Gender

According to Ann Oakley who introduced this term to Sociology, Sex refers to biological
division between men and women, whereas Gender refers to unequal division between men
and women. (Sex, Gender and Society, 1972) Gender also draws attention to socially
constructed inequalities and cultural stereotypes of masculinity and feminity. Gender is a
manifestation of texts and cultural practices.
The study of gender in Sociology first emerged in the research on sex roles. Connel (1992)
conceptualizes gender as a system of relationships that cut across race, class age and
institutional boundaries. He dismisses the concept of patriarchy and outlines a gender order
as a site of relations of domination and subordination, struggle for hegemony and practice
of resistance.
The shift from women to gender has been viewed by some as a replacement of the study
of sexual inequalities with the study of differences between the sexes.
Women studies refer to specific problems related to women. Feminists have argued that the
category women universalizes and homogenizes the experiences of White, Middle-Class,
and Upper Caste Women. The use of the category woman assumes commonaliy between
all women and can at best allow the analyses of the differences among women in an
additive or add on manner, whereas gender studies as a category is an inclusive analysis
of the differences of race, caste, nation etc. It allows for an analysis of interlocking
structures of oppression and goes beyond the analysis of the differences among the women
by underelinning the gendered nature of caste and class oppression
In nut shell, Women Studies as a category refers to a general category common to all
women without making any distinction whatsoever on the basis of class, caste, nation etc,
whereas Gender studies incorporates the differentiations across caste\class and nation
lines.
See Sara Delamonts The Sociology of Women (1980)
Patriarchy simply refers to male domination i.e power relationships with which men
dominate women and to characterise a system whereby women
have subordinate position and men enjoy superior position in the society.

Invisibility of Women in Sociology

Despite its claim to value neutrality, Sociology has always been malestream discipline
which has been concerned with research on men and by implications with theories for men.
Acker (1973) addressed the absence of women in stratification studies and explained it in
terms of the major assumptions in stratification literature about the social position of
women. She suggested that feminist reconceptualizations of stratification studies would
lead to better understanding of social structure. Findings based on all male samples had
been generalized for the whole population and issues and areas that concerned women were
seen as personal and outside the purview of academic. Even when women were included in
the research, they were often presented in a sexist manner. Sex and gender were seldom
seen as explanatory variables and available theoretical paradigms often naturalized the
womens subordination on biological grounds. (Abbot &Wallace 1990)
This was a period of disenchanting Sociology as the entire mainstream came to be declared
malestream. The absence of women in the cognitive structure of the discipline was
highlighted. All efforts were directed towards establishing womens experiences as
significantly different from mens and incorporating womens perspectives as theorists and
subjects of study.
The feminist scholarship is often organized into different phases or stages of transforming
traditional Sociology. The first stage is seen as one of underlining the absence of women in
the cognitive structure of the discipline. The second stage is conceived as focusing on
differential sex roles and gender inequalities in society. The third stage is seen as one
moving towards conceptualization of gender as social structure while the fourth stage is
seen as one of realization of the intrinsic linkages between gender and other matrices of
structural inequalities.
There have been three broad responses to the feminist critiques of the discipline: Inclusion,
Separatism and reconceptualization. While the first kind of response integrates women
into cognitive structures of the discipline, it leaves the assumptions of the mainstream
discipline unchallenged. The second response, the separatist position, argues for
sociology of women from a womens standpoint. All women are seen as sharing a
common position derived from their marginalization and exploitation in a patriarchal
society. The effort is to conceptualize the social world based on the experiences of
women. Such a position not only leaves the mainstream unchallenged but also in a

reverse way reiterates the division of women to experience and men to theory.
Separatism can only lead to ghettoization of feminist sociological knowledge. The
third position of reconceptualization seeks to move beyond a filling in of gaps and
separatist knowledge. It seeks to integrate feminist challenges to a discipline in ways
that lead to reconceptualization of the sociological categories. From such a position,
then, the project is not one of mere inclusion of women but of challenging some of the
taken-for- guaranteed dichotomies like public versus private or domestic versus paid
work. The first position of inclusion proposes to move towards non sexist Sociology
through the inclusion of women. The second position proposes a strategy of reversals,
the reworking of sociological knowledge from the standpoint of women, thereby
moving towards particularity of womens Sociology. The third position of
reconceptualization often operates through a strategy of displacement, so that
deconstructive techniques may be employed to challenge accepted meanings.
Nevertheless, displacement alone may not be adequate basis for reconceptualization,
which is an on-going uphill task.
Gender studies
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Gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyzes the phenomenon of
gender. Gender Studies is sometimes related to studies of class, race, ethnicity, sexuality
and location.[1]
The philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: One is not born a woman, one becomes one. [2]
In Gender Studies the term "gender" is used to refer to the social and cultural constructions
of masculinities and femininities, not to the state of being male or female in its entirety.[3]
The field emerged from a number of different areas: the sociology of the 1950s and later
(see Sociology of gender); the theories of the psychoanalyst Jaques Lacan; and the work of
feminists such as Judith Butler. Each field came to regard "gender" as a practice,
sometimes referred to as something that is performative.[4] Feminist theory of
psychoanalysis, articulated mainly by Julia Kristeva[5] (the "semiotic" and "abjection") and
Bracha Ettinger[6] (the "matrixial trans-subjectivity" and the "primal mother-phantasies"),
and informed both by Freud, Lacan and the Object relations theory, is very influential in
Gender studies.
Judith Butler
Main article: Judith Butler
The concept of gender performativity is at the core of Butler's work, notably in Gender
Trouble. In Butlers terms the performance of gender, sex, and sexuality is about power in
society. [4] She locates the construction of the "gendered, sexed, desiring subject" in
"regulative discourses." A part of Butler's argument concerns the role of sex in the
construction of "natural" or coherent gender and sexuality. In her account, gender and

