CH 11 - GENDER DEVELOPMENT: GENDER THEORIES & MEANING OF GENDER ROLES

CHAPTER 11: GENDER DEVELOPMENT: GENDER THEORIES AND MEANING OF GENDER ROLES

11.1 GENDER ROLE: MEANING AND CONCEPT

1. Core Definition: Gender roles are the socially and culturally defined expectations about behaviors, tasks, responsibilities, attitudes, and even personality traits that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.
2. Key Difference: Sex vs. Gender
• Sex: Biological and physical differences (e.g., reproductive organs, chromosomes). It is innate and universal.
• Gender: The social meaning, roles, and behaviors attached to being male or female. It is learned, constructed by society, and varies across cultures and time.
3. Who Coined the Term? The term "gender role" was first used by psychologist John Money in 1955.
4. Examples from Daily Life (Indian/Punjabi Context):
• Traditional Expectation: "Boys don't cry" or "Girls should be soft-spoken and gentle."
• Division of Labour: The idea that cooking and childcare are primarily a woman's duty, while earning money and repairing things are a man's duty.
• Appearance: Expectations like girls wear salwar-kameez or skirts, and boys wear pants; girls have long hair, boys have short hair.
5. Why Understanding This is Crucial for a Teacher: From a very young age, children are taught these roles. As a primary school teacher, you will see children who have already internalized many of these ideas. Your role is to help them see beyond these limitations.

11.2 GENDER ROLE THEORIES

These theories try to explain how and why societies develop different expectations for males and females.

11.2.1 Social Role Theory

This theory explains that gender differences in behavior arise primarily from the historical division of labour between men and women.

1. Basic Principle: Society's structure creates roles, and these roles shape our behavior and beliefs.
2. Historical Division of Labour:
• Men: Were typically involved in tasks requiring physical strength and travel (hunting, warfare, farming). This led to associations with traits like assertiveness, control, and being a provider.
• Women: Were primarily involved in child-rearing and domestic work (caring, cooking, nurturing within the home). This led to associations with traits like nurturing, warmth, and communal focus.
3. Result: This division created a "Male-Advantaged Gender Hierarchy" where roles involving public decision-making and resource control were (and often still are) held by men.
4. Example: In many families, major financial decisions are still made by the father/grandfather. This isn't because women can't do it, but because social roles have historically assigned that task to men.

11.2.2 Gender Schema Theory (Proposed by Sandra Bem)

This theory focuses on the cognitive (mental) processes of children. It explains how children actively learn and internalize gender roles from their culture.

1. What is a "Schema"? A schema is a mental framework or "file folder" in our brain that helps us organize information. A Gender Schema is the mental folder for all information about what it means to be a boy or a girl in one's culture.
2. How It Works:
• Step 1 (Learning): From infancy, children are bombarded with gendered messages (pink/blue, dolls/trucks). They form a basic gender schema.
• Step 2 (Filtering): Children then use this schema to filter the world. They pay more attention to, remember, and are more interested in things that match their gender schema.
• Step 3 (Self-Conforming): They start to evaluate themselves against this schema. ("I am a boy, so I should like cars and not cry.") They adopt behaviors that fit, leading to a gender identity.
3. Example in School: In a classroom, if the schema says "science is for boys," girls might unconsciously pay less attention or feel it's not for them. Conversely, if the schema says "nurturing is for girls," boys might avoid playing with dolls in the activity corner.
4. Role of a Teacher: You can help children develop flexible schemas. Show them examples of male nurses, female pilots, boys who are gentle, and girls who are strong leaders.

11.2.3 Social Learning Theory (in the context of Gender)

This theory, related to Bandura's work (Chapter 10), states that children learn gender roles through observation, imitation, and reinforcement.

1. Process:
• Observation: Children watch parents, siblings, teachers, and media characters.
• Imitation: They copy the behaviors of same-sex models (e.g., a girl pretending to cook like her mother, a boy pretending to shave like his father).
• Reinforcement/Punishment: They are rewarded for "gender-appropriate" behavior ("Good girl for helping in the kitchen!") and may be teased or punished for "gender-inappropriate" behavior ("Don't be like a girl, boys don't play with dolls!").
2. Example: If a young boy is consistently laughed at for choosing a pink crayon, he will quickly learn to avoid it, reinforcing the schema that "pink is for girls."

11.3 DISCRIMINATION AND FACTORS AFFECTING GENDER ROLES

Gender role discrimination refers to the unfair limitations and stereotypes placed on individuals because of their gender. Several factors in the Indian context contribute to this:

1. Patriarchal Social Structure (Dependence on Males):
• Meaning: A system where men hold primary power and authority in society and family.
• Effect: Women are often seen as dependent on fathers, husbands, or sons. Their primary roles are defined in relation to men (wife, mother, daughter). This limits their autonomy and access to public life.
• Example: The notion that a woman's primary lakshman rekha is the home, or that major family decisions are taken by the male head.
2. Lack of Education and Awareness:
• Meaning: Unequal access to education, especially for girls, perpetuates traditional roles.
• Effect: Education opens minds, provides economic opportunities, and challenges stereotypes. Without it, old norms remain unchallenged.
• Example: A family might prioritize a son's education over a daughter's, thinking, "She will get married and go to another house anyway."
3. Limited Exposure and Mobility:
• Meaning: Restrictions on women's freedom to move outside the home and interact with the wider world.
• Effect: This confines their experiences, limits skill development for the outside world, and reinforces the idea that their domain is the private sphere.
• Example: A girl might not be allowed to go on a school field trip or play outside as freely as her brother.
4. Portrayal in Media and Popular Culture:
• Meaning: Movies, advertisements, and stories often show stereotypical gender roles.
• Effect: Children absorb these powerful images. Heroes are strong and violent; heroines are often saved and valued for their beauty.
• Example: TV commercials that only show mothers washing detergent, or cartoons where boys are adventurers and girls are helpers.

