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ASSIGNMENT

GENDER SOCIALIZATION

REENA MERIN CHERIAN

M.A. (PREVIOUS)

DATE : 23RD JANUARY, 2009

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“Girls wear dresses and heart or flower covered outfits, boys wear
three-piece suits, overalls, and super hero pajamas.

Catalogs feature girls playing with dolls and kitchen sets, and boys
with Legos and trucks.

Toys for boys tend to encourage exploration, manipulation, invention,

construction, competition, and aggression.

Girls? Toys typically rate high on creativity, nurturance, and

attractiveness.”

In books, men are almost always the heroes. These excerpts are taken
from various literary pieces which are included in the curriculum of
young students and written by world renowned authors.

The term sex and gender are used interchangeably but the literary
meaning is different from its usual usage sex is defined in biological
terms, the exact definition calls for, “maleness or femaleness as
determined by genetic factors present at conception that result in
anatomical and physiological factors.” This indicates the influence of
factors like genes (i.e. whether the chromosome combination is XX or
XY), the effect of hormones largely referring to gonadotropin and the
presence of characteristic physiological factors. However gender refers
to everything associated with an individual’s sex that is societal roles,
expectations, behaviors, preferences and attributes that define a male
or after male in a particular culture. It is defined as “the attributes,
behavior, personality characteristics and expectancies associated with
a person’s biological sex in a given culture. Gender differences can be
erased on biology learning and the combination of the two.”

SOCIALIZATION

Socialization is the process by which children and adults learn from

others. We begin learning from others during the early days of life; and
most people continue their social learning all through life (unless some
mental or physical disability slows or stops the learning process).
Sometimes the learning is fun, as when we learn a new sport, art or
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musical technique from a friend we like. Socialization is of several

types.

Natural socialization occurs when infants and youngsters explore, play

and discover the social world around them. Planned socialization
occurs when other people take actions designed to teach or train
others from infancy on. Natural socialization is easily seen when
looking at the young of almost any mammalian species, for instance e
when children realize or learn that that their younger siblings are
made to wear particular coloured clothes soon after they are born i.e.
pink if a girl and blue if a boy, acquires these schemes and gets stored
in their memory. Planned socialization is mostly a human phenomenon;
and all through history, people have been making plans for teaching or
training others, school can act as an agency for primary socialization,
when students of different gender are made to wear different uniforms
which indicates a segregation, for instance in certain schools in Delhi,
having co-education emphasize on girls wearing salwar-kameez from a
very young age itself. Certain literary material in their text books
reinforce their already acquired gender schemas by clearly indicating
the roles young students are to follow when they grow, for instance.
Both natural and planned socialization can have good and bad
features: It is wise to learn the best features of both natural and
planned socialization and weave them into our lives.

Positive socialization is the type of social learning that is based on

pleasurable and exciting experiences. We tend to like the people who
fill our social learning processes with positive motivation, loving care,
and rewarding opportunities, for instance a young girl child being
rewarded for winning a sports event, say cricket in her school being
appreciated by her parents. Negative socialization occurs when others
use punishment, harsh criticisms or anger to try to "teach us a lesson;"
and often we come to dislike both negative socialization and the
people who impose it on us. An example of this can be young boy
being ridiculed by his elder siblings for playing with dolls or an elderly
person being criticized for expressing or possessing feminist view
point.

There are all types of mixes of positive and negative socialization; and
the more positive social learning experiences we have, the happier we
tend to be, especially if we learn useful information that helps us cope
well with the challenges of life. The process by which future members
learn to become members of the society is called socialization. Certain
statutes and roles are allotted to the members of a particular culture
based on the shared practices and norms. The socialization of the
individual takes place through various agencies that influence ant
through imitation and role taking socialization and the process of role
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taking and playing their roles are closely knitted. Socializations occur
in all aspects and stages of human development.

AGENCIES PROMOTING GENDER SOCIALIZATION

1. The family being the integral part of every individual

upbringing is one of the most important agencies of
socialization. The family has the power to influence individual
self-concept, emotions, attitude and behavior. As mentioned
earlier family is a primary agency for socialization, hence, there
is a strong influence of the family members in terms of gender
socialization, right from the colours chosen by the students to
the programs children are allowed to watch to the games they
are encouraged to play, all reflect the socialization process
knowingly or unknowingly initiated by the family. for instance,
young girls are encouraged to play with Barbie dolls and watch
serials like Bidaai and Baalika vadhu, meanwhile her brother
would be encouraged to watch cartoons like tom and jerry and
RAW and SMACKDOWN which incorporates aggression (which
again is presumably a masculine desirable aspect)
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This cartoon shows as to hoe doing certain tasks are specific to only a
particular gender.

