lOMoARcPSD|14870679
11
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER
Lesson Objectives:
By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:-
1. Define social construction of gender
2. Identify the different institutions that construct gender
3. Discuss the effects of social construction on men and women
Define social construction of gender
The Social Construction of Gender
Introduction
We have noted earlier in lesson 1 that gender is socially constructed. In this lesson, we will
learn how this is done at individual and societal level.We will also learn how the social
construction of gender affects the relationship between men and women.
Key terms: social construct
A social construction is something that doesn't exist independently in the "natural" world, but
instead it is made by human beings in a given society. When we say gender is socially
constructed, we mean that gender is constantly being created and re-created out of human
interaction, in social life. Therefore, Gender is so much the routine ground of everyday
thinking and behavior. Gender like culture, is a human production that depends on everyone
constantly 5doing gender6.
Gender is such a familiar part of daily life that it usually takes a deliberate disruption of our
expectations of how women and men are supposed to act to pay attention to how it is
produced.
The social construction of gender at the individual level
1. For the individual, gender construction starts with assignment to a sex category on the
basis of what their genitalia look like at birth.
2. Female genitalia ascribes a child to be a girl and male genitalia ascribes a child to be a
boy.
3. After classification as boy or girl, parents become part of this societal process as they
start dressing them with colors thought to identify their gender - baby girls dressed in
pink and baby boys dressed in blue.
4. Once a child8s gender is evident, others treat those in one gender differently from
those in the other and the children respond to the different treatment by feeling and
behaving differently.
5. As soon as they can talk children refer to themselves as members of their gender.
6. Parenting is gendered with different expectations for mothers and for fathers.
7. As children grow up they learn their gender-appropriate behavior by observing and
imitating the people of like gender - girls imitate their mothers and boys their fathers.
8. People of different genders work at different jobs and places and in some cultures
they eat and sleep in different places.
lOMoARcPSD|14870679
12
9. The roles that men and women play shapes their experiences, produce different
feelings, conscienceless, relationships, skills - ways of being that we cal feminine and
masculine.
10. All these processes constitute the social construction of gender.
The social construction of gender at the societal level
As a social institution gender is one of the major ways that human beings organize their lives.
1. It influences the division of labour (who does what, when, where, why, how and for
how long).
2. It designates who will be allocated various resources (land, labour, capital).
3. It identifies the people assigned various responsibilities e.g. the care for the young,
sick and elderly as well as legitimate leadership.
4. It also influences values and their systematic transmission to new members.
5. Children brought up in the same cultural context have similar experiences as they are
exposed to common values, music, art, stories, games a, other symbolic productions.
6. The process of gendering and its outcome are legitimated by religion, law, science
and the society8s entire set of values.
Note: The different socializing agents communicate more or less the same values.
The Social Construction of Gender Through Training
Introduction
We have noted in Lesson 3, that gender is learned in a given society or social context.
In this lesson, you will learn how gender is constructed through training.
While much of this training is structured and formal elements of it are also informal and
unstructured.
Parents and adult members of society play a significant role in turning boys into men and
girls into women.
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
1. To explain how gender is learnt through training
2. Discuss the use of rewards and punishments in gender training
3. Illustrate types of formal and informal training
Lesson content
1. Children learn proper behavior for girls and boys through imitation of parents, adults,
older siblings.
2. Children also learn-to-become through demonstrations.
3. 7Proper8 behavior is reinforced through rewards while inappropriate behavior is
punished - children modify behavior in order to maximize rewards and minimize
sanctions.
4. Socialization approach emphasizes conscious social learning.
Lesson summary
