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The Issue of Gender

            As asserted by sociologists, "ones sex is biological, whilst gender is social". The distinction between sex and gender differentiates sex (anatomy of an individual's reproductive system) from gender (social roles based on the sex of the person, usually culturally learned). As the quote highlights, the term gender is a person's private sense of their own gender. This is generally described as one's private sense of being a man or a woman, however, some individuals do not identify with some of the aspects of gender that are assigned to their biological sex.
             There are a number of theories which exist relating to the construction of gender, however, there are two main conflicting perspectives which exist. The first is Functionalist theory, this theory emphasises each part of society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole society. They argue that society is more than the sum of its parts; rather, each part of society is functional for the stability of the whole society. The second is Conflict theory, this theory argues and encourages change in society's distribution of resources, power and inequality. There has also been a long standing debate in relation to the construction of gender. Nature versus nurture is a discussion that debates a person's attributes, like and dislikes and whether these characteristics stem from nature, which refers to all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are, from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics. Or nurture, which refers to all the environmental variables that impact who we are, including our early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social relationships, and our surrounding culture. Gender construction is based on a number of factors including ones biological makeup, the cultural context and one's personal choice as to how they wish to portray gender. .
             The first theory to be investigated is the Functionalist theory.


Essays Related to The Issue of Gender

1. Analysis of Why Boys Don't Play With Dolls

... attitudes about gender neutrality in the world toward the next generation. Legislation has changed in this movement to help have safeguards in place for equal rights, but if no one believes or teaches that this is true, the movement has failed and society may be doomed. Our future depends on the behaviors and attitudes of the younger generation and if we do not fix this issue, we may ... see even stricter gender ... roles in the ... ...

  • Word Count: 627
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Systems of Inequality and Social Constructivism

... lens to view and dialectically deconstruct destructive ideas that further inequality and disparity. The roots of inequality founded within globalization are mired in individual desires (i.e. the need to acquire wealth), but generate into a much larger issue that spans the entire continent. Power is placed in the hands of wealthy corporate leaders and the nations in which they inhabit. Powerful economic nations equal powerful political nations, creating an unstable ... drug abuse issues in these marginalized groups enhance an already problematic situation of basic survival in the America...

  • Word Count: 951
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Analysis of California's Ban on Same-Sex Marriage - Proposition 8

... life insurance coverage. This became so pervasive that healthcare providers in California began putting the term "partner" and "significant other" on their enrollment forms as the misrepresentation had become so pervasive (Onwuachi-Willig, 873-875). Not only does a continual misrepresentation of ones' gender happen with great regularity, there is also the issue of social security numbers, aligning identities when an event does occur that forces a same-sex ... couple to admit their misrepresentation of themselves there had been instances of same-sex couples who had presented themselves a...

  • Word Count: 907
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Promoting Gender Equality

... important to solve the issues we face. During the course of writing this essay, I have learnt a lot about the issues around the world, and I have been stunned by a few, very noble, initiatives that have been taken in order to combat gender discrimination. I had never realized how our steps towards fighting this issue could make such a great impact on this world and the path towards solving the issue. I appreciate how organizations ... such as the UN are doing ... ...

  • Word Count: 2181
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Critical Psychology and Gender

... to others. Even though it is very difficult to change what people have perceived as the truth for ages, Critical Psychology helps to recognise certain issues from a critical point of view. Regarding the social issue of Gender, Critical Psychology broadens the perception on what was always thought to be part of the natural process of things. Doing a course in Critical Psychology helps to realize that there are many sexual ideologies ... in mainstream Psychology and in society. Although the problematic issue of Gender is quite obvious in society, most never really try to ... ...

  • Word Count: 3244
  • Approx Pages: 13
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

... to culture and society. On the one hand, we see a genderless narrator in order to evoke the reader to question gender assumptions in order to classify the gender of the narrator. On the other hand, Louise's character in the first and the second part, this represents different figures. In the following essay, I will be discussing the issue of gender and sex in Jeanette Winterson's Written on the Body. To begin with, gender is assumed to be something ... culturally fixed. The best example in society would be women ... ...

  • Word Count: 1584
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Work Discrimination and Gender Inequality

... have been fighting against the suppression of gender inequality, whether at home or in the workplace. Women have come a long way, of course, and are definitely fighting to win the battle of equality, but gender roles are very important in our society. They have been acquired in life from birth and society continues to uphold these gender roles. Male gender treatment is very different from women. This issue has become very ... important to me, as a woman. As early as infancy, we learn to adjust to the specific gender roles, and as we ... In a nut shell, social functionalist think that wo...

  • Word Count: 1358
  • Approx Pages: 5

8. Gender Violence - A Human Rights Violation

... , putting the issue of violence against women at the center of the conference (Friedman 1995: 27-31). The concluding document, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, formally recognized the human rights of women as "an inalienable integral and indivisible part of human rights " (Connors 1996: 27). In addition to working to eliminate violence against women in public and private life, this document advocated "the elimination of gender bias in the administration of justice and the eradication of any ... practices as "an important issue that would define the international human righ...

  • Word Count: 9630
  • Approx Pages: 39
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. Gender Socialization And Its Affects On Society

... strong agent of gender socialization. The sorting process that begins with the family is reinforced when the child is exposed to other aspects of society. Television, for example, portrays twice as many men as women; and the men statistically have higher status positions that women. The more television a person watches, the more they will feed into the belief systems that fuel the show. Literature is a very engaging topic in the issue of gender socialization. Starting ... as early as children books, like Treasure Island and the Secret Garden, books convey many messages that are commonpl...

  • Word Count: 285
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

10. Gender and Pay inequalities

... . Cassirer, N. and Reskin, B. (2000). "High Hopes", Work & Occupations, Vol.27, Issue 4, p. 438. Covey, S. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people. New York: Fireside of Simon & Schuster. Hale, M. (1999). "He says, she says: Gender and Work life", Public Administration Review, vol. 59, Issue 5, p.410. Heim, P. (1995). The power dean-even rule and other gender differences in the workplace California: Cor Vision Media. James, A. (2000). "Moving up", But how far ... . Maume, Jr., David J. (1999). "Glass Ceilings and Glass Escalators," Work and Occupations, Vol. 26, Issue 4, p. 48...

  • Word Count: 4698
  • Approx Pages: 19
  • Grade Level: High School

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