Sex Differences?

Introduction
Gender is not another word for women or for sex. The term ‘sex’ is used to differentiate the
features of females and males that are biologically determined.

Gender describes differences between women and men which are based on socially defined
ideas and beliefs of what it means to be a woman and a man.

Gender refers to the social relationship/roles and responsibilities of men and women, the
expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes, and likely behaviors of both women and
men (femininity and masculinity) that are learned, change over time, and vary within and
between cultures.

Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a
given society considers appropriate for men and women.

Sexual identity is the condition of being female or male.

“Male’ and ‘female’ are sex categories while ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ are gender
categories.

Sex and Gender

Sex Gender
Sex refers to the biological Gender refers to the learned attitudes and behaviors
characteristics with which we are that characterize people of one sex or the other.
born.
Gender is the socially constructed roles that a given
Sex is the biological and society considers appropriate for men and women.
physiological characteristics that
define men and women. Gender is the cultural differentiation of male from
female.

Gender and Sexuality

Femininity and Masculinity is the binary opposition (way of ordering the world).
Gender is all culture and no nature!

The only natural aspect of gender is sexual differentiation - a bio/physiological difference

upon which is balanced an elaborate cultural structure of differences used to classify and
make meaningful the social relations of the human species.
MASCULINITY FEMININITY
 Outdoors  Indoors
 Public  Private
 Social  Personal
 Production  Consumption
 Men  Women

Gender identity,

Gender Identity usually learned in early childhood refers to one’s perception of him or herself
as either masculine or feminine.

Gender Differences
Women Value Men Value
 Communication  Independence
 Connection  Power
 Relationships  Accomplishments
 Women’s Social World involves – A  Men’s Social World involves -
network of Cooperation A hierarchy of Power

Gender differences: Report vs. Rapport

 Men are externally focused and often view situations as issues to be resolved. They
talk to inform others.
 Women are internally focused and often talk as a way to connect and relate to others.

Understanding a Situation and Relating

Men Women
Privacy Gossip

The Notion that men value privacy and women value gossip is outdated. However women are
more likely than men to gossip because of their more frequent communication.

General approach to Situations

Men Women
Competition Cooperation

Men often want to compete while women often want to cooperate.

Gender issues in the workplace arise in many instances, from day-to-day interactions to larger
issues
Small Issues Large Issues
Condescension to female secretaries Resentment of women in management
positions

Activity:

Describe some challenges that you have experienced in gender communication. I hope
you enjoyed doing this activity. Now discuss your answer with fellow students.

Gender Concepts

The following are some gender concepts that are important to know in the study of
Communication and Gender.

1. Gender roles are socially determined tasks, behaviors and responsibilities for women
and men, based on socially perceived expectations of how women and men should act.

 Gender roles are socially constructed patterns, which differ from place to place
and over time, although women are usually expected to take care of the home
and children while men function in the public place. Failure to conform to these
roles is seen as deviance (Kamau 2009, p. 15).

2. Gender construction refers to the way roles are assigned to men and women.

3. Gender Mainstreaming: Gender mainstreaming means incorporating gender in all

policies, planning, processes, and budgets. Gender is part of the general analysis of an
activity, policy, program, event, or process. It is a strategy for making women’s as well
as men’s concerns and experiences equally important.
Gender Stereotype

Stereotypes are oversimplified ideas of a particular type of person (or idea, or place) that
many people believe are true. Examples of gender stereotypes;
 Do not cry like a girl.
 Stop gossiping like a woman.
 Be brave like a man.
They are often negative.

Gender is all around us and it communicates certain messages, mostly stereotypes.

The following colours are used to signify a girl or boy.

Gender Stereotypes
Men Women

 Logic  Feeling
 Power  Sharing
 Winning  Closeness
 Independent  Intimate
 Competitive  Relational

Historically

• Women were seen as less than men

• Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, Thy head, thy sovereign . . .

• Women couldn’t stand up for themselves.

Some Statistics
 • Are genders equal?

• The workplace:

• Women earn less (10% for full-time and 34% for part-time work).

• 70% of minimum wage jobs are done by women.

• 55% of women take part in the labour market.

Body image:

• Feeling bad about their appearance made 16% of girls avoid going to school
and 20% avoid giving an opinion in public.

• 20% of boys are extremely concerned about their weight, leading to

depression. and / or drug use (increasing use of steroids in young men leading
to many side effects).

Education

• 20% of girls put off science because it’s “for boys”.

• 90% of nurses are female (but men earn 5% more).

KCSE Results (21st December 2017)

Though the top 6 best students were girls, overall boys performed better than girls as shown
below.

