Session 10: Gender

March 7 and 12, 2019

• Name one of your own behaviours or
attributes that is typical of your gender.
• Name one of your own behaviours or
attributes that is atypical of your gender.
 In this session
• The difference between sex and gender
• Biology versus socialization
• The social construction of gender/sex
– Changing masculinities
• Theories of gender inequality
• The gender order
• Feminist approaches – what is feminism?
– Liberal feminism
– Socialist/Marxist feminism
– Radical feminism
– Black/Third World feminisms
• Theorising patriarchy
 Sex/gender

• What is the difference between sex and gender?

– Sex: the physical characteristics that separate women and men
– Gender: the psychological, social, and cultural differences between
women and men.
• The social construction of femininity and masculinity
• Are sex and gender necessarily linked?
• Cisgender: Someone whose gender identity matches what
they were assigned at birth.
• Transgender: Someone who identifies as a different gender
than what was assigned to them at birth.
• Nonbinary: A catch-all term for those whose gender identity
doesn't fit within the traditional binary of man and woman.
 Biological arguments
• How far are differences between women and men based on biology?
• Some authors argue that human biology is the basis for gender
differences (genes, chromosomes, brain size, etc.)
• These differences can be seen across cultures and hence they are
‘natural’
– E.g. in almost all cultures, more men engage in hunting and warfare than
women.
– Women are more likely to take responsibility for childrearing.
• What are the problems with biological arguments?
– If something is universal, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is natural.
– There is very little evidence to link biological forces with complex social
behaviours
 The Five Sexes
• Anne Fausto-Sterling, who is a professor of biology and
women’s studies at Brown University, argues that there are at
least 5 sexes apart from male and female.
• The common medical term is ‘intersex’, which is a ‘catch-all’
for three major sub-groups:
– True hermaphrodites (herms): they possess one testis and one ovary
– The male pseudohermaphrodites (merms): they have testes and
some aspects of female genitalia but no ovaries.
– The female pseudohermaphrodites (ferms): they have ovaries and
some aspects of male genitalia but lack testes.
• She argues that we should approach sex as a continuum.
 Gender socialization
• Gender socialization: The learning of gender through
socializing agencies such as the family and the media.
• This approach distinguishes between biological sex,
which one is born with, and gender, which is learned.
• Gender differences are thus culturally produced.
– Examples of gender socialization.
• The media is a major influence in the process of
gender socialization.
– Cultural and media products marketed to children embody
traditional attitudes towards gender.
• Is gender socialization always a smooth
process?
– ‘Agencies of socialization cannot produce
mechanical effects in a growing person. What
they do is invite the child to participate in social
practices on given terms….Yet children do decline,
or more exactly start making their own moves on
the terrain of gender.’ (Connell 1987)
• Gender structures are also subject to
processes of structuration.
 The Social Construction of Gender and Sex

• The body is also subject to social construction.

• Individuals can choose to construct and reconstruct their
bodies as they please.
– How?
• The human body and biology are not ‘givens’ but are also
subject to human agency and personal choice within different
social contexts.
• Strict social constructionists reject any biological basis for
gender difference.
– E.g. a society which characterizes men as ‘tough’ will encourage men
to cultivate a particular type of body and adopt particular
mannerisms.
• ‘There are and will continue to be highly
masculine people out there; it's just that some
of them are women. And some of the most
feminine people I know happen to be men.’
(Anne Fausto Sterling)
 Masculinities and the gender order

• Theorists of gender have recently turned their

attention to understanding the formation of male
identities.
• This has been prompted by the changes affecting
women’s and men’s roles in industrialized societies.
• Connell argues that masculinities are an important
part of the ‘gender order’ and hence cannot be
ignored.
• How is masculinity constructed in Pakistan? Is this
changing?
 The gender order
• Connell argues that there are three aspects of society that interact to
form the gender order:
– Labour: the sexual division of labour both within the home and outside.
– Power: operates through social relations of authority, violence, and ideology
– Cathexis: the dynamics within intimate, personal relationships and include
marriage, sexuality and childrearing.
• Connell uses gender regime to refer to the play of gender relations in
smaller settings, such as in specific institutions.
– A family, a neighbourhood, and a state all have their own gender regimes.
• Connell has also studied the globalization of the gender order through:
– Transnational corporations
– International NGOs and inter-governmental organisations
– The international media
– Global markets
 Connell’s theory of the gender hierarchy

• Connell argues that there are ideal types of masculinities and femininities
which are organized in a hierarchy.
• At the top is hegemonic masculinity:
– Associated with heterosexuality but also with paid work, physical strength and
toughness.
• Men who benefit from this masculinity, without embodying it perfectly are
said to possess ‘complicit masculinity’
• Subordinate masculinity includes homosexual masculinity, in which the
homosexual is seen as the opposite of a ‘real man’.
• Emphasised femininity is seen as the counterpart to hegemonic masculinity.
– This is oriented towards accommodating the interests and desires of men and is
characterized by ‘compliance, nurturance, and empathy.’
• Subordinated femininities’ reject emphasized femininity
• Criticisms of Connell?
 The Gender Order in Crisis?
• Western societies are undergoing a ‘gender crisis’
– There is a ‘crisis of institutionalisation’
• Institutions that have supported male power—the state and the family
—are being undermined
• This is being achieved through legislation on divorce, domestic
violence, and rape.
– There is a ‘crisis of sexuality’
• Hegemonic heterosexuality is less dominant than it once was.
• Women’s sexuality and gay sexuality put heterosexual masculine
sexuality under pressure.
– There is a ‘crisis of interest formation’
• There are new foundations for social interests that challenge the
dominant gender order.
• Is this necessarily bad for men?
 Gender Inequality

