WEEK 2 Golombok and Fivush

Gender-Is-Determined-Biologically-and-Socially.pdf

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Gender Is Determined Biologically and Socially Human Sexuality, 1995

In the following viewpoint, psychologists Susan Golombok of City University in London, England, and Robyn Fivush of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, argue that development is the result of agender complex interplay of social and biological factors. The authors do maintain, however, that socialization plays an important role in development and identification. Tracing the social development ofgender males and females from infancy through adulthood, they examine both overt and subtle influences affecting . Golombok and Fivush conclude by noting that traditional -related behaviors aregender gender currently experiencing change.

As you read, consider the following questions:

According to the authors, how do parents contribute to the development of gender roles?

As described by Golombok and Fivush, in what ways do boys develop differently from girls during puberty?

How do the career paths of men and women separate as they enter the workforce, according to the authors?

Gender development is a complex interaction among biological differences; cultural belief systems asgender expressed both in stereotypes and behaviors and in institutionalized structures such as school and the workplace; and, equally important, the child's own developing understanding of and what it means to begender female or male.

Gender development originates from the moment of conception. When a female egg unites with a male sperm to form an XX or XY chromosome pair, males and females embark upon different developmental pathways. The most far-reaching effect of our genetic makeup is the determination of physical sexual characteristics. Our physical appearance as male or female has a powerful influence on how we perceive ourselves and are perceived by others, and it is central to the development of . Also beginning before birth is thegender identity production of sex hormones, which lay the foundation for some aspects of later role behavior. Sexgender hormones do not determine development, however. At most, it seems that prenatal sex hormones maygender facilitate the development of role behavior in a male or female direction when postnatal experiences aregender compatible.

Parental Influences

Once born, from the very first day of life, boys and girls are treated differently. Parents perceive boys to be stronger and rougher than girls, and girls to be more delicate and prettier than boys, although there is little evidence that infants vary along these dimensions. In fact, simply labeling an infant as male or female elicits somewhat different interpretations of the very same infant behavior from an adult. Parents hold boys closer to the body than they do girls, and they spend more time verbalizing and cooing to girls than to boys. Although parents may be acting on their stereotypes of male and female behavior, they may also be responding to temperamental differences between male and female infants. Because males are somewhat more irritable than girls, they may need closer body contact for comfort. Because girls can stabilize their state a bit better than boys, parents can hold them cradled along the forearm, a position ideally suited to face-to-face communication. So here we see

how parental beliefs and biological differences combine to produce differences in parent-daughter and parent-son interactions.

Interestingly, infants begin to show preferences for sex-typed toys as early as 12 months of age, although the research on parental sex typing of toy play during infancy is somewhat mixed. Again, although parents are most likely engaging in some sex typing of their infant's play behaviors, many of these preferences seem to come from the infant's own temperamental disposition. These early emerging differences, which are already an interaction between biology and culture, set the stage for what is a critical period in development, the preschoolgender years. It is during this time that children first begin to understand for themselves what it means to be male or female, and concepts become increasingly important and increasingly stereotyped from age 2 through 5.gender

In addition to learning the physical differences, by age 3 children already know many of the cultural stereotypes associated with . This is probably not too surprising given how pervasive stereotypes are in ourgender gender culture, permeating children's literature, television, and, of course, parents' and teachers' beliefs. Preschool children are usually extremely stereotyped and rigid in their beliefs about , and this seems to be truegender regardless of family values. It seems that at this point in development, the child's own need to make sense of the world overrides other information. And because preschool children are not yet capable of sophisticated and flexible thought, they are only able to understand in rigid fashion.gender

It is also during the preschool years that differences in play begin to emerge more consistently. By age 3,gender most children greatly prefer to play with same-sex peers when given a choice, and play patterns of female and male groups diverge. We see large differences in toy choice, and parents' differential reinforcement of their children's sex-typed toys and activities is strongest at this age. Peers also become important socializing agents, and peers, because they are so typed in their beliefs, strongly reinforce -typed behaviors. It isgender gender almost as if once the child realizes that is an important way of categorizing individuals, becomesgender gender extremely important.

There is little doubt that parents interact with their preschool daughters and sons differently. Parents engage in more face-to-face, communicative play with daughters and more rough-and-tumble play with sons. Again, this develops from earlier patterns of play and communication, which, in turn, result from interactions between biology and culture. Parents also subtly reinforce girls for staying close to adults and for helping around the house. In conversations with their preschool children, parents talk more about sadness with girls and more about anger with boys, although they talk more about emotions overall with girls than with boys. Through all of these avenues, girls are learning to stay close and emotionally related to other people, and boys are learning to be independent and emotionally less open.

The Middle Childhood Years

These patterns continue through the middle childhood years. Friendships between girls tend to be close and intimate, involving one-on-one communication, whereas boys tend to play rule-governed games in large groups. As children begin to think about moral issues, we see the influences of these patterns as well. Girls are more relational and care oriented in their moral reasoning than are boys, especially when thinking about moral issues in their own lives. Boys tend to think about moral issues in terms of individual rights and principles of justice. These patterns have their effects in the classroom. Boys are somewhat more competitive than girls. Teachers also respond to boys and girls differently, praising boys for getting the right answer, but praising girls for being obedient and working neatly.

