Culture, sex and gender

Many changes have occurred in the past few decades that have influenced the relationship between men and women. The developments that emerged out of the women’s movement in the United States and Europe have had a profound influence on important social institutions including marriage, but also in opportunities for women in academia and athletics. While women and girls have made great progress in the Western world the dynamic changes in women’ lives have also brought confusion and a higher divorce rate. Because of globalizations these social forces have to a lesser degree also influenced gender relations in other parts of the world. In this chapter we shall discuss many of the variables that result from the relationship between culture and gender including sex role stereotypes, gender related behaviors, and gender ideologies that define traditional or egalitarian relationships. The chapter will also discuss the impetus for change in gender relations, and the historical prejudice and discrimination toward women. Finally, in a changing world what are the consequences of these evolving relationships for mate selection and marriage?

Many events around the world have brought into a focus discriminatory practices toward women. This week a woman was decapitated in Saudi Arabia for supposedly practicing sorcery. It reminds us of the many thousands of women, most probably mentally ill, who in medieval times were burned at the stake in Europe for practicing witchcraft. Societies around the world display significant differences in gender related attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward women. In some parts of the world societies are still practicing female genital mutilations signifying the transition of the girl from child to adult. It seems on the surface hard to justify such mutilation practices that are supposedly related to the roles that women play as wives and mothers, but one is left to wonder if these rituals are not aimed more at the control of women by men (Lightfoot-Klein, 1989).

Any consideration of gender related behavior must provide a narrative that describes the complexity of the interrelated variables that produce reliable differences between the sexes. Typically, this begins with an acknowledgement of the biological differences between the sexes as a platform for different socialization patterns that appear to be universal and similar in all cultures. Although the sexual platform (physiological differences between females and males) are the same in all cultures, the socialization practices that define gender are culturally determined. For example it is generally acknowledged that females are socialized to be more dependent, nurturing, obedient and socially responsible. On the other hand boys are reinforced positively for assertive behavior in an effort to promote independence and self-reliance. Gender related socialization practices do not occur in a vacuum, but are in turn related to ecological factors like the challenges presented by a subsistence economy, and the social and political context of society.

The biological platform of sex differences include the obvious different sexual organs, but also physical differences as males are larger and the presence of sex hormone differences that encouraged a division of labor. The evolution of the division of labor in turn produced other gender related cultural practices. Culture to a large extent demanded differential child rearing for males and females, assigned the sexes to different roles in child rearing and determined gender roles in the home or as providers. These consistent living patterns over generations also produced gender based sex role ideologies and gender stereotypes thought to be typical of all members of the gender category. Gender related factors are all complex and interacting and because of globalization are also dynamic and in some parts of the world are rapidly changing.

As noted the common conception of gender derives from the anatomical differences between the sexes. The different psychological experiences of being male or female are rooted in this biological platform. While these biological distinctions are important and significant culture plays an important role in interpretation of appropriate roles and behavior (Eagly & Wood, 1999). In some societies like Saudi Arabia women cannot drive cars or travel without male family members. In other cultures such gender based limitations would seem absurd and if society would attempt to introduce such ideas they would be met with strong resistance by the generations of women who have achieved a better status in the struggles of the last century. The stereotypes and values we attribute to sex are largely culturally determined. The ubiquitous preference for male children has produced infanticide in countries including India and China is also an expression of cultural values. In turn these cultural attributions determine to a large extent psychological traits including relative compliance, aggression or assertive behavior.

The term opposite sex is a misnomer. Both genders are in fact similar in so many ways also caused by our common human evolution. Even our physiology is similar with sexual structures carrying complementary rather than opposite functions. It is culture that has chosen to emphasize the differences and create ideologies that support gender stereotypes. These powerful, but largely unconscious processes have to a large extent determined gender self-concepts and behavior. Even how we think is a cultural artifact of gender based roles that is ubiquitous in the world. The women’s movement in the United States challenged the way women were described in the literature and in education that seemed degrading and hostile. Psychology as a discipline underwent a profound change over the past decades through the participation of women who provided a balance in psychological research since previously most investigations were based on male dominated conceptions and participants. The opportunities that opened up for women produced important contributions by female psychologists to create a more gender balanced view of what it means to be human. Rather than assuming that women are small men research now report routinely on sex and gender differences as vital components in any psychological research.