Gender: A social construct MCQ Quiz in मल्याळम - Objective Question with Answer for Gender: A social construct - സൗജന്യ PDF ഡൗൺലോഡ് ചെയ്യുക

Gender: 

• Gender is what we make of boys and girls.
• It is about the opportunities we give them to develop.
• It has got to do with their upbringing, socialization, culture and the role models we present for them.
• Gender is what a society and culture make of boys and girls.

Sex:

• Sex of a person indicates a boy or girl, a male or female, a man or woman.
• This distinction is based on the natural differences that exist in the body of males and females.
• These differences are biological and do not generally change.

However, if we talk about it in the Indian context, For three decades gender has been accepted as a category in the formulation of policy and curricula frameworks in India. “Gender”, “Equality” and “Empowerment” of girls have also been used as keywords in educational documents for a long as it is evident from the policy review section. “Gender” has primarily been viewed:

• As concerning only girls and women (a biological category) where
• As an isolated category, not related to other issues
• In terms of provision of equal facilities

Hence, we conclude that all the above-mentioned statements are correct.

Key Points

• Prejudices are the opinions that we make about certain people who are different from us.
• By prejudice we mean, “To judge others negatively and with inferiority”

Important Points

1. Prejudice: means judging other people negatively or seeing them as inferior. For example, if we think that English is the best language and other languages are not important, we are judging the other languages negatively. As a result, we do not respect the people who speak languages other than English.
2. Thus, we can be prejudiced about many things: people’s religious beliefs, the colour of their skin, the region they come from, the accent they speak in, the clothes they wear etc.
3. City people cannot be trusted they are corrupt and cunning is the prejudice about city people.

Hence, Prejudice is not a good thing and we have to form unbiased opinions about others. City people cannot be trusted and they are corrupt and cunning indicating prejudice. 

The word gender gives the meaning not only to show the difference in body structure or other physical structure but also the different responsibilities they have in society, etc.

Key Points

• Gender is a social concept as it refers to the socially constructed differences between men and women.
•  It refers to the masculine and feminine qualities, behavior, roles, and responsibilities that society upholds. Gender can be changed/re-oriented.
• Transvestites and transsexuals construct their gender status by dressing, speaking, walking, gesturing in the way prescribed for women or men whichever they want to be taken for and so does any normal person.
• Gendering is legitimated by religion, law, science, and society’s entire set of values. 

Hence, from the above-mentioned points, it becomes clear that Gender is a social concept.

Gender Schema theory is a cognitive-based theory which was introduced by Sandra Bem in 1981. The use of the information processing approach to explain how gender development occurs is called the Gender Schema Theory.

Key Points Gender schema theory:

• It emphasizes the child as an active processor of information and that the gender schemas that guide thinking also influence children's behavior.
• The crucial power of gender schema theory is in the understanding it provides about the continuation and strength of gender beliefs.
• Further, research shows that gender schemas guides children's preferences, toy choices, and play partner choices.

Thus we all these references we can consider that gender schema theory explains that how children learns the gender roles.

Hint

•  The psychosexual stages of development is proposed by Sigmund Freud.

Gender is a social construct. It refers to the socially and culturally constructed system that attributes meaning to what it means to be a male or a female in a particular society. A society comprises males and females. 

• Gender inequality, gender biases, gender stereotypes are the common ill practices in a society. Gender discrimination should not be encouraged in a classroom.

Key Points

• The role of a teacher within the classroom is to encourage children to express Gender - stereotype flexibility.
• It could be done by putting girls in non-traditional roles as it will promote a sense of gender equality among children.
• Gender - stereotype flexibility emphasizes removing the stereotype that certain activities are only meant to be done by men and not by women and vice versa.
• For example: To encourage Gender - stereotype flexibility the teacher can show flashcards where a woman is shown working as a garage mechanic and a man is shown as a flight attendant.
• Both these roles in reality have a biased gender ratio due to the stereotype that such roles can only be taken up by one type of gender.

Thus, it is concluded that the role of a teacher within the classroom is to encourage children to express Gender - stereotype flexibility.

Hint

• ​Gender constancy is the age when children start to understand that their gender is fixed and cannot be changed over time.
• ​Gender Stereotype: The stereotype is a mental picture or image about people of a community or category on the basis of which we ascribe traits or characteristics to people.
• Adopt socially acceptable gender roles is not relevant rather gender equality should be promoted.

The word gender gives the meaning not only to show the difference in body structure or other physical structure but also the different responsibilities they have in society, etc.