2. Education also acts as key agency in developing gender

identity. For instance the difference in educational treatment
given to girls, in many parts of rural India, girl children are
deprived of education and those receiving are lagging behind in
performance as compared to the tog boys. Teachers socialize
girls towards a feminine ideal. Girls are praised for being neat,
quiet, and calm, whereas boys are encouraged to think
independently, be active and speak up. Girls are socialized in
schools to recognize popularity as being important, and learn
that educational performance and ability are not as important.
"Girls in grades six and seven rate being popular and well-liked
as more important than being perceived as competent or
independent. Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to rank
independence and competence as more important." (Bailey,
1992)

This socialization of femininity begins much earlier than the

middle grades. At very early ages, girls begin defining their
femininities in relation to boys. One study of a third grade
classroom examined four self-sorted groups of girls within the
classroom: the nice girls, the girlies, the spice girls and the
tomboys. Through interviews researcher Diane Reay found that
'nice girls' was considered a derogatory term indicating, "...an
absence of toughness and attitude." (Reay, 2001) Furthermore,
the girlies were a group of girls who focused their time on flirting
with and writing love letters to boys, the tomboys were girls who
played sports with the boys, and the spice girls espoused girl-
power and played 'rate-the-boy' on the playground. Reay's
research shows that each of the groups of girls defined their own
femininities in relation to boys. (2001)

Teachers socialize girls towards a feminine ideal. Girls are

praised for being neat, quiet, and calm, whereas boys are
encouraged to think independently, be active and speak up. Girls
are socialized in schools to recognize popularity as being
important, and learn that educational performance and ability
are not as important. "Girls in grades six and seven rate being
popular and well-liked as more important than being perceived
as competent or independent. Boys, on the other hand, are more
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likely to rank independence and competence as more

important." (Bailey, 1992)

Clearly the socialization of gender is reinforced at school,

"Because classrooms are microcosms of society, mirroring its
strengths and ills alike, it follows that the normal socialization
patterns of young children that often lead to distorted
perceptions of gender roles are reflected in the classrooms."
(Marshall, 1997) Yet gender bias in education reaches beyond
socialization patterns, bias is embedded in textbooks, lessons,
and teacher interactions with students. This type of gender bias
is part of the hidden curriculum of lessons taught implicitly to
students through the every day functioning of their classroom.

3. The peer groups, they are made of up people with similar age
group and status in society. The group also set norms and
values by which the individual must abide. Here, the child enters
the second stage of gender socialization where elder children
are encouraged to be with the children of their own gender and
feel disgusted on being getting associated with the children of
other gender, from this stage onward they tend to develop a
strong sense of gender identity which later culminates into rigid
roles.

4. Under the secondary socialization, are the work environment,

mass media and religion. There are certain occupational and
job categories and courses meant for women and men, for
instance, teaching, home science, nursing profession and
psychological practices are now considered female domain as
society considers them more sensitive. Meanwhile roles such
jobs such as that of drivers, high bureaucratic posts, postman,
bus conductors all rigidly defined foe men, the roles are so
unbending, that any deviation from them is not encouraged and
even punished for. The famous book of 17th century, the ‘Malfic
Malfecarum’ tells stories of women who were identifies as
witches for not adhering to the traditional roles, various
atrocities were showered upon them. Jane of Arch was burnt
alive as French society could not accept a woman leading an
army to victory in a battle front. Men who are found to be
sensitive and emotional have been assigned the label of
‘jellyfish’ in United States, in the French open held in 20002
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when Andre Aggassi broke down after loosing in the men’s

singles, the western media criticized his spontaneous outburst
as too ‘girly’ n unfit for a sportsman.

5. The mass media which serve as a medium of communication

is one of the agencies of socialization. Through the mass media,
individual are able to learn and adopted new of lifestyle and
behavior which at the end becomes a convention in the society.
Fashion is a platform were inventions and innovations are tried,
metro sexuality for men is fine example, but them most men
have not accepted it and those who experiment with it are
termed ‘transvestites’. Power dressing is another aspect of
gender identity which indicates that women who dress as men
with formal coats in pastels and shoes are found to be more
successful than those who dress in a feminine manner.

6. Religion is a major agency of socialization because it embodies

the moral principle in society. In this respect, religion has its
own set of norms, values and objectives that regulate the
conduct of its members.

The roles and expectations defined for men and women are
highly inflexible, The Bible contains various references where
women who don’t cover their heads , while praying are labeled
as ‘seductresses’ and holy texts of various religions concentrate
on men as warriors and fighters and those who indulged in it
enjoyed social sanctions and deviants were met with divine
reprisal.

