Gender + Society

• Patriarchal Society


  society dominated by men and male interests
• Socialisation


  Process by which people learn cultural normas
• gender expression


  the ways in which people behave as a result of their gender identification
• gender identification 


  way people perceive themselves in terms of masculine, feminine both or neither
• Gender biology


  physical characteristics that enable someone to be identified as a male or female
• Feminism 


  name given to a wide variety of views arguing for and working for the equality of women
• Biological Sex and Gender:

  • someone's biological sex is determined by physical factors such as sex organs and hormone levels
  • gender - sophisticated relationship between someone's physical characteristics
  • gender can be related to sexuality but it does not determine sexuality
  • lot's of people find that their gender aligns comfortably with their biological sex
  • some people are born with an ambiguous biological sex
• Biological Sex and Gender:

  • some people argue that gender is something acquired through socialisation
  • this is how we learn all of the spoken and unspoken rules of society
  • Western Society puts emphasis on the distinction between male and female
  • Throughout childhood, there is constant reminders of our gender
  • marketed toward the different genders
• liberal feminism

  maintain equality through legal reform
• radical feminism

  eliminate the concept of gender as it comes from male domination -- it is culturally engrained
• socialist feminism

  to end capitalism - socialist reformation of the economy as it gives fewer opportunities to women of the working class ~~ double discrimination
• black feminism

  Sexism, class and racism are extrinsically linked together
• postmodern feminism

  incorporates postmodern and post secularist theories, remembracing feminity to liberate and empower women --- choices
• Ancient Philosophical views on gender roles:

  • Plato - women subservient to men, world of forms being a woman was seen as a punishment '𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴 '
  • Aristotle - women were naturally inferior to men and that they are passive in the reproduction process - 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴
  • women were believed to be governed by men just like animals
• Patriarchy:

  • term used for male dominance
  • despite the rise of feminism and a move towards equality, majority of the world can be seen as patriarchal
• First Wave - Harriet Taylor Women's Rights

  • focus on equal rights
  • Harriet Taylor Enfranchisement of Women 1851 - women should have equal voting rights - equality in marriage law for financial independence and divorce and equal pay. Married John Stuart Mill
  • Mary Wollstonecraft - wrote a Vindication to the Rights of Women a response to Emile by Jean Rousseaus who said a woman's education should be to support a man
• Second Wave:

  • During the 1960s this challenged the patriarchy and pressed for women to have rights over their own selves not just as homemakers - development of sexual health
• Third Wave:

  • began in the 1990s and it explores gender roles and identities - women need to change the approach they take to themselves making sure they don't conform to the 'white heterosexual woman from the west'
• Aquinas:

  • Summa theologica - argued that women were inferior in intellect and strength
  • God made women subordinate to men - so men should have authority
  • equal in worth but not in skills or attributes
  • Women cannot be leaders in the church as only Jesus chose men as his disciples
  • Catholic and Orthodox churches do not allow women
  • Church of England is more lenient
• Traditional Christian teaching on roles of men and women in the family and society:

  • Bible suggests God made men and women different
  • However this idea has been challenged
• Man head of the woman

  Ephesians 5:22-25
• In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them

  Genesis 1:27
• What do some Christians believe the role of the wife is?

  Wife's duty is to obey her husband and to support him in his career and their children.
• What do some Christians suggest that there needs to be a leader within the home?

  The man should be in charge so that in any chance of disagreements it is easily solved, and thus quickly settled
• What does the Bible say to support the idea that men should be leaders?

  Ephesian's - For the Husband is the head of the church
• How is the belief of men being the leader reflected in Christian weddings?

  Paul argues that a man should have the role of leadership in the marriage like Jesus has the role of being in charge of the church.
• Why do some Christians not agree that men should be leaders?

  These views are too old fashioned for the modern world - interpretation
• To be created in the Image of God means to be...

  equal in the eyes of God
• There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus

  Galatians 3:28
• What is suggested to have united us all?

  Jesus sacrifice on the cross
• Women superior to men:

  • challenges feminist ideas on equality
  • women should aim higher
  • Mary Daly - women were superior and if they had governed through history the world would be a more peaceful place
• Pope John Paul II

  • claimed that becoming a mother is the ultimate fulfilment of female potential
  • motherhood enables women to put into practice their skills of nurturing, patience, feeding, care and compassion
  • Papal letter Mulieris Dignitatem 1998
  • wrote that motherhood gives women the opportunity to fulfil their potential in the creation and nurturing of another human being
  • give women an opportunity to develop
• Mulieris Dignitatem 18: motherhood

  • motherhood is the fruit of the marriage
  • brings about - on the womans part - a special gift of self -- 2 literally became one flesh
  • mutual self giving
  • conception and birth of a new human - Eve is the mother of all the living (Genesis 4:1)
  • naturally disposed to woman hood, shared parenthood the man owes a special debt to the woman
  • child's upbringing should be a contribution of all
• Mulieris Dignitatem 19: motherhood in relation to the covenant

  • covenant - agreement/contract
  • woman as a mother is the first teacher of a human being, spiritual dimension of parenthood - child depends on the mother
  • mother hood in the biophysical sense appears to be passive - formation takes place in her body
  • Jn 1:12 -> those born of earthly mothers, the sons and daughters of the human race
  • Jn 16:21 -> when a woman is in travail she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she is delivered of the child she no longer remembers the anguish, for the joy that a child is born to the world
  • Paschal Mystery - salvation through death and resurrection -- the mothers sorrow at the foot of the cross
• Simone de Beauvoir:

  • feminist writer in the 1940s
  • motherhood forces a woman to suspend her own interests and personality in order to take care of her children - loss of identity
  • women have motherhood forced them upon it
  • leaves them crushed, unable to develop as individuals as the children are young, left without a purpose once the child has grown up
• Ann Oakley:

  • sociologist who asked women to describe how they felt about housework and motherhood
  • women's feeling that they need to be a mother is not biological but sociological - socialisation
  • women feel powerless during childbirth when medical experts (usually men) take over and they treat them as 'cases'
  • frustrations that women have to stay at home when they are young
  • sense or relief at realising that other women don't find motherhood easy
• Most women:

  • motherhood is both liberating and restricting
  • motherhood is not the same for every woman
  • for women motherhood is either better than they expected or worse
  • oversimplification - liberating or restricting
• nuclear families

  mother + father = children
• extended family

  grandparents, parents and children
• same sex families

  families headed by a same sex couple