Issues and Concerns
Socialization of the Girl Child, Gender Stereotypes, Problems faced by
Female Headed Households, Feminization of Poverty, Women and
Health, Women in Media, Gender division of labour, Glass ceiling.
Gender Socialisation
• Ann Oakley- the characteristics of men and women which are socially
determined and learned through socio-cultural interactions, in
contrast to those which were considered to be biologically
determined.
• Gender identity is an acquired identity based on socio-cultural and
political contexts
• Prescribed by society- preparing young individuals for gendered adult
roles
• Parenting norms, practices and environment for child remain gendered-
communicated through symbols, reinforcements and punishments
Gender socialisation
• Gendering: continuous “packaging” process which is socio-cultural in
nature.
• Gender socialisation: Processes of transformation wherein qualities,
behaviours, roles and rights are psychologically and sociologically
engrained to become a man/woman
• Gender is deeply engrained in institutions, belief systems and actions
• Societal expectations shape the concept of self, aspirations and ideas
of being a woman- through rewards and punishments
• Localised process
Why gender socialisation?
• Structure and content of gender division is not arbitrary- based on
foundational and systematic processes rooted in patriarchy
• Key in maintaining and reproducing patriarchy
• Success of gender socialisation= unquestioned acceptance and
internalisation of norms, becomes part of personality
• To ensure difference, as well as hierarchy
• Stability of social system
• Mechanism of social control
Theoretical approaches
• Psychological theories
• Psycho analytical/Cognitive
• Tend to universalise human personality formation- rather than seeing it as
dependent on social context
• Social learning theory
• Role appropriate behaviours are learnt through reinforcements
• Behaviour modelling
• Social cognitive developmental theories
• Children are active agents in gender socialisation
• Children pick up roles, norms etc associated with gender and associate it with
biological sex
• Society provides further motivation and information on gender roles
Theoretical approaches
• Developmental psychological theories
• Rigidity of gender identity is higher while young- as they are looking for a clear
instructional information framework
• As they grow up, they perceive gender role transcendence
• Anthropological theories
• Based on cultural transmissions between parents and children in family and kinship
set up
• Culture shapes gender identity
• Feminist perspectives (Nancy Chodorow)
• Mothering-> breaking away individual identities-> (Boys- violent breakway,rigid ego
boundaries, girls- flexible and blurry ego boundaries)
• Ego boundaries create feminity/masculinity
Family
Caste Education
Agents of
Economy Gender Peers
Socialisation
Mass
Polity
Media
Religion
Agents of Gender Socialisation
• Family:
• Reaction to the sex of new born
• Different interactions towards girls and boys by parents- eg- gendered labels
• No support for learning and play
• Behavioural modelling
• Ann Oakley- 4 central mechanisms of gender socialisation:
• Manipulation- of body
• Canalisation- directing interest
• Verbal appellation- labelling
• Activity exposure
• Normalises patriarchy and oppression
Agents of gender socialisation
• Education:
• Emile Durkheim- School is a formal agency of gender socialisation
• Dimensions:
• Teacher’s attitudes and expectation and interactions
• Formal curriculum perpetuating gender stereotypes on sexuality
• Gender based violence polarises genders
• Peer influences
• Gendered/gender blind infrastructure
• Peer groups:
• Uncontrolled by adults, less hierarchical, more open exchanges
• Selecting same gender peers-> affects play experiences-> gendered roles
Agents of Socialisation
• Mass Media:
• Was seen as 4th pillar of democracy
• Sidelines primary agents of socialisation
• Three ways through which media contribute to gender socialisation- Wood:
• Under representation of women in public domains
• Women portrayed in traditional ways
• Depiction of relationship between man and woman emphasise traditional roles
• Religion:
• “Purity, self sacrifice and selfless devotion”
• For society to run smoothly, subordination of women is required
• Symbolic violence
• Prescriptive in gender role expectation
• Dube- anticipatory gender socialisation
• Concept of self becomes honour and shame
Agents of Socialisation
• Economy:
• Gendered economy:
• Macro level- low female participation, gender pay gap
• Micro level- gendered division of labour
• Globalisation-> feminisation of certain activities
• Unpaid domestic work
• Caste:
• Intersectionality
• Caste looks at maintaining itself through restrictions and exclusions- eg rules
of marriage
• “Delinquent daughters”
• Dube- fear of sexual relation with low caste
Breaking gender socialisation
• Breaking male pronouns
• Equal physical and public places
• Power to Individual agency
Gender stereotypes
Gender Stereotypes
• Gender stereotypes: Overgeneralized beliefs about the characteristics
of individuals based solely on their gender, regardless of the actual
diversity among members of various gender groups
• Reflects perceivers’ knowledge and expectations about women
• Shapes how people process information about gender and influence
judgments made about members of various gender groups.
• Serves as a schema, or lens, through which individuals view their
social world.
Purpose
• To simplify information processing
• To determine in-group and out-group
• Differential valuing of groups
• Serve to affirm our values and beliefs.
• Reinforced in society and reflect cultural norms.