In conclusion, it is from the agencies of socialization that we learn how

to act in the way that others expect of us in society.

END PRODUCTS OF GENDER SOCIALIZATION

There are several end products or consequences of gender

socialization they are as explained:-

Gender Identity: Perception of Difference in Gender

1. Identification
Developing a gender identity is a result of primary socialization
acquired through family and education. It is defined as those parts of
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self concept involving a person’s self concept as male or a female.

Consciousness of gender identity usually develops about an age of
two. This occurs by noticing the difference in genital make-up and
learning to use words such as ‘girl’ and ‘boy’

.
2. Internalization
Gender consistency once an identity begins to take form children
stars to comprehend the importance of gender consistency, they
accept the principle that gender is the basic attribute of a person.

3. Sex typing, gender role behavior and reactions to the gender role
behavior

4. Gender role identification: the degree to which an individual

identifies with the gender stereotype of his or her own culture. These
generally indicate the general traditional roles and not any other.

What is Early Gender Socialization and how early does it start?

“What are little boys made of?

Frogs and snails and puppy
Dog’s tails
That’s what boy’s are made of.
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and all things nice,
That’s what girls are made of.”

At the process starts at birth and involves learning cultural roles

according to one’s sex. From the start, boys and girls are treated
differently by people in their own environment (for example, parents,
siblings and caregivers), and thus learn the difference between boys
and girls, women and men. Differing parental and societal expectations
of boys and girls. There is general agreement on what is meant by
gender socialization:
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AGES 2 TO 4

CONCEPTION Child learns social categories

of male and female and
Genes on the sex labels self and others as boy
chromosome determine or girl, though with
whether a biological male or somewhat precise
a biological female has been understanding of what they
conceived refer to.

LATER CHILDHOOD

Sex identity becomes clear

and gender identity develops
ADULTHOOD AND as self concept, also learns
ADOLECENCE culturally appropriate and
Gender identity is well inappropriate characteristics
established and gender associated with gender. By
stereotypes are well age 5 gender stereotypes
understood. the individual begin to occur.
may or may not identify with
the gender stereotypes.

learns culturally
approprair

THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION

It is also clear from the comments received that gender socialization is

culturally bound. As boys are favored over girls in most cultures, this is
reflected in their self-image: boys are often more assertive and
demanding, while girls are frequently more submissive and modest.
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Theories on Gender Socialization

Early Childhood Gender Socialization

(Three types of theories explain gender socialization:

psychoanalytic, social learning and cognitive developmental.

• Freud’s psychoanalytic theory focuses on children’s observations

about their genitals (e.g., castration anxiety, penis envy). It has
not marshaled much empirical support.

• Social learning theories are behaviorist theories that rely on

reinforcement and modeling explanations of behavior—the
environment makes people do things.

• Cognitive developmental theories posit that “children learn

gender (and gender stereotypes) through their mental efforts to
organize their social world.”

One problem with some variants of this perspective is the assumption

that children learn gender because it is a natural facet of the world,
rather than that it is an important facet of the social world.
Research shows that the importance children place on gender varies
by class, race, family structure, sexuality of parents, etc.
A social constructionist perspective, such as is proposed by Bem and
Coltrane, is a version of the cognitive development perspective.
Bem has identified three key “gender lenses” (hidden assumptions):
gender polarization (men and women are different and these
differences constitute a central organizing principle of social life),
androcentrism (males are superior to females; male experience is
the normative standard); and biological essentialism (the first two
lenses are due to biological differences between the sexes).

She recommends substituting an “individual differences” lens that

emphasizes “the remarkable variability of individuals within groups.”
A social constructionist approach (advocated by Bem & Coltrane) views
gender acquisition as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The most important
insight from research on gender socialization is that because boys and
girls are treated differently and put into different learning
environments, they develop different needs, wants, desires, skills, and
temperaments; in short they become different types of people—men
and women—who hardly question why they are different or how they
ended up that way. The basic underlying model is that of the self-
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fulfilling prophecy. Because people think boys and girls are supposed
to be different, they treat them differently and give them different
opportunities for development. This differential treatment promotes
certain behaviors and self-images that recreate the preconceived
cultural stereotypes about gender. The process repeats itself over and
over in an unending spiral across the generations, so that although
gender stereotypes are being constantly re-created and modified, they
seem natural and impervious to change.
(Coltrane, p. 114)
Children learn about gender and how to “do gender” because it is
central to the way we organize society. Children “learn culturally
appropriate ways of thinking and being as they follow routine rituals
and respond to the everyday demands of the world in which they live…
[T]o be considered competent members of society, they must learn
how to fit in as appropriately gendered individuals.” (Coltrane, p. 114)
Gender socialization turns children into “cultural natives,” who know
their culture’s reality without realizing that other realities are possible.
Both R&C and Coltrane review research showing that boys and girls are
treated differently.

