CHAPTER VI

GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

 GENDER – a social construct
specifying the socially and
culturally prescribed roles that
man and woman are to follow.

SEX
– the state of being
male or female or a
biological concept
GENDER shapes the lives of all people in all societies. It
influences all aspects of our lives.
- Schooling we receives
- Social roles we play
- Power and authority we
command
Population Process
- Where men and women live
- How they bear and rear
children
- How they die
 Theories of Gender Development

1. Social Learning Theory

2. Cognitive Development Theory
3. Gender Schema Theory
 Social Learning Theory
• Also known as Observational Learning or Modeling
• Believe that parents , as the distributors of the reinforcement, reinforce
appropriate gender role behaviors.

If the parents have good

relationships with their children,
they become models for their
children to imitate, encouraging
them to acquire gender-related
behavior.
 Cognitive Development Theory

What is Cognition?
• Derived from the latin word “cognoscere” which means “to know” or
“to recognize” or “to conceptualise”.

• It refers to the mental processes an organism learns, remembers

understands, perceives, solves problems and thinks about a body of
information.
 Cognitive Development describes how
these mental processes develop from
birth until adulthood.

 It is the process by which people’s

thinking changes across the life span.
 Gender Schema Theory
What is Schema?
• It is a mental blueprint for organizing
information, and children develop and
formulate an appropriate gender.

• It is based on based on children’s

interactions and observations of others,
their environment and the culture.
What is Gender Stereotyping?
Gender Stereotype
 Gender Stereotype
- the beliefs human hold about the characteristics associated with
males and females.
 Gender and Equality
Gender equality gives women and
men the same entitlements to all
aspects of human development,
including economic, social, cultural,
civil and political rights, the same
level of respects, the same
opportunities and the same level of
power to shape the outcomes of these
choices.
Gender and Inequality