The gender role of a person. Social sources of gender development

A gender role is a type of social role that defines acceptable and desirable behavior for men and women.

Almost all women in the North Caucasus are economically active

Everything related to development tends to change, so there is nothing permanent in the world, including the changing expectations from the behavior of men and women. But how gender roles are fixed and what they are caused by, we will understand in our article.

Consider the concept of gender role in order to clearly understand the meaning of this phenomenon.

Gender roles represent the traditional roles expected of males and females in society. behavioral responses. They can be expected, attributed, imposed, required by society, but any person has the right to decide for himself whether he needs stereotypical behavior.

They are instilled by society by educating from childhood a certain manner of behavior inherent in one sex or another. Let's find out what the gender role of a representative of one sex or another means on specific examples.

Examples of gender roles

Examples of gender roles of an individual have changed over time and the change of humanity. Not only that, they keep changing. So, the gender roles of a person are imposed and prevent him from manifesting himself the way nature created him. These stereotypes of behavior lead to misunderstanding between the sexes, conflicts, and therefore make people unhappy.

Consider now some examples of gender roles. Since ancient times, a man has been a hunter, leader, warrior with such character traits as self-confidence, a tendency to risk, aggression, and quick reaction. The woman, on the other hand, was always distinguished by gentleness, compassion, care and was engaged only in maintaining hearth and education of the next generation.

Naturally, time leaves its mark on stereotypes of behavior, so it is rarely seen in pure form truly feminine or masculine behavior.

Women's gender role

AT recent times representatives fair half of humanity are increasingly claiming equality and almost duplicating the male line of behavior, earning money, holding leadership positions and serving in the troops.

What are the features of the female gender role?

The female gender role in the former understanding implies the keeper of the hearth, mother and wife. Since modernity dictates its own laws, the gender role of women is changing and expanding.

The modern gender role of women has expanded. Now the lady is often not only the keeper of the hearth, but also the worker.

To do this, you will have to figure out what are the features of the female gender role. It lies in the fact that a woman strives to be successful, active, hardy in the conditions of the rules prevailing in society, equalizing both sexes. Thus, a lady should have time to manage the house, give birth to children, build a career, and also look amazing.

male gender role

Men's actions are characterized by the presence of fortitude, will, courage at all times, but this does not mean that the changes have not affected men as well.

Traditional upbringing of a boy as a bearer of a male gender role (masculinity)

The essence of the male gender role

In the modern world, not only strength and courage are expected from the representatives of the stronger sex. Men are required to win status and respect, mental and emotional stability, physical endurance and avoidance of women's activities. If a man does not achieve success in any one aspect, he seeks to compensate for this by showing himself more actively in another.

A lot of other qualities are gradually added to this list, such as intelligence, caring, restraint, the ability to communicate, empathize.

At the same time, such signs of male behavior as clarity of thinking, stability and the transfer of the gene to the future generation remain unshakable.

What is the difference between the gender roles of men and women?

With the development of society, representatives of the beautiful half of humanity no longer want to put up with the fate of a housewife, which makes them reconsider public stereotypes about women's behavior. This is explained by the fact that society lives according to male laws, where there is a winner and a loser, and there is also no sympathy and compassion.

This is often followed by a role reversal where the lady is the breadwinner and her husband is in charge of the household. There are a lot of such couples lately, and the woman herself is not satisfied with the situation, as well as the man, because the actions laid down by nature are absent in both.

It should only be noted that the husband will cope with any household chores no worse than his beloved, but only in one he will not be able to replace her, because only a woman is destined to endure and give birth to a child. As you can see, the boundaries between common behavior representatives of both sexes are erased, bringing with them a lot of consequences.

The equalization of representatives of different sexes leads to the fact that the family has no time to have a child, because there are still so many things that this can interfere with. Girls are getting married later, because they first need to make a career, which also aggravates the demographic situation and devalues the institution of the family.

How are gender roles fixed?

Children of both sexes are born and have standard behavior. Social reactions are acquired by girls and boys already under the influence of upbringing and social expectations. Girls are set up for self-sacrifice, tenderness, devotion, they are persuaded to be calm and allowed to show emotions. Boys, on the other hand, are shown traditional male behavior, goals and principles, they require restraint in emotions and impatience with injustice.

It is worth noting that some stereotypes are already being criticized. And although it is considered shameful for a girl to be the first to get acquainted, while shy boys are not at all held in high esteem, this situation no longer surprises anyone, while even 100 years ago it would have led to disastrous consequences.

So, if a girl starts to fight, then she is stopped instead of being enrolled in the appropriate section, and for a boy this is considered the norm. And vice versa, a boy who is engaged in dancing causes ridicule or an ironic smile in many.

As a result, men and women, when creating a family, do not understand each other, get used to opposite views on life for a long time, quarrel and gradually learn mutual understanding.

Do not forget that everyone modern man there is the freedom to choose those reactions in which he does not lose his essence, remaining himself, ignoring all sorts of stereotypes and imposed expectations.

Now it has become clear what gender is, how gender roles are fixed, so each person can objectively assess his destiny in the family and behave as the inner voice of conscience prompts.

We wish you to always be yourself and be happy!

In modern sociology, the concept of "gender role" has acquired two meanings.

In the first case, the gender role understood as the way in which a person expresses his gender identity. In other words, how much he is a real man or perfect woman. In some cases, a person finds it difficult to identify himself with which gender, alternately playing the role of a man, then the role of a woman. Then they use the term "third sex" or talk about transsexuals and transgender people.

In the second sense, gender role implies role repertoire , i.e. totality various models behaviors, occupations or functions that a person has to perform who has already decided on his gender identity. Let's say a modern woman (social role) should be a housewife, mother, wife, worker (role repertoire).

It is known that in addition to biological differences between people belonging to the two sexes, there are also social differences due to the division of labor, the delimitation of social roles, the distribution of activities and occupations. Anthropologists, ethnographers and historians have long established the relativity of ideas about "typically male" or "typically female". What in one society is considered a male occupation (behavior, character trait), in another may be defined as female. To be a man or a woman in society means not just to have certain anatomical features. This means to fulfill certain prescribed to us gender roles- models of behavior that society prescribes for men and women, as well as a set of expectations that others place on people who perform these roles. External signs, allowing to distinguish subjects of one, female, from another, male, role are biological differences between the two sexes, as well as features of speech (tone, pitch, volume, intonation of voice) and language (a set of words used), demeanor, observance of etiquette, culture of gestures, clothing, orientation of interests, attitudes, inclinations and hobbies.

Male and female gender roles are, according to experts, mutually exclusive, and in some societies role patterns may even be polarized.

Gender roles determine, for example, that it is appropriate for human beings with female sexual characteristics to paint their lips and cook cabbage soup, and not endowed with such, to wear a tie and earn money. On the contrary, in modern culture, the so-called universal style of dress and behavior is being formed - unisex(English unisex - [about fashion] asexual), which is equally characteristic of men and women, and therefore is not able to clearly distinguish between representatives of different sexes.

