1.

Understanding the basic concepts of gender/sex and Sex roles stereotypes

Introduction: Gender affects every aspect of our life, from how we feel about ourselves and set our
goals in educational, recreational and work opportunities as well as the nature and extent of our
participation in social and civic life. It has a strong impact on the way how we practice our religion to
the way we dress, the way we express our feelings and the nature of all of our relationships with others.
This paper emphasis on various facets of gender roles in order to understand this topic such as what role
male and female are expected to play in today‘s society, how gender roles are decided, affected and
exaggerated by stereotyping.

Sex and Gender:

Sex is commonly understood to be based on a person‘s genitals and reproductive organs; these
anatomical details are thought to define a person as male or female. On the other hand, sex is a
biologically-based need which is oriented toward procreation. Gender is often understood to refer to
gender identity, meaning your internal sense of yourself as female, male, or other, regardless of biology.
Sexual roles and gender roles are two different things. Sexual roles are nature and gender roles are
nurture. Gender has been around throughout history; however, within recent years, gender has separated
itself from the traditional view of sex, i.e., male or female, and has become centered on ones masculinity
or femininity. Of course gender is more than just ones masculinity or femininity, gender has become a
way for one to describe, he or she, in a way in which they are different from everyone else. Gender has
turned into a sense of identity, a way for one to feel different and fulfilled among all of those around
them.

Problems Associated with Gender Socialization in Society:

As soon as a child is born a sort of social conditioning begins. The child whether a boy or a girl will end
up being taught many different sets of behaviors and how they should act. A boy is taught things such as
sports, how to be complete and self-reliant. He is also taught to be strong; such as when you get hurt to
not cry, as society expects boys to not cry. Boys are also taught not to show emotions in anyway and to
not show anyone how they feel or to not give the correct answer if asked how they feel.

Gender and Development:

Parents may also assign specific chores to the children according to sex, thus reinforcing gender roles in
their development. Another way a parent influences gender development is by what they say to their
children. Making comments about girls do this or boys do that supports the gender stereotypes. Gender
roles development is crucial around ages 2-6 years when children are becoming aware of their gender,
where play styles and behaviors begin to crystallize around that core identify of ―I am a girl‖ or ―I am a
boy.‖

1
Relationship between Sex and Gender:

―Men and women‘s roles have changed so much that there is no longer any difference.‖ The relationship
that exists between gender and sex has been the root cause of global gender movements and issues that
exists in the contemporary world. The representation of masculinity and femininity is humanly
constructed and sets the stage for social expectation. Social institutions are designed to cater for the
desired gender role that is based on the foundations of traditional social norms. Norms change over time
and space and are influenced by the cultural and social environment and movements.

Gender Stereotypes:

Since the beginning of time, gender has played a big role in how one acts and how one is looked upon in
society. From a young age children are taught to be either feminine or masculine. Why it is that gender
plays a big role in the characteristics that one beholds. For centuries in many countries it has been
installed in individual‘s heads that they have to live by certain stereotypes. Women have been taught to
be feeble to men and depend on them for social and economic happiness. While men have been taught to
be much of characters that have taken care of their homes and be the superior individual to a woman.

Gender and Society:

Society has stamped an image into the minds of people of how the role of each gender should be played
out. There are two recognized types of gender, a man and a woman, however there are many types of
gender roles a man or a woman may assume or be placed into by society. The ideas of how one should
act and behave are often times ascribed by their gender by society, but these ascribed statuses and roles
are sometimes un-welcomed, and people will assume who they want to be as individuals by going
against the stereotypes set forth by society.

Gender Roles Being Taught to Young Children: A Psychological Approach:

Boys experience a very strict set of expectations that if not followed, they receive negative life
consequences. If a boy chooses activities or actions that are feminine it is punishable by disapproval by
peers, family, and society. The consistency of role expectations for boys makes them prone to
participating in typecasting of their sex and the opposite sex. By as young as preschool age, boys are
more likely to choose. Girls are expected to help their mothers at home while boys are allowed to play
even though they may be older than their sisters. They are expected to work more with less quantity and
qualitative of food.

Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender:

Feminism is said to be the movement to end women‘s oppression. One possible way to understand
‗woman‘ in this claim is to take it as a sex term: ‗woman‘ picks out human females and being a human
female depends on various biological and anatomical features. Historically many feminists have
understood ‗woman‘ differently: not as a sex term, but as a gender term that depends on social and
cultural factors (like social position).

2
1. Biological determinism:

Provisionally: ‗sex‘ denotes human females and males depending on biological features (chromosomes,
sex organs, hormones and other physical features); ‗gender‘ denotes women and men depending on
social factors (social role, position, behavior or identity). The main feminist motivation for making this
distinction was to counter biological determinism or the view that biology is destiny.

2. Gender socialization:

Masculinity and femininity are thought to be products of nurture or how individuals are brought up. For
instance, Kate Millett takes gender differences to have ―essentially cultural, rather than biological bases‖
that result from differential treatment. For her, gender is ―the sum total of the parents', the peers', and the
culture's notions of what is appropriate to each gender by way of temperament, character, interests,
status, worth, gesture, and expression‖ . That is, feminists should aim to diminish the influence of
socialization.

3. Gender as feminine and masculine personality:

Women are stereotypically more emotional and emotionally dependent upon others around them,
supposedly finding it difficult to distinguish their own interests and wellbeing from the interests and
wellbeing of their children and partners. By contrast, men are stereotypically emotionally detached,
preferring a career where dispassionate and distanced thinking are virtues. These traits are said to result
from men‘s well-defined ego boundaries that enable them to priorities their own needs and interests
sometimes at the expense of others' needs and interests.

Chodorow thinks that these gender differences should and can be changed. Feminine and masculine
personalities play a crucial role in women's oppression since they make females overly attentive to the
needs of others and males emotionally deficient. In order to correct the situation, both male and female
parents should be equally involved in parenting. This would help in ensuring that children develop
sufficiently individuated senses of selves without becoming overly detached, which in turn helps to
eradicate common gender stereotypical behaviors.

4. Gender as feminine and masculine sexuality:

Catherine MacKinnon develops her theory of gender as a theory of sexuality. Very roughly: the social
meaning of sex (gender) is created by sexual objectification of women whereby women are viewed and
treated as objects for satisfying men's desires. Masculinity is defined as sexual dominance, femininity as
sexual submissiveness: genders are ―created through the eroticization of dominance and submission. The
man/woman difference and the dominance/submission dynamic define each other. This is the social
meaning of sex‖. For MacKinnon, gender is constitutively constructed: in defining genders (or
masculinity and femininity) we must make reference to social factors. In particular, we must make
reference to the position one occupies in the sexualized dominance/submission dynamic: men occupy
the sexually dominant position, women the sexually submissive one.

3
5. Is the sex/gender distinction useful?

Some feminists hold that the sex/gender distinction is not useful. The distinction is taken to reflect and
replicate androcentric oppositions between (for instance) mind/body, culture/nature and reason/emotion
that have been used to justify women's oppression. The thought is that in oppositions like these, one
term is always superior to the other and that the devalued term is usually associated with women. Men
are treated as gender-neutral persons and not asked whether they are planning to take time off to have a
family. By contrast, that women face such queries illustrates that they are associated more closely than
men with bodily features to do with procreation. The opposition between mind and body, then, is
thought to map onto the opposition between men and women.

Conclusion: In our society today, men and women perform distinctly different roles which are based on
nothing more than their biological gender. This statement exemplifies the definition of gender as a
concept; gender is the expectations of a sex according to the culture of society. Sexuality, within this
definition of gender, reflects society‘s expectations, which are created in relation to the opposite sex. As
a result, genders are by definition hierarchical and this hierarchy is fundamentally tied to sexualized
power relations. If sexuality ceased to be a manifestation of dominance, hierarchical genders would
cease to exist. Therefore it is necessary to rethink what we have inherited from the past as it shapes our
mode of life and mindset.

