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
We demand that the
categories of male and female be
discrete
since gender is culturally
constructed the boundaries are
conceptual rather than physical
the boundaries are dynamic,
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
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."
Is he a he? Or is he a she? Or is she a he?
How does your reaction to this image compare to
the earlier one of a woman dressed as a man?
Is there a double standard?
Women cross dress
all the time.
The difference is
perception.
Acceptance or
Rejection by society
The Relativity of Gender
If the categories `man' and `woman' are culturally constructed
what are the implications?
There can be no universal meaning to the category woman or
man.
What it means to be a man or a woman in a particular society
is relative to that society.
we do not have to be restricted to two genders
Cross-dressing often retains clues to the
underlying gender base and the resulting
image appears to exist somewhere
between the polarities of male and female
– containing elements of both – as if a
third gender had been created.
Third Genders
transsexual – gender/ sex
incongruent, “trapped in wrong body”
but with the gender identity of their
organs/sex change operation
 transvestite – dressing as other
gender, biological sex (cross-dresser)
 homosexual
 bisexual
 eunuch – castrated male
 hermaphrodite – both sets of
biological organs
Virgin?
Boy/Girl?
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
(transexual)
Cultural descendants of the court
eunuchs of the Mughal Empire (15261858),
Perceived
neither as men
nor women
but as a third
gender
getting dressed for a
job entertaining at a
Pakistani wedding
Hijras now earn their living as
beggars, 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. Believed to hold great power because of
their close relationship with the Mother Goddess - Mata Bahuchara
Berdache
George Catlin (1796-1872)
Dance to the Berdache
Drawn while on the Great Plains,
among the Sac and Fox Indians, the
sketch depicts a ceremonial dance to
celebrate the “two-spirit person”. The
men tease him but vie for his
recognition, which is deemed an honor.
Common among all native north American groups
In everyday life the two-spirit male typically
would wear women’s clothes and do women’s work.
He would be accepted as “one of the girls.” He
might take a husband tribe, or might have affairs
with several, or both.
Generally two-spirit males were not expected to
have sexual relations with women.
Multigendered people were/are usually
presumed to be people of power.
Because they have both maleness and
femaleness totally entwined in one body,
they are known to be able to ‘see’ with the
eyes of both proper men and proper
women.
They are often called upon to be healers,
or mediators, or interpreters of dreams.
Besides their spiritual abilities, their
capacity for work also figured into the
high status of two-spirit people.
Even though a two-spirit male would
have taken on the gender identity of a
woman, he would still have the endurance
and strength of a man
We'wha (1849-96), a
Zuni berdache, lived
in New Mexico. He is
shown holding a
ritual vessel, dressed
in women's clothing.
 Deification, ostrazation, and
medicalization are common
coping strategies for societies
with strong gender dichotomies,
and are often based on
reproductive potential
 These systems do not always
have to be harmful to the third
gendered/sexed individual, but
often are
 Western societies label third
As we move out of an age where sexes and genders a “problem”
reproduction was our main
and therefore feel compelled to
purpose in life maybe we need to “fix” them
revise and expand our ideas about
how gender and sex roles work
with each other
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
Cascade Dishwashing Detergent
1958 issue of Lady's Home Journal.
The man in this advertisement is
envious of his hostess' spotless drinking
glasses.
Rather than giving him advice on how
to get his glasses just as clear, she
advises him to tell his wife to use
Cascade.
The designers of this ad assume that
washing dishes is a woman's chore.
The roles are strictly defined; it never
crosses the woman's mind that Jean's
husband might have something to do
with dishwashing in his household.
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
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.”
This ad is striking
because it shows a
man in what is
typically thought of
as a woman’s role.
What does the fact
that he can open
the pail “without
passing out” say
about men?
Men are domesticated.
Sex objects
What Men and Women Really Think
What do the models’
thoughts suggest?
What does this say
about the roles of
women? And of Men?
Crutchfield; Catalog for audio and video
equipment.
Gender Stereotypes
A woman walked into the kitchen to find her husband stalking
around with a fly swatter.
she: Intrigued, "How can you tell
she: "What are you doing?"
them apart?"
he: "Hunting Flies"
he: "3 were on a beer can, 2 were on
she: "Oh. Killing any?“
he: "Yep, 3 males, 2 Females," the phone."
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?
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?
Gender Relations
Gender is an important dimension of social inequality
Gender stratification frequently takes the form of
patriarchy whereby men dominate women
Do women in our society have a second class status
relative to men? If so How?
•Politics
•Economics
•Education
•Employment
•Health
•Religion
Generally: Wealth, Power, and Prestige
Labor Force Participation for U.S. Women and Men, aged 25-55
1950-2000
Women’s increased
participation in paid work is a
central change in gender
relations over the last 50 years.
Labor force participation is
often seen as the prime indicator
(and cause) of changes in
women’s status.
Social theory often focuses on
women’s employment because
employment determines their
access to resources and their
ability to make independent
decisions.
Gender Stratification
 unequal distribution of wealth,
power and privilege between men and
women
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.
 Is the secondary status of women
one of the true cultural universals?
Women’s Power in Global Perspective
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 status relative to men is
natural and due to biological differences:
Men’s testosterone naturally leads them
to be more aggressive Women’s oestrogen
makes them more compliant
Women are biologically programmed to
bear and raise children which affects
their economic roles
Can these differences explain male
aggression
• juvenile delinquency, for violent
crime in general
• the biological basis of warfare
• the political and economic
dominance of men
1. Biologically men are physically stronger than women
2. therefore this results in a sexual division of labour with
men doing the harder work
3. In other words biology influences behaviour
4. implies that the relationship between biology and social life
is one of cause and effect.
If biology explains the
political and economic
dominance of men
then surely one must
simply accept that fact
So much for that theory --- in many societies women are the
real labourers
biological differences cannot provide a universal basis for
social definitions of `man' and `woman'
2. 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 breast milk remains beyond their
grasp.
 i.e. men are envious
 again linked to biology
3. Psychological
• boys try to dominate others
• girls comply with parents
• again linked with 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 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.
Hubert Humphrey and Senator
Thomas Carrell at a Democratic
National Committee luncheon in Van
Nuys, 1968
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 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
Margaret Mead
Sex and Temperament in Three
Primitive Societies (1935)
Male and Female (1949).
sought to discover extent
temperamental differences between
the sexes were culturally determined
rather than innate biological
 Mead found a different pattern of
male and female behavior in each of
the cultures she studied, all different
from gender role expectations in the
United States at that time.
The gentle mountain-dwelling Arapesh
Arapesh child-rearing responsibilities
evenly divided among men and women
The fierce cannibalistic Mundugumor
a natural hostility exists between all members of
the same sex”. Mundugumor fathers and sons,
and mothers and daughters were adversaries.
The graceful headhunters of Tchambuli,
While men were preoccupied with art the
women had the real power, controlling fishing
and manufacturing
Relativist Position
in the non-western world we find cultural ideologies that
 subordinate 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
women 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.