Types and Forms
• Positive and Negative
• Explicit and Implicit (Dual process theories)
• Prescriptive and Descriptive
• Agency and communion
Consequences of Gender Stereotyping
• Attractiveness Bias
• Stereotype threat
• Self fulfilling prophecy
• Affects leadership aspirations (role congruity theory)
• Hiring discrimination
Reducing Gender stereotypes
• Diversity education
• Self awareness training
• Conscious effort to minimise the use of gender stereotypes
Problems faced by female
headed households
Reference: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/64490/
https://www.ijrrjournal.com/IJRR_Vol.5_Issue.9_Sep2018/IJRR007.pdf
Female headed households
• Globally 33% households are female headed
• According to census 2011 there are about 27 million female headed
household in India which constitute nearly 10.9% of all household.
• Causes: widowhood, divorce, separation and desertion,migration of
male members for long periods etc.
Issues
• Triply disadvantaged: they experience the burdens of poverty, gender
discrimination and lack of support as heads of households
• Household poverty:
• 60% female household heads are unemployed
• Emotional abandonment
• Higher pressures of social norms (that is, lesser individuality)
• Difficulty in socialising and disciplining children
• Lack of educated female heads
• Crimes and violence
Feminisation of Poverty
Reference: https://www.iasgyan.in/blogs/feminization-of-poverty
https://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/2007/EDOC11276.pdf
Feminisation of Poverty
• “Feminisation of poverty” means that women have a higher incidence of
poverty than men, that their poverty is more severe than that of men and
that poverty among women is on the increase.
• Poverty that is biased against women
• Poverty- state of deprivation
• Feminisation- process of becoming feminine
• Feminization is a process; higher poverty is a state
• Relative concept- compares male and female disadvantages
• Poverty is usually measured at the household level and therefore male
poverty is intrinsically associated with female poverty and vice-versa.
Feminisation of Poverty
• Coined in the USA in the 1970s in the debate about single mothers,
particularly in the Afro-American community.
• 1980s - used with reference to the increasing recruitment of women
to poorly paid jobs.
• Currently - denotes that women have a higher incidence of poverty
than men; that their poverty is more severe than that of men; and
that poverty among women is on the increase
• Diane Pearce: focused on the gender patterns in the evolution of
poverty rates in the United States between the beginning of the
1950s and the mid-1970s.
Causes of feminisation of poverty
• Not poverty in absolute terms, but gender inequalities behind
poverty
• Gender division of labour and consumption
• Inequality in access to resources and public services
• Labour market inequalities
• Single working member in family
• Legal and cultural constraints
Manifestations of feminisation of poverty
• Cutting down “female” expenses
• Denying access to education and career
• Dependency on male income
• High rates of informal jobs among women compared to men
• Inequal access to resources
Gender division of labour
Reference: https://lotusarise.com/patriarchy-and-sexual-division-of-labour-upsc/
Gender division of labour
• Refers to the way work is divided between men and women
according to their gender roles.
• Product of socio-cultural situations that assign gender roles
• Correlates with horizontal and vertical segregation
• Horizontal- based on organizational sectors
• Women are usually highly concentrated in the sectors that require lesser skills (e.g.
agriculture), that promise little chance for career advancements (e.g. services) and that
are related to care-giving (e.g.: nursing), which often coincide also with low wages.
• Vertical- across occupational hierarchies
• Higher the position, wider the gender gap
• Gender division is not fixed- changes in response to wider economic,
political and social changes.
Theoretical reasoning
• Based on traditional and biological determinism:
• Human biogrammer (Tiger and fox)
• genetically based programme which predisposses mankind to behave in certain ways
• Men are more aggressive and dominant- partly due to genetic in inherent men’s primate
ancestors, partly to a genetic adoption to a way of life.
• Biological difference (GP Murdock)
• Men’s superior physique
• Socialisation (Parsons)
• Functions of a nuclear family- primary socialization and stabilization of adult personality
• Women- expressive, Men- instrumental
• Bowlby- child needs “warmth”
Theoretical reasoning
• Modern theories
• Ann Oakley
• Gender division of labour is not universal
• gender roles are culturally rather than biologically determined.
• Sherry B Ortner: Universal devaluation of women
• Sylvia Walby: Theory of patriarchy
• Forms of patriarchy:
• Production relations in the household
• Paid work
• Patriarchal state
• Male violence
• Patriarchal relations in sexuality
• Patriarchal cultural institutions
• Types of patriarchy:
• Private
• Public
Glass Ceiling
PDF Attached
Defining glass ceiling
• Federal Glass Ceiling Commission: “Artificial barriers to the
advancement of women and minorities”
• Represents a gender or racial difference that is not explained by other job
relevant characteristics of the employee
• Greater at higher levels of outcome than at lower levels of outcome
• Reflects in the chances of advancement- not merely proportion of females in
top positions
• Increases over a course of career
• Glass escalator
• Sticky floor
• Glass cliff
Portrayal of Women in Media
Reference: Women and media- kiran prasad- chapter 2
Representation of women in media
• Visuals create a lasting impact that shape people’s social interaction
patterns
• Media is more and more being controlled, less and less managed
• Media is not just technology
• Reflects social consciousness
• Media is commercial
• Woman is not a person, but a role
Issues
• Gender bias:
• Media representations treat even objects as feminine and masculine
• Patriarchal media
• Self concept:
• Shapes women’s self images
• Objectification and commodification of the body and character
• Role modification:
• Biological, domestic and decorative
• Significance to symbolism
Erving Goffman’s “Gender Advertisements”
• Relative size- represents social weight
• Feminine touch- non-utilitarian, ritualistic touching
• Function ranking
• Realisation of subordination- postures in media
• Licensed withdrawal: removing from social situation and dependent
on others for protection
