Gender
Two Primary Issues
1.The Cultural construction
of Gender
2.Gender Relations
Sex Versus Gender
 Sex refers to biological differences,
 Gender refers to the cultural construction
of male and female characteristics. The ways
members of the two sexes are perceived,
evaluated and expected to behave.
(what different cultures make of sex.)
Gender Boundaries
In our society we demand that the categories of male and
female are discrete
since gender is culturally constructed the boundaries are
conceptual ones rather than physical ones
the boundaries need not remain static and are changing, eg.
now it is acceptable for men to wear earrings.
Boundaries require markers to indicate gender some of which
are natural such as
 voice
 physique
 Dress
 Behaviour
 Hair style
 Kinetics
 Language use
Gender identity
Why is it important
How do we react when
someone seems to have
some traits of each
category?
social intercourse requires
that the interacting parties
know to which gender
category `the other'
belongs
Felicita Vestvali
1824 - 1880
New York opera star who specialized in
singing contralto "trouser roles."
If the categories `man' and `woman' are culturally constructed
then there can be no essential or universal meaning to the
category woman or man. Only what it means to be a man or a
woman in a particular society.
It also means that we do not have to be restricted to two genders
transsexual – gender/ sex incongruent, “trapped in wrong
body” but with the gender identity of their organs
 transvestite – dressing as other gender, biological sex (crossdresser)
 homosexual
 bisexual
 eunuch – castrated male
 hermaphrodite – both sets of biological organs
The Hijras of India and Pakistan
Hijra means hermaphrodite in Urdu
but most Hijras are homosexual
transvestites, some of whom have
gone through a crude sex-change
operation
Cultural descendants of the court
eunuchs of the Mughal Empire
(1526-1858),
getting dressed for a
job entertaining at a
Pakistani wedding
Hijras now earn their living as
beggars, and prostitutes. and by
dancing at carnivals, weddings
and births.
The Hijras are both feared and pitied in Pakistan, feared for
their supposed ability to place curses, pitied for being
outcast children of Allah.
Perceived neither as men nor women but as a third gender,
Is it possible to have a genderless
society?
Gender roles:
tasks and activities that a culture assigns to the
sexes.
Gender stereotypes:
oversimplified but strongly held ideas of the
characteristics of men and women.
Gender stratification:
an unequal distribution of rewards (socially
valued resources, power, prestige, and personal
freedom) between men and women, reflecting
their different positions in social hierarchy.
Gender roles:
Gender Roles
Redd Evans and John
Jacob Loeb,
"Rosie the Riveter,"
(New York: Paramount
Music Corp., 1942
ROSIE THE RIVETER
All the day long,
Whether rain or shine,
She's a part of the assembly line.
She's making history,
Working for victory,
Rosie the Riveter.
Keeps a sharp lookout for sabatoge,
Sitting up there on the fuselage.
That little girl will do more than a male will do.
Rosie's got a boyfriend, Charlie.
Charlie, he's a Marine.
Rosie is protecting Charlie,
Working overtime on the riveting machine.
When they gave her a production "E,"
She was as proud as she could be.
There's something true about,
Red, white, and blue about,
Rosie the Riveter.
In the 1940s, women were
encouraged to help the war
effort by getting a job outside
the home. But it was family and
country rather than money,
status, or power that they were
encouraged to toil for .
Coke 1942
November 1942
“For whether she rears a family or
mans a rangefinder, a woman needs
the physical support of a good
foundation." and "Amongst other
munitions of war, Berlei are still
making foundations.".
1950s - mass
consumption in
high gear, TV ads
idealized the
woman as the wife
and homemaker,
and the man as
the bread winner.
But also the sex kitten
1960s Educated women started exhibiting
their discontent with the status quo. Armed
with diplomas and new sophisticated birth
control methods, they demanded for the right
to have both career and family. The great
social change in the sixties allowed a variety
of depictions of women: sex kitten, nurturing
mother and independent working girl.
1970s Issues like woman's lib, ethnic
heritage, and critiques of capitalism.
Women are shown as independent only
when inexpensive items or simple
decisions were involved Advertisers
realized that not just white people were
buying products. Ethnic people were
placed in advertisements.
1980s independent woman
freedom
1990s 2000s
She is a "multifaceted
success machine”.
She is a nurturer and a
seducer.
She is the twenty-four hour
a day woman, and she
never sleeps.
