1) According to the lecture slides what is the difference between sex and gender? Use your own words.
According to the lecture slides, one’s sex refers to their biological composition where as gender relates to the attributes that one’s culture and/or society give to males and females. The term “sex” is therefore defined as the chromosomes and hormones that a male or female has. For example, a female is naturally born with XX sex chromosomes and a male is naturally born with XY sex chromosomes. Although there are individuals who choose to get physical sex changes, their chromosomes still determine their natural, biological sex as male or female. On the contrast, one’s gender is defined as the ways and behaviors that societies and cultures expect males and females to behave. To explain, in the past women were expected to be homemakers and take care of the children. Men, on the other hand, were expected to have steady jobs and serve as the primary income earners for their families. Although this has changed very much, there are still cultures and societies that place similar gender roles on males and females. Another example of gender would be the expectation that women are supposed to wear make-up and men are not. If a man was spotted wearing make-up, society might look differently at him. Therefore, sex is based on biology and gender refers to social experiences and learned behaviors.
2) Give an example from your own life of doing gender (i.e. acting in a gender stereotypical way).
I was doing gender when I had my boyfriend carry my garbage cans up to the top of my driveway because they were too heavy for me to carry. I was doing gender when I went out for breakfast yesterday for Father’s Day and I wore a dress and put on mascara. I was doing gender when I played Play-Doh with my boyfriend’s four-and-a-half-year-old cousins while the boys played a game of “Horse” in basketball.
3) According to the chapter by Reisman and Seale:
A) What method(s) did these researchers use to collect their data, who was their study population, and what was the sample size of the population?
The methods that the researchers used were in-person interviews also, referred to as survey research. Researchers asked a series of questions through use of one to two hour interviews, recording participants’ responses. They used hypothetical scenarios and stories, poems/paragraphs, and open-ended qualitative data to compare responses.
The researchers’ study population was middle-school children in a mid-sized southeastern city. The participants were in grades sixth, seventh, and eighth and their ages ranged from 11-14. The majority of participants were of middle class socioeconomic statuses.
The sample size of the population began as 44 middle-school students and was reduced to 42 participants, due to a lack of data and information on topics of interest for two participants.
B) Describe one limitation of the method used as described by the researchers.
Due to the fact that the researchers were unable to directly observe the interactions between the middle-school students, one limitation of the interview method was that researchers had to depend solely on what participants told them and “how they explained their thoughts on boys, girls, gender nonconformity, gender expectations, homosexuality, heterosexuality, and life in general” (Risman & Seale, 2010, p. 346).
C) What was the difference between what the "tweens" said about the "ideal" of gender equality and how they actually acted?
A difference between what the “tweens” said about the “ideal” of gender equality and how they actually acted was revealed through the inconsistency of the responses given by the “tweens”. Although most of the participants’ responses suggested the belief that men and women should be treated equal and that all races are equal, they still indicated beliefs that gender stereotypes and expectations derive from biological differences. The tweens also suggested other major differences between males and females that also contributed to their beliefs of gendered expectations against their peers. In other words, the tweens’ ideal of gender equality is that males and females of all races should be treated equally no matter what. However, the tweens’ responses during the interviews revealed that most of the tweens still hold gendered expectations and recognize/believe in the difference between males and females in the work force and in their everyday lives.
D) Describe one example of how the middle-schoolers defined "girly-girls" and one example of how they described "tomboys."
The majority of the responses given by middle-schoolers in regards to girly-girls revealed negative associations and provided negative descriptions. Dissimilarly, their responses describing tomboys were more neutral and even positive. One middle-school girl named Samantha described “girly-girls” as: “‘Oh my gosh, it has to be perfect. I have to put hairspray in it.’ Glitter gel, whatever. Like, always running around screaming [high-pitched], ‘Oh my God, a spider! Oh my gosh, my nail broke!’ Just little things that are like your nail breaking. Crying over it or something. That’s a girly-girl” (Risman & Seale, 2010, p. 348). In regards to how tomboys were described by the middle-school participants, one female middle-schooler believed that tomboys would probably have a hard time finding a boyfriend. Most responses also suggested that tomboys are usually athletic (Risman & Seale, 2010, p. 349).