Key Points

• Gender is ascribed by social structures as it refers to the socially constructed differences between men and women.
• It refers to the masculine and feminine qualities, behavior, roles, and responsibilities that society upholds. Gender can be changed/re-oriented.
• Transvestites and transsexuals construct their gender status by dressing, speaking, walking, gesturing in the way prescribed for women or men whichever they want to be taken for and so does any normal person.
• Gendering is legitimated by religion, law, science, and society’s entire set of values. 

Hence, from the above-mentioned points, it becomes clear that Gender is ascribed by social structures.

Gender is the primary category that comes to our minds when we attempt to imagine any social/cultural life. We organize the world in terms of gender- the work people do, the clothes they wear, their behavior, their social groups, their tastes, and likes and dislikes.

Key Points

• The word gender is used as a conceptual category. This refers to traits and behaviors that a particular culture deems appropriate for men and women. 
• So in a society, there are different roles that men and women undertake. For instance, men become breadwinners for the family and women become the nurturers.
• Men are associated with aggressive and powerful roles like the head of the state, or in the military. Contrary to this, women are assigned roles of taking care of young children or the sick.
• Sex refers to the biological and physiological differences between male and female bodies, while gender refers to everything else that goes into making us “men” and “women” – social and cultural processes, economic and political structures. 
• While our biological birth defines us as a man or a woman, society has differentiated the roles based on genders. Many people have broken this belief and taken up roles in society that have conventionally been reserved for the other gender.

Thus, it is concluded that the term sex refers to biological differences whereas gender refers to traits and behaviors that a particular culture deems appropriate for men and women. 

Gender constancy refers to the theory that children develop a sense of gender over time and eventually come to understand that their biological sex is fixed and permanent. This theory is over 50 years old and originates from the work of American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg. Key Points

• Gender constancy has been defined as children's understanding of the irreversibility of their sex, which develops in stages between about the ages of two and seven years.
• It is child's awareness about his/her sex being same always.
• Children realize that they are male or female and are aware of the gender of others by the age of three. However, at these ages they still do not understand that people cannot change genders the way they can change their clothes, names, or behavior.
• Kohlberg theorized that children do not learn to behave in gender-appropriate ways until they understand that gender is permanent, which occurs at about the age of seven. At this point they start modeling the behavior of members of their own sex.
• It is also called sex-category constancy.

​Hence Both I and II statement are true.

Gender refers to the socially constructed differences between men and women. It refers to the masculine and feminine qualities, behaviour, roles, and responsibilities that society upholds. Gender can be changed / re-oriented.

Gender stereotype an oversimplified and unfair belief or idea that groups of people have particular characteristics or that all people in a group are the same.

• Gender stereotyping can limit the development of the natural talents and abilities of girls and boys, women and men, as well as their educational and professional experiences and life opportunities in general.
• It referred to beliefs about typified characteristics deemed appropriate for different sexes in society.
• Stereotypes about women both result from and are the cause of, deeply engrained attitudes, values, norms, and prejudices against women.
• They are used to justify and maintain the historical relations of power of men over women as well as sexist attitudes that hold back the advancement of women.

Therefore, the widely held beliefs about characteristics for different sexes in society are referred to as gender stereotypes.

Additional Information

• Gender discrimination describes the situation in which people are treated differently simply because they are male or female, rather than on the basis of their individual skills or capabilities.
• A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's biological or perceived sex.
• Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex at birth or can differ from it.

Gender refers to those attributes, roles and functions expected of men and women in a given society. Gender changes from time to time and from culture to culture. Gender is the significance of being male or female.Key Points

• It is what we make of boys and girls. It is about the opportunities we give them to develop. It has got to do with their upbringing, socialization, culture and the role models we present for them. Gender is what a society and culture makes of boys and girls.
• The society expects different types of behaviour from boys and girls. Boys are generally expected to be bold and aggressive. Men are expected to go out, work and earn. He is the ‘bread winner’.
• Women are expected to be mild, timid. They are seen as ‘home-makers’. This is a social arrangement made by the society and not nature given.
• The society assigns different roles for men and women, divides work as ‘men’s work’ and ‘women’s work’, values the work done by men and women differently and gives certain privileges and responsibilities for the two. It also imposes different types of restrictions on men and women.
• Society thinks that certain types of work are meant to be done by males only and certain others by females. For example, we rarely see women tilling a land using a plough. Many people think that tilling is a ‘male job’. Similarly, we rarely see males washing clothes of children and other family members. This, people generally consider as ‘female job’.

Hence, we can conclude that significance of being male or female is known as gender.