heterosexuality are constructed as natural because the opposition of the male and female
sexes is constructed as natural.[4]
Femininity (also called womanliness) refers to qualities and behaviors judged by a
particular culture to be ideally associated with or especially appropriate to women and
girls.
Distinct from femaleness, which is a biological and physiological classification concerned
with the reproductive system, femininity principally refers to secondary sex characteristics
and other behaviors and features generally regarded as being more prevalent and better
suited to women, whether inborn or socialized. In traditional Western culture, such features
include gentleness, patience, and kindness.[citation needed]
Femininity should not be confused with feminism, which is the belief that women deserve
political and economic rights equal to men.
Masculinity
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"Masculine" redirects here. For other uses, see Masculine (disambiguation).
"Manliness" redirects here. For the book by Harvey Mansfield, see Manliness (book).
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources
remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by
introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

;
During the first half of the twentieth century, men were often associated with images of
industrialization
Masculinity is manly character. It specifically describes men and boys, that is personal and
human, unlike male which can also be used to describe animals, or masculine which can
also be used to describe noun classes. When masculine is used to describe men, it can have
degrees of comparisonmore masculine, most masculine. The opposite can be expressed

by terms such as unmanly, epicene or effeminate.[1] A typical near-synonym of masculinity

is virility (from Latin vir, man);[1] and the usual complement is femininity.[1]
Gender roles
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A bagpiper in Scottish military clan-uniform. In many parts of the West, wearing a skirt
may be unacceptable as part of a male gender role, but in Scotland men have traditionally
worn kilts, which are similar to skirts.
A gender role is defined as a set of perceived behavioral norms associated particularly with
males or females, in a given social group or system. It can be a form of division of labour
by gender. It is a focus of analysis in the social sciences and humanities. Gender is one
component of the gender/sex system, which refers to "The set of arrangements by which a
society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these
transformed needs are satisfied" (Reiter 1975: 159). Almost all societies, to a certain effect,
have a gender/sex system, although the components and workings of this system vary
markedly from society to society.

Gender refers to an individual's "psychological type". It is acquired through experience. An

individual can be viewed as either masculine or feminine.
Gender role refers to the attitudes and behaviors that class a person's stereotypical identity,
e.g. women cook and clean, men fix cars.
To associate oneself as either masculine or feminine is identifying with gender.
Researchers recognize that the concrete behavior of individuals is a consequence of both
socially enforced rules and values, and individual disposition, whether genetic,
unconscious, or conscious. Some researchers emphasize the objective social system and
others emphasize subjective orientations and dispositions.[citation needed]
Creativity may cause the rules and values to change over time. Cultures and societies are
dynamic and ever changing, but there has been extensive debate as to how, and how fast,
they may change. Such debates are especially contentious when they involve the
gender/sex system, as people have widely differing views about how much gender depends
on biological sex.
Sex and gender distinction is a concept in feminist theory, political feminism, and
sociology which distinguishes sex, a natural or biological feature, from gender, the cultural
or learned significance of sex.
The distinction is strategically important for some strands of feminist theory and politics,
particularly second-wave feminism, because on it is premised the argument that gender is
not biological destiny, and that the patriarchal oppression of women is a cultural
phenomenon which need not necessarily follow from biological sexual differentiation. The
distinction allows feminists to accept some form of natural sexual difference while
criticizing gender inequality. Some third-wave feminists like Judith Butler, French
feminists like Monique Wittig, and social constructionists within sociology have disputed
the biological-natural status the distinction imputes to sex, arguing instead that both sex and
gender are culturally constructed and structurally complicit. The most extreme view
maintains that gender is totally undetermined by sex.
As popularly used, sex and gender are not defined in this fashion. There has been increased
usage of the word "gender" to refer to sexual differences, because of the dual meaning of
the word "sex" as a biological feature as well as meaning the act of sexual intercourse.