2. Different theories of gender and origin of Patriarchy

Introduction: Gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study and academic field devoted to gender
identity and gendered representation as central categories of analysis. This field includes women's
studies (concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics), men's studies, and LGBT studies.
Sometimes, gender studies are offered together with study of sexuality. These disciplines study gender
and sexuality in the fields of literature, language, history, political science, sociology, anthropology,
cinema, media studies, human development, law, and medicine. It also analyzes race, ethnicity, location,
nationality, and disability. Gender study has many different forms. One view espoused by the
philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: ―One is not born a woman, one becomes one‖. This view
proposes that in gender studies, the term ―gender‖ should be used to refer to the social and cultural
constructions of masculinities and femininities, not to the state of being male or female in its entirety.
However, this view is not held by all gender theorists. Other areas of gender study closely examine the
role that the biological states of being male or female (anatomical, physiological, and genetically
explanations of male and female body parts, structure and nature of functions of body organs, genetic
carriers etc.) have on social constructs of gender. However in this paper we are going to show different
theories of gender and the origin of Patriarchy in brief.

Different theories of Gender:

Feminist Pathways Theory: The feminist pathways theory asserts that there are unique factors
associated with female delinquency, which are:

4
  Similar to boys but girls have higher rates (substance use, abuse/victimization, depression, and
anxiety)
 Equal in frequency but with distinct personal and social effects (family and peers, high-risk
sexual behaviors)
 Not typically seen with boys

Feminist pathways theory stresses that events during childhood, particularly trauma and victimization,
lead to risk factors for female delinquency and crime. The differences in risk factors create different
pathways that lead to the justice system, where girls‘ pathways typically include ―histories of
victimization, unstable family life, school failure, repeated status offenses, and mental health and
substance abuse problems‖. In sum, according to the feminist pathways theory, abuse and victimization
are the primary underlying factors that lead to problem behaviors.

Relational/Cultural Theory (RCT): The fundamental principle of RCT is that ―people develop through
and toward relationship, which occurs within and is influenced by a cultural context‖ Theoretical
perspectives that focus on female development emphasize that relationships are central in the lives of
girls and women and that over the life span a primary task is the ―establishment of a strong sense of
connection with others‖. According to this theory, psychological problems for females ―can be traced to
disconnections or violations within relationships-whether in families, with personal acquaintances, or
society at large‖ In sum, the fundamental assertion of RCT theory is that connection in relationships is
central for females and that in order to understand their delinquent behaviors, it will be essential to focus
on their meaningful relationships and the influence they exert on behavior.

Inter sectionalist Theory: This theory states that individuals can simultaneously occupy positions of
privilege and oppression depending on the reference group where gender, race, class, and sexuality
create overlapping areas of advantage and disadvantage. This theory acknowledges that while girls share
similar experiences based on gender, there are also important differences, which are important to
understand. For example, racial/ ethnic discrimination, which has resulted in the differential treatment of
girls of color by the justice system, continues to be a significant problem. Additionally, girls of color
may be labeled, processed, or treated differently than their White female counterparts. Likewise,
emerging research demonstrates that sexual-minority youth (lesbians and bisexual girls) are
disproportionately impacted by these more severe sanctions, which leads to justice-system involvement.

Practice Involvement theory: These theories were developed to better explain girls‘ delinquency since
theories were historically based on boys‘ behaviors and experiences. These theories have implications
for practice with girls. For example, programs that are consistent with the pathways theory would
provide services and treatment for abuse and victimization and problems associated with it such as
substance use, mental health problems, anger, trust issues, school problems, etc. (Foley, Greene). The
practice implications of the RCT theory are that programming would focus on building healthy
relationships and associated skills such as communication, coping, decision making, and self-esteem
(Foley). RCT views abuse and its impact on areas such as substance use, mental health, etc. but through
the lens of how they influence relationships. Finally, the implications for intersectionality theory on

5
practice are that programming would focus on both individual and system-level issues. Policies and
practices would support respect for diversity and could include positive identity development. Although
these theories are distinct, the perspectives can all be incorporated into programming with girls.

