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“Girls wear dresses and heart or flower covered outfits, boys wear three-piece suits,
overalls, and super hero pajamas.

Catalogs feature girls playing with dolls and kitchen sets, and boys with Legos and
trucks.

Toys for boys tend to encourage exploration, manipulation, invention, construction,

competition, and aggression.

Girls? Toys typically rate high on creativity, nurturance, and attractiveness.”

In books, men are almost always the heroes. These excerpts are taken from various
literary pieces which are included in the curriculum of young students and written by
world renowned authors.

The term sex and gender are used interchangeably but the literary meaning is different
from its usual usage sex is defined in biological terms, the exact definition calls for,
“maleness or femaleness as determined by genetic factors present at conception that
result in anatomical and physiological factors.” This indicates the influence of factors
like genes (i.e. whether the chromosome combination is XX or XY), the effect of
hormones largely referring to gonadotropin and the presence of characteristic
physiological factors. However gender refers to everything associated with an
individual’s sex that is societal roles, expectations, behaviors, preferences and
attributes that define a male or after male in a particular culture. It is defined as “the
attributes, behavior, personality characteristics and expectancies associated with a
person’s biological sex in a given culture. Gender differences can be erased on biology
learning and the combination of the two.”

SOCIALIZATION

Socialization is the process by which children and adults learn from others. We begin
learning from others during the early days of life; and most people continue their social
learning all through life (unless some mental or physical disability slows or stops the
learning process). Sometimes the learning is fun, as when we learn a new sport, art or
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musical technique from a friend we like. Socialization is of several types.

Natural socialization occurs when infants and youngsters explore, play and discover the
social world around them. Planned socialization occurs when other people take actions
designed to teach or train others from infancy on. Natural socialization is easily seen
when looking at the young of almost any mammalian species, for instance e when
children realize or learn that that their younger siblings are made to wear particular
coloured clothes soon after they are born i.e. pink if a girl and blue if a boy, acquires
these schemes and gets stored in their memory. Planned socialization is mostly a
human phenomenon; and all through history, people have been making plans for
teaching or training others, school can act as an agency for primary socialization, when
students of different gender are made to wear different uniforms which indicates a
segregation, for instance in certain schools in Delhi, having co-education emphasize on
girls wearing salwar-kameez from a very young age itself. Certain literary material in
their text books reinforce their already acquired gender schemas by clearly indicating
the roles young students are to follow when they grow, for instance. Both natural and
planned socialization can have good and bad features: It is wise to learn the best
features of both natural and planned socialization and weave them into our lives.

Positive socialization is the type of social learning that is based on pleasurable and
exciting experiences. We tend to like the people who fill our social learning processes
with positive motivation, loving care, and rewarding opportunities, for instance a young
girl child being rewarded for winning a sports event, say cricket in her school being
appreciated by her parents. Negative socialization occurs when others use punishment,
harsh criticisms or anger to try to "teach us a lesson;" and often we come to dislike
both negative socialization and the people who impose it on us. An example of this can
be young boy being ridiculed by his elder siblings for playing with dolls or an elderly
person being criticized for expressing or possessing feminist view point.

There are all types of mixes of positive and negative socialization; and the more
positive social learning experiences we have, the happier we tend to be, especially if we
learn useful information that helps us cope well with the challenges of life. The process
by which future members learn to become members of the society is called
socialization. Certain statutes and roles are allotted to the members of a particular
culture based on the shared practices and norms. The socialization of the individual
takes place through various agencies that influence ant through imitation and role
taking socialization and the process of rO
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taking and playing their roles are closely knitted. Socializations occur in all
aspects and stages of human development.

AGENCIES PROMOTING GENDER SOCIALIZATION

1. The family being the integral part of every individual upbringing is one of the
most important agencies of socialization. The family has the power to influence
individual self-concept, emotions, attitude and behavior. As mentioned earlier family is
a primary agency for socialization, hence, there is a strong influence of the family
members in terms of gender socialization, right from the colours chosen by the students
to the programs children are allowed to watch to the games they are encouraged to
play, all reflect the socialization process knowingly or unknowingly initiated by the
family. for instance, young girls are encouraged to play with Barbie dolls and watch
serials like Bidaai and Baalika vadhu, meanwhile her brother would be encouraged to
watch cartoons like tom and jerry and RAW and SMACKDOWN which incorporates
aggression (which again is presumably a masculine desirable aspect)
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This cartoon shows as to hoe doing certain tasks are specific to only a particular
gender.

2. Education also acts as key agency in developing gender identity. For instance
the difference in educational treatment given to girls, in many parts of rural India, girl
children are deprived of education and those receiving are lagging behind in
performance as compared to the tog boys. Teachers socialize girls towards a feminine
ideal. Girls are praised for being neat, quiet, and calm, whereas boys are encouraged to
think independently, be active and speak up. Girls are socialized in schools to recognize
popularity as being important, and learn that educational performance and ability are
not as important. "Girls in grades six and seven rate being popular and well-liked as
more important than being perceived as competent or independent. Boys, on the other
hand, are more likely to rank independence and competence as more important."
(Bailey, 1992)

This socialization of femininity begins much earlier than the middle grades. At very
early ages, girls begin defining their femininities in relation to boys. One study of a third
grade classroom examined four self-sorted groups of girls within the classroom: the
nice girls, the girlies, the spice girls and the tomboys. Through interviews researcher
Diane Reay found that 'nice girls' was considered a derogatory term indicating, "...an
absence of toughness and attitude." (Reay, 2001) Furthermore, the girlies were a group
of girls who focused their time on flirting with and writing love letters to boys, the
tomboys were girls who played sports with the boys, and the spice girls espoused girl-
power and played 'rate-the-boy' on the playground. Reay's research shows that each of
the groups of girls defined their own femininities in relation to boys. (2001)