Today, the relationship between the sexes, the definition of the roles of each of them are changing radically. New conditions, on the one hand, ensure greater equality of the sexes, and on the other hand, blur the differences between them. Passivity, patience, loyalty, and altruism are no longer considered to be just feminine traits. They are very beneficial for men who have learned to exploit these qualities, but who do not always show equal masculine virtues in response - chivalry or nobility. Ambition, activity and independence are increasingly becoming feminine traits as well. And the introduction of men to the process of childbearing and the responsibilities of motherhood forms in them features that have traditionally been considered purely feminine: tenderness, affection, the desire to take care of babies.

It is much easier for women today to enter public life than it is for their mothers and grandmothers. Now they have more freedom movement: gone are the days when a woman could leave the house only with a companion, friend or relative. But it looks like they have to pay for that too. Statistics show that young women often become victims of sexual aggression by men.

According to the Russian sociologist I. S. Kon, the gender role refers to the normative prescriptions and expectations that the corresponding culture imposes on the “correct” male or female behavior and which serve as a criterion for assessing the masculinity / femininity of a child or adult. The prescriptions accepted by society in relation to each role are determined by the age and sex division and the different participation of women and men in economic life. That's how it used to be.

In particular, exclusively male activities in traditional society everything that was connected with the religious and magical side of the life of the community was considered: the performance of religious rites and rituals, the assimilation and transmission to other generations of sacred myths, magic spells, religious chants. All sacred rituals are performed by men in secret from women and severely punished (up to murder) those men who cannot keep a secret, and those women who show excessive curiosity. Women are forbidden to approach the places of sacred rituals, look at cult emblems, touch objects involved in rituals, know sacred myths, songs, and the history of the tribe. According to the ideas of primitive people, men, during their religious activities, communicate with the spirits of their ancestors, sacred animals, creatures - the patrons of a tribe or clan, in a word, they mediate between the world of people and sacred world seeking to ensure the well-being of all team members. Witchcraft, black magic are also run by men. With their help, both ensuring success in various endeavors and revenge on enemies are carried out.

Predominantly male business is the organization of intra-communal life. In men's homes, separate from women, men make decisions related to the most important issues in the life of the team. This is the distribution of food, and the use of communal territory, and the organization of festivities, the resolution of marriage issues, the settlement of internal disputes and conflicts, the control of members of the team and the punishment of the guilty, etc.

Since ancient times, men have monopolized the sphere of intercommunal and then international relations, turning a purely female (by name) field of activity - diplomacy - into their fiefdom. Whether it was the establishment of friendly intertribal relations and the subsequent multi-day feast, where, again, only males were allowed, or a declaration of war and distant aggressive campaigns, all the burdens of which could only be carried by the stronger sex. Primitive men searched and explored new territories, were the first to master the places of future parking, and were the first to plow land. men in more than women are bound by external obligations: they are involved in a complex of kinship and community relations that involve the exchange of food, things or certain services. Women, as a rule, are not involved in these cases.

It is not surprising that men have occupied all the most important occupations for the community - from politics, religion, economics to solving purely social problems. That's why they made core primitive society, which performed a cementing function, organizing the primitive team from the inside. The whole life of women is concentrated within the community, and they cement it from the inside not with organizational decisions and control, but with numerous interpersonal contacts and connections.

Women's sphere peripheral and is limited mainly to family, home, care of children and husband. If the position of a man is dual: he is, as it were, between the community and the family, then the position of a woman is definite - she belongs to the family, being its center. The purpose of all her activity is the well-being of this "female" world. It is achieved by maintaining the economic support of one's own family, as well as establishing proper interaction with similar groups (women's cells) within the community, in particular through the exchange of food, mutual assistance in caring for children, participation in joint work with other women to deliver water and fuel, and other collective activities.

Clothing, gestures, manner of speech are also elements of the gender role. The wardrobe, as well as the system of rules, can change for one person throughout the day: in the morning she is a housewife (robe, curlers, nervous preparations for work), in the afternoon she is a business woman (strict suit, bossy tone, make-up), in the evening she is a theater spectator (evening the dress, loose manners, other image) or caring mother(Fig. 8.2).

In marriage, a woman performs a number of roles that a man needs: the role of a friend who can be consulted on important vital matters and "pour out the soul", spend together free time or a vacation with which you can share everyday problems, trust her; the role of a quasi-mother who gives him attention and care, the role of a hostess who takes care of order, comfort, cleanliness. One of the important roles of a woman is the role of a mistress.

The topic of gender roles will be incompletely disclosed if we limit ourselves to two sexes and begin to consider the role

Rice. 8.2.

only as a model of behavior set by the biological boundaries of one sex. The phenomenon has been known since ancient times. sex change, which can occur both surgically (through operations on the genitals) and symbolically (by changing clothes and changing the cultural image). In the anthropological and sociological literature, this phenomenon has received the generic name of the "third sex".

Ritual dressing of men in women's clothes has been preserved to this day in various tribes that inherited the customs of ancient cultures. So, for example, in the Namshi tribe, young men wear skirts for the rite of initiation, and in the tribes of the Maasai people, boys wear skirts from the moment of the circumcision ritual until the wounds are completely healed. Katakali dancers in Ceylon put on precious jewelry and make up, trying to invoke the mercy of the gods in this way, the Zulus in such robes cause rain, and the Indian bhots dance in women's to scare away the scarlet spirits.

Female performers in Japanese kabuki theater put on very elaborate make-up, speak in falsetto, and move in imitation of women's walking and gestures. The culture of Kabuki men is so high that many japanese women, paradoxically, they still come to the theater to learn from men the art of being a woman. They try to adopt their manner of holding their back, copy gestures and much more.

Around the 16th century In many European countries there was a tradition of dressing boys in dresses and calling them by their maiden names until they were seven years old. In this way, apparently, the parents tried to protect their sons from evil spirits. Only after the age of seven, the boys were allowed to change their dresses for pantaloons and become members of the male society. This tradition extended to all classes of society. So, in family portraits depicting children, it was possible to distinguish who it was, a boy or a girl, only by the toys that the children held in their hands. For boys it was either a whip or a wooden horse, for girls it was a chrysalis. This tradition was so stable that in some places it survived until the middle of the 20th century.

Cm.: Badinter E. Decree. op. S. 56.
See more: History primitive society. The era of the primitive tribal community. M., 1986; Manager L. N. Gender as a cultural and historical phenomenon: the era of primitiveness. URL: irbis.asu.ru
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Gender role and gender identity

Gender role should be distinguished from gender identity: the first concept describes social expectations external to a person in connection with his gender, the second - a person’s internal self-perception as a representative of a particular gender. A person's gender identity and gender role may not match - particularly in transgender and intersex people. Aligning gender roles with gender identity is part of the transgender transition.

Gender roles in different cultures

Modern societies are dominated by a binary gender system - a way of social organization in which people are divided into two opposite groups - men and women. The binary gender system implies a strict correspondence between the sex assigned at birth and gender role, as well as other parameters (in particular, gender identity and sexual orientation). As anthropological studies show, the establishment of such a correspondence is not universal: in many cultures, biological, in particular anatomical sex, does not play a key role in determining gender role or gender identity. Not universal and the allocation of only two genders. For example, many native North American cultures have three or four genders and corresponding gender roles. In West African Yoruba culture, gender is traditionally not a significant social category, and social roles are determined primarily by age and kinship.

