Gender Inequality

Sex refers to an individual’s

biological identity as male or female.
“Gender” is the meaning of being
male or female in a particular
society, and “gender role” refers to
the attitude and behavior that are
expected of men and women in
society.

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 Gender Inequality
• Gender is a way of society to divide people
into two categories: “men” and “women”.
This socially created division suggests—men
and women have different identities and
social roles. Sex, therefore is a physiological
phenomenon, gender is socio-cultural one.
• Men and women are not only different, but
also unequal in terms of power, prestige and
wealth.
• Since in almost all societies, men’s roles are
valued more than women’s roles, gender
also serves as social status.
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 Gender Development
The process of gender development begins early in
life when girls figure out that they are girls and boys
figure out that they are boys; that is, they engage in
“cognitive self-categorization.” They acquire gender
identity. It normally takes up to three years for this to
happen.
Developing gender is a process of making sense of the
world. it is not the child’s biological instincts, but
rather his cognitive organization of social role
concepts around universal physical dimensions
which accounts for the existence in sex role
attitudes.

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 Gender Development
Children next learn that everyone has gender;
everyone is boy or a girl and then they begin to learn
that gender does not change—you remain girl or boy
for ever.
They learn gender has meanings and they recognize
that girls and boys do different things, like different
things and have different amount of power.
They begin to learn about “masculinity” and
“femininity.”
As children learn about their gender, they begin to
value it. Boys want to do “boy” things and girls want
to do “girl” things. Young children uphold gender
standards and are very rigid about it.
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 Role of Biology
• Men possess biologically based tendency
towards aggression that women lack
(warfare & hunting). Women spend life in
caring for children.
• Male sex hormone is associated with the
male propensity to violence.
• Men are naturally polygamous and women
are naturally monogamous.
• Men have higher level of aggression and
women have greater verbal abilities.

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 Biology
• Women possess less physical vigor and
bodily strength, because of delicate build are
incapable of strenuous physical exertion.
• She is ruled more by emotions, she should
be more “womanly” in the manmade sense
of the term.
• She does not have the mentality for the stern
but pleasant tasks which men reserved for
themselves.
• She might be very well in the home, but
helpless in the larger world of activity
outside.
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 Socialization
Sex and social gender—born with first and
develops the second.
Through contact with the agencies of
socialization, child gradually internalize the
social norms and expectations that are seem
to correspond with their sex.
Gender differences are not biologically
determined; they are culturally produced.
Once a gender is “assigned,” society
expects us to act like “female” and “male”.
Gender inequalities result because men and
women are socialized into different roles.
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 Socialization
We create “gender” through interaction with
others—family, friends and colleagues,
beginning at birth when doctor, nurses and
parents see the infant assign the person to a
gender category. Babies are immediately
dressed to mark the sex category.
Once the child is “marked” as male or female,
people interacting with the child, treat it in
accordance with its gender.
It is the society which leads people to treat
women and men differently, even as
opposites.
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 Socialization
Gender socialization occurs as children learn to imitate
the models or examples they see in society, and as
people reward them for behaving in gender
appropriate ways and punish them for acting
otherwise.
The agents of socialization such as parents, peers,
schools, mass media encourage different types of
behavior in males and females. Man—a symbol of
power and prestige and woman as caring and
nurturing.
As the children grow and are given more responsibility
within the h
home, parents begin to teach them “gender
appropriate” tasks.
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 Gender Discrimination
• Are women intellectually inferior to men?
• Are they more emotional or childlike than
man?
• Are women slow in making decisions?
• Are women less hard working than men?
• Are women non-serious and less productive
than men?
• Are women incapable for top management
posts?

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 Gender Discrimination
This kind of claims justify the facts that women
historically have fewer educational
opportunities and lower paying jobs.
Such discriminations are contradictions
between our ideology of equal opportunities
and the realities of life for females.
The fact is that women lack certain basic rights
that are supposed to be available to all the
citizens of any state.

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 Gender Discrimination (career)
• A growing percentage of women participating in
economy. But right to equal opportunities only
begins at the time of entering the employment.
Once entered in a job, are women’s opportunities as
good as those of men?
Will she do as well in terms of income as a man would?
Ideology says that if you have the ability and
determination, you are on your way to success in a
career.
Reality is that women are disproportionately
represented and in many careers discouraged to
enter.
In the occupations where women outnumber men,
teaching at all levels, the proportion of women in top
management jobs is very low. 12
 Discrimination (Education)
• All societies of today value education. There
is a very close relationship between years of
schooling and income. Greater the amount of
education—better the position.
• At higher education institutions number of
female students is very low and in many
places, they have quota rather than open
competition.
• The reason for this inequality is that the
traditional female role (as keeper of home)
contradicts our value for maximum
education.
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 Discrimination (politics)
• It is believed that only through maximum
citizens participation will we have the kind of
nation that provides liberty, justice and
opportunity for all. For long women were
denied the right to vote in many societies.
• Political participation includes more than
voting. Historically, the number of women
holding appointed or elected offices has
been small at all levels—even in countries
like US and UK or China.
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 Discrimination (Dignity as a
Human Being
• A belief prevail in human society that women
are inferior to men.
“women and those of low birth are alike in
being difficult to deal with” (Confucius)
“woman is unfinished man and stands on a
lower plane of development” (Aristotle)
“women are less intelligent than men”
(American conviction)

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