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Home , Gender role, Role, Stereotype

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Sociology School Faculty Scholarship

8-2003 and Amy M. Blackstone University of Maine - Main, [email protected]

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Repository Citation Blackstone, Amy. 2003. "Gender Roles and Society." Pp 335-338 in Ecology: An Encyclopedia of Children, Families, , and Environments, edited by Julia R. Miller, Richard M. Lerner, and Lawrence B. Schiamberg. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN I-57607-852-3

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Gender Roles and Society 335

Additional structural conditions such as women Risman, Barbara J. 1998. Gender Vertigo: American Families in Transition. London: Yale University with high levels of and high income- Press. earning potential might be necessary prerequisites Thompson, Linda. 1993. "Conceptualizing Gender in for such families to exist (Risman 1998,101). : The Case of Marital Care:' Journal of and couples also are less likely to organize Marriage and the Family 55: 557-569. their lives in gendered ways because they do not Walker,Alexis J.1999. "Gender and Family have the ease of creating gendered patterns of be- Relationships:' Pp. 439-474 in Handbook of havior on the basis of a person's sex category. Re- Marriage search has found that lesbian couples are more and the Family 2d ed. Edited by Marvin B. Sussman, Suzanne K. Steinmetz, and Gary W. Peterson. New likely to share housework since obviously one per- York: Plenum. son is not delegated to the housekeeper on the West, Candace, and Don H. Zimmerman. 1991. "Doing basis of her sex (Baber and Allen 1992,207). Gender:' Pp. 13- 3 7 in The Social Construction of Gender is constructed in individual, interac- Gender. Edited by Judith Lorber and Susan A. tional, and structural ways to create environmen- Farrell. tal constraints and opportunities that usually ben- Newbury Park, CA: Sage. efit men more than women. Gender does not, however, families' lives in isolation. More re- Gender Roles and Society search is beginning to explore how gender inter- Gender roles are based on the different expecta- acts with other characteristics such as race, ethnic- tions that individuals, groups, and have of ity, , and social class to affect individuals based on their sex and based on each diverse family experiences (Coltrane 1998,8). For society's values and beliefs about gender. Gender example, unlike European American middle-class roles are the product of the interactions between women, working-class women and individuals and their environments, and they give historically have had much stronger ties to the individuals cues about what sort of behavior is be- workforce because of the necessity of their in- lieved to be appropriate for what sex. Appropriate comes to their families' economic well-being. gender roles are defined according to a society's Thus, their experiences as wives and partners may beliefs about differences between the sexes. be different from their European American mid- Understanding the term "gender roles" requires dle-class counterparts. Current research also finds an understanding of the term "gender't''Gender" is that factors such as race and social class affect a social term that is often confused with the term women's experiences of mothering (Walker 1999, "sex:' Sex and gender are different concepts. Sex is 448). Since gender is constructed, these findings a biological concept, determined on the basis of are what one would expect, and they serve to make individuals' primary sex characteristics. Gender, more complete our understanding of all the factors on the other hand, refers to the meanings, values, that create gender. and characteristics that people ascribe to different Aine M. Humble sexes. Ann Oakley (1972) was one the first social See also: Contemporary Men's Movement; Gay and scientists to distinguish the concept of gender Lesbian Studies; Gender Roles and Society; from the concept of sex. According to Oakley, gen- Sex-Role der parallels the biological division of sex into ; Work and Families male and , but it involves the division and References and Further Reading social valuation of and . In Baber, Kristine M., and Katherine R. Allen. 1992. Women other words, gender is a concept that cre- and Families: Feminist Reconstructions. New York: ate socially, through their interactions with one Guilford. Blaisure, Karen R., and Katherine R.AlIen.1995. another and their environments, yet it relies heav- "Feminists and the Practice of Marital Equality" ily upon biological differences between males and Journal of Marriage and the Family 57: 5-19. . Because humans create the concept of Coltrane, Scott. 1998. Gender and Families. Thousand gender socially, gender is referred to as a social Oaks, CA: Pine Forge. construction. The social construction of gender is Komter, Aatke. 1989. "Hidden Power in Marriage." Gender demonstrated by the fact that individuals, groups, & Society 3: 187-216. and societies ascribe particular traits, statuses, or Lorber, Judith. 1998. : Feminist values to individuals purely because of their sex, and Politics. Los Angeles: Roxbury. yet these ascriptions differ across societies and , and over time within the same society.

