UNIT I: GENDER ROLES IN SOCIETY

Dr. A.P.SHEKHAR
Asst. Prof of Chemistry
Department of Education
Govt. College of Education for Women
Coimbatore – 641 001
shekharcgac@gmail.com,
9952168588
 INTRODUCTION

Gender is constructed in individual, interactional, and

structural ways to create environmental constraints
and opportunities that usually benefit men more than
women
Gender does not, however, affect families’ lives in
isolation
 Gender roles are based on the different expectations
that individuals, groups, and societies have of
individuals based on their sex and based on each
society’s values and beliefs about gender
 Gender roles are the product of the interactions
between individuals and their environments and
they give individuals cues about what sort of
behaviour is believed to be appropriate for what
sex

 Appropriate gender roles are defined according

to a society’s beliefs about differences between
the sexes
 The differentiation between gender and sex
came in the discourse to define the secondary
status of women
 Historically it is widespread that different traits,
roles, responsibilities and characteristics
between men and women in society regulated by
different social institutions are determined by
their gender which is acceptable and not
changeable in society and it is because of their
biological differences which make women,
accountable for their secondary status in society
This phenomenology existing naturally which
highlight the issues of gender discrimination,
exploitation, inequalities and injustice in the society
regulated by norms and values.
 GENDER: MEANING AND
DEFINITION
 The concept of gender was first used by Ill Matthews
in 1984 in her study of the construction of femininity

 According to Mathews, the concept of gender gives

recognition to the fact that every known society
differentiates between women and men
 Gender is a socially constructed term which has
specified nature and meaning
 It is manifestation towards the socio-cultural
framework of man and woman in society which
assign those duties, responsibilities and various
social roles
 It is used as an equipment to analyze the situation,
taboos, and realities of social roles posed by
various social institutions (i.e. family, marriage,
religion etc.)
 Gender identity has moved from dualism to
multiplicity
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GENDER & SEX
 Gender and sex are different concepts. Gender
refers to the meanings, values, and characteristics
that people ascribe to different sexes.
 Gender refers to the socially learned attitudes and
behaviours associated with being male or female
 Sex refers to the biological characteristics with
which we were born that determine whether we
are male or female.
 Sex includes anatomical differences and
differences in sex chromosomes, hormones and
physiology.
 The distinction between gender and sex
differentiates sex (the anatomy of an individual's
reproductive system, and secondary sex
characteristics) from gender, which can refer to
either social roles based on the sex of the person
(gender role) or personal identification of one's own
gender based on an internal awareness (gender
identity)
 In some circumstances, an individual's assigned sex
and gender do not align, and the person may be
transgender, gender-nonconforming, non-binary, or
intersex.
 Distinctions between Gender and
sex is shown in Table
 Gender  Sex
 Gender is socially  Sex is biological; it refers
constructed have specific
to noticeable differences
roles, responsibilities and in reproductive organs.
behaviour patterns.
 Gender is culture specific
 Sex is natural, constant
and Universal.
 It varies within and
between in society (i.e. as  Sex cannot be changed.
per regulations of social
institutions)
GENDER ROLES IN SOCIETY:
Family, caste, class, religion, culture, the media and
the popular culture, law and the state.
 Gender refers to the socially learned attitudes and
behaviours associated with being male or female.
A role is the behaviour expected of someone who
holds a particular status
 A gender role is the behaviour expected of a
female or a male in a particular culture, the
attitudes and activities that a society expects of
each sex
 A sex role is the behaviour defined by biological
constraints
 Theories on gender linked it with different
dimensions, as Sigmund Freud perceive gender
identity as linked to sexual consciousness of being a
male or female
 Biologically men are the weaker sex and the Y
chromosome (found only in men) is responsible for
many handicaps for women
 Ashley Montagu in his book The Natural
Superiority of Women contains 62 specific disorders
due largely or wholly to sex-linked genes and found
mostly in males
 FAMILY

