Chapter 10: Gender Role Differences

Gender Polarization Gender Differences Gender-Typing Costs of Gender Polarization

Sandra Bem

• Bem (1993) writes that there are three common beliefs

about men and women in western society and that these beliefs have lead to gender polarization.

• 1. Women and men have basically different

psychological and sexual natures.

• 2. Men are the superior, dominant gender. • 3. Gender differences and male superiority are

“natural.”

Gender Role Stereotypes

• Gender Polarization:

to see males and females as psychological and sexual opposites.

The cultural tendency

• Women:

Warm, emotional, dependent, gentle, helpful, mild, patient.

• Men:

Independent, competitive, tough, protective, logical, competent.

Adjustment and Androgyny

• Many psychologists look upon masculinity and femininity not as

opposite ends of a continuum, but rather, as independent dimensions.

• People who possess both stereotypically masculine and

feminine traits are said to show psychological androgyny.

• People who are low in both stereotypical masculine and

feminine traits are “undifferentiated” according to masculinity and femininity.

• Undifferentiated people seem to encounter distress while those

who are androgynous may be more resistant to stress.

Psychological Androgyny

Androgyny, Well-Being and Personal Development

• Androgynous individuals: • Tend to be more creative than masculine or feminine-typed

individuals.

• Are more likely to show a firm sense of who they are and what

they stand for.

• Show “masculine” independence under group pressure to

conform and “feminine” nurturance in interactions with a baby.

• Feel more comfortable performing a wider range of activities in

different contexts.

• Show greater self-esteem and ability to bounce back from

failure.

Gender Differences

Cognitive Abilities

• It was once assumed that men were more

intelligent than women.

• We now know that it had more to do with the

exclusion of women from world affairs, science, and industry.

• Tests of intelligence show no differences in

overall intelligence between the genders. However, there are some differences in specific skills.

Differences in Cognitive Abilities

• Girls are somewhat superior to boys in verbal abilities,

such as verbal fluency, ability to generate words that are similar in meaning to other words, spelling, pronunciation, foreign languages, etc.

• Men seem to be somewhat superior in the ability to

manipulate visual images in working memory.

• Males generally obtain higher scores on standardized

math tests than females, but females excel in computational ability in elementary school.

Rotating figures in Space

Cognitive Abilities

(cont.)

• Even though gender differences appear to exist,

psychologists note that:

• In most cases, the differences are small. • These gender differences are group differences. • Some differences may largely reflect sociocultural

differences.

• The gender gap in standardized math test scores is

narrowing.

Gender Differences in Social Behavior

• Women exceed men in extraversion, anxiety, trust, and

nurturance. Women are also more emotionally expressive and cooperative.

• Men exceed women in assertiveness and tough-mindedness.

Men tend to be more competitive.

• Men’s friendships with other men tend to be shallower and less

supportive than women’s friendships with other women.

• Women tend to interact at closer differences than men do. • Women are more likely to want to combine sex with a romantic

relationship whereas men express more interest in casual sex and in multiple sex partners.

Gender-Typing

Gender-Typing

• Gender typing:

The process or processes by which males and females develop psychological gender differences.

• Gender identity:

female.

One’s sense of being male or

• Gender identity disorder:

disorder characterized by cross-gender identification.

A psychological

Biological Influences on Gender Typing

• Evolutionary psychology holds that

gender differences were fashioned by the process of natural selection in response to problems in adaptation. These differences may expressed through structural differences in males and females (such as the brain), through differences in body chemistry and the endocrine system.

Brain Organization

• Contemporary researchers find evidence that

brains of men and women are organized somewhat differently.

• Brains of males appear to be more highly

specialized for certain kinds of visual-spatial skills. Women tend to have better-developed verbal skills.

• It is believed that sex hormones have a

masculinizing or feminizing effect on the brain.

Psychosocial Influences on Gender Typing

• There are three primary psychosocial

perspectives on gender typing:

• Psychodynamic Theory • Social-Cognitive Theory • Gender-Schema Theory

Psychodynamic

• Freud believed that boys come to act “like

boys” and girls “like girls” via the process of identification.

• Identification:

The process of incorporating within the personality elements of others.

• Boys come to identify with their fathers while

girls identify with their mothers.

Social-Cognitive

•Children learn much of what is considered masculine or

feminine by observational learning, or modeling.

•Socialization:

The fostering of “gender appropriate” behavior patterns by providing children with information and using rewards and punishments.

•For example, girls are given dolls and encouraged to use

dolls to rehearse caretaking behaviors. In terms of aggression, girls’ aggressive behavior is discouraged via punishment and withdrawal of affection. Therefore, girls usually feel anxious about the possibility of acting aggressively.

Aggression and Socialization

•Richardson Study (1979). •Contest between men and

women. Winner administers shock.

•Women in three conditions:

Private, public, or supportive other.

•Women gave lower shocks

in presence of public observation.

Gender-Schema Theory

• The view that one’s knowledge of the gender

schema in one’s society guides one’s assumption of gender-typed preferences and behavior patterns.

• In other words…by the age of 3, children have

developed a sense of being male and being female and begin to actively seek out information about their gender-schema via observational learning.

Costs of Gender Polarization

Costs in Terms of Education

• Only as of the 20

th century have girls been integrated into the public schools.

• While intelligence tests show no overall difference

between girls and boys, there are differences in expectations. Thus, girls excel in reading because they are expected to. However, they don’t excel as much as boys in men (due to lowered expectations). This leads to fewer women in the fields of math, science and engineering.

Costs in Terms of Careers

• Women are less likely than men to enter higher-paying careers

in math, science, and engineering due to being dissuaded as girls.

• There are inequalities in the workplace. Women’s wages

average only 76.5% of men’s. Women physicians and college professors earn less than men in the same position.

• Women are less likely to be promoted to high-level managerial

positions.

• Women in the business world who employ the same behaviors

as men (such as aggressiveness) may be viewed negatively.

• Women also feel pressure to be careful about their appearance

and have to fill the dual role of worker and “caretaker” at home.

Costs in Terms of Psychological Well Being and Relationships

• Compared to women who identify with more flexible

gender roles, women who adopt traditional feminine gender roles:

• Appear to have lower self-esteem. • Find stressful events more aversive than women who

also show some masculine-type traits.

• Are less capable of bouncing back from failure

experiences.

• Are more likely to believe that women are to be seen

and not heard.

• Are more likely to conform to group pressure.

Costs in Terms of Psychological Well Being and Relationships

Compared to men who identify with more flexible gender roles, women who adopt traditional masculine gender roles:

– Are more likely to be upset if their wives earn more

money than they do.

– Are less likely to be comfortable with child care. – Are less likely to ask for help when they need it. – Are less likely to be sympathetic and tender. – Are less likely to be tolerant of their wives’ or lovers’

faults.