chapters three and four of Gendered Lives by Julia T. Wood helps to insightfully look at those views, and rhetorical movements (women and men’s movements) that have overtime influenced, defined and given various meanings to gender (masculinity and femininity).

Gender can be defined as “sex roles” which are conditions that one considers to be for men or women. People tends to mistake it with sex or thinks that they are both the same. We discussed about the patterns of gender which how the authors of The Kaleidoscope of Gender describes it as “regularized, prepackaged ways of thinking, feeling, and acting” (Spade and Valentino,2017). It becomes an identity for us. We believe that there is and can only be two genders, being masculine for men and feminine for women. These roles has been forced onto us since birth: blue for boys, and pink for girls. You can see the roles being push onto a person throughout one’s life, but we don’t notice it since it’s “normal” to us.

‘‘Sex’ is a biological term; ‘gender’ a psychological and cultural one’ (Oakley 1972, p.158). To further expound on Oakley, ‘sex’ refers to the biological framework a person is born with while ‘gender’, an identity that we acquire as a result of social and cultural influence. Sex is naturally constant throughout an individual’s life whereas gender is a variable. Via gender socialisation, men and women constantly learn to adapt to society’s expectations associated with their biological form as society changes. This very concept clearly elucidates the dichotomy between sex and gender. Therefore, coming from such a perspective, it is true to say that we are born as human beings (males, females or intersex) who formulate socially accepted gender identities as a product of social and cultural implications (Abbott, Wallace & Tyler 2005). Conventionally, societies associate the male and female sexes with their definitions of masculinity and femininity respectively.

The sociology of gender is one of the largest subfields within sociology; sociological gender studies look at the social construction of gender and how gender interacts with other social structures within society (Crossman, 2016). It Is important that one understands the difference between sex and gender to understand the sociology of gender; unlike gender, sex is biologically determined and relates to the reproductive organs a person has. In order to separate gender and sex sociologists use different pronouns; when discussing gender, sociologists use the terms man/woman and when discussing sex sociologists will use the terms male/female (Crossman, 2016). Although most people fall into wither the category of male or female, some people are born with ‘sex organs’ that do not clearly fit into either of the two specific sex categories, these people are known as intersex (Ashley Crossman, 2016). Gender is described as a social classification based on one’s identity and how one presents themselves to the world; this identity relates to the way one behaves and interacts within society. Many sociologists view gender as a learned behaviour and look at gendered identities as being culturally produced which makes gendered identities socially constructed (Crossman,

Scott Carpenter displays gender as multilayered and explains “Each layer reveals another, and another, and yet another—until we get to the center of this philosophical onion, only to find that, just maybe, there is no core. Or, at the very least, this core may be less of a precise identity than a kind of biological tether” (109). He explains that gender identity is more than just a mere male and female description, and it has such wide definition that one can have a hard time to think. Female can also be masculine whereas male can be feminine. Therefore, he is emphasizing that even with cultural and traditional bounds, individuals can choose their own interest, and emphasizes that gender studies are great way to figure out “the flexibility of roles, as well as the malaise that this elasticity can elicit” (Carpenter

Gender is considered an axis of social order. Its categorisation into masculinity and femininity is social constructed and maintained in everyday life (Clark and Page, 2005; Mackie, 1994). Gender identity is our innermost understanding of our self as ‘male’ or ‘female’. Most people develop a gender identity that matched their biological sex (their body). Gender identity can be affected by, and is different from one society to another, depending on the way the members of society evaluate the role of females and males. Our gender identity can be influenced from the ethnicity of the group, their cultural background, and family values. Gender like social class and race can be used to socially categorize people and even lead to prejudice and discrimination. From day –to-day, continuous production of gender has been called ‘doing gender’ (West and Zimmermann, 1987), meaning that gender is “made” by us in everyday lives in our interactions with others.

Since the beginning of time, gender has always been divided into two categories, either male or female, with few instances that have stepped in between. As civilization has evolved, it has began to learn that this division is a lie, and that it is disgusting, disgraceful, hurtful and untrue at its rotten core. This is because this “division” has never counted for anything but a label and a set of roles as a stereotype, which was unjustly assigned at birth in a societal attempt to conform each and every unique soul into a shape that they cannot fully fit. There should not exist such standards and expectations that do not account for anything besides what one's body has to say, without asking the mind of the thoughtless vessel known as the body.

One can see that gender is actually a social label that is produced from social expectations (Ore 99). These "gender norms" have led to the distinct inequality and oppression of women. Due to these norms, women are seen as incapable of being political or rational because their social duty is to stay at home and take care of the children (Glenn 23). The social creation of gender surely undermines the severe communal disadvantages that females take on. Humanity must forget these general notions that have been brainwashed into every day life.

