Perspectives on Gender PDF

Perspectives on Gender FUNCTIONALIST THEORY According to Crossman (2019), functionalist theory states that all men are filled with instrumental roles in society while women are filled with expressive roles for the benefit of the society. INSTRUMENTAL ROLE (attributed to Males) An understanding of...

Perspectives on Gender FUNCTIONALIST THEORY According to Crossman (2019), functionalist theory states that all men are filled with instrumental roles in society while women are filled with expressive roles for the benefit of the society. INSTRUMENTAL ROLE (attributed to Males) An understanding of the male’s functions in the family: -To discipline and to provide economic support. EXPRESSIVE ROLE (attributed to Females) - To pay attention how everyone is getting along, managing conflict, soothing hurt feelings, encouraging good humor, and take care of the things that contribute to one’s feelings with the social groups or family. THEREFORE… The father and the mother have their own specific functions in the family. Common Filipino Expectations: “Lalaki ka kaya dapat provider ka ng pamilya mo.” “Dapat alam ng mga babae ang mga gawaing bahay: marunong magluto, maglinis, mag-alaga ng mga kapatid para kung siya ay mag-asawa, alam na niya ang dapat gagawin sa bahay.” Sociologists believed that this gender-based mentality has created inequality by encouraging men and women to make a choice between family and work. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM THEORY Structural Functionalism explains why society functions the way it does by emphasizing on the relationships between the various social institutions (e.g., government, school, religion, mass media, family, etc.). The Society is constantly striving to be in the state of balance or in the state of equilibrium. Gender inequality in structural functionalism is clearly illustrated by looking at the labor and employment perspective. In addition, women being subordinate to men allow the wage earners to function smoothly as everyone in the society knows his/her position in the hierarchy. According to Risman and Johnson-Sumerford (1998), contemporary critical sociologists suggest that when women become wage earners, they can gain power in the family structure and create more democratic arrangement in the home, although they may still carry majority of the domestic burden. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONALIST THEORY Symbolic Interactionalism - Explains social behavior in terms of how people interact with each other. - It emphasizes that human behavior is influenced through interaction with others. - It aims to understand human behavior by analyzing the critical role symbols in human interaction. Our identity is shaped by immediate social groups by interacting with them. Perhaps, to idolize somebody is a product of our outward interaction with other people who possess traits same as ours. The meanings attached to symbols are socially created and not natural, and fluid not static. We act and react to symbols based on the current assigned meaning. Example: The word GAY once meant cheerful, but in 1960s it carried primary meaning of homosexual. It was once carried a negative and unfavorable meaning over half a century ago, but now, it has gained more neutral and optimistic connotations. CONFLICT THEORY This theory argues that individuals and groups within society interact based on conflict over limited resources. According to Chappelow (2019), social order is maintained by domination and power, rather than consensus and conformity. Those with wealth and power try to hold on it by any means possible, chiefly by suppressing the poor and powerless. Proponents: - Karl Marx – saw society as fragmented into groups that compete for social and economic resources. - Max Weber - Ralph Dahrendorf Gender is placed in its bias to men since they are the major player in politics, governance, and economic and social activities (PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY). FEMINIST THEORY Feminist Theory aims to understand gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power, relations, and sexuality. It focuses more on the promotion of women’s rights and interests and examines inequalities in gender-related issues. Inclusions of Basic Feminist Ideas: 1. Working to increase equality between male and female. 2. Expanding human choice by developing interests and talents. 3. Eliminating gender stratification by opposing laws and cultural norms that limit income, educational, and job opportunities for women. 