The Change: Urbanization, education, legal measures (like Panchayati Raj reservations for women), and women's movements are slowly changing these roles. Teachers play a vital part in this change by creating an equitable classroom.

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EXERCISE

Q1. What do you mean by Gender role? Discuss the principle of gender role.

Introduction:
In the journey of child development, understanding the formation of gender identity is crucial. Central to this is the concept of "Gender Roles," which are distinct from biological sex. For a primary school teacher, grasping this concept is essential to recognize the social pressures children face and to foster a more equitable learning environment.

Meaning and Detailed Discussion:

1. Definition of Gender Role: Gender roles refer to the set of socially constructed norms, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate and desirable for individuals based on their perceived or actual sex. In simple terms, they are the "rules" society writes for being a boy or a girl, a man or a woman.
2. Core Principles of Gender Roles:
• Socially Constructed: They are not natural or biological but are created and reinforced by society, culture, religion, and media. For instance, the color pink for girls is a 20th-century social construct, not a biological mandate.
• Culturally Specific: They vary dramatically across cultures and change over time. The role of a woman in rural Punjab may differ from that of a woman in urban Mumbai or in another country.
• Learned through Socialization: Children are not born knowing gender roles. They learn them actively from agents of socialization like family (parents treating sons and daughters differently), school (teachers' expectations), peers (teasing for non-conformity), and media.
• Hierarchical Nature: Historically and often currently, male gender roles are associated with higher status, power, authority, and access to public sphere decision-making, creating a patriarchal hierarchy.
• Influence on Life Choices: Gender roles profoundly influence a person's aspirations (career choices like "nurse for girls, engineer for boys"), personal relationships, and self-expression, often limiting their full potential.

Conclusion:
In summary, a gender role is a prescriptive social script. Understanding its principles helps us see that the differences we observe between boys and girls are largely a product of nurturing, not just nature. As educators, this knowledge empowers us to critically examine our own biases and create a classroom that allows every child to explore their interests and abilities freely, beyond the constraints of stereotypical gender roles.

Q2. Discuss the theories related to gender role.

Introduction:
Several psychological theories attempt to explain the process through which children acquire and internalize gender roles. These theories provide frameworks for understanding the complex interplay of social, cognitive, and environmental factors in gender development. For a teacher, these theories offer practical insights into classroom dynamics and children's behavior.

Detailed Discussion of Theories:

1. Social Role Theory:
• Focus: Explains the origin of gender differences at a societal level.
• Explanation: It posits that the historical division of labour (men as hunters/breadwinners, women as child-rearers/homemakers) created different social roles. These roles required and rewarded different behaviors (agentic vs. communal), which over time became embedded in society as gender stereotypes. The theory argues that this division led to a male-advantaged hierarchy.
• Implication for Teachers: It helps teachers understand that gender stereotypes have a structural history. Challenging them means providing children with examples that break the traditional division of labour (e.g., showing men as caregivers, women as leaders).
2. Gender Schema Theory (Sandra Bem):
• Focus: Explains the cognitive process inside the child's mind.
• Explanation: Children develop a gender schema—an internal, mental network of information about what it means to be male or female in their culture. Once this schema is formed, children use it to:
• Guide their attention (notice gender-consistent things more).
• Organize their memory (remember schema-consistent information better).
• Influence their behavior (choose activities that fit their schema).
• Implication for Teachers: This theory is powerful for the classroom. It suggests that simply providing counter-stereotypical information (books, stories, role models) can help children develop more flexible gender schemas. A teacher can consciously design activities that mix traditional roles.
3. Social Learning Theory (Applied to Gender):
• Focus: Explains the mechanism of learning gender roles through interaction.
• Explanation: Children learn gender-appropriate behavior through:
• Observation: Watching models (parents, teachers, media characters).
• Imitation: Copying the behavior of same-sex models.
• Reinforcement and Punishment: Receiving rewards (praise, approval) for gender-conforming behavior and discouragement (teasing, punishment) for non-conforming behavior.
• Implication for Teachers: Teachers are powerful models. They must be mindful of their own gendered language and expectations. They should reinforce children based on behavior and effort, not gender (e.g., praise a boy for being helpful, not just a girl). They can also use positive peer modeling.

Conclusion:
These theories are not mutually exclusive; they complement each other. Social Role Theory explains the societal blueprint, Social Learning Theory explains how children receive this blueprint from their environment, and Gender Schema Theory explains how they internalize and use it to understand their world. Together, they provide a comprehensive toolkit for a teacher to promote gender sensitivity, challenge stereotypes, and support the holistic development of every child, free from restrictive gender role constraints.