CHAPTER ONE: UNDERSTANDING GENDER
Zumilah Zainalaludin & Ali Lohemousavi
1.0 Introduction
Gender is a universal concept used in relation to human beings. There are basically two types of gender in this world – man and woman. However, it seems there are thousand and one of unsolved issues regarding gender. The challenge of gender is like the proverbial chicken and egg issue. Who comes first: the chicken? Or the egg? It is common for man to have conflict with woman. For instance, even to write ‘man who has conflict with woman’ is also an issue because there is a critique that the woman always has conflict with man, not vice versa. Both sexes are actually with each other. For example, we need both man and woman to initiate a family. They have to cooperate to succeed; not blaming and suppressing one another.
The efforts of all gender writers are geared towards sharing knowledge and experience through the lenses of gender theories. Consequently, what can we contribute in our work to develop gender sensitive policy and programme, to avoid gender blind action as well as to train our family, office mates, communities and etc that man and woman are meant to be together for well-being of mankind, but, in many conditions, they need to be treated differently.
There are many ways to group gender theories and one of them is non-feminist and feminist theories group. This Chapter is discussing the concept of gender from four perspectives of theory - biology, psychology, sociology and religion. Usually, scholars will consider religion as part of social aspect of human being. In this Chapter, religion will be used as a focus point to discuss and understand the concept of gender (Figure 1), and these four theoretical perspectives is so called ‘non-feminist theory’.
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework to Understand Gender
This Chapter traces the evolution of gender theories from the natural perspective (biological), to ‘sex war’ (psychological), and into gender role (socialisation). In that process, this Chapter discusses the role of religion in defining gender and gender role. Table 1 gives an example of how the so-called non-feminist and feminist groups of theory are sub-grouped. The discussion traces theories in these two groups divided into Chapter 1 for non-feminist group and Chapter 2 for the feminist group of theory, while Chapter 3 focuses on the development of social role as a construct.
Table 1: Non-Feminist and Feminist Group of Theory
Non-Feminist | Feminist |
1. Theories of God and Nature: a. Religious Theories b. Biological Nature Theories 2. “Sex War” theories a. Theories by Sigmund Freud (Penis Envy and Womb Envy) b. Dominance rooted in sexual antagonism. c. Maintaining dominance through violence d. Theory of selfish gene | 1. Liberal Feminism a. Patriarchy Theory by Filmer b. Feminist Liberalism by Wollstonecraft (1972) and Locke (1689) against Filmer 2. Feminist Socialism a. Marx Theory b. Engels Theory 3. Radical Feminist - critique of heterosexuality is a centre of theory (concern with patriarchy and reject all ‘male’ values) |
Sources: i. L. Lindsey, L. (1990). Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall, 10-12;
ii. Bruni, A., Gherardi, S., & Poggio, B. (2004). Doing Gender, Doing Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Account of Intertwined Practices Gender, Work and Organization, 11(4), 406-429
iii. Gender and Gender Roles (n.d). Retrieved July 26th, 2004 from http://faculty.
washingtopn.edu/ktupper/w200w3.html.
1.1 Biological Perspective
“Is it a boy or a girl?” This is one of the most important questions that around 80% of parents ask about their newborn children (Intons-Peterson M; Reddel M, 1984). A new born baby has his/her sexual identity which is defined by biological roles played by men and women in reproduction (Buss, 1985; Trivers, 1972) - whether one has a vagina (girl) or a penis (boy) or a hermaphrodite that has both penis and vagina. According to biological theories have to be pregnant for nine months before giving birth to baby(ies) and breast feed the baby(ies). These two main roles in reproduction biologically cannot be performed by a man. In addition, producing sperm for a woman to get pregnant is biologically a special role by a man.
Being male or female is a sexual identity for an individual. Each baby is treated differently during its first day in this world according to his or her sexual identity. For example, parents dress baby girls in pink and boys in blue, they give them gender-differentiated names and gender differentiated toys, and expect them to act in differentiated ways.
1.2 Psychological Perspective
Based on sexual identity, one is called male or female, but based on gender, a male is called man and female is called woman. The concept of gender identity is one belief that shows how to react, behave, dress, etc. as perceived by the environment according to their sexual identity. Gender identity is, therefore, a fundamental aspect of life until it is very difficult to change (Swaab D.; et al., 1990). Psychological theories tend to emphasise intra-psychic processes governing gender development (Pickren, et al. 2012; Kohlberg, 1966; and Freud, 1905/1930).