 The child’s first influence in regards to gender

roles is the family. From birth to five years of
age, most children are almost constantly
surrounded by family
 About half of them are serious, and include
hemophilia (failure of the blood-clotting
mechanism), mistral stenosis (a heart deformity)
and some forms of mental deficiency
 At every stage of life, beginning with
conception, more genetic males die than genetic
females
 Gender and Caste
 Indian population follows a rigid caste system
which divides people into a hierarchy that governs
the distribution of power, status, and identity in
society’ (Macwan, 2006)
 The caste system, is divided into four distinct
classes comprised of (in descending order of
“superiority”) priests, warriors, artisans, and
peasants
 These four classes are “vested with spiritual
importance” because they all derive from different
parts of the Hindu god, Brahma.
 Below the four castes are the “untouchables, also
known as Dalits or in Indian legal parlance:
Scheduled Castes
 They are officially external to the caste scheme; i.e.,
they are considered to be outcasts and are seen as a
lower from one of the four Hindu classes
6-year-old Dalit girl forced to lift her excreta by upper caste man in
MP
The man reportedly lost his temper when he saw her defecating in the open
outside her school. Aug 22, 2017 13:06 IST
 Religion

 The main religions of the world all contain certain

ideas about the appropriate roles for men and
women in society, and traditionally, this has placed
women in the home and men in the ‘outside’ world
 This holds true even now a days, where much
change is occurring in societies with increasing
female labour market participation and changes in
attitudes accompanying this
 Culture

 Culture refers to the beliefs and practices of

another society, particularly where these are seen
as closely linked with tradition or religion
 Culture is part of the fabric of every society,
including our own
 Social media
 Gender roles and stereotypes have slowly started
to change in society within the past few decades.
These changes occur mostly in communication,
but more specifically during social interactions
 The ways people communicate and socialize
have also started to change along side
advancement in technology
 One of the biggest reasons for this change is
due to social media
 REFRESH

Gender-Sex – difference between two

Role of Society- Family, Caste, Class, Religion, Culture, the

Media
The role of popular culture and ideas as agents of
change in gender equality:
What Exactly is Popular Culture?
 Popular culture can describe texts like Michael
Jackson’s Thriller album that are or were widely
liked by many people
 Popular culture is often used to refer to things
that are less sophisticated or considered “low”
culture
 Adults often dismiss children’s culture as
innocent, crass, or dumped down
 For instance, popular series books produced for
youth, such as the Nancy Drew mysteries, were not
available in public library collections for decades
because librarians dismissed them as popular texts
that had little or no literary value
 Popular culture is often synonymous with a
consumer culture that is produced for mass
consumption
 Popular culture might also be defined as a place for
creating new forms of expression as well as a
vehicle for critique
 In particular, mainstream popular culture and
media offer a space where new meanings are made
through tactics such as culture jamming
 Culture jamming refers to the rewriting or
reimagining of media such as corporate logos or
advertisements in a way that subverts or overturns
taken-for-granted ideas
 Gender stereotypes are pervasive in the media
and popular culture
 Consumer products inundate children with
gender-types messages on clothes, school
supplies, toys and furniture
 Not only are these products marketed for
specific genders, but they are merchandised in
stores by gender, creating segregated pink and
blue aisles for shopping
 Law and the State
 Access to justice is important for gender equality
because it enables equitable enjoyment of a
whole range of rights and resources

 Law and justice institutions play a key role in

the distribution of rights and resources among
women and men across all sectors
 Indian Constitution provides for positive efforts
to eliminate gender inequality

 Article 15 of the Constitution provides for

prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex
also apart from other grounds such as religion,
race, caste or place of birth
 Article 15(3) authorizes the Sate to make any
special provision for women and children
 REASONS FOR GENDER
INEQUALITIES
 Lorber states that gender inequality has been a
historic worldwide phenomena, a human
invention and based on gender assumptions

