Meaning of gender

Gender refers to the socially and culturally constructed differences between men
and women, boys and girls, which give them unequal value, opportunities and life
chances (Kabeer, 2003). It also refers to typically masculine and feminine
characteristics, abilities and expectations about how women and men should
behave in society. These characters are time bound and changeable.

Although notions of gender may differ across history and culture, all known human
cultures make gender distinctions (Ellemers2018; Martin and Slepian 2020).
Gender is a complex construction of the dynamic and fluctuating interactions of
biological sex, developmental factors and sociohistorical cultural meaning systems
that create evolving meanings over individual and historical time (Wood and Eagly
2012). Within psychology, gender is usually theorized through stereotypes
(Ellemer 2018). Stereotypes are hierarchically or schematically organized
conceptual structures (Tao and chen 2017) that convey expectations for gendered
roles, activities and appearances’

Gender/Sex roles

Gender/sex roles in society means how we’re expected to act, speak, dress, groom,
and conduct ourselves based upon our assigned sex. For example, girls and women
are generally expected to dress in typically feminine ways and be polite,
accommodating, and nurturing. Men are generally expected to be strong,
aggressive, and bold.

Every society, ethnic group, and culture has gender role expectations, but they can
be very different from group to group. They can also change in the same society
over time. For example, pink used to be considered a feminine color in the Nigeria
while blue was considered masculine.

Stereotype

A stereotype is a widely accepted judgment or bias about a person or group —

even though it’s overly simplified and not always accurate. Stereotypes about
gender can cause unequal and unfair treatment because of a person’s gender. This
is called sexism.

There are four basic kinds of gender stereotypes:

  Personality traits — For example, women are often expected to be
accommodating and emotional, while men are usually expected to be self-
confident and aggressive.
 Domestic behaviors — For example, some people expect that women will
take care of the children, cook, and clean the home, while men take care of
finances, work on the car, and do the home repairs.
 Occupations — Some people are quick to assume that teachers and nurses
are women, and that pilots, doctors, and engineers are men.

 Physical appearance — For example, women are expected to be thin and

graceful, while men are expected to be tall and muscular. Men and women
are also expected to dress and groom in ways that are stereotypical to their
gender (men wearing pants and short hairstyles, women wearing dresses and
make-up.

Hyper femininity is the exaggeration of stereotyped behavior that’s believed to be

feminine. Hyperfeminine folks exaggerate the qualities they believe to be
feminine. This may include being passive, naive, sexually inexperienced, soft,
flirtatious, graceful, nurturing, and accepting.

Hypermasculinity is the exaggeration of stereotyped behavior that’s believed to be

masculine. Hypermasculine folks exaggerate the qualities they believe to be
masculine. They believe they’re supposed to compete with other men and
dominate feminine folks by being aggressive, worldly, sexually experienced,
insensitive, physically imposing, ambitious, and demanding.

These exaggerated gender stereotypes can make relationships between people

difficult. Hyperfeminine folks are more likely to endure physical and emotional
abuse from their partners. Hypermasculine folks are more likely to be physically
and emotionally abusive to their partners.

How we can help children fight gender stereotype

We probably see gender stereotypes all around us. We might also have seen or
experienced sexism, or discrimination based on gender. There are ways to
challenge these stereotypes to help everyone especially children no matter their
gender or gender identity feel equal and valued as people.

 Point it out — Magazines, TV, film, and the Internet are full of negative
gender stereotypes. Sometimes these stereotypes are hard for people to see
unless they’re pointed out. Be that person! Talk with friends and family
 members about the stereotypes you see and help others understand how
sexism and gender stereotypes can be hurtful.
 Be a living example — Be a role model to these young children, your friends
and family. Respect people regardless of their gender identity. Create a safe
space for people to express themselves and their true qualities regardless of
what society’s gender stereotypes and expectations are.
 Speak up — If someone is making sexist jokes and comments, whether
online or in person, challenge them.
 Give it a try — If you want to do something that’s not normally associated
with your gender, think about whether you’ll be safe doing it. If you think
you will, give it a try. People will learn from your example.

If you’ve been struggling with gender or gender identity and expectations, you’re
not alone. It may help you to talk to a trusted parent, friend, family member,
teacher, or counselor.

References

.Eagly, AH, Nater, C, Miller, DI, Kaufmann, M and Sczesny, S (2020) Gender
stereotypes have changed: A cross-temporal metaanalysis of US public opinion
polls from 1946 to 2018. American Psychologist 75(3), 301.CrossRefGoogle
Scholar

Ellemers, N (2018) Gender stereotypes. Annual Review of Psychology 69, 275–

298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Martin, AE and Slepian, ML (2020) The primacy of gender: Gendered cognition

underlies the big two dimensions of social cognition. Perspectives on
Psychological Science, 1745691620904961. (published online).

Tao, AH and Chen, X (2017) A review of the theoretical models of stereotypes.

International Journal of Research Studies in Science, Engineering and Technology
4(9), 22–26.Google Scholar
Wood, W and Eagly, AH (2012) Biosocial construction of sex differences and
similarities in behavior. In Olson, JM and Zanna, MP (eds), Advances in
Experimental Social Psychology, vol 46. Academic Press, 55–123.Google Scholar