Gender and Socialization

Pontioso, Estherlina Jr
Nacalaban, Everly
 Socialization
• Refers to how an infant develops into a
functioning social being and emerges with a
personality

• It refers to the process of becoming a full

member of the society
 Functions of Socialization
1. Transmits values, customs and belief from one
generation to another.

2. Enables the individual to grow and develop into

a socially functioning person.

3. It is a means of social control by which

members are encourage to conform to the ways
of the group by internalizing the group’s norms
and values
 Types of Socialization
1. Deliberate or Conscious – When persons are
explicitly and directly taught the norms and
values, the social expectations and obligations
of the group.

2. Non-deliberate or Unplanned - when

individuals learn the norms and values by
themselves from observations in the various
groups they come in contact with.
 Gender and Socialization
Gender Socialization
– The process of learning the social expectations and
attributes associated with one’s sex.
– The tendency for boys and girls to be socialized
differently
Gendering
– the process of child’s learning of his/her gender
identity
 Agents of Socialization
• Family
• Religion
• Education
• Mass Media
• Peer
 Socialization Mechanisms in the Family
Child Rearing Processes
1. Manipulation – the process of handling boys
and girls differently even as infants.
Boys = tossed up in the air
Girls = handled like delicate porcelains
Boys = Visual stimulation
Girls = Verbal Stimulation
2. Canalization – exposing children to gender
appropriate object (eg. Toys)
 Socialization Mechanisms in the Family
Child Rearing Processes
3. Activity Exposure – exposing children to gender
appropriated tasks or activities
Boys = mechanical
Girls = household chores
4. Verbal Appellation – the process of telling what
they are and what is expected of them
Ex. Boys don’t cry
Boys don’t hit girls
Brave Boys
Pretty/Beautiful girl
 Religion as an Agent of Socialization

• Most organized religion teach gender

subordination

• The bible has been attributed to men, translated

by men, and taught by men for over 2000 years;
this male bias is used to perpetuate the
subordination of women.
• To justify female subordination:
Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own,
image, in the image of God created He him: male
and female created He them.”
Genesis 2:18 “And the Lord God said, It is not
good that man should be alone; I will make him a
help meet for him” (St. Clement)
Genesis 2:22 “And the rib, which the Lord God
had taken form man, made He a woman, and
brought her unto the man” (St.) Ambrose)
Genesis 2:23 “And Adam said, This is now
bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of
• Letters of St. Paul in the 1st Century
“The head of the woman is the man.. For man is
the image and glory of God”
“I suffer not a woman to teach nor usurp
authority over the man, but be in silence..”
• St. Augustine “The woman herself is not the image of God”

• St. Thomas Aquinas “ As regards the individual

nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the
active force in the male seed tends to the
production of perfect likeness in the masculine sex;
while the production of woman comes from a defect
in the active force.
• St. Clement of Alexandria in his book Paedagogus that in
women “The consciousness of their own nature must
evoke feelings of shame”
• Tertullian (African Father of the Church)
Called women “the devil’s gateway.”
Do you not realize that Eve is you? The curse God
Pronounced on your sex weighs still the world. Guilty you
must bear its hardships. You are the devil’s gateway, you
desecrated that fatal tree, you first betrayed the law of
God, you who softens up with your cajoling words the man
against whom the devil could not prevail by force. The
image of God, the man Adam, you broke him it was child’s
play to you. You deserved death, and it was the son of God
who had to die!
 On the Contrary
• Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own,
image, in the image of God created He him: male
and female created He them.”
• 1 Corinthians 7:4 The wife hath not power of her
own body, but the husband: and likewise also the
husband hath not power of his own body, but the
wife.
• Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman?
For her price is far above rubies.
 On the Contrary
Ephesians 5:22 “Wives, submit yourselves unto your
own husbands, as unto the Lord”

Ephesians 5:25 “Husband, love your wives, even as

Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.
 Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own,
image, in the image of God created He him: male
and female created He them.”

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own,

image, in the image of God created He him: male
and female created He them.”

Proverbs12:4 a) A virtuous woman is a crown to her

husband

Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? For

her price is far above rubies.
 God used Woman for a purpose:
• Esther (Queen of Persia)
• Ruth (loving Daughter-in-law)
• Deborah (Helped the soldiers)
• Hannah ( Mother of Samuel)
• Unnamed Women (Who helped Elijah)
• Lydia (Worshipper)
• Mary (Conceived Jesus)