Gender issues

           

Gender Issues:

       The words sex and gender are commonly used interchangeably, but many linguists would argue that their usage is quite distinct. Sex refers to the biological and physiological characteristics, while gender refers to behaviors, roles, expectations, and activities in society.

Sex refers to male or female, while gender refers to masculine or feminine.

The difference between sex and gender

• Sex - the biological and physiological differences between men and women.
• Sex Roles - the behaviors and patterns of activities men and women may engage in that are directly related to their biological differences.
• Sexual Identity - the degree of awareness and recognition of sex and sex roles.
• Gender - behaviors or patterns of activities that a society or culture deems appropriate for men and women.

The differences in the sexes do not vary throughout the world, but differences in gender do.

Another way of putting it is:

Sex refers to a natural or biological feature.
Gender refers to cultural or learned significance of sex.

According to Med lexicon’s medical dictionary:
    Sex is "The biologic character or quality that distinguishes male and female from one another as expressed by analysis of the person's gonadal, morphologic (internal and external), chromosomal, and hormonal characteristics."
       Gender is "The category to which an individual is assigned by self or others, on the basis of sex."

The word gender comes from Middle English gendre, which came from Old French, which in turn came from the Latin word genus, meaning "kind," "type," or "sort."

The word sex probably comes from Middle English, meaning "section" or "divide." In Latin, the word sex means the number "six."

"Sex" refers to our biological and physiological traits; "gender" refers to the roles society assigns people based on their sex. Gender discrimination is when there is a bias based on a person's sex that leads to defining the roles he/she should play in society.

Here are some examples of characteristics related to sex:

§  Females have a vagina, males do not

§  Males have a penis, females do not

§  Male newborns tend to weigh more than female newborns

§  Females can breastfeed their babies, males cannot

§  Males have deeper voices than females

§  Females can get pregnant, males cannot

§  Males have testicles and females have ovaries

Here are some examples of characteristics related to gender:

§  Women tend to do more of the housework than their spouses do

§  A higher percentage of US doctors are women, compared to Egypt

§  Nursing is often seen as a woman's job, although many men enter the profession

§  In some countries women have to cover their heads when they go outside the house

§  120 years ago women were not allowed to vote in elections.

Patriarchy

               

Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. In the domain of the family, fathers or father-figures hold authority over women and children. Some patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited by the male lineage and descent is reckoned exclusively through the male line, sometimes to the point where significantly more distant male relatives take precedence over female relatives.

The female alternative is matriarchy.

Historically, patriarchy has manifested itself in the social, legal, political, and economic organization of a range of different cultures.

Etymology and usage

Patriarchy literally means "the rule of the father" and comes from the Greek (patriarkhēs), "father of a race" or "chief of a race, patriarch", which is a compound of  (patria), "lineage, descent"(from  patēr, "father") and  (arkhō), "I rule".

Historically, the term patriarchy was used to refer to autocratic rule by the male head of a family. However, in modern times, it more generally refers to social systems in which power is primarily held by adult men.

Masculinity

"Masculine" redirects here. For other uses, see Masculine (disambiguation).

"Manliness" redirects here. For the book by Harvey Mansfield, see Manliness (book).

Masculinity (also called boyhood, manliness or manhood) is a set of attributes, behaviors and roles generally associated with boys and men. Masculinity is socially constructed, but made up of both socially-defined and biologically-created factors, distinct from the definition of the male biological sex.  Both men and women can exhibit masculine traits and behavior. Those exhibiting both masculine and  feminine characteristics are considered androgynous, and feminist philosophers have argued that gender ambiguity may blur gender classification.

Masculine traits include courage, independence and assertiveness. These traits vary by location and context, and are influenced by social and cultural factors.An overemphasis on masculinity and power, often associated with a disregard for consequences and responsibility, is known as machismo.

Overview

          Masculine qualities, characteristics or roles are considered typical of, or appropriate for, a boy or man. They have degrees of comparison: "more masculine" and "most masculine", and the opposite may be expressed by "unmanly" or "epicene". Similar to masculinity is virility (from the Latin vir, "man"). The concept of masculinity varies historically and culturally; although the dandy was seen as a 19th-century ideal of masculinity, he is considered effeminate by modern standards. Masculine norms, as described in Ronald F. Levant's Masculinity Reconstructed, are "avoidance of femininity; restricted emotions; sex disconnected from intimacy; pursuit of achievement and status; self-reliance; strength and aggression, and homophobia." These norms reinforce gender roles by associating attributes and characteristics with one gender.

       The academic study of masculinity received increased attention during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the number of courses on the subject in the United States rising from 30 to over 300. This has sparked investigation of the intersection of masculinity with other axes of social discrimination and concepts from other fields, such as the social construction of gender difference (prevalent in a number of philosophical and sociological theories).

Development

       In many cultures, displaying characteristics not typical of one's gender may be a social problem. In sociology, this labeling is known as gender and is part of socialization to meet the mores of a society. Non-standard behavior may be considered indicative of homosexuality, despite the fact that gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation are widely accepted as distinct concepts. When sexuality is defined in terms of object choice (as in early sexology studies), male homosexuality is interpreted as effeminacy. Social disapproval of excessive masculinity may be expressed as "machismo"^] or by neologisms such as "testosterone poisoning".

         The relative importance of socialization and genetics in the development of masculinity is debated. Although social conditioning is believed to play a role, psychologists and psychoanalysts such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung believed that aspects of "feminine" and "masculine" identity are subconsciously present in all human males.

        The historical development of gender roles is addressed by behavioural genetics, evolutionary psychology, human ecology, anthropology and sociology. All human cultures seem to encourage gender roles in literature, costume and song; examples may include the epics of Homer, the Hengist and Horsa tales and the normative commentaries of Confucius.More specialized treatments of masculinity may be found in the Bhagavad Gita and the bushidō of Hagakure.

Hegemonic masculinity

      Traditional avenues for men to gain honor were providing for their families and exercising leadership. Raewyn Connell has labeled traditional male roles and privileges hegemonic masculinity, encouraged in men and discouraged in women: "Hegemonic masculinity can be defined as the configuration of gender practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees the dominant position of men and the subordination of women"

Feminism

        Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve equal political, economic, personal, and social rights for women This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. Feminists typically advocate or support the rights and equality of women.

          Feminist movements have campaigned and continue to campaign for women's rights, including the right to vote, to hold public office, to work, to earn fair wages or equal pay, to own property, to receive education, to enter contracts, to have equal rights within marriage, and to have maternity leave. Feminists have also worked to promote bodily autonomy and integrity, and to protect women and girls from rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence.

         Feminist campaigns are generally considered to be one of the main forces behind major historical societal changes for women's rights, particularly in the West, where they are near-universally credited with having achieved women's suffrage, gender neutrality in English, reproductive rights for women (including access to contraceptives and abortion), and the right to enter into contracts andown property. Although feminist advocacy is and has been mainly focused on women's rights, some feminists, including bell hooks, argue for the inclusion of men's liberation within its aims because men are also harmed by traditional gender roles.Feminist theory, which emerged from feminist movements, aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women's social roles and lived experience; it has developed theories in a variety of disciplines in order to respond to issues such as the social construction of gender.

     Some forms of feminism have been criticized for taking into account only white, middle-class and educated perspectives. This criticism led to the creation of ethnically specific or multicultural forms of feminism, including black feminism.