GBS211 NOTES

UNDERSTANDING GENDER

Although women have made important gains in terms of accessing vital resources useful for
social mobility in Zimbabwe and the world over, they are still socially disadvantaged as men
continue to hold positions of relative privilege. This inequality is often thought to reflect innate
differences between the sexes but it is actually a creation of society itself. Research has revealed
that sex is a pervasive element in the structure of society and in the lives of people. It shapes
other people‘s views of us as well as our own self- concepts. This module is an introduction to
gender studies‘ hence an understanding of the term gender is important. In gender studies we are
neither interested in women as a group nor with men as a group but in the social relations
between them. In this unit we make you have an understanding of gender as a concept. We also
clarify some selected concepts central to the study of gender. The explanations offered are
neither comprehensive nor definitive. They are only intended to help you explore key ideas about
the concepts. You will develop a deeper understanding when you read about them in the
subsequent chapters. The unit also covers how gender is socially constructed through the family,
the school, the peer group and the mass media. Although there are many types of gender
socialisation, in this unit we focus on Oakley‘s types of gender socialisation.

Gender and related concepts.

To best understand the term gender it is essential to first understand the term sex as these two
terms are often confused and sometimes used interchangeably.

Sex

 According to Macionis (1989), sex refers to the division of humanity into biological
categories of male and female. As a biological distinction, sex is determined at the
moment a child is conceived. Sex is also defined as the biological differences between
men and women, that is, ―…their physical characteristics: external genitalia, internal
genitalia, gonads (the organs which produce sex cells), hormonal states and secondary
sex characteristics.‖ (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004: 94). Sex is therefore a fact of
biology, which is the physiological distinctiveness or state of being male or female.

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Gender

 Gender refers to human traits linked by culture to each sex (Haralambos and Holborn,
2004).Within a society; males are socialized to be masculine as females are taught to be
feminine. Walter and Manion (1996) maintain that gender is the difference that sex
makes within a society, guiding how we are to think of ourselves, how we interact with
others, the social opportunities, occupations, family roles and prestige allowed males and
females.

 Gender can also be defined as a set of characteristics, roles and behaviour patterns that
distinguish women from men which are constructed not biologically but socially and
culturally‖ (Gita Sen in Towards Earth Summit 2002:1). Like the variable concepts of
class, race, ethnicity, culture and economics, gender is an analytical tool for
understanding social processes that affect human beings. The following table1.1 helps
you differentiate between gender and sex.

Differentiating gender from sex

SEX GENDER
Is in born Start the moment the sex is known
Is biologically determined Is socially constructed
Is exclusive to a particular sex and is fixed. It Varies within and among cultures, different
does not change over time, once born male individual and societies give different meaning
always male and once born female always to maleness and femaleness.
female
Is universal, that is, the organs that determine a The attributes, expected roles, expected
male or a female are uniform the world over behaviours and expected responsibilities that
for example the penis for the males and the goes with maleness and femaleness differ from
vagina for the females. society to society, community to community
and from individual to individual
Is natural It is learnt

Sex roles vs Gender roles

Sex roles

 Sex roles are duties, activities, tasks or responsibilities that males and females perform or
undertake that are an inevitable product of one‘s biology, for example, breastfeeding for

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 females and impregnating for the males. Like sex, these assignments are biologically
determined, fixed, universal and exclusive to a particular sex.

Gender roles

 Gender roles are duties, chores, tasks, responsibilities or assignments that a particular
cultural group consider appropriate for its males and females on the basis of the meaning
attached to their sexual identity. These roles are not a direct or an inevitable product of
males‘or females‘biology e.g. caring for children by females and mending a puncture for
males.

 They are learnt, vary within and among cultures, dynamic, interchangeable and can be
affected by factors like class, religion, age, race, education, geographical location and
ethnicity.

Gender Equality

 When we say 2+2=4, we mean that the value of 2+2 and the value of 4 are the same. In
gender equality, we are interested in the same valuation of men and women and sameness
of enjoyment of rights, power, opportunities, treatment and control of resources between
males and females in society. We are also interested in the sameness in enjoying of the
benefits from resources. Gender equality is therefore not only the absence of
discrimination and bias, but ―… the equal valuing by society of both the similarities and
differences between women and men and the varying roles that they play‖ (Gender
Equality Analysis Policy-Status of Women Canada page 5).It does not mean that men and
women will become the same. No. But they will have same opportunities in life. An
example of practising gender equality is according men and women enjoyment of same
voting rights. Gender equality, therefore, ―denotes the equivalence in life outcomes for
women and men, recognizing their different needs and interests and requiring a
redistribution of power and resources‖ (Bridge Report No. 55:10).