There are many things in this day and age that could be defined as cultural landmarks - pivotal views and information around which our society revolves. While each of these can provide interesting and enlightening insights into our culture and social behavior, this article will be focusing on one I personally find exceedingly upsetting: gender identity. Since birth, we have been taught a certain kind of segregation - man and woman, mother and father, boys and girls - taught it as if it were fact, as if it were as concrete as a law of physics; more so, even. We are taught that gender and sex are synonyms, interchangeable, taught even less of gender divergence than we are of sexual orientation. However, recently in the media more and more prominent figures have come out as genderqueer, pushing the topic into general debate and the eyes of the public.

Gender and gender roles. Feminists, in particular, have relied on distinctions between sex as biological and gender as intellectual to argue that women 's domination is historical and not anticipated. Yet at the beginning of the twenty-first century, in both feminist speculation and popular discussion, "gender" has come to replace "sex" as a term referring to sexual difference in a biological sense. This shifting definition is a result, at least in part, of gender 's introduction into modern conversation as a medical concept used to explain a person 's felt sense of his or her lived identity as a sex. Because Western society seeks biological explanations of almost all social behaviors, distinction between sex and gender are difficult to maintain. The definition of gender refers to the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex. Behavior that is compatible with cultural expectations is referred to as gender-normative; behaviors that are viewed as incompatible with these expectations constitute gender eccentricity.

The readings and film for this week provide us an insight of the true meaning of gender. Based on the readings, the concept of gender is totally made by the society. As discussed in Wikipedia, it means that the society created gender roles for each male and female category. These gender roles are essential because the society suggested them as the appropriate behaviors that one specific gender must adhere. The lecture notes also state that gender is categorized in a set of behaviors, which is known as the normal behaviors for each specific gender. In addition, there is really no such thing as a real woman or a real man because these two gender categories are unstable and unpredictable, and must be continuously repeated for them to be intact

Throughout the past few decades, the gender inequality discourse have became a dominant feature of international, national and local policy debate on the subject of economic development. This policy concern has emerged as an area of scholarly research which seeks to show that improving gender equity leads to economic growth.

Gender equality means that all humans without the discrimination of being a man or woman, have the right and opportunity to develop personal abilities and choices without having to deal with any stereotypes. It does not mean that men and women have become one, but they have the same rights, responsibilities, and opportunities which do not depend on the sex of the person (born male or female).

Gender equality has been actively sought out for, chiefly by women, throughout history with a goal to establish equal rights and opportunities among all genders. While extensive progress has been achieved towards women’s rights throughout the twentieth century, women continue to experience gender discrimination on a daily basis. Even with the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution which refrains from inequality of rights concerning sex, gender inequality continues to persist Gender discrimination occurs to this day due to its origination from societal implications that males are superior to females in multiple aspects (Bergman). Men genetically acquire a stronger physique than women which implanted the notion that women are subordinate to men. Female inferiority is rooted within society that it is still perceived as inherent or inexorable rather than its reality, as a politically constructed system built and sustained by patriarchal interests and ideologies (Bergman). Women are restricted from experiencing life equal to men due to the belief for both genders to acquire particular desirable attributes and traits imposed by cultural expectations. Although gender equality has progressed substantially through development in women’s privileges, political activism in support of equality for women should be held to top priority due to social and artistic movements held to rally against gender-biased situations.

“We can share the simple yet powerful message that feminism is a movement to end sexist oppression. Let’s start there. Let the movement begin again” (Hooks 6). Feminism is a concept and way of life that has been consistently misconstrued throughout its entire existence. Some people do not identify as feminist but support some values held by feminists; these people fall under the category of non-feminist. A common stereotype non-feminists hold is that feminists are only lesbian females with hairy armpits and a strong hate for men. Another misconception of people who do not identify with feminism is that the feminist movement is only about women’s rights and power. The general population believing these misconceptions causes an ongoing need for education and conversation. There must be an open mind from the public when it comes to the feminist movement. Modern feminism is defined as the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of equality of the sexes. This definition counters several common misconceptions of feminism by proving that its focus is on equality of the sexes, not just people who identify as females. Men have just as much right to gender equality and deserve a change in their gender norms. Hypermasculinity has forced men to think that they cannot show emotion or reveal a feminine side. In order for the feminist movement to continue moving forward, the misconception that feminism only benefits those who identify as female must be eradicated.