Men are domesticated. Sex
objects
OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN SHOWN IN ADVERTISNG
•Business Executive
1958=0%
1970=0%
983=4%
•Professional
1958=0%
1970=0%
1983=15%
•Entertainment/sports
1958=11% 1970-58% 1983=33%
•Sales/Midlevel business 1958=6%
1970=8%
1983=33%
•White Collar
1958=72% 1970=17% 1983=4%
•Blue Collar
1958=0%
1970=17% 1983=4%
Sullivan and O'Connor (1988)
Content analysis on the Portrayal of Sex Roles in
Canadian Television Advertising, commissioned by the
CRTC (1985)
WOMEN AS HOUSEWIFE/MOTHER
For 50% of the major female characters, the primary
setting is the home.
Among men, 29% appear primarily in the home.
The paid work setting includes 9% of women and 22% of
men.
The outdoor setting includes 11% of women and 19% of
men.
The number of ads showing men only is significantly
greater at 24% than the 13% of women-only ads.
Of the ads with voice-overs, 94% are male.
•Females are usually shown performing domestic tasks
relating to the product.
•Male product representatives are mostly depicted using
the product or giving instructions or advice.
•Men are shown as the beneficiaries in 54% of the food
ads and 81% of the cleaning product ads.
•Ads that show the preparation and consumption of food
tend to be populated with women and girls.
Images of women improving?
From June 1999 issue of Glamour
Part of outstanding ad campaign that
accompanied the Women’s World Cup
“You pass on more to your children
and your grandchildren than your eye
color, . . . You provide the living
example that they can become more
than they ever thought they could.
Because you did.
Just do it.”
Conclusions
Advertising generally portrays women as:
•
•
•
•
•
•
dependent on or subservient to men
primarily in the home or domestic settings
preoccupied with physical attractiveness
sex objects
decorations for men
product users/demonstrators
Gender Stereotypes
What is the thinnest book in the world?
What men know about women!
What do you call a man with an I.Q. of 50?
Gifted!
What is the difference between men and government bonds?
Bonds mature!
How many men does it take to change a roll of toilet paper?
We don't know - it's never happened.
What's the difference between a man and E.T.?
E.T. phoned home!
How do men exercise at the beach?
By sucking in their stomachs every time they see a bikini.
What's the best way to force a man to do situps?
Put the remote between his toes.
Be a Man
What does this statement mean? What comes to mind
• Men never cry
• Should not show emotion
• Not quitters
• Physically brave
• Independent
• Heroic and patriotic ideals
• Adventurous
• Shaving
• First day at work - earning a wage
• Initiations
• tough
• Courageous
• Drinking
• Physical strength
• Sex
Masculine Traits
Personality
Cognitive
Physical
Competitive
Rational
Rugged
Daring
Analytical
Muscular
Adventurous
Problem Solving
Phys. Strong
Aggressive
Quant. Skilled
Handsome
Courageous
Good Reasoning
Phys. Vigorous
Dominant
Mathematical
Brawny
self promotion & achievement
How has this Changed
during the past few
years?
Why are these cartoons humorous?
“Men are Supposed to be Strong”
 What message does this ad
send to men? Women?
 Do we usually see more
scantily clad men or women?
 Is this what a man looks like?
Should men look like this?
Why or why not?
 Where do our ideals of beauty
come from?
Go Against the Flow: Write Outside
the Margins
• How is this model
“acting like a man?”
Act like a Lady
What does this phrase mean? What comes to mind?
Feminine Traits
Personality
Cognitive
Physical
Affectionate
Imaginative
Cute
Sympathetic
Intuitive
Gorgeous
Gentle
Artistic
Beautiful
Sensitive
Creative
Pretty
Supportive
Expressive
Petite
Kind
Tasteful
Sexy
focus on others, community
How has this changed in
the past few years?
Victoria’s Secret is Revealed
What does this ad suggest women
should look like?
Are these women, “Acting like
Ladies?” How / Why or why not?
The current ideal of female beauty
is difficult to achieve. The ideal being
a young Caucasian female, height
5'8"- 5'10", weighing 110-120 pounds
or less. Make-up, lighting and airbrushing are used to slim down the
images even more. Less than 10% of
the female population are genetically
destined to fit this ideal.
Victoria’s Secret, “Angels’ Collection”
Changing beauty standards
• In 1957, Miss America was
5'7" and weighed 150
pounds.
• In 2002 Miss America was
5'9 " and weighed 117
pounds
Marian
McKnight
Manning,
S.Carolina
Katie
Harman
Gresham,
Oregon
• Recent advertising trends are just as harmful to men
• Unforgiving & unrealistic images
• Men’s magazines encourage obsession with body
image, aging & sexual prowess
Healthy Women
• What does this ad suggest
about women? About men?