E) After reading the lecture slides and this chapter, briefly describe your own beliefs regarding whether children "naturally" act like girls or boys or how this behavior might be learned or fostered by the larger society and/or social institutions like education, the economy, government etc. For example, think about toys that children play with or the clothes/colors they like and wear. Pick a side "nature/biology" or "nurture/learned," and defend it!
Do you think children want to play with these toys or do we create gender roles by rewarding children for gender appropriate behavior or punishing them when they display gender inappropriate behaviors? Many of you work in day care centers or schools - how do teachers react when boys want to play dress up versus when girls act aggressively? Why do girls like pink and boys blue? Are we born that way or do we learn to like these colors?
I agree with the gender theory in regards to whether children naturally behave like girls or boys versus whether that behavior is actually learned. Although I do think that in many cases children do “want” to play with specific toys, I still think that gender roles and behaviors develop through nurture/learned behaviors rather than as a result of nature/biology. As Lecture Slides 6 state, gender roles are believed to be learned through social interactions and through the larger society in which we live (Gager, 2010, Lecture Slides 6). In other words, gender roles are socially constructed and not a result of biology.
It is very evident to me that individuals are greatly influenced by their surroundings and their environment. I believe that these behaviors are primarily learned from parents and in many cases, teachers. They are also hugely learned through society. Referring to gender roles and expectations that society has placed on males and females in the past, society had definitely had a major impact on gender behaviors. When a person is first born, I do not believe that they enter this world loving the color pink or preferring the color blue. They do not first come into society wearing dresses and make-up or being passionate about football and baseball. It is society that has made the standard color for females pink and the standard color for males blue. I know that when many children go to a friend’s birthday party, they come home with a pink goody bag if they are a girl and a blue one if they are a boy because that is “appropriate”. Society has also created gender expectations in the past where women had to stay at home and care for the children while men had to work and provide a steady income and give financial support to their families. Women were just as capable as men of maintaining a job, it was just not deemed appropriate for a woman to be the breadwinner of the family and a father to be the homemaker.
Moreover, parents influence the behaviors of their children when they buy their girls dolls to play with and buy their boys mini basketball hoops or footballs. I have seen many parents who actually do not allow their children to play with “gender appropriate” toys. To elaborate on that, I work at a children’s center and although I have never witnessed a teacher telling a child that they cannot play with a certain toy, I have watched a father yell at his son for playing with a doll. It was early one morning and the teachers had set up different centers around the classroom for children to play at as they came in for the school day. One father dropped off his preschool-aged son and went over to the cubbies in the hallway to drop off his son’s backpack and jacket. When he came back into the classroom to say goodbye to his son, he noticed that his son was playing at the center that had baby dolls at it. From the door, he started screaming at his son to put that doll down because dolls are for girls. I believe that to be a perfect example of how gender roles and behaviors are learned from parents.
4)
| Women in the Workforce |
| Directions: Study the Mothers Participating in the Labor Force 1955-2004 table. (The table can be found online at http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104670.html.) Then read each statement below. On the line before each statement, write T if the statement is true. Write F is the statement is false.
|
5) Do you think women are doing as well as you as expected, less well, or better and why?
I would say that women are doing as well as I expected. Overall, the percentages of women with children who are a part of the labor force have increased very much since 1955. Due to the state of our economy, I know that many women have gone back to work or entered the workforce in order to better support their families. I am not surprised that women with children are in the workforce much more today than they were in the past. Although it is unfortunate that more mothers need to leave their young children under the age of six at daycare, with a babysitter, etc. more so than they had to in the past, it is very impressive to me that over 60% of mothers with young children under the age of 6 are in the workforce. I was born in 1988 and my sister was born in 1990. When I was born, my mother stopped working because my father was making enough money to support us on his own. As a result, my mother was able to spend more time with us than my father was able to because he was always working and traveling. Being able to participate in every single aspect of my sister’s and my life always meant a lot to my mother. It wasn’t until her and my father separated that she started working part-time. When they separated, my sister was finishing her senior year of high school and I was already in college, which made the process much easier for my mother. I think it is possible that many mothers get upset knowing they need to work and must leave their young children with another caretaker during the day, but so many women are doing that today and seeking great success. It is so difficult leaving your child, especially during the years that they are growing and developing the most, but I would say that overall women are doing just as well as I expected them to be doing today regarding the amount of women who I know that have entered the workforce over recent years.
No comments:
Post a Comment