Psychodynamic Theories:

 Psychoanalytic: emphasizes inner psychic conflicts of children instead of external pressures—

e.g. Freudian concepts of oedipal conflict and penis envy)
 Cognitive-Developmental: It emphasizes stages of mental development – e.g. Lawrence
Kohlberg‘s theory that ―children are almost inevitably led by their own cognitive processing to
choose gender as the organizing principle for social rules that govern their own and their peers‘
behaviour.‖

External Theories: This emphasizes what culture does to the individual.

 Socialization or Social-Learning Theory: emphasizes influence of differing ―learning

environments,‖ especially of children but sometimes of adults as well
 imitation of models and examples they see in society
 response to rewards for gender-appropriate behavior and criticism or punishment for gender-
inappropriate behavior (from peers as well as adults)

 Gender-Schema Theory: merges cognitive-developmental with social-learning theory. Schemas

are internal cognitive networks (shaped by socialization) that organize and guide individual
perceptions; gender schemas are cognitive networks associated with concepts of masculine and
feminine. Highly gender-schematic individuals tend to organize many of their thoughts,
perceptions and evaluations according to gender stereotypes and symbols.―Research shows that
by 3 years old children have already begun to learn the figurative or metaphorical meanings of
gender. Children learn an underlying framework for understanding the nature of masculine and
feminine that does not depend on the specific models having appeared in their environment‖.

 Social-Structural or Situational Theories: emphasize structural constraints on children and adults

(i.e., the fact that men and women are in different and unequal positions in the social structure)
 conscious discrimination
 unconscious discrimination: people may not be aware that they are discriminating or being
discriminated against—it is quite difficult to prove that discrimination has occurred

Identity-Construction Theory: emphasizes the individual‘s personal and conscious commitment to a

specific image of self

Enculturated-Lens Theory: Sandra Bem‘s theory, which includes all the above and also emphasizes the
social and historical context containing the lenses of gender). There are two key enculturation processes
that are constantly linked and working together:

6
  ―the institutional preprogramming of the individual‘s daily experience into the default options, or
the historically precut ‗grooves,‘ for that particular time and place‖ which differ markedly for
men and women ―the transmission of implicit lessons—or met messages—about what lenses the
culture uses to organize social reality,‖ including the idea that the distinction between male and
female, masculine and feminine, is extremely important.

Origin of Patriarchy:

The origins of patriarchy are closely related to the concept of gender roles, or the set of social and
behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex. Much
work has been devoted to understanding why women are typically thought to inhabit a domestic role
while men are expected to seek professional satisfaction outside of the home. This division of labor is
frequently mapped onto a social hierarchy in which males‘ freedom to venture outside of the home and
presumed control over women is perceived as superior and dominant. As such, rather than working to
destabilize the historical notion of patriarchy, much literature assess the origins of patriarchy, or a social
system in which the male gender role acts as the primary authority figure central to social organization,
and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male
rule and privilege and entails female subordination.

Though less popular in modern academic circles, there has been a traditional search for biological
explanations of gender roles. Before the nineteenth century, this conversation was primarily theological
and deemed patriarchy to be the ―natural order.‖ This took on a biological trope with Charles Darwin‘s
ideas about evolution in The Origin of Species. In this work, Darwin explained evolution from the
biological understanding that is now the accepted scientific theory. Biologists such as Alfred Russel
Wallace quickly applied his theory to mankind. To be clear, though, the line of thought called Social
Darwinism, or the application of evolutionary principles to the development of human beings and our
social practices, was never promoted by Darwin himself. With the popularization of the idea of human
evolution, what had previously been explained as a ―natural order‖ for the world morphed into a
―biological order.‖

The modern term for using biological explanations to explain social phenomena is sociobiology.
Sociobiologists use genetics to explain social life, including gender roles. According to the
sociobiologists, patriarchy arises more as a result of inherent biology than social conditioning. One such
contemporary sociobiology‘s is Steven Goldberg, who, until retirement, was a sociologist at the City
College of New York. In 1973, Goldberg published The Inevitability of Patriarchy, which advanced a
biological interpretation of male dominance. Goldberg argued that male dominance is a human universal
as a result of our biological makeup. One evolutionary sociobiological theory for the origin of patriarchy
begins with the view that females almost always invest more energy into producing offspring than males
and, as a result, females are a resource over which males compete. This theory is called Bateman‘s
principle. One important female preference in selecting a mate is which males control more resources to
assist her and her offspring. This, in turn, causes a selection pressure on men to be competitive and
succeed in gaining resources in order to compete with other men.