Even within close cultures or within the same culture, gender roles can differ markedly. For example, in European secular culture In the 18th and 19th centuries, women were expected to be weak and frail, and in most peasant cultures, women were considered to be naturally strong and resilient. In Western (North American and Western European) middle-class cultures since the 1950s, the female gender role has been that of the housewife, and participation in productive work for women has been excluded. Yet at the same time and in the same societies, working outside the home was an expected and self-evident element of the gender role for working-class women. Women's gender role in socialist societies also involved a combination of work outside the home, housework, and family care.

Gender Development Explanations

There are two main points of view in the debate about the origin of gender roles and differences: biological determinists suggest that gender differences are determined by biological, natural factors, and supporters of social constructivism - that they are formed by society in the process of socialization. Various theories of gender development have been put forward in science. Biologically based theories explaining differences in gender roles by evolution have not found convincing empirical evidence. Empirical research has also refuted psychoanalytic theories that explained gender development through the child's relationship with parents. The strongest empirical evidence exists for cognitive and socio-cognitive theories that explain gender development as a complex interplay of biological, cognitive, and social factors.

Viewpoints on the origin of gender roles

Ordinary consciousness often represents existing in this society in a particular historical period, gender roles are both natural and natural. There is also a plethora of research seeking to uncover the biological basis for gender roles—in particular, to establish biological origin gender differences between men and women, as well as to find the biological causes of gender nonconformity. But the historical and anthropological knowledge accumulated to date does not support this point of view, since the diversity of ideas about gender and gender roles in the cultures of the world and throughout history is too great. At the same time, modern social sciences have collected a lot of data on how gender roles are formed under the influence of various social processes.

Biological determinism

The point of view that social phenomena determined by biological factors biological determinism. A related concept is naturalization social practices - describes the process of interpreting social practices as facts of nature. Biological determinism in relation to gender roles is expressed, for example, in the widespread assertions that motherhood is a woman's natural destiny, or that men are not naturally emotional.

With late XIX century, scientists from different scientific fields have done a lot of research on gender differences between men and women. Up until the 1970s, the main goal of these studies was to confirm biological nature gender differences and substantiate the content of existing gender roles. However, the results of most studies show that there are much more similarities between men and women than differences. In a widely cited review study, psychologists Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin cite four dimensions in which differences between men and women have been found: spatial awareness, mathematical ability, language skills, and aggressiveness. But even these discovered differences are small and strongly depend on the methodology and conditions of the study.

Since the 1970s, scholars have also become interested in the causes of gender non-conformity, i.e. violations of gender roles. In particular, research has been carried out to determine biological causes transsexuality. There are currently theories linking transsexuality to genetics, brain structure, brain activity, and androgen exposure during fetal development. At the same time, the results of these studies are also controversial - for example, the revealed features of the structure of the brain of transsexual people are not unique (similar differences are observed in homosexual people compared to heterosexual people), and there is evidence that the structure of the brain can change under the influence of life experience.

social constructivism

The point of view according to which gender roles are formed, or constructed, by society belongs to the theory of social constructivism. The basis for studying the social nature and processes of constructing gender roles was laid, in particular, by the theoretical works of Simone de Beauvoir and Michel Foucault. Studies of the social construction of gender roles show how, in the process of socialization and interaction between people, those gender differences and expectations are formed that are perceived as natural and natural in ordinary consciousness.

According to the latest research, the observed differences between men and women are largely due to social factors. For example, research reveals several reasons why women are less successful in mathematics than men: firstly, they lack confidence in their abilities, and secondly, they consider math classes inappropriate for their gender role and refuse them even when show excellent abilities in this area, thirdly, parents and teachers encourage girls to do mathematics much less than boys. Thus, as some researchers note, gender stereotypes work like self-fulfilling prophecies: in the course of socialization, people are given information about gender roles that forms their expectations of themselves, and as a result they show gender-conforming behavior.

Biological theories

Biologically based explanations of gender development and differences are widespread. One of the most influential of these theories, evolutionary psychology, explains gender differentiation by heredity. The hereditary origin of gender roles is analyzed through preferences in the choice of sexual partners, reproductive strategies, the contribution of parents to the care of offspring, and the aggressiveness of men. From the point of view of this theory, modern gender roles are due to the successful adaptation of the ancestors of modern man to differences in reproductive tasks men and women.

Empirical evidence refutes the main tenets of biological theories of gender development. Many researchers also criticize the methodology of biologically oriented research. Nevertheless, biological theories continue to enjoy great popularity, including among the general public. According to some authors, this is due to the fact that in many societies, ordinary consciousness ascribes to biology the status of absolute truth. In addition, the provisions of biological theories correspond to gender stereotypes.

Reproductive strategies

According to evolutionary psychology, in the process of evolution, different reproductive strategies were fixed at the genetic level in men and women, dictated by the need to ensure the survival of man as a biological species. The reproductive strategy of men is to maximize the spread of their genes, so men prefer to have many sexual partners and not spend time caring for offspring. The reproductive strategy of women is aimed at having few sexual partners who, at the same time, will be able to provide for themselves and their offspring. necessary resources for survival.

Many researchers question the very concept of reproductive strategy. From the point of view of the general theory of evolution, natural selection is determined by direct practical use, not future goals. The claim that ancient men sought to father as many children as possible, and ancient women to find reliable breadwinners, suggests that they had a conscious or unconscious goal, which some authors argue contradicts the Darwinian functional explanation.

Other authors point out that the evolutionary psychology hypothesis is not supported by empirical evidence. In particular, the assumption that ancient women did not have enough food during pregnancy and lactation, looks quite convincing, but with the same success, based on this, it can be assumed that in connection with this, women developed increased abilities for orientation in space and memory , which would allow them to find and remember the location of food sources. Additional information is needed to substantiate any hypothesis about specific adaptive mechanisms. Such information could be data from molecular studies of fossilized human remains or data from archeology, but evolutionary psychology does not offer such data. Some authors point out that the concept of reproductive strategies is an attempt to "hindsight" explain modern gender stereotypes.

Anthropological evidence also speaks against the hypothesis of reproductive strategies. They show, in particular, that reproductive behavior is influenced by cultural beliefs about the human body and reproduction. In cultures where multi-partner fertilization is considered necessary for reproduction, women have sexual contact with different partners, and these partners are not jealous of each other.

Choice of sexual partners

Evolutionary psychology states that men tend to choose young and physically attractive mates because such mates are more likely to bear healthy offspring, and women tend to choose financially wealthy men who can feed them. In confirmation of these data, the results of surveys are given, in which men and women named the most attractive characteristics of potential partners for themselves. However, numerous studies show that what people say is significantly different from how they actually behave: in fact, physical attractiveness affects the choice of partners in men and women in the same way. On the other hand, indicators of physical attractiveness vary greatly across cultures around the world, and most of these characteristics are not related to fertility. Some authors also point out that evolutionary psychology only explains heterosexual behavior and suggest that evolutionary psychologists avoid looking at data from studies of non-heterosexual people because their behavior and gender roles do not match gender stereotypes and thus undermine evolutionary explanations.

Aggressive behavior

Psychoanalytic theories

Although psychoanalytic theory has had a major impact on the development of developmental psychology, empirical evidence does not support it. Research has not found a strong relationship between same-sex parent identification and gender role learning. Children's role models are much more likely to be caring adults or adults with social power than threatening adults with whom the child has a competitive relationship.

