Gender Sociology

What is the difference between gender and sex? Why do young boys tend to go for cars, robots and action figures as toys, whilst girls opt for dolls and play 'house'?

Some sociologists argue that gender is a social construction, and we all are socialised into one particular gender as children. Agents of gender socialisation are the family, educational institutions and peer groups and the mass media.

While some sociologists are in support of gender socialisation, others criticise it and argue for a much more fluid, diverse and free definition of femininity and masculinity. Let us look at both sides of the argument in gender sociology in detail.

• We will start with the definition of gender in sociology.
• Then, we will look at examples of gender sociology.
• We will discuss gender roles in sociology. and consider gender stereotypes in sociology.
• Within the topic of gender socialisation, we will consider gender and education in sociology, among other aspects.
• We will look at gender inequality.
• Finally, we will discuss sociological perspectives on gender.

Definition of gender in sociology

Firstly, let's cover the core concepts of gender and sex. These are often used interchangeably but are not, in fact, the same.

Defining sex and gender

Gender and sex can be defined as follows:

Sex and gender can correspond and be closely related, but this is not always the case. For instance, someone who is assigned male at birth may not identify as a man or with masculinity.

This is because an individual's sex is usually assigned at birth, but gender is an identity based on one's perception of themselves and is much more fluid. (That being said, it is also possible to change one's biological sex).

Gender identity

Gender is not limited to "men" and "women" who have always identified as such. It is important to understand diversity in gender identity, especially in the cases of people who are transgender, nonbinary, gender-fluid, and so on.

Transgender people

People whose personal gender identity aligns with their biological sex are cisgender, while those whose identity is different from their biological sex are transgender.

Transgender people usually change their gender presentation by altering their appearance (e.g. clothing, hairstyles) or adopting new names. Some may go through sex-change surgeries and/or undergo hormonal therapy so their bodies/biology better corresponds to their gender identities. Trans people can identify with both binary and nonbinary genders.

They are not to be confused with intersex people, who are born with a combination of male and female sex characteristics.

Nonbinary and diverse gender identities

• If a person does not identify with the binary genders of "woman" and "man" they are nonbinary.
• The term third gender is used in cultures and societies that recognise three or more genders.
• A person whose gender identity can change day by day is gender-fluid.
• If they reject gender as a category in general, they might be known as agender.

Fig. 1 - Non-binary people might prefer 'they/them' pronouns rather than the traditional 'he' or 'she' pronouns.

Examples of gender sociology

As an example of gender sociology, we will look at what sexuality means.

Sexuality or sexual orientation is not to be mixed up with biological sex or gender identity.

Categories of sex, gender and sexual orientation are very diverse. Sexualities range from heterosexual, homosexual (gay or lesbian), bisexual and pansexual (attraction to two or more genders) to queer (undefined, non-heterosexual). People who do not feel sexual attraction are referred to as asexual.

Gender roles in sociology

John Money (1955) defined ‘gender roles’ as

Functionalists like Talcott Parsons saw biological differences as the determining factor for gender roles in society. They claimed that gender roles have always been segregated by sex.

Feminists of the 20th century started to challenge the biologically deterministic ideas of functionalists and fought against the reinforcement of stereotypical gender roles and ideologies. Their main argument was that the traditional gender expectations systematically disadvantaged women and kept them in subordination.

Hegemonic masculinity and emphasised femininity

Simone de Beauvoir (1949) argued that through societal gender roles, women were positioned as ‘the Other’. Masculinity was constructed by patriarchal society to be the universal norm. Thus, women were never defined in relation to themselves but in comparison to men.

Similarly, Raewyn Connell (1987) asserted that masculinities are privileged over femininities in Western culture. The most privileged masculinity is that of White, middle-class, able-bodied, heterosexual men. This is the ‘hegemonic masculinity’ to which all men are expected to conform.

In opposition to hegemonic masculinity stands ‘emphasised femininity’. Women must highlight their non-masculine features through consumer products and behavioural traits to appear as feminine as possible, thereby visually pleasing the hegemonic males.

The normative features of emphasised femininity favour White, middle-class, able-bodied, heterosexual women, who hold a higher social status than minority women.

Pierre Bourdieu (1990) touched upon the same issue when he discussed 'masculine domination' and claimed that habitus was gendered.

Although the boundaries between traditional masculinity and femininity have been blurred in recent decades, they have not disappeared.

Gender socialisation

Sociologists argue that people learn gender roles through gender socialisation, which begins in early childhood. According to researchers, there are four primary agents of gender socialisation: the family, education, peer groups and the mass media.

Secondary agents of gender socialisation, such as religion and the workplace, repeat and reinforce the concepts of the primary agents, thus deepening the entrenchment of conventional gender roles.

Through the socialisation process, both men and women forget that they learned their gender-specific behaviour. The process creates a false conception of gender roles being naturally occurring.

