In many ways, men and women have more similarities than differences. However, differences remain in what society expects of them and what opportunities they have. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but also an essential basis for achieving peace, prosperity, and sustainable development. Historical stereotypes that have manifested themselves for centuries in many aspects of public life have become the order of the day, and the problem is gradually being eradicated: more girls go to school, fewer girls are forced into early marriages, and more women serve in parliament and occupy leadership positions, and law reform for gender equality (Huang et al., 2020). However, there are different points of view on this issue from the directions of psychology and sociology.
Symbolic interactionism theory has heuristic possibilities for explaining and understanding the sources and consequences of sexism in everyday interactions. For example, sociologist Karin Martin was interested in understanding how boys and girls learn gender-normative modes of movement using physical space and themselves. To explore these questions, she studied preschoolers in five different classrooms, two different preschools, with different teachers (Baligar, 2018). She found that teachers regularly structure children’s play and impose discipline in ways that reproduce and reinforce gender differences. These games later lay the foundation for other symbols of interactionism: language, gestures, and body movements.
The transition of the gender conflict from the sphere of the vital world to the sphere of the sociocultural organization of society at the level of social structures leads to the reproduction and renewal of values and norms that support the social order. The sociocultural model of a monolithic masculine value-homogeneous culture is being replaced by a model of another cultural value world built on the dialogue of male and female cultures. Conflictology emphasizes the dynamics of the social redistribution of social statuses and roles in conflict resolution against the background of the constant formation of sociocultural communities based on specific social values and norms (Durueke, 2022). Accordingly, in this dynamic process, conflictologists focus on the direction of transformation of social attitudes, finding patterns in the characteristic sociocultural phenomena – male and female cultures entering into dialogue and struggle.
Feminism in the global concept also stands for creating an equal society. However, the purpose of the movement is more focused on women. Gender inequality in this respect is the engine of the primary function of this direction. The struggle is directed only against negative attitudes that violate equality, within which neither domination, subordination, exploitation, nor, among other things, emancipation is possible (O’Reilly, 2021). At the same time, the trend itself diversifies into many different subgroups, including the most radical ones. Therefore, the prerequisite for forming this movement is still necessary and sufficient for its activity, unlike other areas focused on only one gender.
Prior to the spread of feminist criticism in the 1970s, the interpretation of gender in sociology was, in one way or another, based on essentialist principles. It also applies to Marxist sociology, structural-functional analysis, and micro-level sociology. Sociology has almost always included in its field the consideration of gender relations, which depended on a general theoretical approach, while gender was interpreted as an ascriptive or ascribed status (Scarborough & Risman, 2020). Accordingly, social roles and many stereotypes were manifested in structural functionalism as one of the early currents of sociology. The current problematics of this direction is to define new relevant and all possible roles of the sexes without pre-set labels.
References
Baligar, M. P. (2018). Gender theories in sociology. IJRAR-International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, 617-619.
Durueke, O. (2022). Post-Conflict Gender Inequalities in Nigeria.BiUP General, 249. Web.
Huang, J., Gates, A. J., Sinatra, R., & Barabási, A. L. (2020). Historical comparison of gender inequality in scientific careers across countries and disciplines.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(9), 4609-4616. Web.
O’Reilly, A. (2021). Matricentric feminism: Theory, activism, practice. Demeter Press.
Scarborough, W. J., & Risman, B. J. (2020). Gender studies.Companion to Women’s and Gender Studies, 41-68. Web.