Lack of empirical evidence for the classical psychoanalytic theory led to the emergence of various updated versions of it. In the field of gender development, one of the most influential latest versions This is Nancy Chodorow's theory. According to this theory, gender identity is formed during infancy and not during the phallic phase, as Freud claimed. Both boys and girls initially identify with their mother, but because daughters are the same sex as their mother, identification between daughters and mothers is stronger than between sons and mothers. During further development girls retain identification with their mother and merge psychologically with her. As a result, the self-image of the girl and the woman is characterized by a strong sense of interdependence, which translates into a desire for interpersonal relationships and encourages the woman, in turn, to become a mother. The development of the boy is determined by the desire to separate from the mother and further define himself through difference from women, which leads to the belittling of femininity.

But the empirical evidence does not support Chodorow's theory either. Research does not find a stronger bond between mothers and daughters than between mothers and sons. There is also no evidence that women's needs for interpersonal relationships satisfied only through motherhood. On the contrary, studies show that women whose only social role is that of mother and wife are more prone to psychological problems than childless married or unmarried women and working mothers.

Cognitive and social theories

Cognitive and social theories of gender development include theories of cognitive development, gender schemas, social learning, and social cognitive theory. Although at the initial stages these theories differed significantly from each other, and their supporters had heated discussions among themselves, modern versions of these theories have much in common. In general, cognitive and social theories see gender development as difficult process interactions of biological, social and cognitive factors. All of them pay significant attention to the social sources of gender development and the active role that a person plays in their own gender development.

Social sources of gender development

The social sources of gender development include, in particular, the influence of parents, other significant adults and peers, as well as information pressure from the media, cinema, literature, etc.

Influence of parents

Differences in the upbringing of boys and girls are described by the concept of "differential socialization". Differential socialization is not necessarily expressed in the form of direct instructions or prohibitions. As studies show, differential socialization begins even before the birth of a child, as soon as its sex is determined using ultrasound. Mothers who learn the sex of their unborn child in this way describe boys as "active" and "mobile", and girls as "calm". From birth, babies tend to be surrounded by gender-specific toys, diapers, and other items; male infants are described as "big", "strong" and "independent", while girls are referred to as "gentle", "delicate" and "beautiful", even if there are no objective differences in the appearance or behavior of the infants. Thus, the ideas and expectations of children related to gender are formed by adults on the basis of gender stereotypes long before the child can begin to show this or that behavior.

Differential socialization continues into the later life of the child. For example, numerous studies show that parents are more stimulating and more responsive to motor activity in infant boys than in girls. Another illustrative experiment concerns the influence of adult gender stereotypes on the choice of toys for children. The experiment was initially carried out with the participation of a three-month-old child, and later again with the participation of several children aged from three to 11 months. Three groups of adults were asked to play with the child, while the first group was told that the child was a girl, the second group that it was a boy, and the third group was not informed about the gender of the child. The adults had three toys at their disposal: a doll, a ball, and a gender-neutral tooth ring. Most of the adults who considered the child to be a boy offered him a ball, and the majority of those who considered the child to be a girl - a doll, without trying to find out which of the toys interests the child more.

Peer Influence

As the child's social world expands, peer groups become another important source of gender development, as well as social learning in general. In interaction with peers, children, starting at the age of three or four, encourage each other for gender-typical behavior, as well as for playing in gender-homogeneous groups, and punish for behavior that is considered inappropriate for their gender.

Information pressure

Finally, the media play a significant role in gender development, especially television, as well as literature, cinema and video games. In these sources from which children receive information about gender roles, men and women are often portrayed in an exaggerated stereotype: men are portrayed as active and adventurous, while women are portrayed as dependent, unambitious and emotional. The depiction of the professional life of men and women often does not correspond to the real state of affairs: men are portrayed as representatives of various professions, leaders and bosses, while women are portrayed as either housewives or working in low-status positions. Such a portrayal does not correspond to the actual statistics of the professional employment of men, nor to the wide involvement of women in professional activity. Studies show that gender stereotypes in the media and culture have a big impact on children: those who watch a lot of TV form more stereotyped ideas about gender roles. On the other hand, the non-stereotypical depiction of representatives of different genders expands the range of desires and aspirations in children, as well as the options for roles that they consider acceptable for their gender. The recurring image of equal participation of representatives of different genders in certain activities contributes to the steady softening of gender stereotypes in young children.

Active human role in gender development

Social sources of gender development often provide conflicting information about gender roles and impose conflicting expectations on the child. This requires the child, starting from the very early age actively seek and build their own own rules and ideas about gender as a new and significant social category for him. Activity in the formation of ideas about gender is manifested, in particular, in selective attention and memory, as well as in the formation of preferences - for example, gender-typical or atypical toys, games with peers of one's own or another gender.

The Importance of Gender Roles

Gender roles in Russian society

Notes

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The baby has not yet been born, but we, having learned his gender, buy clothes, a stroller, furnish the nursery ... For a boy, we choose blue and blue tones, for a girl - pink. This is how “gender education” begins. Then the boy receives cars as a gift, and the girl receives dolls. We want to see the son as courageous, brave and strong, and the daughter as affectionate, soft and compliant. Doctor and psychologist Igor Dobryakov talks about how our gender expectations affect children.

The word "gender" was coined to separate social values"masculinity" and "femininity" from biological sex differences. Gender is determined by anatomical and physiological features that make it possible to divide all people into men and women and classify oneself as one of the groups. Sometimes, with a chromosomal failure or as a result of deviations in the development of the embryo, a person is born who combines the sexual characteristics of both men and women (hermaphrodite). But this happens extremely rarely.

One psychologist jokingly said that gender is what is between the legs, and gender is what is between the ears. If a person's gender is determined at birth, then gender identity is formed in the process of upbringing and socialization. To be a woman or a man in society means not just to have a certain anatomical structure, but also to have appearance, manners, behavior, habits that meet expectations. These expectations set certain patterns of behavior (gender roles) for men and women, depending on gender stereotypes - what is considered “typically masculine” or “typically feminine” in society.

The emergence of gender identity is closely related to both biological development and the development of self-awareness. At the age of two, but they do not fully understand what this means, however, under the influence of the example and expectations of adults, they are already beginning to actively form their gender attitudes, they learn to distinguish the sex of others by clothing, hairstyle, and facial features. By the age of seven, the child is aware of the immutability of his biological sex. In adolescence, the formation of gender identity occurs: rapid puberty, manifested by changes in the body, romantic experiences, erotic desires, stimulates it. This has a strong influence on the further formation of gender identity. There is an active assimilation of forms of behavior and the formation of character in accordance with the ideas of parents, the immediate environment, society as a whole about femininity (from Latin femininus - "female") and masculinity (from Latin masculinus - "male").

Gender equality

Over the past 30 years, the idea of gender equality has become widespread in the world, formed the basis of many international documents, and was reflected in national laws. Gender equality implies equal opportunities, rights and obligations for women and men in all spheres of life, including equal access to education and health care, equal opportunities to work, participate in public administration create a family and raise children. Gender inequality creates fertile ground for gender-based violence. Stereotypes preserved from archaic times attribute different scenarios of sexual behavior to women and men: men are allowed to be more sexually active and aggressive, women are expected to be passively obedient and submissive to men, which easily turns them into an object of sexual exploitation.