Let us look at the four primary agents of gender socialisation in more detail.

Gender socialisation in the family

Processes of gender socialisation in the family start before the child is even born, as parents tend to prepare gendered clothing, toys and decorations for the child.

As the child is growing up, parents again tend to buy different kinds of toys for boys and girls and turn their attention to different activities. Ann Oakley called this canalisation.

Oakley also pointed out how parents use different nicknames for children of different sexes, thus reinforcing gender roles and behaviours.

Gender and education in sociology

Schools further reinforce gender stereotypes in a number of ways:

• Girls and boys are still often segregated in schools.

• Girls are often prompted to study humanities and arts, while boys are supported in studying sciences and mathematics.

• Sociologists found that female children in kindergarten already receive the message of being less important and less intelligent than boys. Sadker and Sadker (1994) found that teachers praise boys more often, while giving girls less opportunity to express their thoughts and ideas.

• Ready (2001) added that while girls are expected to behave well in school and conform to the rules, boys are allowed much more freedom to push the boundaries and break rules.

Gender socialisation within peer groups

Children learn the ‘appropriate’ gender roles from other children around them. If someone goes against the norm they might experience criticism or even exclusion from their peers. These negative responses can be very severe for children.

Gender and the mass media

Angela McRobbie argued that the mass media presents heavily stereotypical gender roles in its portrayals. Women are often depicted as mothers or wives, in supporting roles.

If women get the lead role, they appear as either 'saints or whores': either as the epitome of innocence and virginity or as the symbol of sexuality and immorality (Etaugh and Bridges, 2003).

The inequality was especially visible in children’s movies, as girls were predominantly presented in passive, supportive princess roles while boys were the active lead heroes and adventurers. Recently, though, there have been many more female leads who actively take charge of their lives in children’s movies.

Fig. 2 - While men usually acted as heroes, women were presented in passive roles in mass media.

Television commercials and advertisements also present gender stereotypes. Commercials about cooking, cleaning or taking care of children usually have female characters in them (Davis, 1993), while business-related ads usually centre around men.

Gender inequality and social policy

Gender identities and roles have varied over time and place, which shows that these categories are not static and that gender inequality can be combatted.

International studies showed that social policies can minimise gender inequality.

How do sociologists study gender?

• Sociologists use fieldwork and observation to research how people do gender.
• For a deeper understanding of identities, qualitative methods such as interviews, prove to be the most beneficial.
• Quantitative methods such as surveys provide information on the measures of gender inequality within and across countries.
• Time-use diaries have been used by sociologists to measure the amount of housework men and women in a household do.

According to functionalist theory, gender roles were established in the pre-industrial era, when men typically took care of responsibilities outside the home and women did domestic tasks. These gender roles were passed down from generation to generation, as they kept both the nuclear family and wider society functioning well.

Functionalists view the two-parent family as the building block of society, and they support the maintenance of traditional gender roles.

Conflict theory in gender sociology

Conflict theorists argue that society is structured around struggles between different social groups. When applied to gender, conflict theory sees men as the dominant group oppressing and exploiting women, the subordinate social group (Friedrich Engels, 1884).

Conflict theorists of recent decades argued that women needed to get involved with paid work outside the home to gain power and divide domestic work more equally between themselves and their (male) partners. Unfortunately, however, studies show that women still handle the majority of household tasks and childcare duties.

Feminism in gender sociology

To challenge the concept of biological determinism, feminists have discussed and debated different experiences and parameters of sex, gender and womanhood.

Defining womanhood

Elizabeth Spelman (1988) created the particularity argument, which stated that all women experience the world in similar ways through being women, regardless of race, social class or age.

While this created a sense of community among women, it also established White womanhood as the ‘norm’, ignoring the different (often much worse) experiences of minority women.

A decade later, Judith Butler (1999) claimed that any attempt to create a universal definition of "woman" would put them in new boxes and constraints. According to Butler’s normativity argument, there should be no singular definition of a woman at all.

The sex-gender binary

Following the advent of queer theory, fourth-wave feminists also challenged the concept of fixed biological sex. They question the idea of sex being binary and argue that, similarly to gender, it is a spectrum.

This is because many people's bodies are composed of both "male" and "female" characteristics and don't strictly comply with binary understandings of sex.

Some differences in men’s and women’s bodies have also been discovered to be the result of social upbringing rather than biology. Thus, contemporary feminist sociologists argue that sex is also socially constructed.

Symbolic interactionism in gender sociology

Symbolic interactionism focuses on how symbols affect human interaction and behaviour, which is especially interesting when it comes to gender. Traditional masculinity and femininity are visible through symbols, created by society.

Since they are not natural, they tend to be fluid in terms of their meaning. This is what postmodernists like Harriet Bradley (1997), also argue.

According to symbolic interactionists, gender and sexuality are both something we perform rather than something we are.