Gender Roles and Society 337

Gender roles are the roles that men and women lies is one way that men experience greater power are expected to occupy based on their sex. Tradi- in society than women. Because men are expected tionally, many Western societies have believed that to be the primary breadwinners for their families, women are more nurturing than men. Therefore, women often find themselves to be in if the traditional view of the feminine their dissolve. In this example, a femi- prescribes that women should behave in ways that nist perspective would assert that men tend to are nurturing. One way that a might engage hold more power in their marriages than women in the traditional feminine gender role would be to since men are less likely to lose power or social sta- nurture her family by working full-time within the tus if their marriages dissolve. horne rather than taking employment outside of Gender roles can be linked to expectations of the home. Men, on the other hand, are presumed by males and females in realms outside of the family traditional views of gender roles to be leaders. The as well, such as work (Williams 1995).In the work- traditional view of the masculine gender role, place, men and women are often expected to per- therefore, suggests that men should be the heads of form different tasks and occupy different roles their by providing financially for the based on their sex (Kanter 1977). Even in the early family and making important family decisions. twenty-first century, many corporations operate While these views remain dominant in many from a perspective that favors traditional beliefs spheres of society, alternative perspectives on tra- about gender roles by, for example, offering ditional beliefs about gender roles have gained in- parental leave benefits only to mothers and deny- creasing support in the twenty-first century. ing such benefits to fathers. In addition, because Different disciplines offer a range of perspec- the traditional perspective toward gender roles re- tives on gender roles. An ecological perspective on mains predominant in many corporations, the po- gender roles suggests that gender roles are created sitions that women and men hold within corpora- by the interactions between individuals, commu- tions are often segregated by sex. Women are more nities, and their environments. That is, while indi- likely to be expected to work as secretaries, and vidual people play a role in constructing gender men are more likely to be expected to work as roles, so too do the physical and social environ- managers and executives. Also, men are presumed ments within which people operate. A biological to be more ambitious and task-oriented in their perspective on gender roles suggests that women work, while women are presumed to be more in- have a natural affinity toward the feminine gender terested in and concerned about their relation- role and that men have a natural affinity toward ships with others at work. the masculine gender role. The biological perspec- As these examples demonstrate, gender roles tive does not, however, suggest that one role holds are sometimes created on the basis of stereotypes any inherently greater value than another role. A about gender. Gender stereotypes are oversimpli- sociological perspective toward gender roles sug- fied understandings of males and females and the gests that masculine and feminine roles are differences between them. Individuals sometimes learned and that masculine and feminine gender base their perceptions about appropriate gender roles are not necessarily connected to males' and roles upon gender stereotypes. Gender stereotypes females' biological traits. Sociologists study the tend to include exaggerated or erroneous asser- different meanings and values that masculine and tions about the nature of males and females. For feminine gender roles hold in society. Related to example, a common gender about the sociological perspective, a feminist perspective males is that they are not emotional. Females, on on gender roles might assert that because gender the other hand, are commonly stereotyped as roles are learned, they can also be unlearned, and being irrational or overly emotional. Political that new and different roles can be created. movements such as the con- The feminist perspective points out that gender tinue to work to deconstruct gender stereotypes roles are not simply ideas about appropriate be- and offer alternative visions of gender roles that havior for males and females but are also linked to emphasize equality between women and men. the different levels of power that males and fe- Finally, gender roles are often discussed in males hold in society. For example, maintaining terms of an individual's gender role orientation, economic control over themselves and their fami- which is typically described as either traditional or