Terms to get used to

Gender Equity

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  Gender equity is a process of achieving fairness and justice among men and women. The
fairness and justice is in relation to distribution of opportunities, responsibilities and
resources as well as in accessing and controlling the benefits from the resources. ―To
ensure fairness, measures must often be made available to compensate for historical and
social disadvantages that prevent women and men from operating on a level playing
field‖ (Gender Equality Analysis Policy- Status of Women Canada page 5).

 Gender equity also entails proportional distribution of social resources and services, as
well as proportional representation of men and women in the development process, that
is, the composition of males and females at all levels should closely represent the general
population. What we mean here is that, if we are practicing gender equity, say in our
enrolment of male and females into university then the ratio of males to females should
be commensurate with the national population ratio of 48:52. Gender equity leads to
gender equality.

Gender bias

 Gender bias is the tendency to be in favour of, or against males and females on the basis
of their gender rather than on anything else, like what some teachers do when they take
only females for fashion and fabrics because of their stereotypical belief that women are
better at sewing than men.

Gender Discrimination

 Gender discrimination is an act of unfair treatment directed against an individual or a

group on the basis of their gender which denies them rights, opportunities or resources.
When universities lower entry points for only female students, (whatever the reasons may
be) they will be discriminating against the male students. Gender discrimination can be
positive or negative and whether positive or negative, differential treatment is given to
males and females on basis of their gender.

Gender Neutrality

 This is the claim that one is indifferent to issues of gender as he/she has no ultimate
gender practice. It assumes that all people are affected by programmes or polices in the

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 same way. ―It is premised on the theory that all people are already equal, therefore
treating all people the same way is fair,‖ (Women‘s Policy Office, Government of
Newfound land and Labrador (undated) Facilitator‘s Guide, Gender Inclusive

 Analysis….An Overview St Johns, NF, p.14) like what most universities do when they
give one tissue roll to every student in residence for a specified period of time. Female
students, by virtue of their biology require more tissue paper. It thus may not allow for
sensitivity to disadvantages, hence it replicates stereotypes and restrictive views of males
and females.

Gender Blindness

 When one is blind one cannot see. Gender blindness is total failure, out of sheer gender
ignorance, to recognize the differences between males and females and subsequently
leads to failure to provide or cater for the differences.

 Gender blind people fail to realize that policies, programmes and activities can have
different effects on men and women and this often leads to rigidity and unchanging
attitudes. It is a characteristics feature of conservative societies, where gender bias and
discrimination is orchestrated on ill knowledge and innocence. A good example is what
happened at a certain school which had been originally a boys‘ only school and then
decided to become co-educational. The school administration made girls stay in hostels
that were previously boys‘. The toilets in these hostels had urinals and the administration
did not see anything wrong with that. This is gender blindness.

Gender Sensitivity

 Imagine entering a bus which is ferrying students from your university home and you
find that 90% of the bus load is males and the majority of those that failed to enter the
bus are females. You will obviously sense a gap of something between male students as a
group and female students as a group. What is it that you are sensing? You are right!-that,
whatever the reason, there is a gender gap between men and women. You see, you are
becoming gender sensitive. Gender sensitivity is the mere ability to perceive existing

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 gender inequalities. It is gender perceptiveness or gender consciousness, which is,
looking at an issue with a gender eye. It is the beginning of gender awareness.

Gender Awareness

 In the example of the bus situation given immediately above, what do you think is the
cause of the problem given that the passengers in the bus were self drawn from a
population of equal numbers between males and females? You are now searching for the
possible gender problems. You are now becoming gender-aware. Gender awareness is,
therefore, the ability to identify problems arising from gender discrimination and bias
which affect men‘s and women‘s ability to access and control resources and /or even
access and control of benefits from the resources is gender awareness. It is still gender
awareness even when and where the problems are disguised and defended as culture and
tradition.

Gender Responsiveness

 What solutions would you offer in the transport problem above so that females are not
discriminated against? You are now becoming gender responsive. Gender responsiveness
mainly constitutes responding to gender issues with a view to eradicate the bias and
discrimination in order to ensure equality and equity (FAWE, 2004).It is the ability to
visualise and practice gender equity and gender equality. You see, it starts from gender
sensitivity to gender awareness then to gender responsiveness.