GRADE BOYS GIRLS

A 81 61
A- 1,813 901
B+ 4,596 2,748
B 7,738 4,890
B- 11,631 7,754
C+ 41,681 28,386
C- 88,447
D+ 135,550
D 179,381
D- & E 35,536
Activity: Undertake a gender analysis of the results above and its implication on the boy
and girl child.
Sexual violence:

• 1 in 3 teen girls experienced sexual violence from a boyfriend.

• 1 in 3 girls experience sexual bullying in school on a daily basis.

In-text question: How does gender communication influence the situation above?

Most reports and research concentrate on violence on girls and women. The question remains
do boys and men also experience sexual and other forms of violence.

From the above statement, discuss with your classmates, ‘What effect does this skewed
reporting have on boys and men when they face sexual abuse and other forms of domestic
violence (i.e. intimate partner violence).

Verbal Communication differences based on Gender

Men (Masculine) Women (Feminine)

 Avoid personal stories  Share personal stories

 Attempt to dominate the conversation
 Less likely to listen
 More aggressive, more prone to
interrupt
 Offer personal stories
 Concerned with equalized input
 Form groups
 Listen carefully/attentively
 Allow themselves to be interrupted
more

Non-verbal Communication differences based on Gender.

Reasons for the differences

Quiz
The following quiz will help you interact with gender differences.

Gender Quiz: Are Women and Men Different?

 T/F Women are the weaker sex.

 T/F Boys are more group-centered, active, and aggressive than girls.
 T/F Women are more emotional than men.
 T/F Women talk more than men.
 T/F Women suffer more from depression.
  T/F Women are more likely than men to divulge personal information.
 T/F Men smile more than women.
 T/F Women and men don’t care whether a baby is a boy or a girl.
 T/F Most women are confident about managing their financial affairs.
 T/F A heart attack is more likely to be fatal for a man than for a woman.

Gender Quiz: Are Women and Men Different?

 False Women are the weaker sex.

 True Boys are more group-centered, active, and aggressive than girls.
 False Women are more emotional than men.
 False Women talk more than men.
 True Women suffer more from depression.
 False Women are more likely than men to divulge personal information.
 False Men smile more than women.
 False Women and men don’t care whether a baby is a boy or a girl.
 False Most women are confident about managing their financial affairs.
 False A heart attack is more likely to be fatal for a man than for a woman.

Nature-Nurture Debate

 Arguments favoring “Nature” (biological differences between men and women) come
from the following sources:
o Developmental and Health differences
o Effects of sex hormones (chemical substances secreted into the bloodstream)
o Sex differences in the brain
o Unsuccessful sex reassignment

Nature-Nurture Debate

 Arguments favoring the “Nurture” side of the debate, suggesting that culture shapes
human behavior, come from:
o Cross cultural variations in gender roles
o Cross cultural variations in male violence
o Successful sex assignment particularly with inter-sexuals (people born with
both male and female sex organs).

Nature-Nurture Debate

 What can we conclude?

 o Women and men exhibit some sex-related genetic differences.
o Cross cultural research shows much variation in characteristics typically
ascribed to men and women.
o Nature and Nurture clearly interact to explain our behavior.

The role played by socialization in communication between the genders

How we learn gender roles

 Social learning theory:

o People learn attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors through social interaction.
o Learning occurs through reinforcement or imitation and modeling.
 Cognitive development theory:
o Children acquire female or male values on their own by thinking, reasoning,
and interpreting information from their environments.
o Gender schema theory suggests people have mental organization systems
(schemas) to help them identify as male or female.
 Feminist approaches:
o Gender is a role that is socially constructed.
o Focus on power differences and inequality.

Parents

 Talking and communication patterns

 Setting expectations
 Providing opportunities
 Toys, Sports, and Peers
 Toys tend to be sex typed
 Female athletes still face institutional barriers
 Young children prefer same sex play partners

Who teaches gender roles?

Teachers and Schools

 In nursery and middle school, boys usually get more time to talk, are called on more
often, and receive more positive feedback.
 In high school, counselors may steer students into gender-typed futures.
 In college, there are gender differences in academic discipline.
Who teaches gender roles?

Books & Textbooks

 Many books show gender typed behaviors

 More non-stereotypical books are now available
 Popular Culture and the Media—There are many sex stereotyping examples in:
  Advertising
 Newspapers and Magazines
 Television and other Screen Media
 Music Videos
Who teaches gender roles?

Instrumental roles direct men to be procreators, protectors, and providers.

Expressive roles direct women to provide emotional support by being warm, sensitive, and
sympathetic. Women are the kin-keepers and family mediators.
Traditional Views and Gender Roles

Benefits

 Promote stability, continuity, and predictability

 Expectations are clear
 Costs
 For men, losing a job can become catastrophic.
 Women can feel trapped in exhausting, never ending tasks of housekeeping.
 Both men and women can be unhappy.
Traditional Views and Gender Roles

Gender Roles at Home

 The “second shift” refers to the household work and child care many mothers face
after coming home from work.
 Men’s and women’s perceptions of their domestic contributions vary.

