Gender is a Social Construct

 

Social Constructionism

Social constructivists propose that there is no inherent truth to gender; it is constructed by social expectations and gender performance.

Social construction of gender comes out of the general school of thought entitled social constructionism. Social constructionism proposes that everything people “know” or see as reality” is partially, if not entirely, socially situated. To say that something is socially constructed does not mitigate the  power  of the concept. Take, for example, money. Money is a socially constructed reality. Paper bills are worth nothing independent of the value individuals ascribe to them. The dollar is only worth as much as value as Americans are willing to ascribe to it. Note that the dollar only works in its own currency market; it holds no value in areas that don’t use the dollar. Nevertheless, the dollar is extremely powerful within its own domain.

These basic theories of social constructionism can be applied to any issue of study pertaining to human life, including gender. Is gender an essential category or a social construct ? If it is a social construct, how does it function? Who benefits from the way that gender is constructed? A social constructionist view of gender looks beyond categories and examines the intersections of multiple identities and the blurring of the boundaries between essentialist categories. This is especially true with regards to categories of male and female, which are viewed typically as binary and opposite. Social constructionism seeks to blur the binary and muddle these two categories, which are so frequently presumed to be essential.

Social constructionism is a theory of knowledge that holds that characteristics typically thought to be immutable and solely biological—such as gender, race, class, ability, and sexuality—are products of human definition and interpretation shaped by cultural and historical contexts (Subramaniam 2010).

 As such, social constructionism highlights the ways in which cultural categories—like “men,” “women,” “black,” “white”—are concepts created, changed, and reproduced through historical processes within institutions and culture. We do not mean to say that bodily variation among individuals does not exist, but that we construct categories based on certain bodily features, we attach meanings to these categories, and then we place people into the categories by considering their bodies or bodily aspects. For example, by the one-drop rule (see also page 35), regardless of their appearance, individuals with any African ancestor are considered black. In contrast, racial conceptualization and thus racial categories are different in Brazil, where many individuals with African ancestry are considered to be white. This shows how identity categories are not based on strict biological characteristics, but on the social perceptions and meanings that are assumed. Categories are not “natural” or fixed and the boundaries around them are always shifting—they are contested and redefined in different historical periods and across different societies. Therefore , the social constructionist perspective is concerned with the meaning created through defining and categorizing groups of people, experience, and reality in cultural contexts.

Gender Roles

Gender roles are cultural and personal. They determine how males and females should think, speak, dress, and interact within the context of society. Learning plays a role in this process of shaping gender roles. These gender schemas are deeply embedded cognitive frameworks regarding what defines masculine and feminine. While various socializing agents—parents, teachers, peers, movies, television, music, books, and religion—teach and reinforce gender roles throughout the lifespan, parents probably exert the greatest influence, especially on their very young offspring.

As mentioned previously, sociologists know that adults perceive and treat female and male infants differently. Parents probably do this in response to their having been recipients of gender expectations as young children. Traditionally, fathers teach boys how to fix and build things; mothers teach girls how to cook, sew, and keep house. Children then receive parental approval when they conform to gender expectations and adopt culturally accepted and conventional roles. All of this is reinforced by additional socializing agents, such as the media. In other words, learning gender roles always occurs within a social context, the values of the parents and society being passed along to the children of successive generations.

Jayaji Krishna Nath, M.D. and Vishwarath R. Nayar wrote in the Encyclopedia of Sexuality: “While it is mostly the husbands who are breadwinners, the women generally take care of the household activities, besides bearing and rearing children. However, due to widespread educational programs and improvement of educational facilities for girls, women nowadays are accepting jobs outside the home, and thus contributing financially to the family budget. Also, because of constant efforts in making women aware of their rights and the importance of their involvement in day-to-day family matters, the status of women has increased significantly. Due to all these measures, women nowadays actively participate not only in their family affairs, but also in social and political activities in the communities.

The occupations that were earlier monopolized by men are gradually being shared by women. Similarly, various professional courses like engineering, architecture, and allied disciplines are also studied by women. In spite of these changes initiated for the benefit of women in India, the people’s attitude to equal status for women has not changed significantly in actual practice, and in this regard various educational programs for men are still in great need of changing their outlook. For instance, although the legal age of marriage for girls is set by the government at 18 years, people, especially in rural and tribal India, encourage early marriage for girls, mostly within a short time of their attaining puberty. Similarly, in the educational development, the dropout rate among females is very high.

Gender Stereotypes

Gender stereotypes are simplistic generalizations about the gender attributes, differences, and roles of individuals and/or groups. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, but they rarely communicate accurate information about others. When people automatically apply gender assumptions to others regardless of evidence to the contrary, they are perpetuating gender stereotyping. Many people recognize the dangers of gender stereotyping, yet continue to make these types of generalizations.

Traditionally, the female stereotypic role is to marry and have children. She is also to put her family's welfare before her own; be loving, compassionate, caring, nurturing, and sympathetic; and find time to be sexy and feel beautiful. The male stereotypic role is to be the financial provider. He is also to be assertive, competitive, independent, courageous, and career‐focused; hold his emotions in check; and always initiate sex. These sorts of stereotypes can prove harmful; they can stifle individual expression and creativity, as well as hinder personal and professional growth.

The stereotypes mainly comprise Physical appearance, Profession, Behaviour, and Characteristics. 