7
These sociobiological theories of patriarchy are counterbalanced by social constructionist theories that
emphasize how certain cultures manufacture and perpetuate gender roles. According to social
constructionist theories, gender roles are created by individuals within a society who choose to imbue a
particular structure with meaning. Gender roles are constantly toyed with and negotiated by actors
subscribing to and questioning them. Since the feminist movement in the 1970s and the flood of women
into the workforce, social constructionist has gained even greater traction.

3. Analyzing the Construct of An Ideal Woman in Patriarchal Culture

Introduction: In the context of India, brahminical patriarchy, tribal patriarchy and dalit patriarchy are
different from each other. Patriarchy within a particular caste or class also differs in terms of their
religious and regional variations. Similarly subordination of women in developed countries is different
from what it is in developing countries.

While subordination of women may differ in terms of its nature, certain characteristics such as control
over women‘s sexuality and her reproductive power cuts across class, caste, ethnicity, religions and
regions and is common to all patriarchies. This control has developed historically and is institutionalized
and legitimized by several ideologies, social practices and institutions such as family, religion, caste,
education, media, law, state and society. Therefore, this paper will analyze the construct of ideal woman
in patriarchal culture.

What is Patriarchy?

Patriarchy literally means rule of the father in a male-dominated family. It is a social and ideological
construct which considers men as superior to women. Sylvia Walby in “Theorising Patriarchy” calls it
―a system of social structures and practices, in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women‖. The
word ―patriarchy‖ literally means the rule of the father and originally it was defined as specific type of
―male dominated family‖ which compounded women, children, slaves, animals and all domestic
properties under the rule of the father, in other words, the manifestation and institutionalization of male
dominance over women in the family, and in the society as in general. Even more broadly, patriarchy
referred to the enormous web of economic, political, social and religious regulations that enforced the
domination of women by the men from the ages.

Therefore, Patriarchy is based on a system of power relations which are hierarchical and unequal where
men control women‘s production, reproduction and sexuality. It imposes masculinity and femininity
character stereotypes in society which strengthen the iniquitous power relations between men and
women. Patriarchy is not a constant and gender relations which are dynamic and complex have changed
over the periods of history. The nature of control and subjugation of women varies from one society to
the other as it differs due to the differences in class, caste, religion, region, ethnicity and the socio-
cultural practices.

8
Gender perspective:

Gender is society-created set of cultural roles at a given time in which men and women dance their
unequal dance. Sometimes it is misused with sex but they have different meanings. The very existence
of gender-system in which men are expected to show aggressive role and women sensitive role leads to
the subordination of women in various forms – discrimination, disregard, insult, control, exploitation,
violence within the family and in the society-in other words, ―patriarchy‖. In fact, the most patriarchal
institution of the society is family. Due to this gender issue, women‘s productivity or labor power both
in household and outside is controlled by men; women‘s reproduction, women‘s sexuality and their
mobility in the family as well as outside is controlled by male.

Gender like social class, caste, race or religion is a significant social cleavage and it is important to
analyse it to understand social inequalities, oppressions and unequal relationship between men and
women. It has been explained by feminist scholars / thinkers/ writers who believe that the theory of
‗sexual politics‘ and ‗sexism‘ are conscious parallels with theory of ‗class politics‘ and ‗racism‘ to
understand oppression of women.