• Why aren’t the men drinking
the orange juice?
Want Candies?
 The text in this ad (on the
computer screen) says: “To:
All Hot Babes; SWRS
(Single White Rock Star)
looking for some sugar!
Reply to candies.com”
 What messages does this ad
send men? Women?
 How do these models fulfill
the stereotype of men or
women?
What Men and Women Really Think
What do the models’
thoughts suggest?
What does this say
about the roles of
women? And of Men?
How are these people
acting like a man or
lady?
How are they not?
Crutchfield; Catalog for car stereo equipment.
Gender Relations
Gender is an important dimension of social inequality
Gender stratification frequently takes the form of
patriarchy whereby men dominate women
Are women in our society subordinate (i.e. of less
important or subservient) to men. If so How?
•Politics
•Economics
•Education
•Employment
•Health
•Religion
Sexism is the assertion that one sex is innately superior or inferior to the other
Gender Relations
 In the 1970s it was argued that women are universally
subordinate to men in political, economic, and public
life
 I.e cultures everywhere give man, as a category
opposed to women, higher social value and moral worth.
 the secondary status of women is one of the true
cultural universals
Are women universally or always subordinate to men?
How does one measure gender stratification
.
economic
power
prestige
Autonomy
ideology
Legal rights
How deferential they are expected to be towards men.
Freedom to choose marriage partner, profession, and
conception. Etc.
One has to look at the roles played by women and the
value society places on those roles
Explanations for the Universal subordination of Women
1. The biological argument
 women's subordination to men is
natural and due to biological differences:
 Men’s testosterone naturally leads
them to be more aggressive and to
dominate others.
 Women’s oestrogen makes them more
compliant
 Women biologically programmed to
bear and raise children which affects
their economic roles
Do you think these difference can explain such things
as
 male aggression
 juvenile delinquency, for violent crime in
general
 the biological basis of warfare
 the emotional nature of women
 the political and economic dominance of men
In other words does biology influence behaviour?
 implies that the relationship between biology and
social life is one of cause and effect.
 If biological explains the political and economic
dominance of men then surely one must simply accept
that fact.
 biological differences cannot provide a universal
basis for social definitions of `man' and `woman',
`male' and `female'
Biologically men are physically stronger than women
 therefore this results in a sexual division of labour with men
doing the harder work
So much for that theory
in many societies women are the real labourers
Psychological
• boys try to dominate others
• girls comply with parents
• again linked with biology
Envy theory
 men may have political control but women have
the power of life - giving birth
 Men may arrange or exchange legal rights over
women's offspring, but the power of creating life
and sustaining it by breastmilk remains beyond
their grasp.
 i.e. men are envious
 again linked to biology
Children's socialization or
Gender Typing
both sexes must learn
behavior that is deemed
appropriate to their
gender
 girls from their
mother's model
 a boy with his father.
But so what
it is true, generally men are physically stronger than women
• this may account for some of the division of labour
But nothing in the biological differences between the sexes
can account for female subordination
female subordination is not inherent in biological
differences between the sexes
what is really important is the different
values that are placed on being a man or a
woman or on the work that is done
An alternative explanation for the secondary
status of women must be found
there must be some cultural or sociological regularities that
must account for male dominance.
 the inequalities are due to the fact that societies place
different values on biological sex
 and apparently universally value female sex lower than
male sex
Which card is
ranked higher?
Female is to Male as Nature is to Culture
 argument put forward by Sherry Ortner
 Ortner asked what is common to very culture such
that all cultures place a lower value on women.
 answer: women everywhere are associated with
something that every culture devalues
 her answer was `nature' in its most generalized
form
 all cultures make a distinction between
human society and the natural world
 culture attempts to control and transcend
nature, to use it for its own purposes
 culture is therefore superior to the natural
world
Ortner suggests that
 women are identified with, or symbolically
associated with nature
 Woman's physiology and her specialized
reproductive functions make her appear
closer to nature than men
 men, on the other hand are associated with culture
 unlike women have to seek cultural means of
creation
 technology, symbols
 Men are therefore more closely associated with
culture and the creative power of culture as opposed
to nature
 Since culture seeks to control and transcend
nature, then it is natural that women, by virtue of
their close association with nature should also be
controlled and contained.
But
 concepts of nature and culture vary greatly from
one culture to another
 nature and culture do not have to be seen as
dominate and subordinate
 it does not have to be that men and women are
correlated as nature and culture
 these associations are not inherent in the
biological differences between the sexes.
they themselves are cultural constructs
So
Do cultures universally associate women/nature
and men/culture
and do they place a lower value on nature?
