Republic of the Philippines

CAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Education
Main Campus, Roxas City
(036) 6214 578 local 118

Reporter: Aira Jane Villa Course Facilitator: Prof. Demaisip

III. SOCIALIZATION INTO GENDER

People have long been preoccupied with what it means to be male or female. In all cultures,
being a man or a woman is not limited to one’s biological sex. Being a man means that one is likely to
be “masculine,” and being a woman means that one is likely to be “feminine.” Thus, not only do we
have a gender or sex (male or female), we also have a gender role (masculine or feminine). Emotions
and occupations tend to be characterized as masculine or feminine, others may expect a certain type of
behavior from us because we are male and thus are supposedly masculine.

The Linkage of Sex Roles and Gender Role

Sex Roles are behaviors determined by biological sex.

 behaviors such as menstruation, erection, and seminal ejaculation.
Gender Role is a social role associated with feminine or masculine behavior.
 expectations of masculine and feminine behavior.
Bearing and nursing children may be a feminine sex role, but raising children is a gender role.

While the sexes are far more similar than different, early research on male and female
characteristics tended to concentrate on biological differences between the sexes. These differences
were seen as proof that the sexes have different and supposedly unchangeable functions: for example,
women bear children, and so they have to raise them. Later researchers recognized that most
differences between sexes are based on the differential socialization of men and women. This gender-
role model tried to specify the ways in which males and females are socialized to be what is considered
masculine or feminine in a particular time.

Early Socialization into Gender Roles

 Parents are the earliest and probably the major influence in the gender-role socialization
of young children.
 Parents are also more likely to treat male and female infants and children in ways
consistent with how they view the sexes.
 As infants become toddlers, parental interaction with them continues to be sex-
differentiated.
 As children get older, their parents may also attempt to teach the “sex-appropriate” skills.
 Children learn from their parents by seeing what their parents do. Nothing may be said
directly, but children pick up many important messages by watching.
 Toys also influence a growing child. Young children learn to differentiate at an early age
between toys appropriate for boys and those appropriate for girls. The media plays a
major role in stimulating a child’s desire for certain kinds of toys; parents also play a role
by the toys they give their children.
 The gender-role messages implied in girls’ and boys’ toys may be further emphasized in
the games they play.
 Boys and girls also learn to relate in different ways to their playmates.

Socialization in the Teenage Years

In adolescence, prescriptions for certain kinds of gender-role behaviors may be intensified; for
example, boys may be pressured to control their emotions even more rigidly than they did before. In
other instances, prescriptions for gender-role behavior may be modified; for example, a girl who was a
tomboy in elementary school may feel pressured to be more “feminine” and may sense an increased
emphasis by her peers on being pretty and popular rather than being active.
 In many ways, values for adolescent boys are simple intensified versions of the values
learned in early childhood.
 Much like boys, girls gain a great deal self-esteem from their physical appearance. Girls
believe that physical appearance is crucial for popularity with boys. Ironically, extreme
measures to improve one’s looks may constitute a mixed blessing.
 People may believe that a beautiful woman can’t be also smart and may not take her
seriously. Beautiful women may feel that they are not liked for themselves and can never
trust the men with whom they have relationships. These women may not develop their
other talents, relying on their beauty, which of course will eventually fade.
 Because being pretty and popular is so important to many female adolescents, good
looks may become associated in a girl’s mind with being worthy as a person.
 Girls base a great deal of their self-esteem on interpersonal relations rather than on
achievement, work, or skill. Girls consistently give high priority to being liked. They stress
the value of interpersonal harmony and of desirable personality traits such as being
likable, easy to get along with, friendly, sociable, pleasant, and popular. Girls and boys
both agree that the most acceptable girls are good-looking, tidy, friendly, likable,
enthusiastic, cheerful, quiet, and interested in dating.
 Women’s career choices are also narrowed by their socialization. The pressures of early
socialization, discouragement by teachers and counsellors, ambivalence about their
abilities, fear of success, and cultural values may discourage many women from
choosing a non-traditional career or preparing early for any career.

Gender and Inequality

In most societies, there is an apparent social inequality that can be gleaned in the society’s
social norms and language.
Lewis Morgan, anthropologist – believed that females initially had higher social and political
status than males, and then through time that pattern was reversed.
Male dominance – the social situation in which more power and prestige are given to men than
women.
 Males tend to have inherent cultural advantages. They are more
likely to be political leaders, economic tycoons, and spiritual
heads.
 Even if men and women work in the same fields, men tend to
receive better pay.
Sexism is the ideology that supports gender inequality and justifies male dominance.

Even in social life, society gives more latitude to men than women. They are allowed longer and
more late nights than their female counterparts. They can have a liberated relationship with the
opposite sex and be viewed as “macho” but a female who does the same is labelled as “wild”.

Even in language, society tends to favour men than women. Terms such as chairman,
freshman, mankind, policeman to refer to both sexes had been objected as having gender bias or are
sexists. Society argues that the use of these masculine terms reinforces the idea that humanity is male
and women are outsiders. They suggest that instead of chairman, it should be chairperson, mankind
should be persons or humankind, policeman as police officers, freshmen should be “freshies” and frosh.
The adoption of more power neutral ways of expressing gender may lessen gender bias and will also
affect gender relations.