Biblical perspective:

From the times of the New Testament till today, man has been fighting for ‗liberation‘ which is clearly
depicted by Paul in Gal. 3: 28 ―in Christ no master, no slave, no Jew nor Greek, no male nor female‖
from which we can trace the historical timeline of mankind fighting for liberation. At first, during the
time of Paul, the equality between the Jewish and the Greeks was the main issue and then at the dawn of
the 20th century, the liberation of the Slaves in America was seen which was resolved and liberation was
attained. But, throughout the ages, with the dawn of every ‗Century‘, some sections of the society are
fighting for their liberation till these Millennia i.e. the fight against ‗Patriarchy‘. Though the
interpretation of scriptures of the Old Testament and New Testament was done by different persons,
there is one thing which is common i.e. the interpreters were men and the ideology of the interpretation
was done in the perspective of patriarchy.

The oldest creation story in Gen. 2: 4b-8, 18-25.is believed to be coming from the Yahwist strand which
was misinterpreted by male interpreter as the pivotal point to dominate women in which women have to
serve men and man will rule over her. But the Old Testament thinkers reinterpreted as the word ‗helper‘
, ‗a support‘ (v.18) in the Hebrew is ezer in which the word do not signify subordination rather the word
is also used in Ex.18: 4; Deut.33:7; Psalm 20: 2 and Psalm 121:1 which signifies the support or help of
Israel by God. So, the idea is, as God help Israel so women will help man because they need one another
for their survival and they are no placed in opposite but in parallel; they cannot fulfill their destiny
without the support of one another. In other words, they are equal in their importance whether it is
society, religion, culture and so on.

By breaking the cultural and religious norms of the Jewish society and its stronghold by the ‗Laws,‘
Jesus restores the dignity and humanity of women. The healing of the bent-over woman on Sabbath
(Lk.13:10-17) and by calling her ‗daughter of Abraham‘ which was never practiced in the Jewish

9
society and by healing the woman with the blood flow (Lk.8:43-48) which was considered unclean by
the Jews (Lev.15:19-27); by liberating the adulterous woman from death (John 8:3-11), Jesus restored
women to their rightful place in the society.

Reflection: Patriarchal societies propagate the ideology of motherhood which restrict women‘s mobility
and burdens them with the responsibilities to nurture and rear children. The biological factor to bear
children is linked to the social position of women‘s responsibilities of motherhood: nurturing, educating
and raising children by devoting themselves to family. ―Patriarchal ideas blur the distinction between
sex and gender and assume that all socio-economic and political distinctions between men and women
are rooted in biology or anatomy‖.

The traditionalist view accepts patriarchy as biologically determined and as the biological functions of
men and women are different, the social roles and tasks assigned for women are also different. Sigmund
Freud stated that for women ‗anatomy is destiny‘ and it is women‘s biology which primarily determine
their psychology and hence their abilities and roles. Similarly the traditional notion of ‗public-private
divide‘ which located politics in the public sphere and family and personal relationships in private
sphere as non-political, believed that sexual inequality is natural and not political. While the political
sphere was preserved for men the private sphere was reserved for women as housewives and mothers
who were excluded from politics.

The theory of male supremacy have been challenged and opposed by feminists as they lack historical or
scientific evidence. Feminists argue that the biological difference might lead to some difference in their
roles, but the former should not become the basis of a sexual hierarchy in which men are dominant. The
dismantling of these theories enables us to acknowledge that patriarchy is man-made and has developed
historically by the socio-economic and political processes in society.

Conclusion: Gerda Lerner in “The Creation of Patriarchy” has argued against single cause theories and
against looking for one historical moment when patriarchy was established. Patriarchy has been
conceptualized and analyzed by several feminist scholars in different ways. Feminists have challenged
patriarchal knowledge, ideology, values and its practice. Despite a range of common themes within
feminism, disagreements exist amongst the feminists in understanding patriarchy.

All feminists do not like the term ―patriarchy‖ for various reasons and prefer the term ―gender‖ and
―gender oppression‖. Patriarchy has remained a relatively undefined concept and some feminist scholars
are at unease with the use of the concept of ‗patriarchy‘ when it involves the notion of a general system
of inequality.

10