GENDER ROLES:
FOUNDATION FOR
INTIMACY
Ch. 3
GENDER AND SEX
Sex is used in reference to male or female
anatomy and physiology, and includes the
chromosomal, hormonal, and anatomical
components of males and females.
Gender (or gender role) refers to societal
attitudes and behaviors associated with the
two sexes.
Gender identity refers to the degree to
which an individual sees herself or himself
as feminine or masculine based on
society’s definitions of gender roles.
GENDER-ROLE ORIENTATION AS ONE- OR T WODIMENSIONAL
ISSUES FOR THOUGHT:
“WIFE” SOCIALIZATION AND THE
HETEROSEXUAL WEDDING
Think about the ways you have been
socialized into a particular gender role.
What household chores were you assigned
when younger?
Were those different from those of your
siblings or friends of the opposite sex?
Did those prepare you for any particular
adult roles?
SEXISM
Traditional sexism is the belief that
women’s roles should be confined to the
family and that women are not as fit as men
for certain tasks or for leadership positions.
Modern sexism denies that gender
discrimination persists and includes the
belief that women are asking for too much —
a situation that results in resistance to
women’s demands.
ISSUES FOR THOUGHT:
CHALLENGES TO GENDER BOUNDARIES
Between 1 and 4% of live births are
intersexual.
The child has anatomical, chromosomal, or
hormonal variations from the male or female
biology that is considered normal.
Transsexuals are raised as one sex, while
emotionally identifying with the other sex.
Transgendered describes an identity
adopted by those who are uncomfortable in
the gender of their birth.
ISSUES FOR THOUGHT:
CHALLENGES TO GENDER BOUNDARIES
Have transgendered individuals been
politically visible in your campus or
community?
What are your own thoughts as to whether
gender is a dichotomy or a continuum
along which individuals may vary?
How do such challenges to gender
boundaries potentially impact our roles and
experiences within the family?
GENDER CHARACTER TRAITS
 Masculine people are often thought to have
instrumental (or agentic) character traits –
confidence, assertiveness, and ambition – that
enable them to accomplish difficult tasks or
goals.
 Feminine people are thought to embody
expressive (or communal) character traits –
warmth, sensitivity, the ability to express
tender feelings, and placing concern about
others’ above self-interest.
TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES
Men are strong, independent, successful,
courageous, aggressive, stoic in the face
of pain or painful situations, and logical.
Women are more gentle, nurturing,
emotional, submissive, and dependent on
men for support and protection.
Source: Brannon, 1976.
CONSEQUENCES OF TRADITIONAL ROLES
 Men who agree with the traditional roles expect
to be the providers in their families and expect
their wives to be the nurturers.
 They are more inclined towards Type A behavior.
 They are less inclined to disclose intimate
matters to women and are more concerned with
being in control in an intimate relationship.
 They tend to be negative about the idea of
women’s equity.
CULTURAL MESSAGES:
MASCULINITIES
1. Men are expected to distance themselves
from anything considered feminine.
2. A man should be financially successful, or
at least be working to support his family.
3. During the 1980s, a new cultural message
emerged that a man should be emotionally
sensitive and expressive, valuing
tenderness and equal relationships with
women.
NONTRADITIONAL OCCUPATIONS
More and more women
are entering
nontraditional
occupations such as
the military.
FEMALES EMPLOYED IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONS (%): 2008
CULTURAL MESSAGES:
FEMININITIES
 The pivotal expectation for a woman requires
her to offer emotional support.
 The ideal woman was physically attractive,
not too competitive, a good listener, and
adaptable.
 She was considered fortunate if she had a
man in her life and was expected to be a
good mother and put her family’s and
children’s needs before her own.
NEW CULTURAL MODELS
FOR WOMEN
The professional woman: independent,
ambitious, self confident
The superwoman: A good wife and/or mother
attains career success and supports her
children by herself
The satisfied single: a woman (heterosexual
or lesbian, employed, possibly a parent) who
is happy and not in a serious relationship with
a male
Ability
Aggression
Interaction: Quantity and Quality
Nonverbal Behavior
Keeping Differences in Perspective
GENDER SIMILARITIES
HYPOTHESIS
 Developed by Psychologist Janet Hyde, the
hypothesis holds that males and females are similar
on most psychological variables.