 Amartya Sen highlighted the need to consider

the socio-cultural influences that promote
gender inequalities
 The root cause of gender inequality in Indian
society lies in its patriarchy system
 According to the famous sociologists Sylvia Walby,
patriarchy is “a system of social structure and
practices in which men dominate, oppress and
exploit women”.
 Women’s exploitation is an age old cultural
phenomenon of Indian society
 The system of patriarchy finds its validity and
sanction in our religious beliefs, whether it is
Hindu, Muslim or any other religion.
 In India, cultural influences favour the
preference for sons for reasons related to
kinship, lineage, inheritance, identity, status, and
economic security

 This preference cuts across class and caste lines,

and it discriminates against girls. In extreme
cases, the discrimination takes the form of
honor killings where families kill daughters
 GENDER – EDUCATION
OUTSIDE SCHOOL SETTINGS
 Children in this society learn at a very young age
that there are differences between boys and girls
This idea permeates daily life and is encouraged
by parents, peers, school, and the media
 Little girls learn that they are supposed to like
dolls and pink, while little boys learn that they are
supposed to like trucks and the color blue
Through various forms of guidance and direction
from external influences, children experience
gender role socialization(Albert,1988)
 During the second half of the twentieth century
there was a dramatic shift in society's perception
of gender roles
 Due to many variables but the most prominent
influence was the increase of women in the
workplace
 The public began to see men and women from a

more equalitarian viewpoint

 Researchers hypothesized that this would result
in a decrease of gender role stereotypes
throughout society

 However, there has not been a significant

change in adults' perceptions of gender roles as
they relate to children
 CONCLUSION
 Teachers need training to recognize their own
explicit and implicit biases and how these biases
affect their classroom behaviors

 Parents should seek educational settings for their

students that are gender integrated and that
make use of curricula that directly teach about,
and challenge, gender bias and inequality
Differentiate between Gender and sex.

Discuss the Gender roles in society in detail.

. How does a) the Family and b) The Mass Media influence

gender roles in society?

 Describe the role of popular culture and ideas as agents of

change in gender equality

Enumerate the reasons for Gender inequality.

Gender education outside the school setting – Explain.
Thank you very much
 MonaVaronicaCampbell
A plus size transgender model graduated from NIFT with a PHD in her
name. She owns a makeup label also
 Joyita Mondal
First transgender judge of Lok Adalat in India. With a degree she was the
first transgender to get a voter ID in her district in 2010.
 PadminiPrakash
First transgender news anchor in India, when she started anchoring a
primetime news show for Lotus TV in Tamil Nadu
 Manabi Bandhopadhyay
First openly transgender college principal in the country. She was also the
first transgendered person from West Bengal to have a PhD.
 Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi
A trans right activist, who fought for India to recognise a third gender,
giving many citizens the choice to identify as neither male nor female. She
has also actively fought to repeal Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code
 A. Revathi
The author of books Unarvum Uruvamum and The Truth About Me. In
fact, the latter has been included in the syllabus for third gender literature
at the American College of Madurai.
 Madhu Kumar
The first trans woman to get elected mayor in the state of Chattisgarh. The
then-35-year-old won the election by 4,537 votes against BJP’s Mahaveer
Guruji.
 AnjaliAmeer
She was propelled to fame when she was announced as the first transgender
actress to work in a mainstream film, with Malayalam actor Mammootty
playingthemalelead.
 Living Smile Vidya
She is an actor and writer from Chennai. She was the subject of the award-
winning Kannada documentary Naanu Avanalla…Avalu, based on her
autobiography of the same name. The autobiography, Naan Saravanan
Illai, Vidya was first written in Tamil, and later translated in seven
languages.
 Kalki Subramaniam
A trans rights activist and has led the way by being a successful
entrepreneur. She was the first trans woman to star as a lead in an Indian
movie. She runs an NGO called Sahodari Foundation which works for the
welfare of the trans/intersex community.
 Santa Khurai
Khurai opened the first beauty salon run by a trans woman in Manipur,
thus leading the way for many others to open up their own salons across
the state. After she shut her salon in 2010, she led the All Manipur
NupiMaanbi Association (AMANA), a coalition working towards raising
awareness of the rights of the transgender community.