Sunday 25 November 2012

Gender Roles In Indian Culture

Source:-(google.com.pk)
Gender Roles In Indian Culture Biography
A gender role is a set of social and behavioral norms that are generally considered appropriate for either a man or a woman in a social or interpersonal relationship. Gender roles vary widely between cultures and even in the same cultural tradition have differed over time and context. There are differences of opinion as to which observed differences in behavior and personality between genders are entirely due to innate personality of the person and which are due to cultural or social factors, and are therefore the product of socialization, or to what extent gender differences are due to biological and physiological differences.[1]
Views on gender-based differentiation in the workplace and in interpersonal relationships have often undergone profound changes as a result of feminist and/or economic influences, but there are still considerable differences in gender roles in almost all societies[citation needed]. It is also true that in times of necessity, such as during a war or other emergency, women are permitted to perform functions which in "normal" times would be considered a male role, or vice versa.[citation needed]
Gender has several definitions. It usually refers to a set of characteristics that are considered to distinguish between male and female, reflect one's biological sex, or reflect one's gender identity. Gender identity is the gender(s), or lack thereof, a person self-identifies as; it is not necessarily based on biological sex, either real or perceived, and it is distinct from sexual orientation. It is one's internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or a boy or girl).[2] There are two main genders: masculine (male), or feminine (female), although some cultures acknowledge more genders. Androgyny, for example, has been proposed as a third gender.[3] Some societies have more than five genders,[4] and some non-Western societies have three genders – man, woman and third gender.[5] Gender expression refers to the external manifestation of one's gender identity, through "masculine," "feminine," or gender-variant or gender neutral behavior, clothing, hairstyles, or body characteristics.[2]Gender role theory posits that boys and girls learn the appropriate behavior and attitudes from the family and overall culture they grow up with, and so non-physical gender differences are a product of socialization.[citation needed] Social role theory proposes that the social structure is the underlying force for the gender differences.[citation needed] Social role theory proposes that the sex-differentiated behavior is driven by the division of labor between two sexes within a society[citation needed]. Division of labor creates gender roles, which in turn, lead to gendered social behavior[dubious – discuss].
The physical specialization of the sexes is considered to be the distal cause of gender roles.[6][page needed]Men’s unique physical advantages in terms of body size and upper body strength provided them an edge over women in those social activities that demanded such physical attributes such as hunting, herding and warfare. On the other hand, women’s biological capacity for reproduction and child-bearing is proposed to explain their limited involvement in other social activities.[citation needed] Such divided activity arrangement for the purpose of achieving activity-efficiency led to the division of labor between sexes[dubious – discuss]. Social role theorists have explicitly stressed that the labor division is not narrowly defined as that between paid employment and domestic activities, rather, is conceptualized to include all activities performed within a society that are necessary for its existence and sustainability. The characteristics of the activities performed by men and women became people's perceptions and beliefs of the dispositional attributes of men or women themselves.[citation needed] Through the process of correspondent inference (Gilbert, 1998)[citation needed], division of labor led to gender roles, or gender stereotype. Ultimately, people expect men and women who occupy certain position to behave according to these attributes.[dubious – discuss]
These socially constructed gender roles are considered to be hierarchical and characterized as a male-advantaged gender hierarchy (Wood & Eagly, 2002)[citation needed]. The activities men were involved in were often those that provided them with more access to or control of resources and decision making power, rendering men not only superior dispositional attributes via correspondence bias (Gilbert, 1998)[citation needed], but also higher status and authority as society progressed. The particular pattern of the labor division within a certain society is a dynamic process and determined by its specific economical and cultural characteristics. For instance, in an industrial economy, the emphasis on physical strength in social activities becomes less compared with that in a less advanced economy.[citation needed] In a low birth rate society, women will be less confined to reproductive activities and thus more likely to be involved in a wide range of social activities.[citation needed] The beliefs that people hold about the sexes are derived from observations of the role performances of men and women and thus reflect the sexual division of labor and gender hierarchy of the society (Eagly et al., 2000)[page needed].
The consequences of gender roles and stereotypes are sex-typed social behavior (Eagly et al., 2004) because roles and stereotypes are both socially shared descriptive norms and prescriptive norms. Gender roles provide guides to normative behaviors that are typical, ought-to-be and thus “likely effective” for each sex within certain social context. Gender roles also depict ideal, should-be, and thus desirable behaviors for men and women who are occupying a particular position or involving in certain social activities.[citation needed]Put it another way, men and women, as social beings, strive to belong and seek for approval by complying and conforming to the social and cultural norms within their society. The conformity to social norms not only shapes the pattern, but also maintains the very existence of sex-typed social behavior (Eagly et al., 2004).
In summary, social role theory “treats these differing distributions of women and men into roles as the primary origin of sex-differentiated social behavior, their impact on behavior is mediated by psychological and social processes” (Eagly, 1997), including “developmental and socialization processes, as well as by processes involved in social interaction (e.g., expectancy confirmation) and self-regulation” (Eagly et al., 2004).
The cognitive development theory of gender roles is mentioned in Human Sexuality by Janelle Carroll[citation needed]. This assumes that children go through a pattern of development that is universal to all. This theory follows Piaget's proposition that children can only process a certain amount of information at each stage of development. As children mature they become more aware that gender roles are situational. Therefore theorists[who?] predict that rigid gender role behavior may decrease around the ages of 7 or 8. Carroll also mentions a theory under the name of "Gender Schema Theory: Our Cultural Maps" which was first proposed by Sandra Bem. Bem believed that we all thought according to schemas, which is a cognitive way to organize our world. She further said that we all have a gender schema to organize the ways we view gender around us. Information is consistently being transferred to us about gender and what it is to be masculine and feminine. This is where Bem splits from cognitive theorists who believe gender is important "to children because of their physicalistic ways of thinking". Carroll also says that the gender schema can become so ingrained that we are not aware of its power. [7]
[edit]Social construction of gender difference
This[who?] perspective proposes that gender difference is socially constructed (see Social construction of gender difference). Social constructionism of gender moves away from socialization as the origin of gender differences; people do not merely internalize gender roles as they grow up but they respond to changing norms in society.[8] Children learn to categorize themselves by gender usually by the age of 3.[9] A part of this is learning how to display and perform gendered identities as masculine or feminine. Boys learn to manipulate their physical and social environment through physical strength or other skills, while girls learn to present themselves as objects to be viewed.[10] Children monitor their own and others’ gendered behavior. Gender-segregated children's activities creates the appearance that gender differences in behavior reflect an essential nature of male and female behavior.[11]
Judith Butler,[12] in works such as Gender Trouble and Undoing Gender, contends that being female is not "natural" and that it appears natural only through repeated performances of gender; these performances in turn, reproduce and define the traditional categories of sex and/or gender. A social constructionist view looks beyond categories and examines the intersections of multiple identities, the blurring of the boundaries of essentialist categories. This is especially true with regards to categories of male and female that are typically viewed by others as binary and opposites of each other. By deconstructing categories of gender, the value placed on masculine traits and behaviors disappears. However, the elimination of categories makes it difficult to make any comparisons between the genders or to argue and fight against male domination.

Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
Gender Roles In Indian Culture
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