The Gimi of the highlands of Papua New Guinea
 women are seen as
polluting
 but this cannot be
attributed to the fact that
they are associated with
nature
 The idea of the `wild'
exists in Gimi thought
and refers to the plant
and animal life which
make up the rain forest
A Gimi dancer
dressed as a huge
flightless bird
dramatizes the
mysteries of the
forests
The forest is seen as a male realm
where the spirits of dead ancestors
reside
 the abundance and creativity of
the natural world is associated with
the male spirit
 Men's ambition, as expressed in
their rituals is to identify with the
non-human world
 to be revitalized by its limitless,
masculine powers
A Gimi man watches
birds of paradise in the
forest
Male dancers in a prenuptial
ceremony portray the sun and the
moon. In the same manner that these
bodies loom above them all, so do the
Gimi men see themselves as
dominating life in the Gimi villages
Clan elders garbed as spirits of
the forest signal their arrival
with the sounds of their
bamboo flutes.
The settlement in contrast is identified
with women
the nature/culture men/woman
opposition does not hold for the Gimi
 although they make a distinction
between the cultivated and the wild
 it is not analogous to the Western
distinction between culture and nature
 in Gimi thought the wild is
transcendent over human social life and
is certainly not subject to control or
debasement
The women prepare for a
performance by
decorating themselves with
clay. Their skits ridicule
everyday life with the
women particularly
enjoying the theme of
husband beating
Traditionally, men and women lived apart, but this changed
after missionaries arrived and insisted on western ways. Once
men and women began living together, houses were built in
small clusters.
The nature/culture female/male model leaves no room for the
possibility that
 different groups (i.e. men and women) in society
might see and experience things in different ways
 it assumes a cultural unity that may not exist.
 gendered relations are usually focused on the
opposition between spouses but little mention is made of
other sets of gendered relations,
brother/sister,
mother/son,
father/daughter
 which are equally important part of being a woman or
a man.
The Point
The point is nature and culture are also cultural constructs just as
much as man and woman are
 other cultures may not conceive of nature and culture as we do.
 Thus the distinction between men and women is not necessarily
associated with the division between nature and culture.
 other cultures may not see men as dominant over women
Female is to domestic as male is to public
The domestic/public
opposition is ultimately
derived from woman's role
as mother and rearer of
children.
 i.e. identification with the
domestic domain is seen as
a consequence of their role
as mothers
 has tended to limit them
to certain social functions
 i.e. with the rearing of
children,
Since women are confined
to the domestic context,
their main sphere of activity
becomes familial relations
 i.e. women's roles centres
around the hearth and
home.
 domestic are those
institutions and activities
organized around motherchild groups
 men, however, operate in the political and public
domain of social life.
 they are free to form those broader associations that
we call `society'
 Men thus become identified with society and the
public interest
 The domestic sphere is considered less important than
the public domain
 Since women are associated with the domestic sphere
and men the public, women are of lower and men of
higher value.
The Hagen of New Guinea
 do associate women with the
domestic realm and men with the
public sphere
pursuing socially valued goals is
acting like a man
 pursuing
individual
family
interests is acting like a woman
 but these types of behaviour are
open to both men and women
 the association of the domestic with
something demeaning or less than
social is not a feature of Hagen
thought.
Is the domestic sphere is devalued in our society?
 in Western society the family and the domestic
are conceived in opposition to the public sphere of
life, business, work and politics
 but this cannot be considered universal
 this domestic/public association it appears is a
Western construct.
 These ideas derived from Western thought has
been imposed on other cultural situations where it
does is not always apply
Relativist Position
in the tribal world we find cultural ideologies that
 subordinate women and exclude women,
 extract their labour and child-bearing and rearing and
 place them under the legal control of their fathers,
brothers and husbands
 ideologies which are supported as vehemently by women
as by men.
Their religion may consign them to domestic roles and labour
to enhance male prestige
But women portray themselves in terms of virtue and duty.
men and women, may be equally committed to
a system of rules and meanings
 even though it gives power and advantage to
some of them and subordinates others.
 How legitimately can we step outside this
system and view it as an ideology without simply
imposing our ideology on them.
In other words even though we can see the injustice of the system
which polarize the sexes and demean women
It does not mean that women live in these societies with the
strain, conflict, or negative self-images one would expect them to
entail
Women are actors
 women may themselves become important political actors who
 influence the public political affairs of men from behind the
scenes
 pursue strategies of controlling labour and prestige within the
constraints of the system.