Equal in difference

And woman, always existed, but differed in different eras and among different peoples. Moreover, in different families living in the same country and belonging to the same class, the idea of \u200b\u200ba "real" man and woman can differ significantly.

AT modern countries In Western civilization, ideas of gender equality between men and women have gradually prevailed, and this is gradually equalizing their roles in society and the family. Voting rights for women were legislated quite recently (by historical standards): in the USA in 1920, in Greece in 1975, in Portugal and Spain in 1974 and 1976, and one of the Swiss cantons equalized women and men in voting rights only in 1991. Some states, such as Denmark, have a separate ministry dedicated to gender equality.

At the same time, in countries where the influence of religion and traditions is strong, there are more often views that recognize the right of men to dominate, control women, rule over them (for example, in Saudi Arabia, women were promised the right to vote only from 2015).

Masculine and feminine qualities are manifested in the pattern of behavior, during appearance, in the preference of certain hobbies, occupations. There are also differences in values. It is believed that women value human relationships, love, family more, while men value social success and independence. However, in real life, the people around us demonstrate a combination of both feminine and masculine personality traits, and the values that are significant to them can vary significantly. In addition, masculine or feminine traits that are clearly manifested in some situations may be invisible in others. Such observations led the Austrian scientist Otto Weininger to the idea that every normal woman and every normal man has features of both his own and the opposite sex, the individuality of a person is determined by the predominance of male over female, or vice versa *. He used the term "androgyny" (Greek ανδρεία - male; Greek γυνής - woman) to refer to the combination of male and female traits. The Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev called Weininger's ideas "brilliant intuitions"**. Shortly after the publication of Weininger's Sex and Character, male and female sex hormones were discovered. In the body of a man, along with male sex hormones, female hormones are produced, and in the female body, along with female hormones, male hormones are also produced. Their combination and concentration affect the appearance and sexual behavior of a person, form his hormonal sex.

Therefore, in life we meet with such a variety of manifestations of male and female. In some men and women, respectively, masculine and feminine qualities predominate, in others there is a balance of both. Psychologists believe that androgynous personalities, who combine high rates of both masculinity and femininity, have greater flexibility in behavior, and therefore are the most adaptive and psychologically well-off. Therefore, raising children in the rigid framework of traditional gender roles can do them a disservice.

Igor Dobryakov– Candidate of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Child Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Medical Psychology, North-Western State Medical University. I. I. Mechnikov. Member of the editorial boards of the journals "Perinatal Psychology", "Issues of Mental Health of Children and Adolescents", "Children's Medicine of the North-West". Author of dozens scientific works, as well as co-author of the books "Development of the Child's Personality from Birth to a Year" (Rama Publishing, 2010), "Child Psychiatry" (Peter, 2005), "Psychology of Health".

Trapped in stereotypes

Most people believe that a woman has such properties as sensitivity, tenderness, caring, sensitivity, tolerance, modesty, compliance, gullibility, etc. Girls are taught to be obedient, accurate, responsive.

Courage, perseverance, reliability, responsibility, etc. are considered real masculine qualities. Boys are taught to rely on own forces, get your way, be independent. The penalties for misdemeanors for boys tend to be more severe than for girls.

Many parents encourage their children to behave and play traditionally for their gender, and get very upset when they notice the opposite. Buying cars and pistols for boys, and dolls and strollers for girls, parents, often without realizing it, strive to educate strong men- earners and defenders, and real women - keepers of the hearth. But there is nothing wrong with the fact that a boy cooks dinner on a toy stove and feeds a teddy bear, and a girl assembles a designer and plays chess, there is nothing wrong. Such activities contribute to the multilateral development of the child, form important traits in him (caring in a boy, logical thinking in a girl), and prepare him for life in modern society where women and men have long been equally successful in mastering the same professions and in many respects playing the same social roles.

Saying to a boy: “Hit back, you’re a boy” or “Don’t cry, you’re not a girl,” parents reproduce gender and unwittingly, or even consciously, lay the foundation for the boy’s future aggressive behavior and a sense of superiority over girls. When adults or friends condemn "veal tenderness", they thereby forbid the boy, and then the man, to show attention, care, affection. Phrases like “Don’t get dirty, you’re a girl”, “Don’t fight, only boys fight” form a girl’s sense of superiority over the dirty and fighters, and the call “Be quieter, be more modest, you’re a girl” orients to play secondary roles, yielding palm to men.

Myths about boys and girls

Which widely held beliefs are based on hard facts, and which are not based on solid experimental evidence?

In 1974, Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin dispelled many myths by showing that people of different sexes have more similarities than differences. To find out how close your stereotypes are to the truth, consider which of the following statements are true.

1. Girls are more sociable than boys.

2. Self-esteem in boys is more developed than in girls.

3. Girls better than boys perform simple, routine tasks.

4. Boys have more pronounced mathematical abilities and spatial thinking than girls.

5. Boys have a more analytical mind than girls.

6. Girls have better speech than boys.

7. Boys are more motivated to succeed.

8. Girls are not as aggressive as boys.

9. Girls are easier to persuade than boys.

10. Girls are more sensitive to sound stimuli, while boys are more sensitive to visual stimuli.

The answers emerging from Maccoby and Jacklyn's study are surprising.

1. There is no reason to believe that girls are more sociable than boys. In early childhood, both of them are equally often united in groups for joint play. Neither boys nor girls show an increased desire to play alone. Boys do not prefer to play with inanimate objects before playing with peers. At a certain age, boys spend even more time playing together than girls.

2. The results of psychological tests indicate that boys and girls in childhood and adolescence do not differ significantly in terms of self-esteem, but indicate different areas activities in which they feel more confident than in others. Girls consider themselves more competent in the field of mutual communication, and boys are proud of their strength.

3 and 4. Boys and girls are equally effective in simple, typical tasks. Mathematical abilities in boys appear around the age of 12, when they quickly develop spatial thinking. In particular, they can more easily depict the invisible side of an object. Since the difference in spatial thinking abilities becomes noticeable only in adolescence, the reason for this should be sought either in the environment of the child (probably, boys are more often given the opportunity to improve this skill), or in the characteristics of his hormonal status.

5. Analytic skills boys and girls are the same. Boys and girls discover the ability to separate the important from the unimportant, to recognize the most important in the flow of information.

6. Speech in girls develops faster than in boys. Before adolescence children of both sexes do not differ in this indicator, however, in the upper grades, girls begin to outstrip boys. They perform better on language comprehension tests, are more fluent in figurative speech, and write more literate and better in terms of style. As in the case of boys' mathematical abilities, increased speech abilities girls may be the result of socialization that motivates them to improve their language skills.

7. Girls are less aggressive than boys, and this difference is noticeable already at the age of two, when children begin to take part in group games. Increased aggressiveness of boys is manifested as physical activities, and in demonstrating readiness to join the fight or in the form of verbal threats. Usually aggressiveness is directed at other boys and less often at girls. There is no evidence that parents encourage boys to be more aggressive than girls; rather, they do not encourage manifestations of aggressiveness in either one or the other.