• http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/pr
oducts/Worldswomen/WW2010pub.htm
 Functionalist approaches:
• Gender differences contribute to social stability and integration.
• Women and men perform different roles because they are
biologically suited to do so.
• Parsons argued that stable families were key to the smooth
functioning of society.
– This includes a clear cut division of labour within the household, with
women performing expressive roles, providing care and security for
children.
– Men should perform instrumental roles, being the breadwinners of
the family.
– This complementary division of labour will ensure the stability of the
family.
• Criticisms of this approach?
 Feminist Approaches
• What is feminism?
• "I myself have never been able to find out
precisely what feminism is: I only know that
people call me a feminist whenever I express
sentiments that differentiate me from a
doormat or a prostitute..." --Rebecca West,
The Clarion, 11/14/13
 Liberal feminism
• Argues for equality of women and men within the current system.
• Particularly focused on legal, political and economic equality (e.g.
the right to vote).
• In recent decades, liberal feminists have worked to end sexual
discrimination in the workplace, in educational institutions and in
the media.
• Liberal feminists seem to work through the existing system
pushing for gradual changes.
• Criticisms?
• Critics argue that they are unsuccessful in tackling the root causes
of gender inequality because they focus on individual issues.
 Socialist/Marxist feminism
• Engels argued that material and economic factors underlay
women’s oppression, because patriarchy has its roots in private
property.
• He argued that capitalism intensified patriarchy by concentrating
wealth and power in the hands of a small number of men.
• Also, for the capitalist system to survive, it must define people
according to particular roles, framing women as consumers with
never-ending needs.
• Capitalism also relies on women to provide free labour at home
in terms of caring and cleaning.
– Capitalism pays low wages to men and no wages to women.
– Wages for housework campaign
 Radical feminism
• Radical feminists believe that men are responsible for and benefit
from the exploitation of women.
• Patriarchy—or the systematic domination of women by men—is
central to their analysis
• Patriarchy is seen as universal across time and cultures.
• Men exploit women by relying on free domestic labour.
• Men also deny women access to positions of power in society.
• They point to violence against women as central to male supremacy.
• Popular conceptions of beauty are imposed on women by men in
order to produce a certain, ideal type of femininity.
– The ‘objectification’ of women through the media, fashion and advertising
turns women into sexual objects whose main role is to please and entertain
men.
• Criticisms of radical feminism?
 Reconceptualising ‘Patriarchy’
• Walby (1990) argues that patriarchy ‘is a system of social structures and
practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women.’
• Patriarchy and capitalism are distinct systems, which interact in different ways.
– Capitalism has generally benefited from the sexual division of labour, but in times of war,
women have had to enter the labour market in great numbers.
• Walby identifies 6 structures through which patriarchy operates:
– Production relations in the household
– Paid work
– The patriarchal state
– Male violence
– Patriarchal relations in sexuality
– Patriarchal cultural institutions
• Walby outlined two types of patriarchy:
– Private patriarchy, which occurs in the household at the hands of the individual patriarch.
– Public patriarchy, which is collective and excludes women from wealth, power and status.
• Walby argues that patriarchy is lessening but it is still there.
 
 Black/Third World feminism
• Many black and third world feminists feel excluded from the feminisms that have
been dominant in the West.
– They argue that feminism has been dominated by white, middle class women living in
industrialized societies.
• They question the notion of a unified group of ‘women’ that is oppressed in the
same way.
• African American women argue that they face the double burden of racial and
gender-based oppression.
– Authors such as bell hooks argue that, while the family may have been the site of
oppression for white women, for black women the family may represent a place of
solidarity against racism.
• Third world feminists as well argue that colonialism and global inequality must
be taken into account when discussing women in developing countries.
• Black and Third World feminists emphasise the intersections of race, gender and
class.
• ‘Third World feminism is about feeding people
in all their hungers.’ (Cherrie Moraga, 1983)
 Women’s Movements
• Women’s movements have emerged throughout the world since the late
twentieth century
• The early women’s movements, in Western and developing country
contexts, struggled for women’s political rights and rights to education.
• In the 1960s, women’s movements re-emerged in Europe and North
America and began a more radical critique of patriarchy as a whole.
• Women’s movements re-emerged in developing countries during the 70s
and 80s, and drew attention to issues of poverty and global inequality.
• The women’s movement in Pakistan emerged during the 1980s during
the Zia regime in order to oppose his anti-woman policies such as the
Hudood Ordinances.
• Women’s movements influence and are influenced by feminist theories.
 Questions for discussion

• How is ‘woman’ defined according to De Beauvoir?

• As a lack, an an aberration, always in relation to men.
• Woman determined by nature, by her glands.
• ‘“Woman is determined not by her hormones or by mysterious instincts, but by
the manner in which her body and her relation to the world are modified through
the action of others than herself.”
• Is economic change enough?
• How are women different from the proletariat?
• ‘She is the Other in a totality of which the two components are necessary to one
another.’
• Do you think feminism is necessary in Pakistan?
• What are the main sources of gender inequality in Pakistan? How can they be
overcome?
• Do you see gender inequality at LUMS? In what ways?