SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION

OF GENDER

LECTURE :2 FARHAT ABBAS SIAL

Understanding of the Topic
Society and Culture creates Gender Roles
Prescribed as ideal or appropriate for the particular gender
Two School of Thought on this View:
Differences in behavior are entirely social convention
Behavior is defined by biological universal factors to some
extent, but social convention also has some effect
 HISTORICIZING
CONSTRUCTIVISM
Historicizing means to present something as an outcome of historical development.
Constructionism means that we view the world via the lens of self created constructs i.e.
ideas about reality.

HC means that over the course of history, certain ideas have been constructed about gender. 
These ideas have been enforced and reinforced through out the time. 
In current world, they are presented as truth/ reality and not an ideas that have been
established through historical development of men.
Social Construction focuses on “ How meaning is created”
Language is building bloc of creating reality
We inherit the sex but we learn our gender
When there is differential treatment of people based on their sex the term sexism defines this
behavior.
GENDER IDENTITY
Identity is created the day a child is born
Girls are covered in pink blanket while boys are in blue
Differences in gifts
Gestures:
Research has proved that parents look more cherish and glad upon the birth of baby boy
than a girl
Society typically only recognizes two genders. Therefore, when transgender individuals want to
have a sex change operation, they must prove that they can "pass" as a man or woman – so even
the choice of changing one's gender is socially constructed
Factors responsible for creating
GENDER IDENTITY:
1-Role of Family:
soft names vs hard name
my doll vs Superman
Role of Socialization

2- Social Expectations

 C.H Cooley “ looking glass self”
 A person view himself through the lens of society and adopt traits which are
expected by society
Example: As expected by her family, girl spend more time in house chores
 Boys prefer living out door, office work with fathers
 Factors responsible for creating
GENDER IDENTITY:
◦ Role of Media

◦ Gender Roles

◦ Schooling

◦ Religion

◦ Culture
THEORIES/ APPROCHES
Treats different roles that are assigned to men and women as primary origin of sex-
diffe1- Gender Role Theory:
rentaited behavior.
Mediated by psychological and social process
Gender Hierarchy:
Socially constructed roles are hierarchical and are characterized by man-favored
hierarchy.
Andrew – a famous researcher- described Patriarchy as:
“ Social order based on men domination over women , especially in agricultural
societies”
Judith Butler concept
there is no connection btw person gender and person sex and these are socially
constructed and their behavior are rooted in roles which society assigned to them
 Evolved physical
differences
between men and
women

How gender
roles create Men assigned role
of hunter and
psychological female home maker
differences

Psychological diff
then emerged from
these roles
 FUNCTIONALIST APPROCH
Build on Talcott Parson’s View on ‘Nuclear Family”

Popular in 1940s and 1950s

Efficient division of labor_ Gender specific tasks

To ensure efficiency and Maximization of resources

Men are more suited on instrumental role (Financial supporter), and female

expressive role (emotional support and nurturing)

CRITICIZM:

Focus too much on the stability of society

 CONFLICT THEORY
Society is defined by a struggle for dominance among social groups that compete for scare
resources

societies are divided into groups

Bourgeoisie and
proletariat

Relationship between females and males has traditionally been one of unequal power , with men
in a dominant position over women

men's work is uniformly valued while women's work is devalued

CONFLICT THEORY
social change: How conflict leads to social change?

Conflict between the two groups caused things like women's Suffrage Movement and was
responsible for change

CRITICIZM:
it ignores social unity based on mutual interdependence

It did not clearly say how to solve the problem in case of gender inequality
GENDER SCHEMA
1980s- Sandra Bem- Culture THEORY
Children learn about what it means to be male and female from the culture they live in
They adjust their behavior to fit in with the gender norms and expectations of their
culture

influence's processing of
social information
Society’s
belief about
the traits of Gender
male and Schema Influences self-esteem
female (only behavior consistent
with gender schema are
acceptable)
QUEER THEORY
Tresa de Lauretis coined it as “Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities”
Theory originated in Judith Butler’s 1991 book “Gender Trouble”
1970 the movement was established in Britain in the autumn (GLF): Gay Liberation
Front
By 1972 the largest British Gay organization was the Campaign for Homosexual Equality,
which centered its efforts on law reform and developing social facilities—there were far
fewer gay bars and clubs then than there are now
Meaning of the term “queer”: odd or abnormal, strange, peculiar, out of ordinary until
1980s.
Queer theory is a set of ideas based around the idea that identities are not fixed and do not
determine who we are.
QUEER THEORY
social meaning. Includes Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
Rejects the traditional categories of gender and sexuality

MISMATCH:
QT sees mismatch between gender , sex and desire. Like gender and sex not always
align, gender and sexuality also cannot.

Annamarie Jagose wrote book “Queer Theory: An introduction” 1996 and described:
“QT focuses on mismatch between gender , sex and desire”
Gender are not biologically but sociology constructed and therefore desires are
changeable . (Judith Butler)
IS SEX SOCIALLY DETERMINED
TOO?

It can be said that to an extent, sex is also socially constructed. It is true that
distinction between the sexes depend on biological features, however, some
changes may vary with the situation
For example, you could identify a transgender person as female, when in fact she is
assigned male at birth.

Another example is Caster Semenya who was assigned female at birth, raised and
identified as a women but has XY chromosomes and exceptionally high
testosterone levels
Texas marriage laws” females with XY chromosomes marry to XX females
 NATURE VS NURTURE DEBATE
Ambiguities over the genesis of gender roles and identities
Bio-physical differences vs Social Construction (Social and cultural values of society)
NATURE:
Differences due to physical differences e.g. Genital organs and other internal traits.
NATURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE:
Body structure
Voice Tone
Hormonal Differences
Differentiation of Internal Organs
Female reaches puberty earlier than male
Differences in bone development
The Debate of Nurture :

Nurture determines one is boy or girls, they are taught to behave like girls or boy
Environmental factors and culture define one’s role and practices as male or female
Evolutionary psychology labels these differences as a product of evolution
Cognitive social learning theory purposes these differences are the outcome of socially
acceptable individual’s roles
Homosexuality and Gender Role
Play significant role in nature and nurture theory
It is biological or socially learned
 ANALYSIS
Relationship Between Nature and Nurture

Both combine together results in creating gender specific Roles

and Identities
 CSS PAPERS
What are the theories of social construction of gender? (2016)
Gender has multiple meanings? How do you deconstruct the word gender?
Language is gendered. What does it imply? Explain with examples
Sample Question 3
INTRODUCTION:
Conceptualizing the term:
when the use of words , phrase and expressions intentionally discriminate and exclude
women from men and both from other genders implied the language is gendered

WB report 2019, 38 percent of the world's languages are gendered

Proofs/ Manifestation of Gendered Language

Differences in Noun and Pronouns
Waitress vs waiter
master and mistress
King and Queen
Sample
Gendered language in literature and stories
Romeo and Juliet
Antony and Cleopatra
shah Jahan and Mumtaz

Differences in greetings and thankfulness.

France and Thailand

Implications of gendered society and language on male dominated world

 SAMPLE:
way forward
Gender- Neutral Vocabulary as a part of daily affairs
police officer rather than policemen or women
mad-made to human- mad
Conclusion.
Reference book
The Social Constructing of Gender by Judith Lorber

The author begins the article by speaking about society’s beliefs that gender is
somehow ingrained or permanent within society. The truth however is that gender is
constantly changing and being redefined. Gender is man made, so therefore it is able
to change.