8. Boys and girls are equally amenable to persuasion and imitate the behavior of adults equally often. Both are under the influence of social factors and understand the need to follow generally accepted norms of behavior. The only significant difference is that girls adapt their judgments somewhat more easily to the judgments of others, while boys can accept the values of a given peer group without compromising their own views, even if there is not the slightest similarity between the two.

9. In infancy, boys and girls respond in the same way to various environmental objects that are perceived through hearing and vision. Both those and others distinguish speech features of others, different sounds, the shape of objects and the distances between them. This similarity persists in adults of different sexes.

The most objective approach to identifying differences between the sexes is to study the brain. With the help of electroencephalography, it is possible to evaluate the response of the brain to various kinds of stimulation. Such studies make it possible to avoid the dependence of the results obtained on the personal opinions or predilections of the experimenter, since the interpretation of the observed behavior in this case based on objective indicators. It turned out that women have a sharper sense of taste, touch and hearing. In particular, their long-wave hearing is so sharper than that of men that a sound with a power of 85 decibels seems to them twice as loud. Women have higher mobility of hands and fingers and finer coordination of movements, they are more interested in the people around them, and in infancy they listen with great attention to various sounds. With the accumulation of data on the anatomical and physiological features of the male and female brain, the need for new neuropsychological studies that could dispel existing myths or confirm their reality.

* Fragments from the book by W. Masters, W. Johnson, R. Collodny "Fundamentals of Sexology" (Mir, 1998).

How is social gender formed?

The formation of gender identity begins at an early age and is manifested by a subjective sense of belonging to boys or girls. Already at the age of three, boys prefer to play with boys, and girls prefer to play with girls. Cooperative games are also present, and they are very important for acquiring the skills to communicate with each other. Preschoolers try to comply with the ideas about the “correct” behavior for a boy and a girl that are “transmitted” to them by educators and the children's team. But the main authority in all matters, including gender, for young children are parents. For girls, the image of not only a woman is very important, the main example of which is the mother, but also the image of a man, just as for boys, models of both male and female behavior are important. And of course, parents give their children the first example of the relationship between a man and a woman, which largely determines their behavior when communicating with people of the opposite sex, their ideas about relationships in a couple.

Until the age of 9-10, children are especially susceptible to external influences. Close communication with peers of the opposite sex at school and in other activities helps the child learn the behavioral gender stereotypes accepted in society. Role-playing games that started back in kindergarten become more and more difficult over time. Participation in them is very important for children: they have the opportunity to choose the gender of the character in accordance with their own, learn to match their gender role. Depicting men or women, they first of all reflect the stereotypes of gender behavior accepted in the family and at school, show those qualities that are considered feminine or masculine in their environment.

It is interesting how differently parents and teachers react to the departure from stereotypes. A tomboy girl who loves to play "war" with boys is usually not blamed by both adults and peers. But a boy who plays with dolls is teased, called a “girl” or “sissy”. Obviously, there is a difference in the volume of requirements for the "proper" behavior of boys and girls. It is hard to imagine that any activity that is uncharacteristic for a girl (laser battles, car racing, football) will cause as strong condemnation as, for example, a boy’s love of toy dishes, sewing and clothes (this is well shown in the 2000 film directed by Stephen Daldry "Billy Elliot"). Thus, in modern society there are practically no purely male occupations and hobbies, but there are still typically female ones.

In children's communities, feminine boys are ridiculed, they are called "weaklings", "slobbers". Often, ridicule is accompanied by physical violence. In such situations, the timely intervention of teachers is necessary, the moral support child from the parents.

In the prepubertal period (approximately 7 to 12 years), children with a variety of personality traits tend to unite in social groups, while avoiding members of the opposite sex. Research by the Belarusian psychologist Yakov Kolominsky*** showed that if it is necessary to give preference to three classmates, boys choose boys, and girls choose girls. However, our experiment convincingly proved that if children are sure that their choice will remain a secret, then many of them choose persons of the opposite sex ****. This indicates the importance of the gender stereotypes learned by the child: he fears that friendship or even communication with a representative of the opposite sex can make others doubt the correct assimilation of his gender role.

During puberty, adolescents, as a rule, try to emphasize their gender qualities, the list of which begins to include communication with the opposite sex. A teenage boy, trying to show his masculinity, not only goes in for sports, shows determination, strength, but also actively demonstrates interest in girls and sex issues. If he avoids this and notices "girlish" qualities in him, then he inevitably becomes a target for ridicule. Girls during this period worry about how attractive they are to the opposite sex. At the same time, under the influence of traditional ones, they notice that their “weakness” and “helplessness” attract boys who want to show their skills and strength, to act as a protector and patron.

During this period, the authority of adults is no longer as high as in childhood. Adolescents begin to focus on stereotypes of behavior accepted in their environment and actively promoted popular culture. The ideal girl can be strong, successful and independent woman. Less and less dominance of men in love, in the family and in the team is perceived as the norm. Heterosexual normativity, that is, the “correctness” and admissibility of attraction only to a representative of the opposite sex, is questioned. “Non-standard” gender self-identification finds more and more understanding. Today's teenagers and young adults are more liberal in their views on sexuality and sexual relationships.

The assimilation of gender roles and the formation of gender identification occurs as a result of a complex interaction of natural inclinations, individual features the child and his environment, micro- and macrosociety. If parents, knowing the laws of this process, do not impose their stereotypes on the child, but help him to reveal his individuality, then in adolescence and older he will have less problems associated with puberty, awareness and acceptance of one's sex and gender.

No double standards

Double standards are manifested in various areas of life. When we are talking about men and women, they primarily concern sexual behavior. Traditionally, a man is recognized as having a right to sexual experience before marriage, and a woman is required to have it before marriage. With the formal requirement of mutual fidelity of both spouses, extramarital affairs of a man are not condemned as strictly as infidelity of a woman. The double standard assigns a man the role of an experienced and leading partner in sexual relations, and a woman - a passive, driven side.

If we want to raise a child in the spirit of gender equality, it is necessary to set an example for him to treat people equally regardless of their gender. In conversations with a child, do not associate this or that occupation or housework or profession with gender - dad can wash the dishes, and mom can drive a car for groceries; There are female engineers and male chefs. Don't let double standards towards men and women and be intolerant of any violence, from whomever it comes: a girl who bullies a boy deserves the same reprimand as a boy who takes her toy away from her. Gender equality does not abolish sexual and gender differences and does not identify women and men, girls and boys, but allows each person to find his own way of self-realization, to determine his life choice, regardless of the usual gender stereotypes.

* O. Weinenger "Gender and Character" (Latard, 1997).

** N. Berdyaev "The Meaning of Creativity" (AST, 2007).

*** Ya. Kolominsky “Psychology of the children's team. The system of personal relationships” (Narodnaya Asveta, 1984).

**** I. Dobryakov "Experience in the Study of Heterosexual Relations in Prepubertal Children" (in the book "Psyche and Gender in Children and Adolescents in Health and Pathology", LPMI, 1986).

Possible options

Do not make a “real man” out of a boy, sociologist and sexologist Igor Kon* advises parents.

All real men are different, the only fake men are those who pretend to be "real". Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov bears as little resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger as Carmen does to the heroine's mother. Help the boy choose the option of masculinity that is closer to him and in which he will be more successful, so that he can accept himself and not regret missed, most often only imaginary, opportunities.

Do not bring up militancy in him.