Two contradictory views

Feminism

 Feminism is a social and political movement aimed at defending and expanding the rights
of women. It is both a cause and a result of the changing positions of women in society. It
is also an ideology, which recognizes the systematic discrimination against women on the
grounds of their gender. Feminism gives commitment to work towards correcting the
undesirable situation of women. It challenges the idea that gender like sex is natural.

Patriarchy

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  Patriarchy is a social system that propagates male superiority, power and control over
women as natural. It oppresses exploits and subordinates women. In patriarchal societies
leadership roles, control of valuable resources and decision making is a male preserve.

 Patriarchy draws a clear demarcation line between males and female. It also creates a
social stratification with males always on top. Meena (1992) says that, in patriarchy, even
the weakest man has a woman to oppress and exploit. In patriarchy women are perceived
as perpetual minors who cannot take independent decisions. It is in short, ―systematic
societal structures that institutionalize male physical social and economic power over
women‖ (Bridge Report No. 55:29).

Gender Mainstreaming

 ―…..is the process of assessing the implication for women and men of any planned
action; including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels. It is a
strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral
dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies and
programmes in all political, economic, and societal spheres so that women and men
benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender
equality.‖ (Towards Earth Summit, 2002: 2).It is a strategy to achieve gender equality that
was universally adopted at the fourth world conference on women in 1995, at

 Beijing- a means to the bigger end of attaining gender equality.

Gender Empowerment

 This is one of the words that are difficulty to define because of taking different forms in
different people and different contexts. Babikwa (2004:72) says ―empowerment does
not mean individual self assertion, upward social mobility or increased disposable income
or when psychological experience of feeling self realized….it means....an understanding
of the causes of powerlessness, recognizing systematically oppressive forces and acting
individually and collectively to change the conditions of life‖ Basically, then, it is to do
with one‘s participation in decisions and processes affecting one‘s life. It is a process
about people, taking control over their own lives, setting their own agendas, building self

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 confidence, solving problems [Kabeer, (1994) in March et al 1999:25] ―Empowerment
cannot be given, it must be self generated‖ because such change must be believed in,
initiated, and directed by those whose interests it is meant to serve. What other external
forces like education can do is to provide those who need empowerment with an enabling
environment and resources which will allow them to take greater control of their lives;
determine what relations they would want to live within and devise strategies to help
them get there (Naila Kabeer, in March, Smyth and Mukhopadhyay, 1999:.25).

Gender Affirmative Action

 Gender affirmative action is a corrective or compensatory measure for past injustices or

gaps and an accelerator for the process of equitable development. It is an intended justice
measure through deliberately according the previously excluded or disadvantaged sex
group preferential treatment to increase the group‘s representation in areas of education,
employment, business and politics among others. It entails gender discrimination because
it gives unfair, though justifiable, advantage to the once discriminated sex group. It is
therefore positive or reverse discrimination. Gender affirmative action is meant to redress
the effects of past discriminations rather than discriminate. An example of gender
affirmative action is the practice done by most universities when these institutions lower
their entry points for female students only.

Gender Stereotypes

 Gender stereotypes are socially constructed ideas or beliefs about men and women which
are not necessarily true but taken as truth by society. They are maintained, perpetuated
and transmitted from generation to generation by social institutions like the family, the
school, the media, religion, the culture among others. Most common gender stereotypes
are based on:

 Sex, for example, males are aggressive while females are affectionate

 Personality, for example men are cheerful while women are nervous

 Age, for example, young men are rebellious while older women are conservative

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  Ethnicity, for example, Ndebele women are good home managers while Shona women
are good fieldworkers

 Class for example upper class men are playful while lower class men are ambitious

 Occupations, for example male nurses are kind and loving while female nurses are rude
and short hearted with women in labour.

 Stereotypes can be positive or negative.

Gender Identity

 ‘….it is how an individual adapts the prescribed sex role to his or her individual identity.‘

 (Http: // www.gender.org.uk about gender definitions.htm page 2)

Gender Relations

 These are ―the range of gendered practices, such as the division of labour and resources
and the gendered ideologies such as ideas of acceptable behaviour for men and women‖
(Bridge Report No. 55:18.).They are simply the social relationships between men as a sex
group and women as a sex group. They determine what is socially accepted and what is
socially inappropriate. They work in most cases to subordinate and discriminate against
women.

Gender practical needs

 These are the concrete, immediate and often essential needs/wants for human survival.
The men and women survive better in their socially accepted roles, within their gendered
power structures. Practical gender needs include food and shelter among other things.

