Chapter VII

Gender
&
Development
By:
Sheila Mae Rosali d.N. Lavapie
Introduction
• Gender

-one of the universal dimensions

on which status differences are
based.

-is a social construct specifying the

socially and culturally prescribed
roles that men and women are to
follow.

Sex

-is a biological concept.

 Theories of Gender
Development

• Social Learning Theory

• Cognitive-Developmental Theory
• Gender Schema Theory
Social Learning Theory

• Proponents of this theory believe that

parents, as distributors of
reinforcement, reinforce appropriate
gender role behavior.
 Cognitive-Developmental
Theory
• This is derived from Kohlberg's
speculations about gender
development.

• Children begin the process of

acquiring gender-appropriate
behavior.
 Stage Characterized by:
Differentiates self from objects
Sensori-motor
(Birth-2 yrs) Recognizes self as agent of action and
begins to act intentionally.

Learns to use language and to represent

Pre-operational objects by images and words.
(2-7 years)
Can think logically about objects and events
Concrete
operational Classifies objects according to several
features and can order them in series along
(7-11 years) a single dimension such as size.

Becomes concerned with the hypothetical,

Formal operational the future, and ideological problems
(11 years and up)
Gender Schema Theory
-helps a child to develop gender identity
& formulate an appropriate gender role.

Schema
- is a mental blueprint for organizing
information, and children develop and
formulate an appropriate gender.
 What is Gender Stereotyping?


Gender Stereotyping

-is defined as the beliefs humans hold

about the characteristics associated
with males and females.
Problems in Gender Stereotyping

• When characteristics associated with

a particular gender have a negative
image.

• When a unique individual is assumed

to have all the characteristics
associated with his/her gender.
 Gender Ideologies
-attitude toward men & women role.

• Traditional Gender Ideology

• Egalitarian Gender Ideology
• Transitional
Traditional Gender
Ideology
• Maintains that men sphere is work
and women sphere is the home.

• The implicit assumption is that men

have greater power than women.
Egalitarian Gender
Ideology
• Maintains that power is distributed
equally between men and women
and that each group identifies equally
with the same spheres.
Transitional
• It is acceptable for women to devote
energy to both work and family
domains but women should
proportionally more responsibility for
the home and men should focus
proportionally more their energy on
work.
 Gender and Equality

• Gender Equality
-between women and men is a worthy
goal that is central to progress in
human development.

“The Creation of Patriarchy” by Gerda
Lerner
-gender is the “costume, a mask, a
straitjacket in which men & women
dance their unequal dance.”


“The Gender Question” by Alan Wolfe
-”of all the ways that one rooted than the
way men have subordinated women.”
Gender Inequality
 4 themes characterize feminist
theorizing of gender inequality:

Men & Women are situated in society
unequally.

Organization of society.

No significant pattern of natural
variation distinguishes the sexes.

All inequality theories assume fairly
easily & naturally to more egalitarian
social structures.
 Gender and Power

Gender
-refers to the different ways men &
women play in society, & to the relative
power they wield.


Power
-is a basic fabric of society & is
possessed in varying degrees by social
actors in diverse social categories.
 
“Essays in Sociology” by Max Weber
-he defined power as the likelihood a
person may achieve personal ends
despite possible resistance from others.
Determinants of power:

Status resources



Experience

Self-confidence
 Gender and Education

Investing in Education is seen as one
of the fundamental ways in which nation
states and their citizens can move
toward long-term development goals
and improve both social and economic
standards of living.