Conflict in gender identity may arise when one’s ‘perception of their sexual identity’ (gender identity) is against his/her sexual identity (biological sexual identity. For example, if one with penis (male) differently perceives that he is a female and one with vagina perceives that she is a male, his or her action will accordingly determine what s/he perceives than what s/he really is. This perception may be caused by biological defects as explained in Itoh et al. (2015) that a male may have an extra Y or X chromosome to become XYY (too masculine male) or XXY (male with more feminine attributes physically or emotionally). This defect may be worse by the influence of the environment such as a transsexual community and the practise of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual).
Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory (late-19th-century) explains male superiority. To him, boys come to realise their perceived superiority over girls during childhood upon discovering the physical disparity in their genitals. Conversely, girls associate their absence of a a penis with feelings of inferiority (Penis Envy). The sense of inferiority leads them to idealise and yearn for their fathers, resulting in behaviours such as masochistic tendencies, passivity, jealousy, and vanity, which Freud regards as feminine traits.
Freud's notions faced opposition from other developmental theorists. Eric Erikson (1950) and Lawrence Kohlberg (1966 cited in Pickren, et al. 2012) proposed alternative theories suggesting that all d that all individuals start off reliant on caregivers and gradually develop into self-reliant and self-governing individuals. Nevertheless, these theories still exhibited a bias toward males since independence has historically been associated with masculinity compared to females.
In Allen (2020), the evaluation of Nancy Chodorow's 1978 Object-relations Theory does not display a bias towards either sex. She posits as favouring neither sex. She proposes that children’s development is influenced by their interactions with their primary caregivers, who are typically mothers and serve as role models. Mothers tend to identify more closely with girls, facilitating the development of strong interpersonal relationships and nurturing dependency traits. In contrasts, mothers encourage boys towards independence, helping their adaptation to male-dominated work environment, but potentially leaving them less accustomed to emotional connections. Chodorow's theory highlights both strengths and weaknesses inherent in the development of males and females, without assigning superiority to either sex.
During the 1980s, psychologists like Carol Gilligan put forth the idea that women operate based on an ethic of relatedness and care, which is not inherently inferior to men but rather represents a distinct difference. In 2016, Steenbergen et al. argue that Daniel Stern's Developmental Theory (122-3) proposes that humans lack connections to others and gradually develop intricate interpersonal bonds as they grow, while contemporary gender studies focus less on establishing superiority between males and females (354–359). Equality and/or equity are/is now stressed.
1.3 Sociological Perspective
The word woman was developed from the word woo-man. Sociologically, woman is to be wooed by man and not vice versa. Gender is a social construction of what is masculinity and femininity (Lindsey, 2010). Basically, sexual identity plays an important role in human being’s attitude. This sexual identity develops a belief in man and woman of how to behave and what role to play. Based on their sexual identity, one finds a similar model to follow in terms of how to socialise and be accepted socially. This phenomenon is seen among peer groups that perpetuate gender-type play and interaction. Young ladies’ group will easily be influenced by a beauty conscious and fashionable group of other young ladies, while young men’s group will easily be influenced by a group with masculine hobbies like cycling and jungle tracking or shuffle and tectonic dance group. The general consensus seems to be that gender is socially constructed rather than biologically determined. Shortly, if boys and girls are different, they are not just born, but also made that way (Thorne, 1993).
1.4 Religious Perspective
Apparently, there are always many good values defined by the society on gender identity as well as gender roles. These are usually based on religion for good values and morale definition for the believers. Morale is a systematic value, which is always being defined properly through religion.
1.5 Conclusion
Following Allen (2020), it is safe to submit that influence studies suggest children’s behaviour as patterned after those of their elders in the society. The elders are the role models. It is true that while there are female daughters who see their mothers as caregivers and consequently take a liking of the behaviour of the mother-figures, there are others who choose the fathers owing to the same trait of caregiving. The same thing applies to the sons. Personalities, therefore, influence the behaviour of the children. This is instructive to parents to be mindful of good behaviours before their children who will certainly take after them as they grow. Any healthy society, therefore, is a product of its elders.
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