Historical fates modern world are resolved not on the battlefields, but in the field of scientific, technological and cultural achievements. If your boy grows up to be a worthy person and a citizen who knows how to defend his rights and fulfill the duties associated with them, he will also cope with the defense of the Fatherland. If he gets used to seeing enemies around and resolving all disputes from a position of strength, nothing but trouble will shine in his life.

Don't teach a boy to treat a woman from a position of power.

Being a knight is beautiful, but if your boy finds himself in a relationship with a woman who is not the leader, but the follower, this will become a trauma for him. It is more reasonable to see in “a woman in general” an equal partner and potential friend, and build relationships with specific girls and women individually, depending on their and their own roles and characteristics.

Do not try to shape children in your own image and likeness.

For a parent who does not suffer from megalomania, much more important task- help the child become himself.

Do not try to impose a certain occupation and profession on your child.

By the time he makes his responsible choice, your preferences may be morally and socially obsolete. The only way is with early childhood enrich the interests of the child so that he has the widest possible choice of options and opportunities.

Do not force children to realize your unfulfilled dreams and illusions.

You do not know what kind of devils guard the path from which you once turned, and whether it exists at all. The only thing in your power is to help the child choose the best development option for him, but the choice belongs to him.

Do not try to pretend to be a strict father or affectionate mother if these traits are not characteristic of you.

First, it is impossible to deceive a child. Secondly, it is not influenced by the abstract “sex-role model”, but by the individual properties of the parent, his moral example and the way he treats the child.

Do not believe that disabled children grow up in incomplete families.

This statement is factually false, but acts as a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Incomplete families” are not those in which there is no father or mother, but those where there is a lack of parental love. The mother family has additional problems and difficulties, but it is better than a family with an alcoholic father or where parents live like cat and dog.

Do not try to replace the child's peer society,

avoid confrontation with their environment, even if you don't like it. The only thing you can and should do is to mitigate the inevitable trauma and hardship associated with it. Against "bad comrades" the trusting atmosphere in the family helps best of all.

Do not abuse the prohibitions and, if possible, avoid confrontation with the child.

If strength is on your side, then time is on his side. A short-term gain can easily turn into a long-term loss. And if you break his will, both sides will lose out.

Never use corporal punishment.

The one who beats the child does not demonstrate strength, but weakness. The apparent pedagogical effect is completely offset by long-term alienation and hostility.

Do not rely too much on the experience of the ancestors.

We don't know well real story everyday life, normative prescriptions and pedagogical practices have never and nowhere coincided. In addition, living conditions have changed a lot, and some methods of education that were considered useful before (the same spanking) are unacceptable and ineffective today.

The information and materials contained in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of UNESCO. The authors are responsible for the information provided.

: the first concept describes social expectations external to a person in connection with his gender, the second - the internal self-perception of a person as a representative of a particular gender. A person's gender identity and gender role may not match - particularly in transgender and intersex people. The alignment of gender role with gender identity is part of the transgender transition.

Gender roles in different cultures

In modern societies, a binary gender system dominates - a way of social organization in which people are divided into two opposite groups - men and women. The binary gender system implies a strict correspondence between sex assigned at birth and gender role, as well as other parameters (in particular, gender identity and sexual orientation). As anthropological studies show, the establishment of such a correspondence is not universal: in many cultures, biological, in particular anatomical sex, does not play a key role in determining gender role or gender identity. Not universal and the allocation of only two genders. For example, many native North American cultures have three or four genders and corresponding gender roles. In West African Yoruba culture, gender is traditionally not a significant social category, and social roles are determined primarily by age and kinship.

Even within close cultures or within the same culture, gender roles can differ markedly. For example, in 18th and 19th century European secular culture, women were expected to be weak and frail, and in most peasant cultures, women were considered to be naturally strong and hardy. In Western (North American and Western European) middle-class cultures since the 1950s, the female gender role has been that of the housewife, and participation in productive work for women has been excluded. Yet at the same time and in the same societies, working outside the home was an expected and self-evident element of the gender role for working-class women. Women's gender role in socialist societies also involved a combination of work outside the home, housework, and family care.

Historical aspect

The ratio of gender roles has changed significantly over the course of human history. In particular, historians note a significant increase in the social role of women in Europe during the late Middle Ages (1300-1500).

Gender Development Explanations

There are two main points of view in the debate about the origin of gender roles and differences: supporters of biological determinism suggest that gender differences are determined by biological, natural factors, and supporters of social constructivism that they are shaped by society in the process of socialization. Various theories of gender development have been put forward in science. Biologically oriented theories explaining differences in gender roles by evolution have not found convincing empirical evidence. Empirical research has also refuted psychoanalytic theories that explained gender development through the child's relationship with parents. The strongest empirical evidence exists for cognitive and socio-cognitive theories that explain gender development as a complex interplay of biological, cognitive, and social factors.

Viewpoints on the origin of gender roles

Ordinary consciousness often presents the gender roles that exist in a given society in a particular historical period as natural and natural. There is also a plethora of research seeking to uncover the biological basis of gender roles—in particular, establishing the biological origin of gender differences between men and women, as well as finding the biological causes of gender nonconformity. But the historical and anthropological knowledge accumulated to date does not support this point of view, since the diversity of ideas about gender and gender roles in the cultures of the world and throughout history is too great. At the same time, modern social sciences have collected a lot of data on how gender roles are formed under the influence of various social processes.

Biological determinism

The view that social phenomena are determined by biological factors is called biological determinism. A related concept is naturalization social practices - describes the process of interpreting social practices as facts of nature. Biological determinism in relation to gender roles is expressed, for example, in the widespread assertions that motherhood is a woman's natural destiny, or that men are not naturally emotional.

Since the end of the 19th century, scientists from various scientific fields have conducted many studies of gender differences between men and women. Until the 1970s, the main purpose of these studies was to confirm the biological nature of gender differences and to substantiate the content of existing gender roles. However, the results of most studies show that there are much more similarities between men and women than differences. In a widely cited review study, psychologists Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin cite four dimensions in which differences between men and women have been found: spatial awareness, mathematical ability, language skills, and aggressiveness. But even these discovered differences are small and strongly depend on the methodology and conditions of the study.

Since the 1970s, scholars have also become interested in the causes of gender non-conformity, i.e. violations of gender roles. Conducted, in particular, research aimed at clarifying the biological causes of transsexuality. There are currently theories linking transsexuality to genetics, brain structure, brain activity, and androgen exposure during fetal development. At the same time, the results of these studies are also controversial - for example, the identified features of the structure of the brain of transsexual people are not unique (similar differences are observed in homosexual people compared to heterosexual people), and there is evidence that the structure of the brain can change under the influence of life experience.

social constructivism

The view that gender roles are formed, or constructed, by society belongs to the theory of social constructivism. The basis for studying the social nature and processes of constructing gender roles was laid, in particular, by the theoretical work of Simone de Beauvoir and Michel Foucault. Studies of the social construction of gender roles show how, in the process of socialization and interaction between people, those gender differences and expectations are formed that are perceived as natural and natural in everyday consciousness.

