gender stratification
CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE
Rationale
Gender role is one of the crucial top issues of today in politics, workplaces, institutions, and even in the world of religion. They determine how males and females should think, speak, dress, and interact within the context of society. Basically, the problem is deep-set values and opinions buried under the surface of our society. Mead (1963) proved it to be true. He carried out groundbreaking research on gender. He studied the three societies in New Guinea namely Arapesh, Mundugumor, Tchambuli. In this research, he found out that these three societies had different perspective in gender and it is based firmly on their culture. According to Kampen (1996, p.17), “People don’t discover gender lying under a cabbage leaf; they build it over generations”. What Kampen means by this is that gender is not set in stone. Every year, month, day, our perception of gender changes. In other words, whether you notice it or not, gender is being developed by people’s daily interaction. It is made not born. As a matter of fact, this issue of gender is firmly rooted in the culture of a certain society.
Sometimes it is hard to understand exactly what is meant by the term "gender", and how it differs from the closely related term "sex". In the sociological perspective, gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. In other words, it is a social and behavioral norm that are generally considered appropriate for either a man or a woman in a social or interpersonal relationship while "sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.
These gender roles in many developing societies, although not in all, women have traditionally been under-represented or experienced disadvantages compared to men. Some have remained unchanged over many years; in general, society expects different things from women
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE
Rationale
Gender role is one of the crucial top issues of today in politics, workplaces, institutions, and even in the world of religion. They determine how males and females should think, speak, dress, and interact within the context of society. Basically, the problem is deep-set values and opinions buried under the surface of our society. Mead (1963) proved it to be true. He carried out groundbreaking research on gender. He studied the three societies in New Guinea namely Arapesh, Mundugumor, Tchambuli. In this research, he found out that these three societies had different perspective in gender and it is based firmly on their culture. According to Kampen (1996, p.17), “People don’t discover gender lying under a cabbage leaf; they build it over generations”. What Kampen means by this is that gender is not set in stone. Every year, month, day, our perception of gender changes. In other words, whether you notice it or not, gender is being developed by people’s daily interaction. It is made not born. As a matter of fact, this issue of gender is firmly rooted in the culture of a certain society.
Sometimes it is hard to understand exactly what is meant by the term "gender", and how it differs from the closely related term "sex". In the sociological perspective, gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. In other words, it is a social and behavioral norm that are generally considered appropriate for either a man or a woman in a social or interpersonal relationship while "sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.
These gender roles in many developing societies, although not in all, women have traditionally been under-represented or experienced disadvantages compared to men. Some have remained unchanged over many years; in general, society expects different things from women