Gender

• Stereotypes are narrow, fixed ideas about certain types of people and what they are like.
• Sex - biological differences, if a person is considered male or female, based on role in reproduction, fixed and ascribed at birth, usually fixed throughout your life. 


  Gender - different social practices and expectation that are linked to masculinity or femininity, gender is defined by society, norms associated with each sex.
• What are the Agents of Gender Socialisation?

  Family, Peers, Media, Education, Religion
• Family behaviours as an Agent of Gender Socialisation:

  • Toys for boys are action figures, toy cars and building blocks.
  • Toys for girls are baby dolls, dress up games and cooking and cleaning sets.
  • Boys hide their emotions.
• Peers behaviours as an Agent of Gender Socialisation:

  • Boys who play with boys become more active, more dominant and more aggressive.
  • Girls who play with girls engage in behaviours that are more typical in girls.
  • Boys play with boys.
  • Girls play with girls.
• Media behaviours as an Agent of Gender Socialisation:

  • Men are portrayed as adventurous, dominant, and sexually aggressive.
  • Women are portrayed as young beautiful, emotionally passive, dependent and sometimes unintelligent.
• Education behaviours as an Agent of Gender Socialisation:

  • Boys are slower than girls to read.
  • Girls are naturally quieter than boys.
  • Science and maths are boys' subjects.
  • Boys are better at sports than girls.
  • Boys and girls can't work together or be friends.
• Religion behaviours as an Agent of Gender Socialisation:

  • Some religious orders emphasise cooperation and respect for women over hierarchy.
  • Other prioritise male leadership, but will indirectly provide women with types of ethical identities and spiritual positions that create spaces for women to practice their own agency and forms of power.
  • Beliefs become a part of our culture and can shape the society that we live in.
• Gender is socially constructed, not fixed and created by society. Sociologists argue that the differences between men and women are socially constructed as they are created by society not biology. It changes based on culture, place and time.
• How is gender created by culture?

  As gender is commonly dictated by a culture's societal standards, so too will stereotypes by inherent for that gender. It is all about gender identity and expression, gender roles and norms, gender relations, structural sexism, power and equality.
• How is gender created by place?

  Gender varies in different places based on their assumptions about the roles of males and females there.
• How is gender created by time?

  Gender varies from society to society and can change over time. This could be due to a change in leadership, new trends, or after things such as natural disasters.
• In modern Britain, women do not face discrimination agree:

  • 1970 Equal Pay Act - women and men get paid the same amount for doing the same jobs.
  • 1975 Sex Discrimination Act - men and women have to be treated the same at school or work.
  • Women are more likely to have a good education, jobs and higher salaries.
  • Equality in schools and workplaces.
  • Opportunity to develop ambitions and interests.
  • Equality at home because at home work is getting split up between genders.
  • Zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
• In modern Britain, women do not face discrimination disagree:

  • Society is still organised in a way that benefits men more than women.
  • Men still have bigger control over the workplace and politics.
  • Men have a bigger share of awards such as power and status.
  • Still a gender pay gap which is 9.6%
  • There is still the glass ceiling effect
  • Women work the triple shift
  • Childcare provision - can prevent women from getting job roles higher up or staying in employment long enough to develop their careers.
• In modern Britain, women do not face discrimination disagree 2:

  • Still dual burden of home commitments and paid work.
  • Social construction can hold women back as they are not always seen to be someone to promote.
  • Inequality in pay and job opportunities
  • Primary socialisation teaches us that men/boys are stronger
  • Secondary socialisations tend to cause a split between different genders.
• What is the Glass Ceiling?


  An invisible barrier which prevents women from advancing in their careers. They can see what they want but they can't reach it.
• Sociologists argue that the differences between men and women are socially constructed.
• What is the Triple Shift?

  Paid work, housework, emotional work.
• What is Dual Burden?

  The burden of home commitments and paid work.