Discuss five ways in which gender is learnt.

Gender refers to societal beliefs about appropriate roles, duties, rights, responsibilities, accepted
behaviors, opportunities and status assigned to men and women.

It can also refer to societal ascribed or determined roles of men and women.

It is also the social construction that guard’s men’s and women’s presence in the world.

Ways in which gender is learnt:

One’s gender is known after the checking of the genetalia. Female genetalia is ascribed as a girl and
male genetalia is ascribed as a boy.

Ways in which gender is learnt

1.NAMING

After one knowing whether the child is a boy or a girl, the child is named according to the gender . A girl
child is given a name for a girl and a boy child is given a name for the boy according to the society’s style
of naming e .g Karimi is a girl name according to Ameru and Kirimi is a boy name according to Ameru.

2.DRESSING

Girls are dressed with clothes thought to be of girls.They are worn clothes with pick colours.Boys are
worn clothes with blue colours which are thought for them.

3. Socialisation

In the socialization process, children are introduced to certain roles that are typically linked to their
biological sex. The term gender role refers to society’s concept of how men and women are expected to
act and how they should behave. These roles are based on norms, or standards, created by society. Role
learning starts with socialization at birth. Even today, our society is quick to outfit male infants in blue
and girls in pink, even applying these colour-coded gender labels while a baby is in the womb.

4. play

Parents typically supply boys with trucks, toy guns, and superhero paraphernalia, which are active toys
that promote motor skills, aggression, and solitary play. Girls are often given dolls and dress-up apparel
that foster nurturing, social proximity, and role play. Studies have shown that children will most likely
choose to play with “gender appropriate” toys (or same-gender toys) even when cross-gender toys are
available because parents give children positive feedback (in the form of praise, involvement, and
physical closeness) for gender-normative behavior. Even sports today are categorized by sex whereby
for example we have women’s race and men’s race.

5. Social structure/Ritual

This is the way society is organized (for example, around classes), and it is crucial in shaping our actions
in gendered ways. Crucial in forming gender is the way families are established and who does what
within them. It lays down the cultural principles, norms of behavior etc For example, who cooks, who
washes clothes, who goes to open the shop etc.
6.Social learning experiences

Involves learning from peers and mentors. For example boys learn from their fathers how to be men and
girls learn from their mothers how to be ladies.