Gender strategic needs

 These are human requirements which when met challenge and change power relations
between men and women. They are often less visible than the practical ones and are long
term, one example being access to decision making positions.

Gender Socialisation

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  Gender socialisation ―refers to the means whereby social expectations regarding gender-
appropriate characteristics are conveyed to the child. These expectations are often based
on stereotyped beliefs.‖ It has a dual significance for these children, that is, it provides
them with models for present behaviour and it prepares them for adult life (Dekker and
Lemmer, 1993:9).

Social Construction of Gender

 To construct is to build or to make. The social construction of gender is the social making
of gender. Gender is constructed by society through the process of gender socialization.
The social institutions that are responsible for gender construction are called socialisation
forces like the family, the school, the media, the language, music religion among others.
The people who carry out the socialization are socialisation agents like the parents, the
teachers, pastors, peers and many others. Some institutions like the family are primary in
the sense that they are the first that any child comes into contact with. Murdock in
Haralambos and Holborn (2004), says the family is the child‘s first window to the world
and no other gender socialisation institution rivals it in gender socialisation. Such prime
gender socialisation institutions are called primary socialisation forces, while those
institutions that the child comes in contact with after primary socialisation are called
secondary socialisation forces like the school, the peer group, and others. Both the
primary and secondary forces create, reinforce, maintain and perpetuate gender but the
primary forces are the chief creators, while the secondary forces are the chief
maintainers, reinforcers and perpetuators.

 The family, the school, the peer group and the mass media are going to be discussed
briefly here though other agents of gender socialisation are just as important.

The Family

 The family constructs gender through the way family members:

 interact with and treat the child

 talk to the child

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  dress the child,

 give the toys and types toys they give to the child

 assign roles and the roles they give

 accord the child benefits and opportunities and the type of benefits and opportunities they
accord

 position the child within the family

 Give the child the name and the name given and even the other pseudo names given
among other things.

A construct from school set up

The School

The school is a secondary socializing force and the teachers are the chief socialising agents. The
school operates on two levels, that is, the intentional and official and the unintentional and none
examined both of which gender differentiated (Dekker and Lemmer 2003.)Gordon (1995) says
that teachers don‘t explicitly teach gender, but gender emerges on its own in the curriculum.
What the school pupils‘ eyes see, what their ears hear and what their minds in turn believe in
through:

 the school management structure

 the ways teachers talk ,organize and treat the pupils

 the portrayal of men and women in the texts and reading books

 the learning media

 the subject allocations

 the teachers‘ teaching methodologies

 the teachers‘ attitudes and expectations

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  The extra curricula activities the sort of carrier guidance offered among other things,
discerns a gender social code on the pupils.

 Therefore you see that, the exclamations ‗it‘s a boy! Or it‘s a girl!‘ upon delivery sets a
course of action that from that moment on, influences multiple facets of a person‘s life.
The answer ‗boy or girl‘ carries significance in the child‘s entire life in terms of the
individual‘s:

 opportunities

 associations and relationships

 benefits

 societal roles and responsibilities

 value in society

 social identity

 expected behaviour

The Peer Group

 On reaching school age, children begin to interact more intensively outside the family,
especially with others of their age (the peer group).Within the peer group, the blue and
pink worlds are further developed.

 Children‘s games provide important cultural lessons. Lever cited in Macionis (1989)
concluded that the peer group activities of boys and girls differ considerably, providing in
each case a distinctive type of socialization. Lever found out that boys engage in team
sports that involve many roles and complex rules, and clear objectives like scoring a goal.
These games are almost always competitive, producing winners and losers. Such activity
among boys reinforce s the characteristics of masculinity, notably aggression,
competition, and remaining in control.

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 Girls on the other hand, tend to play games such as jump rope in small groups, or simply
sing or dance together. Such activity tends to be spontaneous, involving few simple rules.

 Just as important, since these games rarely have ‗victory‘ as their ultimate goal, girls
rarely oppose one another. However, female peer groups do serve to teach the
interpersonal skills of communication and cooperation that are the basis for life within
the family.Gilligan cited in Giddens (2004), noted that boys and girls learn to use
distinctive patterns of moral reasoning. Boys tend to reason according to rules and
principles, that ‗rightness‘ is largely a matter of ‗playing by the rules‘. Girls however,
understand morality more in terms of responsibility to other human beings, so that
‗rightness‘ lies in maintaining close relationships with others. Clearly then, these
distinctive patterns of moral reasoning are encouraged by the different kinds of peer
group activity common to boys and girls.

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