Teachers socialize girls towards a feminine ideal. Girls are praised for being neat, quiet,
and calm, whereas boys are encouraged to think independently, be active and speak
up. Girls are socialized in schools to recognize popularity as being important, and learn
that educational performance and ability are not as important. "Girls in grades six and
seven rate being popular and well-liked as more important than being perceived as
competent or independent. Boys, on the other hand, are more
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likely to rank independence and competence as more important." (Bailey, 1992)

Clearly the socialization of gender is reinforced at school, "Because classrooms are

microcosms of society, mirroring its strengths and ills alike, it follows that the normal
socialization patterns of young children that often lead to distorted perceptions of
gender roles are reflected in the classrooms." (Marshall, 1997) Yet gender bias in
education reaches beyond socialization patterns, bias is embedded in textbooks,
lessons, and teacher interactions with students. This type of gender bias is part of the
hidden curriculum of lessons taught implicitly to students through the every day
functioning of their classroom.

3. The peer groups, they are made of up people with similar age group and
status in society. The group also set norms and values by which the individual must
abide. Here, the child enters the second stage of gender socialization where elder
children are encouraged to be with the children of their own gender and feel disgusted
on being getting associated with the children of other gender, from this stage onward
they tend to develop a strong sense of gender identity which later culminates into rigid
roles.

4. Under the secondary socialization, are the work environment, mass media and
religion. There are certain occupational and job categories and courses meant for
women and men, for instance, teaching, home science, nursing profession and
psychological practices are now considered female domain as society considers them
more sensitive. Meanwhile roles such jobs such as that of drivers, high bureaucratic
posts, postman, bus conductors all rigidly defined foe men, the roles are so unbending,
that any deviation from them is not encouraged and even punished for. The famous
book of 17th century, the ‘Malfic Malfecarum’ tells stories of women who were identifies
as witches for not adhering to the traditional roles, various atrocities were showered
upon them. Jane of Arch was burnt alive as French society could not accept a woman
leading an army to victory in a battle front. Men who are found to be sensitive and
emotional have been assigned the label of ‘jellyfish’ in United States, in the French open
held in 20002
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when Andre Aggassi broke down after loosing in the men’s singles, the western media
criticized his spontaneous outburst as too ‘girly’ n unfit for a sportsman.

5. The mass media which serve as a medium of communication is one of the

agencies of socialization. Through the mass media, individual are able to learn and
adopted new of lifestyle and behavior which at the end becomes a convention in the
society. Fashion is a platform were inventions and innovations are tried, metro sexuality
for men is fine example, but them most men have not accepted it and those who
experiment with it are termed ‘transvestites’. Power dressing is another aspect of
gender identity which indicates that women who dress as men with formal coats in
pastels and shoes are found to be more successful than those who dress in a feminine
manner.

6. Religion is a major agency of socialization because it embodies the moral

principle in society. In this respect, religion has its own set of norms, values and
objectives that regulate the conduct of its members.

The roles and expectations defined for men and women are highly inflexible, The Bible
contains various references where women who don’t cover their heads , while praying
are labeled as ‘seductresses’ and holy texts of various religions concentrate on men as
warriors and fighters and those who indulged in it enjoyed social sanctions and deviants
were met with divine reprisal.

In conclusion, it is from the agencies of socialization that we learn how to act in the way
that others expect of us in society.

END PRODUCTS OF GENDER SOCIALIZATION

There are several end products or consequences of gender

socialization they are as explained:-

Gender Identity: Perception of Difference in Gender

1. Identification
Developing a gender identity is a result of primary socialization acquired through family
and education. It is defined as those parts of
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self concept involving a person’s self concept as male or a female. Consciousness of
gender identity usually develops about an age of two. This occurs by noticing the
difference in genital make-up and learning to use words such as ‘girl’ and ‘boy’

.
2. Internalization
Gender consistency once an identity begins to take form children stars to
comprehend the importance of gender consistency, they accept the principle that
gender is the basic attribute of a person.

3. Sex typing, gender role behavior and reactions to the gender role behavior

4. Gender role identification: the degree to which an individual identifies with

the gender stereotype of his or her own culture. These generally indicate the general
traditional roles and not any other.

What is Early Gender Socialization and how early does it start?

“What are little boys made of?

Frogs and snails and puppy Dog’s tails
That’s what boy’s are made of. What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and all things nice, That’s what girls are made of.”

At the process starts at birth and involves learning cultural roles according to one’s sex.
From the start, boys and girls are treated differently by people in their own
environment (for example, parents, siblings and caregivers), and thus learn the
difference between boys and girls, women and men. Differing parental and societal
expectations of boys and girls. There is general agreement on what is meant by gender
socialization:
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AGES 2 TO 4

CONCEPTION Child learns social categories of male and female and labels self and others as boy or
girl, though with somewhat precise understanding of what they refer to.
Genes on the sex chromosome determine whether a biological male or a biological
female has been conceived

ADULTHOOD AND ADOLECENCE

Gender identity is well established and gender stereotypes are well understood. the
individual may or may not identify with the gender stereotypes.

LATER CHILDHOOD

Sex identity becomes clear and gender identity develops as self concept, also learns
culturally appropriate and inappropriate characteristics associated with gender. By age
5 gender stereotypes begin to occur.

learns culturally approprair

THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION

It is also clear from the comments received that gender socialization is culturally bound.
As boys are favored over girls in most cultures, this is reflected in their self-image:
boys are often more assertive and demanding, while girls are frequently more
submissive and modes
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Theories on Gender Socialization