338 Gesell, Arnold Lucius nontraditional. A traditional gender role orienta- enced child rearing enormously in the United tion emphasizes differences between men and States, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s. He was women and assumes that each sex has a natural the director of the Clinic of Child Development at affinity to particular behaviors. Those who main- Yale University (1911-1948), where he and his tain a traditional gender role orientation are likely team collected a vast quantity of information and to be influenced by the rules and rituals of the gen- data on child development. The information he erations that came before them, by their parents published had a huge influence on both parents and grandparents. Individuals with nontraditional and educators around the globe. gender role orientations are more likely to believe Gesell first studied at Clark Univer- that an individual's behavior is not or should not be sity, and was influenced by one of the earliest determined solely by her sex. Individuals with non- American psychologists, G. Stanley Hall (1844- traditional gender role orientations are more likely 1924). He received his Ph.D. in 1911, was ap- to believe in the value of egalitarian relationships pointed an assistant at Yale University, between men and women and in the power of indi- where he established the Clinic of Child Develop- vidual human beings to determine what roles they ment, and served as the clinic's director between wish to occupy and the extent to which those roles 1911 and 1948. He became convinced that medical are or should be associated with their sex. training was essential in his studies of child devel- Amy Blackstone opment, therefore studied medicine and received See also: Contemporary Men's Movement; Gay and his M.D. from Yale in 1915. Gesell's team studied Lesbian Studies; Gender and Families; Sex-Role large numbers of children (about 12,000), which Stereotypes; Development; Work led them to several conclusions, known collectively and as Gesell's maturational . The findings of the Families research demonstrated that all development in ba- References and Further Reading bies, children, and adolescents was similar and Goldstein, Joshua S. 200 I. War and Gender: How Gender consisted of orderly processes. Children must Shapes the War System and Vice Versa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. reach quite specific maturational stages in their Hays, Sharon. 1996. The Cultural Contradictions of development before their learning will influence Motherhood. New Haven: Yale University their behavior. Both physical and psychological de- Press. velopment of children occurs in a predictable and Kimmel, Michael S. 1996. Manhood in America: A patterned manner, which was termed maturation. Cultural History. New York: Free Press. Maturation follows specific sequences (not neces- Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. 1977. Men and Women of the sarily linear). All children will go through these Corporation. New York: Basic Books. stages at their own pace, but the sequences remain Lippa, Richard A. 2002. Gender, Nature, and Nurture. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum. the same. Behavior was regarded as a function of Oakley, Ann. 1972. Sex, Gender, and Society. New York: structure, whereas the role of the environment was Harper and Row. viewed as a secondary influence. Thorne, Barrie. 1993. Gender Play: and Boys in Gesell was also very interested in retarded de- School. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University velopment, as he believed an understanding of Press. normal child development was absolutely essential Williams, Christine. 1995. Still a 's World: Men Who to understanding developmental abnormality. The Do "Womens Work." Berkeley: University of results of the research were published as Infancy California Press. and Human Growth (1928) and contained devel- Williams, Joan. 1999. Unbending Gender: Why Family and opmental schedules, using 195 items of behavior Work Conf/ict and What To Do About It. Oxford: in the areas of motor skills, adaptive behavior, lan- . guage development, and self-help and social skills. Ten years later, the schedules were revised and Gesell, Arnold Lucius were used widely to evaluate children as early as four weeks of age. The schedules and tests were Arnold Lucius Gesell, a noted American psycholo- widely used to determine school readiness. There gist and pediatrician, was born on June 21, 1880, in was criticism of the schedules by some experts, Alama, Wisconsin, and died on May 29, 1961, in but Gesell's influence had become substantial. His New Haven, Connecticut Gesell studied, through the use of observation and innovative recording on film, the physical and mental development of chil- dren from birth to adolescence. His books in flu-