Physical appearance: An individual’s appearance gets determined by society according to their gender. A woman gets considered beautiful when they have a thin body and fair complexion. Men become attractive if they have tall height and a muscular body. Men or women who do not have these features are usually disrespected and oppressed by society.

Profession: Women were not allowed to study and were deprived of pursuing their careers. Women were expected to stay in the house, take care of the family and children, and perform household chores. However, men were never stopped from pursuing higher studies or pursuing their careers. Society considered the roles of men as taking all the financial responsibilities and work outside. When these stereotypes started developing, society added some new norms. Women started pursuing their careers, and certain professions got divided amongst the gender. For example, professions like nurses/babysitters/house help are suitable for women and engineers/lawyers/entrepreneurs.

Behaviour: Women must be soft-spoken, calm, and quiet. They should walk, talk, sit and behave in a certain manner. Whereas men ought to be confident, loud, and could display any behaviour as per their wish.

Characteristics: Women should not argue or raise their voice against their fathers/elder brother/husband or any other senior male family members.

How does gender role stereotypes impact an individual?

The stereotypes of gender roles greatly impact every individual who goes through and chooses to fight against them. The pre-existing roles determined by societies for men and women give men the power to act in any way they want with women. People who belong to indigenous areas are mostly affected by these stereotypes. For example, young girls who belong to low-income families are married off at a very young age, as the parents cannot take care of them. The opinion of those girls is never asked for; instead, if they refuse to marry, they are brutally abused by their fathers/brothers. Another profound impact is that women/girls are considered personal properties, which they can use however they wish to, such as forcing for sexual relations without the consent of the girl/women.

Such stereotypes also lead to horrible acts like domestic violence, suicide, acid attacks on women, etc. Gender stereotypes also impact men in many cases. Many boys/men are forced to pursue studies or careers as per the choice of their parents. Men who do not have muscular bodies and not slim in body shape are not considered visually attractive.

How Indians View Gender Roles in Families and Society

Indians value having both sons and daughters: Nearly all Indians say it is very important for a family to have at least one son (94%) and, separately, to have at least one daughter (90%). And most Indians say that both sons and daughters should have equal rights to inheritance from parents (64%) and have the responsibility to care for parents as they age (58%). But survey respondents are far more likely to say that sons, rather than daughters, should have greater rights and responsibilities in these areas. For example, while about four-in-ten Indian adults say that sons should have the primary responsibility to care for aging parents, just 2% say the same about daughters.

Similarly, a slim majority (54%) says that both men and women in families should be responsible for earning money, but many Indians (43%) see this as mainly the obligation of men. And Indian adults overwhelmingly say that when jobs are in short supply, men should have greater rights to employment than women, reflecting the continued prominence of men in the economic sphere. Eight-in-ten agree with this sentiment, including a majority (56%) who completely agree.

Many Indians express egalitarian views toward some gender roles in the home. For instance, 62% of adults say both men and women should be responsible for taking care of children. But traditional gender norms still hold sway among large segments of the population: Roughly a third of adults (34%) feel that child care should be handled primarily by women.

Sexism

Sexism/Misoqyny Attitudes toward women are descriptive beliefs about the rights, roles, and privileges of women. Stereotypically, women have been described as emotionally labile (Broverman, Vogel, Broverman, Clarkson, & Rosenkrantz, 1972; Ruble, 1983) while men have t>een described as emotionally stable (Grossman & Wood, 1993). Sexism may be defined as discrimination on the basis of sex, especially against women. Misogyny signifies hostility or distrust of women. Sexism and misogyny may be expressed In many ways, ranging from more subtle nuances, such as joking and leering, to more overt behaviors, including violence. Society has reinforced traditional behaviors (e.g., passivity, submissiveness) learned by women trying to survive in a man's world. These traditional behaviors have become accepted as society's norm for women As women have demanded more equality in the work place and home settings, traditional gender roles have been challenged. This perceived gender role conflict has brought sexism and misogyny to the attention of many concerned with women. From a feminist standpoint, women are repressed by society, especially by men; this has resulted in a patriarchal society (Schmerl, 1989, cited in Schiffmann & Nelkenbrecher, 1994). The feminist movement has attempted to foster more positive stereotypes of women. With men as leaders in society, it has been to their advantage to prevent women from achieving leadership positions. Therefore, some negative impressions of women may have been perpetuated by society. A person's negative views toward women may begin via early socialization. For example. It appears that in educational settings, students are often presented with stereotypical views of females (Weitzman, 1979). Weitzman (1979) reported that females are typically underrepresented in general textbooks used in grade school; furthermore, females are often portrayed in stereotypical, traditional female roles in these text books. Consequently, children receive implicit messages about women's roles in society. Denmark (1983) reported similar findings in texts at the college and graduate level. This type of indirect influence can affect learning and can have long-lasting consequences and the effects may be difficult to eliminate or change.

Men, more than women, are found to be more accepting of sexual harassment (Barnett & Feild, 1977

In Sigmund Freud's well-known psychoanalytic theory, mothers are blamed for their children's personality adjustment difficulties while fathers remain ultimately blameless (Chodorow, 1978). These negative perceptions of women by experts in human behavior may contribute to the cycle of sexism/misogyny

In a study by Bugental et al., it was reported that the perception of women as nontrustworthy and devious has become a popular stereotype in the psychology literature,etc