What characteristics of male and female gender roles can lead to

‘gender equality’ and ‘gender equity’ globally?

There is a universal pattern of gender role expectations that can be

elaborated, adopted and accepted by every society. This can help girls
and women participate as equal citizens, and can reduce violence
against girls and women as well as boys and men. But the challenge is
to define positive male and female gender roles that will replace those
that are now ‘not working’ in our society.

Among the contributors to the discussion, Malaak Zalouk eloquently

described the challenge: “It is not only that we affix specific gender
roles from birth and that we expect each of the gender roles to present
discrete and pure models; we also create a hierarchy of masculine and
feminine traits regardless of who they are attributed to. In other words,
being tough (a masculine trait) is usually ranked as a more elevated
trait than being considerate in the global value system of today …
whereas being loving, sensitive or considerate is viewed as weak, and
of course more so for men. The same is true of the dichotomy between
being rational and intuitive. The assumption seems always to be that
these are mutually exclusive traits.” Zalouk concluded that research
indicates that the most creative human beings are able to combine
femininity and masculinity in equal measure.
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Jennifer Strauss commented: “We need to emphasize the common

(across gender) activities and interests of children as well as honoring
their differences – if we do so we may be able to reduce levels of
gender hostility later in life.”

How can we improve our understanding and promote positive

early gender socialization?

Gary Barker reminded us that ’positive’ is a relative term and is

culturally specific. Hajara Ndayidde reminded us that religious values
and upbringing are intertwined with cultural values, which are
important factors in gender socialization. Christy Swatley, referring to
her middle-class United States upbringing, pointed out the many
similarities in gender-conditioning around the world. What would make
girls and boys feel more ’positive’ about the gender roles attributed to
their sex? The answer can provide a valuable pathway towards
’positive’ gender socialization.

A summary of recommendations made by several contributors (based

primarily on the list from Gary Barker) is as follows.
• Starting with what parents, children and local leaders say about
gender roles and expectations, identify specific points of entry and
opportunity for promoting change.
• Map gender roles in specific settings, understanding where change
is already happening and how this change can be tapped or
accelerated.
• Assess the environment for young children at home, examining how
a literate home environment may benefit a child's learning at school
and how material deprivation may hinder it.
• Foster greater engagement of men in the care of children.
• Focus on parenting and child-rearing patterns in the family
(including the extended family) and community.
• Focus on group learning opportunities (including daycare centres,
pre-schools and the early years of primary school)
• Focus on adult parents of both sexes, as well as on community
religious leaders. Encourage parents to participate in adult
education classes that integrate religion and a formal western
curriculum so that they can see the need for and benefits of literacy
for their daughters and wives.

This list of recommendations for positive gender socialization is a good

starting point. But it is also a reminder that there is a vast knowledge
gap.
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This draws attention to an important socialization process that starts at

birth, continues throughout the life cycle and contributes immensely to
the gender disparities and inequalities faced by girls and women in
school and in later life. However, it also highlights the need for further
analysis and research to elaborate on gender socialization that is
embedded in our cultural child-rearing patterns.

SOCIAL WORK INTERVENTIONS

As social workers gender socialization should be regarded as a tool to

delimit the advancement of individuals and groups, thus through case
works, group works with children and adolescents and through
community outreach programs effort must be made to undo the
negative influences of gender socialization.

References

• Chinoy, Ely (1961) Society: An Introduction to Sociology, New

York: Random House.
• Clausen, John A. (ed.) (1968) Socialization and Society, Boston:
Little Brown and Company.
• Johnson, Harry M. (1961) Sociology: A Systematic Introduction,
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
• McQuail, Dennis (2005) McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory:
Fifth Edition, London: Sage.
• Parsons, Talcott and Bales, Robert (1956) Family, Socialization
and Interaction Process, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
• White, Graham (1977) Socialisation, London: Longman.
• Michael Paul Rhode, Smithsonian Dep. of Anthropology
• Bogard, Kimber. "Citizenship attitudes and allegiances in diverse
youth." Cultural Diversity and Ethnic minority Psychology14(4)
(2008): 286-296.
• Mehan, Hugh. "Sociological Foundations Supporting the Study of
Cultural Diversity." 1991. National Center for Research on
Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning.
• Robert Feldman, Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts at
Amherst. Child Development Third Edition