According to the latest research, the observed differences between men and women are largely due to social factors. For example, research reveals several reasons why women are less successful in mathematics than men: firstly, they lack confidence in their abilities, and secondly, they consider math classes inappropriate for their gender role and refuse them even when show excellent abilities in this area, thirdly, parents and teachers encourage girls to do mathematics much less than boys. Thus, as some researchers note, gender stereotypes work like self-fulfilling prophecies: in the course of socialization, people are provided with information about gender roles, which forms their expectations from themselves, and as a result they show gender-conforming behavior.

Biological theories

Biologically based explanations of gender development and differences are widespread. One of the most influential such theories, evolutionary psychology, explains gender differentiation by heredity. The hereditary origin of gender roles is analyzed through preferences in the choice of sexual partners, reproductive strategies, the contribution of parents to the care of offspring, and the aggressiveness of men. From the point of view of this theory, modern gender roles are due to the successful adaptation of the ancestors of modern man to differences in the reproductive tasks of men and women.

Reproductive strategies

According to evolutionary psychology, in the process of evolution, different reproductive strategies have been fixed at the genetic level in men and women, dictated by the need to ensure the survival of man as a biological species. The reproductive strategy of men is to maximize the spread of their genes, so men prefer to have many sexual partners and not spend time caring for offspring. The reproductive strategy of women is to have few sexual partners who will be able to provide themselves and their offspring with the necessary resources for survival.

Many researchers question the very concept of reproductive strategy. From the point of view of the general theory of evolution, natural selection is determined by immediate practical benefits, not by future goals. The claim that ancient men sought to father as many children as possible, and ancient women to find reliable breadwinners, suggests that they had a conscious or unconscious goal, which some authors argue contradicts the Darwinian functional explanation.

Anthropological evidence also speaks against the hypothesis of reproductive strategies. They show, in particular, that reproductive behavior is influenced by cultural beliefs about the human body and reproduction. In cultures where it is believed that multiple partners are required to reproduce, women have sexual contact with different partners, and these partners are not jealous of each other.

Choice of sexual partners

Evolutionary psychology states that men tend to choose young and physically attractive mates because such mates are more likely to bear healthy offspring, and women tend to choose financially wealthy men who can feed them. In confirmation of these data, the results of surveys are given, in which men and women named the most attractive characteristics of potential partners for themselves. However, numerous studies show that what people say is significantly different from how they actually behave: in fact, physical attractiveness affects the choice of partners in men and women in the same way. On the other hand, indicators of physical attractiveness vary greatly across cultures around the world, and most of these characteristics are not related to fertility. Some authors also point out that evolutionary psychology only explains heterosexual behavior and suggest that evolutionary psychologists avoid looking at research data from non-heterosexual people because their behavior and gender roles do not match gender stereotypes and thus undermine evolutionary explanations.

Aggressive behavior

Psychoanalytic theories

Although psychoanalytic theory has had a major impact on the development of developmental psychology, empirical evidence does not support it. Research has not found a strong relationship between same-sex parent identification and gender role learning. Children's role models are much more likely to be caring or socially powerful adults than to be threatening adults with whom the child has a competitive relationship.

The lack of empirical support for classical psychoanalytic theory has led to the emergence of various updated versions of it. In the field of gender development, one of the most influential recent versions is Nancy Chodorow's theory. According to this theory, gender identity is formed during infancy and not during the phallic phase, as Freud claimed. Both boys and girls initially identify with their mother, but because daughters are the same sex as their mother, identification between daughters and mothers is stronger than between sons and mothers. In the course of further development, girls retain identification with their mother and psychologically merge with her. As a result, the self-image of the girl and the woman is characterized by a strong sense of interdependence, which translates into a desire for interpersonal relationships and encourages the woman, in turn, to become a mother. The development of the boy is determined by the desire to separate from the mother and further define himself through difference from women, which leads to the debasement of femininity.

But the empirical evidence does not support Chodorow's theory either. Research does not find a stronger bond between mothers and daughters than between mothers and sons. There is also no evidence that women's needs for interpersonal relationships are met only through motherhood. On the contrary, studies show that women whose only social role is that of mother and wife are more prone to psychological problems than childless married or unmarried women and working mothers.

Cognitive and social theories

Cognitive and social theories of gender development include theories of cognitive development, gender schemas, social learning, and social cognitive theory. Although at the initial stages these theories differed significantly from each other, and their supporters had heated discussions among themselves, modern versions of these theories have much in common. In general, cognitive and social theories consider gender development as a complex process of interaction of biological, social and cognitive factors. All of them pay significant attention to the social sources of gender development and the active role that a person plays in their own gender development.

Social sources of gender development

The social sources of gender development include, in particular, the influence of parents, other significant adults and peers, as well as information pressure from the media, cinema, literature, etc.

Influence of parents

Peer Influence

Information pressure

Finally, the media play a significant role in gender development, especially television, as well as literature, cinema and video games. In these sources from which children receive information about gender roles, men and women are often portrayed in an exaggerated stereotype: men are portrayed as active and adventurous, while women are portrayed as dependent, unambitious and emotional. The depiction of the professional life of men and women often does not correspond to the real state of affairs: men are portrayed as representatives of various professions, leaders and bosses, while women are portrayed as either housewives or working in low-status positions. Such an image does not correspond to the actual statistics of the professional employment of men, nor the wide involvement of women in professional activities. Studies show that gender stereotypes in the media and culture have a big impact on children: those who watch a lot of TV form more stereotyped ideas about gender roles. On the other hand, the non-stereotypical depiction of representatives of different genders expands the range of desires and aspirations in children, as well as the options for roles that they consider acceptable for their gender. The recurring image of equal participation of representatives of different genders in certain activities contributes to the steady softening of gender stereotypes in young children.

Active human role in gender development

Social sources of gender development often provide conflicting information about gender roles and impose conflicting expectations on the child. This requires the child, starting from a very early age, to actively seek and build his own rules and ideas about gender as a new and significant social category for him. Activity in the formation of ideas about gender is manifested, in particular, in selective attention and memory, as well as in the formation of preferences - for example, gender-typical or atypical toys, games with peers of one's own or another gender.

The Importance of Gender Roles

Notes

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Portal for the student. Self-training

Examples of gender roles

Women's gender role

What are the features of the female gender role?

male gender role

The essence of the male gender role

What is the difference between the gender roles of men and women?

How are gender roles fixed?

Encyclopedic YouTube

Subtitles

Gender role and gender identity

Gender roles in different cultures

Gender Development Explanations

Viewpoints on the origin of gender roles

Biological determinism

social constructivism

Biological theories

Reproductive strategies

Choice of sexual partners

Aggressive behavior

Psychoanalytic theories

Cognitive and social theories

Social sources of gender development

Influence of parents

Peer Influence

Information pressure

Active human role in gender development

The Importance of Gender Roles

Gender roles in Russian society

see also

Notes

Gender equality

Equal in difference

Trapped in stereotypes

Myths about boys and girls

How is social gender formed?

No double standards

Possible options

Gender roles in different cultures

Historical aspect

Gender Development Explanations

Viewpoints on the origin of gender roles

Biological determinism

social constructivism

Biological theories

Reproductive strategies

Choice of sexual partners

Aggressive behavior

Psychoanalytic theories

Cognitive and social theories

Social sources of gender development

Influence of parents

Peer Influence

Information pressure

Active human role in gender development

The Importance of Gender Roles

see also

Notes

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