Gender Roles in the Workplace

 Two key issues affect women, men, their partners and families:
o Sex discrimination continues to exist in many professions.
o Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance or other conduct that
makes a person uncomfortable and interferes with her or his work.
 Many men are confused about what sexual harassment is and many
women are reluctant to report it.

Contemporary Gender Roles

 Gender and the consumer marketplace

o Numerous examples exist where women are overcharged for car and home
repairs or receive inaccurate financial advice.
 Gender and Communication
 o Deborah Tannen, a sociolinguist, suggests men and women have different
communication styles that include:
 Different purposes
 Different rules
 Different ways of interpreting communications

Religion and Gender Roles

 Parenting
o Religion shapes gender roles and family roles in many ways. Example: the
Ten Commandments.
 Domestic Roles
o Religion shapes the division of labor in the home. In evangelical households,
wives spend more time on traditional women’s work.
 Role models
o Religion influences role models. For example, many Christian colleges remind
female students to not work outside the home, though this is in conflict with
their female professors working.

Current Gender Roles: Changes and Constraints

 Role conflict refers to the frustration and uncertainties a person experiences when
confronted with the requirements of incompatible roles.
 Are we waging war against boys and men?

There are concerns about men’s and boys’ development, especially with respect to education.

Some argue this concern is a backlash against girls’ and women’s progress.

 Is Androgyny the Answer?

o In Androgyny, both culturally defined masculine and feminine characteristics
are blended in the same person.

Take Note.

Androgyny is the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. Usually used to

describe characters or persons which have no specific gender, gender ambiguity may also be
found in fashion, gender identity, sexual identity, or sexual lifestyle.

A Global View: Women around the World

 The Gender Development Index (GDI) is used to rank countries.

o Its indicators include life expectancy, educational attainment, income, and
“intentional commitment to equality principles and policies”.
 o Top Ten countries are United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Iceland, the
Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
o Bottom Ten countries are in Africa, including Ethiopia, Niger, and Sierra
Leone.

Learned Gender Stereotyping

As mentioned earlier, children can be taught how to behave in ways that are considered
appropriate for their gender. Gender schema theory states that children learn about gender
roles and cultural expectations from their surroundings. There are three main sources within a
child's surroundings that shape his or her perspectives on gender. These include: parents,
teachers, media and culture.
1. Parents have a huge impact on a child's understanding of his or her gender. The parents'
own thoughts on what is expected from men and women become the foundation for the
child's perspective. They can influence children through their instruction and their modeling.
First, we have the way they instruct and guide their children. Parents will make statements to
children in order to guide them toward what they believe is gender-appropriate behavior. For
example, if a boy is upset and crying, some fathers may tell their sons, 'Don't cry. Boys don't
cry.' If a boy is playing with his sister's doll, his father may tell him to stop and tell him to go
get his car toys.
Second, we have the way the parents model behavior, or how they act out their gender in
front of their children. Perhaps a father works, comes home in the evening, and is served
dinner. The daughter grows up watching her mother stay at home, prepare meals and do
household chores, so she believes this is the appropriate role for women. Chances are she will
grow up acting similarly when she is a wife one day.
2. Teachers are also shown to be responsible for guiding children and adolescents into
particular gender roles. Research reveals a great deal of evidence that teachers can treat boys
and girls differently in the classroom. It has also been found that some teachers encouraged
and complimented girls to be calm, neat, and quiet, whereas boys were encouraged to think
independently and speak up. Since the classroom can be seen or experienced by children as a
microcosm for society, they may expect the same kind of behavior from males and females as
they age.
3. Media and culture tend to promote gender roles as well. Have you seen the movie Meet
the Parents? It opens up with Ben Stiller in a hospital room, drawing blood from a patient.
Afterward the patient thanks him, assuming that since he is a man, he must be the doctor. He
says, 'You've got a great touch, Doc.' Stiller replies, 'Thank you. And actually, I'm a nurse.
The doctor will be in shortly.' Many of us who watched this scene also thought that Stiller
was the doctor, based on our own learning that doctors are male, and nurses are female. Later
in the movie, Stiller gets mocked for being a nurse when he stands next to a doctor.
 Summary
In Topic One we learned to define the terms sex, gender and gender roles. We also learnt
about how sex differences and sex role stereotypes and how they affects communication
behaviour. In the second topic, though we have mentioned about socialization, we will learn
extensively about Gender Socialization, how it comes about and how it impacts on impacts
on the lifespan development of a person which has in turn effects on gender communication.