LAST TOPIC

• Gender socialization


  The process by which an individual learns to conform to the norms of the group where one is born with, internalizes these norms, acquires status, and plans corresponding roles
• Agents of gender socialization

  • Family
  • School
  • Media
  • Workplace
  • Religion
  • State
• Family


  • Parents are typically a child's first source of information about gender
  • Starting at birth, parents communicate different expectations to their children depending on their sex
  • Parents may inadvertently reinforce some stereotypes due to their own gender socialization
• Socialization in the family

  1. Manipulation

  2. Canalization

  3. Verbal appellations

  4. Activity exposure
• Mass media


  • Teaches children about what it means to be a boy or a girl
  • Conveys information about the role of gender in people's lives
  • Can reinforce gender stereotypes
• School


  • Teachers and school administrators model gender roles and sometimes demonstrate gender stereotypes
  • Separating students by gender for activities or disciplining students differently depending on their gender may reinforce children's developing beliefs and assumptions
• Workplace


  • Organizational cultures shape and reinforce socially appropriate roles for men and women
  • Gender discrimination in relation to occupation and pay
  • Balance of family life and work
  • Question of power relations as well as access to and control over resources
• Peer group


  • Children tend to play with same-gender peers
  • Through these interactions, they learn what their peers expect of them as boys or girls
  • Comments and comparisons may become less overt over time, but adults continue to turn to same-gendered peers for information about how they are supposed to look and act as a man or a woman
• Religion


  • Reinforces gender stereotypes through religious symbols, teachings, doctrines and their interpretations
• State


  • Creates laws and policies that ensure the maintenance of the system
  • Instrumental in passing laws that are discriminatory to women and other sexual orientations
  • Reinforces and regulates appropriate behavior through the use of rewards and sanctions
• Majority of behavioral scientists agree: Gender roles are not inborn. They are learned.
• Gender roles in our society are acquired via the process of socialization rather than biologically determined