Gender Socialization

• Socialization

  refers to the lifelong process of learning to

  become a member of the social world, beginning at birth and

  continuing until death It is a lifelong experience by which

  individuals develop their human potential and learn culture
• Socialization

  is the process of internalizing society’s values in

  order to adapt to one’s culture It influences how people behave

  as males and females in the society
• Gender

  socialization encompasses the process of learning

  society’s gender roles and their advantages and limitations
• The

  Role of Nature how much personality

  is determined by our biological inheritance
• The

  Role of Nurture how much

  personality is determined by social cultural

  environment
• Family

  The family is perhaps the most important agent of

  socialization for children Parents’ values and

  behavior patterns profoundly influence those of

  their daughters and sons
• Peer

  

  Our peers also help socialize us and may even

  induce us to violate social norms However, peer

  groups generally only affect short term interest

  unlike the family, which has long term influence
• 

  Schools teach set of expectations about the work,

  profession, or occupations they will follow when

  they mature Schools have the formal responsibility

  of imparting knowledge in those disciplines which

  are most central to adult functioning in our society
• At the workplace, a person meets people of

  different age groups and belonging to different

  social and cultural backgrounds
• Mass Media

  Television shows, movies, popular music, magazines,

  web sites, and other aspects of the mass media influence

  our political views our tastes in popular culture our

  views of women, people of color, and gays and many

  other beliefs and practices
• Church

  Many religious institutions also uphold gender norms and

  contribute to their enforcement through socialization.

  Religion fosters a shared set of socialized values that are

  passed on through society.
• Role set - a number of roles attached to a single status
• Role conflict - occurs when incompatible demands are built into a single status that a person occupies (e g a woman whose roles include fulltime employee, mother, wife, caregiver for an elderly parent, community volunteer)
• Role strain - refers to the stress when, for any number of reasons, an individual cannot meet the demands of their social roles (e g doctor

  to a public clinic who is responsible for keeping expenditures down

  and providing high quality patient care simultaneously)
• Role exit - occurs when people disengage from social roles that have been that have been central to their identity (e g divorced women and men, retirees, ex nuns)
• Gender Role Socialization - is the process of learning and internalizing culturally approved ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving according to one's gender
• Gender Stereotypes are fixed, unquestioned beliefs, or images we carry in the back of our minds about women and men.
• Gender Discrimination

  • refers to any situation where a person is denied an opportunity or misjudged solely on the basis of their sex.
  • is when someone is treated unequally or disadvantageously based on their gender but not necessarily in a sexual nature
• GENDER ROLES are highly resistant to change due to continuous exposure and reinforcement of gender differentiation.

  • Once internalized, gender roles are further reinforced, maintained, and sanctioned by the mechanism of social control: family, language, school, church, media
• 1. Family: Four Processes in Child’s Learning of Gender Bias

  1st stage: Manipulation – where people treat boys and girls differently 

  2nd stage: Canalization – people will direct their attention to gender appropriate objects exemplified by toys 

  3rd stage: Verbal Appellation – words used to tell children what they are. 

  4th stage: Activity Exposure – children are familiarized with gender appropriate tasks. 

   
• Education/Schools

  • Schools reinforce sexist concepts e.g., textbooks depict stereotyped roles like females as mother, housewives, sewers, or well-behaved girls, and males as fathers, workers, or naughty adventurous little boys.
• Language

  • Language to communicate thoughts or ideas in the most pervasive institution of socialization.  
  • Sexist terms, no matter how subtle, very easily maintain gender ideology e.g. using male “man” (whether by itself or as prefix/suffix) and “he” to refer to both sexes. 
• Churches/ Religion

  • Religious teachings depicting women as martyrs, self sacrificing and conservative, etc. 
• Mass Media

  • Print and broadcast media are most effective socializing agent; subtle and often subconscious way plus long amount of time people expose themselves to media
• GENDER ROLES are deep-seated in the culture as well as beliefs and value systems of the society. Pervasive social control further reinforces, maintains, and sanctions gender roles. 
• THEREFORE, ALL OF US NEEDS TO BE CONSCIOUS OF OUR BELIEFS AND ASSUMPTIONS AS THESE OFTEN IMPEDE THE ATTAINMENT OF OUR FULL POTENTIAL AS HUMAN BEINGS AND THOSE FOR WHICH WE ARE RESPONSIBLE
• THE ABC MODEL

   

  A = Affect (Prejudice)

  B = Behavior (Discrimination)

  C = Cognition (Stereotypes)
• Stereotype 

  • is an inaccurate view or opinion that many people hold about something or a group of people based solely or largely on the way they appear to others.
  • Fixed idea of a person
• There are 2 ways to identify stereotypes:

  • Explicit the kind that you deliberately think about.
  • Implicit a person is unaware of their "stereotypical" outlook.
• Examples of stereotypes:

  Negative:

  "Women are bad drivers."

  "Men who like pink are effeminate."

  "Christians are homophobic."

   

  Positive:

  "All Asians are smart."

  "Elderly people are wise."

  "Black people make better athletes."

   
• Prejudices

  • Unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the individual's membership of a social group (McLeod 2008).

   

  • Prejudice represents our emotional response upon learning of a person's membership to a specific group like age, skin color, race, disabilities, generation, nationality, even religion, sex, sexual expression, gender expression and so on. Preconceived idea of something
• Examples of prejudice:

  Negative:

  "Bullying, Discrimination, Violence"
• Discrimination

  • When one individual or group is treated less favorably than another due to a person's or group's background or specific personal characteristics, that behavior is known as discrimination.
  • Unjust treatment for a particular social group
• Examples of discrimination:

  • Genocide
  • Apartheid
  • Gender Discrimination
  • LGBT Discrimination
• Freedom and Equality

  • All humans are born free and equal dignity and rights
  • Inherent dignity of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.
• Manifestation of Gender Bias:

  1. Marginalization
  2. Subordination
  3. Multiple Burden
  4. Violence Against Women
  5. Gender Stereotypes
• 1. Marginalization

  ·       Process which forces women out into the periphery of economic and social life, decision making, and diminishing the value of activities in which they contribute to the national development process.
• 2.              Subordination

  ·       Is the institutionalized domination by men and women

  ·       Position (very few women in politics and top positions) 

  ·       Status (weaker sex)

  · Decision making (women are not included in the planning and decision-making process.)

  VISION: Quality participation in decision making, recognition of capabilities
• 3.              Multiple Burden

  ·       involvement in the three spheres of work:

  A.             Reproduction

  B.             Production

  C.             Community work

  ·       parenting, housework, work in the public/private sector

  VISION: Shared parenting, shared housework; shared breadwinning
• 4.              Violence Against Women

  ·       Acts of instilling fear and inflicting pain with the aim to injure, or abuse a person usually women using intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, minimizing, denying, and blaming, using their children, using male privilege, using economic abuse, using coercion, and threats. 

  VISION: Freedom from violence, freedom from harassment, control over one’s body, non-threatening behavior, respect, trust and support, honesty and accountability, responsible parenting, shared responsibility, economic partnership, negotiation and fairness.