Chapter 3

• Social construction


  How people see "reality" or how they react to it or response to any social situation is attributed if not entirely by one's gender
• Truths of social construction

  • The repetitious performances of "male" and "female" in accordance with social norms over time reinforces the rectification of such differences on the assumed gender role in the community
  • Gender construct is never a stable descriptor of an individual, because an individual is always "doing" gender, performing or deviating from the socially accepted performance of gender stereotypes
  • By doing gender, we reinforce the notion that there are only two mutually exclusive categories of gender
  • Doing gender is fundamentally a social relationship
  • Gender is also said to be omnirelevant
• Social construction of gender

  • In Western industrialized nations like U.S., they tend to think of masculinity and femininity in dichotomous terms, viewing men and women as distinctively different and opposites
  • Names, Baby's room, Toys, Clothes
• Social constructionism


  A social theory about how meaning is created through social interaction – through the things we do and say with other people. This theory shows that gender is not a fixed or innate fact, but instead it varies across time and place
• Truths of social construction of gender

  • Social reforms through gender mainstreaming are dynamic and continuous process
  • Gender norms are learned from birth through childhood socialization
  • Gender experiences will evolve over a person's lifetime
  • Gender is therefore always in flux
• Functionalist theory

  • It argues that men filled instrumental roles in society while women filled expressive roles
  • It recognizes that gender exist in society which is expected to promote social stability and shared public values
• Symbolic interactionist theory

  • A perspective that relies on the symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in the process of social interaction
  • It analyses society by addressing the subjective meaning that people impose on objects, events, and behaviors which believe an expression of their gender orientation
• Conflict theory

  • Focus on how gender and assumptions and biases about gender differences lead to the empowerment of men, oppression of women, and the structural inequality of women relative to men
• Feminist theory

  • Is a type of conflict theory that examines inequalities in gender-related issues
  • Cultural feminism – believes that women have special qualities and experiences that can be utilized to overcome sexism
• Gender role

  • A set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex
  • It was first coined by John Money in 1955
  • Are usually referenced in a pejorative sense, as an institution that restricts freedom of behavior and expression
  • Is a set of behavioral norms associated particularly with males or females in a given social group or system, often including the division of labor between men and women
• Sandra Lipsitz Bem (1981)


  • Develop the gender schema theory to explain how individuals come to use gender as an organizing category in all aspects of their life
  • She believed that through gender-schematic processing, a person spontaneously sorts attributes and behaviors into masculine and feminine categories
• Talcott Parsons (1955)


  • Developed a model of nuclear family
  • He believed that expressive activities of the woman fulfil "internal" functions, whereas the man performed the "external"
• John Money (1921-2006)


  • Develop the use of gender to describe one's feelings about oneself
  • He used the word "gender role" rather than "sex role" to refer his view that identity is chosen or socially determined (reassigned) rather than biologically caused
• Robert Stoller


  • Focused on gender identity rather than gender role
  • His work mostly involved transsexuals
  • He emphasized the role that one's environment plays in the development of one's gender identity, arguing that parents and culture at large were most responsible for gender identity rather than biological characteristics
• Judith Butler (1990)


  • Asserted that gender is fluid rather than dichotomous
  • Said that difference between sexes is only established within a social context and that people create gender, which in turn defines people
• Gender role development


  • Is one of the most important areas of community development
  • It is believed that absence of equal opportunity and participation of both women and men in any development process, there will be no real sustainable development
• Gender sensitive

  • Its concept has been developed as a way to reduce barriers to personal and economic development created by sexism
  • Helps to generate respect for the individual regardless of sex
• Psychological differences between woman and man

  • Differences in Cognitive Abilities
  • Differences in Personality Traits and Self-Esteem
  • Differences in Attitudes
  • Differences in Behavior
• Gender cross-cultural differences

  • Gender is a cultural construct and perceptions of men and women from culture to culture or even during different periods even in a single culture or society
  • Gender is therefore culturally and historically contingent, meaning it cannot be understood outside of its cultural and historical context
• Gender neutral


  Also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, language, and other social institutions should avoid distinguishing roles according to people's sex or gender in order to avoid discrimination arising from the impression
• In understanding gender mainstreaming, the United Nations (2010) clearly pointed out that gender is not about adding a "woman's component" or even "gender equally component" among people into existing conventional human activity
• Gender mainstreaming is believed to be the most effective strategy that leads us to achieving gender equality as its main goal
• The Philippines has persistently shown its drive in advancing gender equality and promoting women empowerment