AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPT OF GENDER

Gender is different than sex. Although genetic factors typically define a person’s sex, gender
refers to how they identify on the inside. Only the person themselves can determine what
their gender identity is.

Gender

A person’s gender is how they identify internally and how they express this externally.
People may use clothing, appearances, and behaviours to express the gender that they
identify with.

The World Health Organization (WHO) trusted Source note that gender is a social
construction that people typically describe in terms of femininity and masculinity. In
Western cultures, people associate femininity with women and masculinity with men, but
this social construction varies across cultures. However, gender is not neatly divided along
the binary lines of “man” and “woman.”

Sex

A person’s sex is typically based on certain biological factors, such as their reproductive
organs, genes, and hormones.

Like gender, sex is not binary. A person may have the genes that people may associate with
being male or female, but their reproductive organs, genitals, or both may look different.

This is called differences in sex development. People may also refer to differences in sex
development as intersex. People typically use the terms “male,” “female,” or “intersex” to
refer to a person’s sex.

TYPES OF GENDER

There are four different types of genders that apply to living and nonliving objects.

 Masculine gender:

It is used to denote a male subtype.

Examples are king, man, boy, father, cock, bull, fox, etc.

 Feminine gender:

It is used to denote the female subtype.

Examples may include queen, woman, girl, mother, hen, cow, vixen, etc.
  Neuter gender:

It is used to denote nonliving and lifeless things. Neuter means neither, which is neither
male nor female.

For example, table, hair, city, etc.

 Common gender:

It denotes either a male or female sex.

For example, teacher, student, cousin, parent, etc.