 Hyde found virtually no difference on most traits, a
few moderate differences, and very few large
differences.
Hyde found evidence of gender differences in:
1.Motor performance, especially in throwing distance and speed.
2.Sexuality, especially male’s greater incidence of masturbation
and acceptance of casual sex.
3.Physical aggressiveness.
GENDER INEQUALITY
 A situation in which males assume authority over the female.
 On the societal level, male dominance is the assignment to
men of greater control and influence over society ’s
institutions.
 There are no known societies where women dominate men.
MALE DOMINANCE IN POLITICS
 Before 1992, there had never been more than two
women among our 100 U.S. senators.
 As of 2009, in the U.S. Congress, there were 17 women
in the Senate and 76 in the House of Representatives
 Surveys report that 71% of the public say they would
be willing to vote for a woman for president, but only
56% believe their family, friends, and coworkers are
willing to do so.
 Although the number of female senators and members
of the House of Representatives has increased, women
remain a minority in positions of political power.
MALE DOMINANCE IN RELIGION
Most U.S. congregations have more female
than male participants, yet men hold more
positions of authority.
Women are prohibited from holding Catholic
clerical or lay deacon positions.
A majority of U.S. Catholic laypeople and
theologians believe the Catholic church
should ordain women priests. The Vatican
disagrees.
GENDER AND HEALTH
Male infants have higher rates of infant
mortality and adverse conditions.
In the United States, around 105 boys are born
for every 100 girls, with boys outnumbering
girls under age eighteen.
Life expectancy for the total population
reached 77.7 years in 2006—80.2 years for
females and 75.1 years for males, a difference
of 5.1 years
GENDER AND EDUCATION
 Women have been the majority of college students since
1979 and now surpass men in the proportion of the total
population that are college graduates.
 In 2007, women earned 57% of bachelor ’s degrees,
60.5% of master’s degrees, 50% of first professional
degrees, and 50% of doctorates.
 The changing gender balance in education has led to
cries of alarm that men/boys are disadvantaged by
educational systems.
 However the data have made visible two patterns:
 College achievement gap is greater among racial/ethnic
groups within gender categories
 Apparent difference between males and females in goals
and attitudes toward schooling
MALE DOMINANCE IN THE
ECONOMY
In 2008, women who were employed full time
earned 80% of what men earned.
Even in same occupational categories, women
earn less than men:
 In 2008, women CEOs earned $83, 356 versus male
CEOS, who earned $103,948 on average.
 Overall, the earnings gap between men and women
narrowed in recent decades, but that gap is widening
slightly again.
IS ANATOMY DESTINY?
 Is male dominance anchored in biology?
 Biologists have relinquished deterministic models in their
thinking about gender and family.
 Sociologists are finding complex interactions among gender,
social roles, and biological indicators rather than categorical
gender differences.
 It is safe to say that there is convergence on the opinion that
in gender, as well as other behavior, biology interacts with
culture in complex and constantly changing ways that cannot
be reduced to biological determinism.
 Although adult men and women seem to be converging in
social roles and personal qualities, gender differences seem
powerful in younger years via the process of socialization
GENDER ROLES
Children learn much
about gender roles
from their parents,
whether they are
taught consciously or
unconsciously.
Parents model roles
and reinforce
expectations of
appropriate behavior.
THEORIES OF SOCIALIZATION
 Socialization
Process by which people develop their human capacities
and acquire a unique personality and identity and by which
culture is passed from generation to generation
THEORIES OF SOCIALIZATION
 Social Learning Theory
 Children learn gender roles as they are taught by parents,
schools, and the media.
 Self-identification theory
 Children categorize themselves by age 3 and identify behaviors
in their families, the media, and elsewhere that are appropriate
to their sex and adopt these behaviors.
 Gender Schema Theory
 Children develop a frame of knowledge about what girls and
boys typically do, and then use this framework to interpret and
think about gender.