Further, once becomes firmly established in middle childhood, the modeling of same-sexgender identity

individuals as a process for acquiring sex-typed behavior takes on greater importance than during the preschool years. Preschool children do not necessarily imitate models of the same sex as themselves. Instead, they learn the behaviors that are typical for both males and females through observation, and model only those behaviors they consider to be appropriate for their own sex regardless of whether they are performed by a woman or a man. So preschool girls are more likely to imitate a male model who behaves in a traditionally feminine way than a female model who behaves in a traditionally masculine way. By the time children reach middle childhood and understand that will not change as a function of behavior or time, they begin to show an activegender preference for models of the same sex as themselves so as to learn behaviors that are consistent with their

.gender identity

Intriguingly, girls know more about than do boys, yet boys are more sex typed than are girls. Girls notgender only know more about in general, they know more about the male stereotype than boys knowgender gender about the female stereotype. At the same time, girls are more flexible in their beliefs about thangender gender are boys and will imitate male role models to a greater extent than males will imitate female models. Gender differences in knowledge can be partly attributed to differences in socialization and prevailing culturalgender values. It is simply more acceptable for girls to engage in cross-sex-typed behaviors, such as playing with cars and trucks, than for boys to engage in cross-sex-typed behaviors, such as playing with baby dolls and dressing up. There is no simple explanation for this. But certainly males, and by extension, stereotypically male behaviors, are seen more positively in our culture. And males also hold more power than females. Therefore, it is more advantageous for females to know about males than it is for males to know about females.

The Advent of Puberty

With the advent of puberty, biological factors again come to the forefront. Along with the physical changes that take place at this time, adolescents begin to experience sexual feelings and to form intimate relationships. Although the development of sexuality is an important feature of adolescence for both boys and girls, the beliefs and expectations that govern sexual behavior are different for the two sexes. Greater social sanctions operate against girls engaging in sexual relationships. Girls are also thought to be less interested in sex and to experience sex differently. The research evidence suggests, however, that in the absence of social constraints, women's and men's interest and involvement in sexual relationships would not be substantially different.

Adolescence is also a time of forming close, intimate friendships, and the relational patterns of interacting that females show through childhood continue through this period. Female friendships continue to be deeper, more intimate, and more emotionally disclosing than male friendships. Males, who tend not to engage in intimate relationships in childhood, now begin to have more emotionally disclosing relationships as well, but most often these relationships are with females.

During adolescence one also begins to consider one's future role as an adult. Most adolescents are still fairly traditional; females tend to aspire to home and family and, if a career is considered, it is most often a traditionally female career. Again, these choices may stem from females' concerns with caring for other people. Males are also typed in their career aspirations, almost always selecting traditionally male careers. It is also at thisgender point in development that we begin to see divergence in academic performance. Although females are equally able to perform mathematics as males, females begin to select out of mathematics courses, and believe that they are not capable of mathematical reasoning. These choices will later limit females' career opportunities.

As men and women enter the work force, career paths continue to diverge. Traditionally female work is less valued than traditionally male work, and even when women are performing the same job as men, they are evaluated more negatively and paid less money. Although a growing number of women are now in management

positions, it is still the case that few hold top jobs. Moreover, women and male managers experience organizational life rather differently. Being in the minority often excludes women from informal communication networks that benefit their male colleagues, and additional domestic responsibilities place greater demands on women than on men.

It seems to be the case that the increasing number of young women entering the work force has been accompanied by a shift toward more egalitarian roles within heterosexual relationships. However, when women and men become mothers and fathers, differences in family roles and responsibilities clearly emerge. Although men are just as able as women to care for their children, mothers are more involved in parenting than fathers. And even when fathers are at home with their children, they interact with them less often than do mothers.

Interestingly, although motherhood is greatly valued by women and contributes toward a positive sense of , the restrictiveness of the traditionally female roles of wife and mother puts women at increased risk ofidentity

psychiatric disorder. In spite of the pressures involved in combining work and family life, women who are employed benefit from social relationships in the workplace and experience greater emotional well-being than women who do not work outside the home.

Overall, then, the patterns of interaction we see emerging in infancy are maintained throughout the life span. Females are more relationally oriented than are males, and this orientation affects virtually all aspects of development. Moreover, although females and males do not differ greatly in terms of basic cognitive abilities, it may be the case that a relational orientation will lead females to select into or out of particular cognitive domains, such as mathematics and science.

Biology and Culture

Given the evidence that differences are at least partly biologically based, is it the case that thesegender differences are inevitable? We think not. First, although there are slight biological differences between infant males and females, it is certainly true that these differences can be exaggerated or diminished by the prevailing cultural beliefs. That is, cultures determine which aspects of behavior will be deemed important, and through socialization and institutional structures, will communicate to each developing member of the culture the appropriate norms of behavior.

Second, we are already seeing many changes in -related behaviors, especially since the early 1970s.gender More women are entering the work force, and more women are entering traditionally male jobs. Family structures are changing as well. Families today encompass a much broader range of relationships and roles than the more traditional families of the past. It is no longer the norm for children to be raised by a mother and father who are married to each other or who remain married until the children leave home, and where the father goes out to work while the mother stays at home. Instead, children are being raised in a variety of family types, including dual-career families, one-parent families, and stepfamilies, and may move from one type of family to another as they grow up.

Does this mean there might come a time when is not an issue? Probably not. Although the stereotypesgender about what it means to be female or male may evolve and change, it is the case that females and males are somewhat different. Different cultures and different times may note and value these differences in different ways, but all cultures in all times have categorized people by .gender