4. Ending sexual violence and promoting sexual freedom through control over sexuality and reproduction. LENSES OF FEMINISM BLACK FEMINISM - Black feminism is a philosophy centered around the condition of Black women—who experience oppression both based on race and sex—in patriarchal, white-dominated, capitalist western society. CULTURAL FEMINISM  - refers to the separatist idea that women innately possess an evolved essence, which distinguishes them from men, giving them societal advantages that culture at large has historically qualified as weaknesses. Cultural feminists believe that a woman’s perspective should receive more credence. ECOFEMINISM - Ecofeminism aligns the historical and present-day oppression of both women and the environment, arguing that patriarchal societies have used the same methods to dominate the planet’s resources as they must control women. Ecofeminists believe that respecting and prioritizing a healthy planet is integral to achieving true equality. - LIBERAL FEMINISM (MAINSTREAM FEMINISM) - Also known as “liberal feminism,” this form mainly focuses on achieving women’s rights and social justice through legal and political reform applied to existing social structures. Mainstream, liberal feminists focus on abortion rights, sexual harassment, affordable childcare, reproductive rights, and domestic violence. MARXIST AND SOCIALIST FEMINISM - Socialist and Marxist feminism teaches that achieving gender equality will involve dismantling capitalist economic systems that exploit and undervalue women’s labor. MULTIRACIAL FEMINISM - Multiracial feminism aims to educate people on how race influences gender constructions and oppression. Multiracial feminists offer feminist perspectives from marginalized groups such as Asian, Latina, and Black women. RADICAL FEMINISM - Radical feminists believe that society prioritizes the male experience and that gender roles are so far ingrained in every facet of modern life that true equality can only be achieved with a complete overhaul of the current societal system. PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY Sigmund Freud believed that the relationship of the child and early experiences with the parents (or guardians, caregivers, etc.) is crucial in the child’s gender identity. In addition, Freud believes that a person is born with “Id”, the pleasure-seeker portion of our personality. The Id is said to be inconsiderate other circumstances – all it cares about is its own satisfaction. Phallic Stage - This psychosexual development stage (the third stage) occurs between ages three to six. During this time, the child’s libido is focused on his or her genitals. The development for boys and girls are different. Oedipus Complex (Boy or Young Male) Elektra Complex (Girl or Young Female) Alfred Adler argued that all of us were born with a sense of inferiority as evidenced by how weak and helpless a newborn is. He was able to explain that this inferiority is a crucial part of our personality, in a sense that it is the driving force that pushes us to strive becoming superior. Likewise, he also considers the birth order as a major factor in the development of our personality. Therefore, gender rest in child’s awareness as a result from the parent-child relationship since birth (Freud) or a product of interaction among siblings (Adler) or it could be through the child’s social development (Erikson). SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY Emphasizes the child’s environment and learning experiences. It recognizes the importance of role modeling and reinforcement in the development of child social behavior. Children recognizes the differences between boys and girls and the consequences of their actions, either rewards or punishment. Modeling or observational learning refers to a person’s tendency to learn vicariously by observing other people engage in gender-type behaviors and witnessing the responses (rewards or punishments) that these people receive from the others. COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY It states that intelligence is brough about by a series of transformation and interactions with the environment in various stages in life. It explains how a child constructs a mental model of the world which may differ from time to time as he/she grows. Gender constancy, stability and consistency happen when a child reached a certain level of cognitive maturity. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY The evolutionary approach believes that aspects if human behavior have been coded by our genes, thus, we are naturally adaptive. Gender role appears to be a result of our natural ability to adapt in whatever challenges placed before us. WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT (WID) THEORY The movement believes that women’s disadvantages in society will be eliminated by breaking down customary expectations of women. It integrates women in the broader development agenda and acted as the precursor to later movements such as the Women and Development (WAD), and ultimately, the Gender and Development (GAD) approach. GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (GAD) THEORY Gender and Development (GAD) approach focuses on the socially constructed differences between men and women. In an attempt to establish gender equality, GAD aims to redefine traditional role expectations. Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Beijing Platform of 1995 QUEER THEORY A critical discourse developed in the 1990s in order to deconstruct (or ‘to queer’) sexuality and gender in the wake of gay identity politics, which had tended to rely on strategic essentialism. Opposed to gender essentialism, queer theorists see sexuality as a discursive social construction, fluid, plural, and continually negotiated rather than a natural, fixed, core identity. Queer theorists foreground those who do not neatly fit into conventional categories, such as bisexuals, transvestites, transgendered people, and transsexuals.