 Symbolic Interaction Theory
 Children develop self-concepts based on social feedback: the
looking-glass self. Also important is their role-taking, as they
play out roles in interaction with significant others such as
parents and peers.
SETTINGS FOR SOCIALIZATION AND
GENDER ROLE ORIENTATION
Boys and Girls in the Family
Play and Games
The Power of Cultural Images
Socialization in Schools
“Killing Us Softly 3”
“Consuming Kids”
BOYS AND GIRLS IN THE FAMILY
Encouragement of gender-typed
interests and activities continues:
 Fathers more than mothers enforce gender
stereotypes, especially for sons. It is more
acceptable, for example, for girls to be tomboys.
 Exploratory behavior is encouraged more in boys
than in girls.
 Household chores (number and kinds) adhere to
gendered notions.
 However, this varies by race/ethnicity. For example,
African American girls are raised to be more
independent and less passive.
PLAY AND GAMES
 Girls have more dolls, fictional characters,
children’s furniture, and the color pink.
 Boys have more sports equipment, tools, toy
vehicles, and the colors red, blue, and white.
 Toys send messages about gender roles.
 Play is a significant vehicle through which
children develop appropriate concepts of adult
roles, as well as images of themselves.
 Girls play in one-to-one relationships or in small groups
that are relatively cooperative and have few rules.
 Boys play in large groups, characterized by more
fighting and attempts to effect a hierarchical pecking
order.
THE POWER OF CULTURAL
MESSAGES
 Media images often convey gender expectations,
called media frames.
 Media frames guides us through what the subject is
and what its meaningful qualities are.
 Females are likely to be shown trying to get a man ’s
attention, their physical appearance is often focused upon,
and they can be the object of hate (misogynistic images).
 Males are more likely to be depicted in dominant, agentic
roles, and as the authoritative narrative or voiceover, even
when the products are aimed at women.
SOCIALIZATION IN SCHOOLS
 More men are in positions of authority (principals) and women
are in positions of service (teachers and secretaries).
 Teachers pay more attention to males than to females.
 Males tend to dominate learning environments from nursery
school to college.
SOCIAL CHANGE AND GENDER
 Changes in men’s and women’s social roles have
been influenced by changes in structural forces and
by active change efforts.
 The Women’s Movement
 The Men’s Movement
SOCIAL CHANGE AND GENDER
 The Women’s Movement
 The 19 th century saw a feminist movement develop,
but from 1920 until the mid-1960s, there was
virtually no activism regarding women’s rights and
roles.
 The Civil Rights Movement provided a model by
which the Second Wave of the Women’s Movement
challenged accepted traditional roles and strove to
increase gender equality.
 Some women of color and white working-class
women find the Women’s Movement irrelevant to
their personal and social struggles and
experiences.
WOMEN’S MOVEMENT ISSUES
SOCIAL CHANGE AND GENDER
 Men’s Movements
 As the Women’s Movement encouraged changes in gender expectations and
social roles, some men responded by initiating a men ’s movement.
 The first National Conference on Men and Masculinity was held in 1975.
 Focus is on changes that men want in their lives and how best to get them
 One goal has been to give men a forum in which to air their feelings about
gender.
 Antifeminists believe that the Women’s Movement caused the collapse of the
natural order, one that guaranteed male dominance, and they work to reverse
this trend.
 Profeminists support feminists in their opposition to patriarchy.
 Masculinists tend not to focus on patriarchy as problematic, but work to
develop a positive image of masculinity, one combining strength with
tenderness
PERSONAL AND FAMILY CHANGE
 Sometimes in response to increased and available options,
individuals reconsider earlier choices regarding gender roles.
 Additionally, increased opportunities may lead to mixed
feelings and conflicts, both within oneself and between men
and women.
THE FUTURE OF GENDER
 Gender identity will remain important, as it continues to
change in response to social forces and events.
 Some argue that maintaining traditional gender roles will be
supported and encouraged, while others argue that gender
inequality will be swept aside.
GENDERED PATHWAYS TO INTIMACY
Source: Adapted from Radmacher and Azmitia 2006.