Introduction
Gender issues such as equality between men and women and gender roles evoke strong reactions in the contemporary world. Much like race, ethnic, and class stereotypes, gender stereotypes, exclusion, and discrimination are central to politics in many countries.
In particular, issues of feminist exclusion and discrimination characterized by a relatively low political participation of women remain unresolved and often elicit negative feelings in many societies. Additionally, these issues shape a society’s politics especially the policies of left-wing parties and feminist activist groups. For this reason, gender issues in contemporary societies require a cautious approach when addressing them.
Gender issues, particularly gender equality, roles, relations, and political participation are common stereotypes despite the massive awareness campaigns and legislations on these issues. Ideally, studying gender aims at promoting knowledge about gender exclusion and discrimination as well as encouraging the respect of rights of minorities (Spence, 1993, p. 632).
However, the high sensitivity and politics of gender issues with respect to economic, cultural as well as social inequalities are obstacles to studying gender. In addition, sample participation in gender studies is low; thus, decisive conclusions cannot be made. Future research should focus on understanding the gender roles within social contexts rather than on inequalities.
Major Challenges to Studying Gender
Most scholars studying gender issues focus on gender roles, as opposed to studying the broader gender identity along with its cultural, social, and economic aspects. In particular, social roles of each gender vary across culture; therefore, studies should focus cultural aspects. Stet and Burke study analyses the causes of social oppression against women as well as ways of fighting discrimination (1996, p.210).
In addition, other studies focus on social feminist movements and analyses the causes of feminist political activity as opposed to focusing on the social, cultural and political background of gender disparities. In my view, the ever-increasing interests on gender roles face stiff opposition from cultures, which hamper effective study of gender issues.
Indeed, masculinity and femininity are not only based on sexes but upon cultural and social conditions of an individual. Burke’s study shows that observed differences in social behaviors between women and men result from the cultural and cultural expectations of each gender (1991, p.838).
Traits and temperaments that are normally linked to one sex are, in fact, present in all the sex groups. In addition, far more variability in roles or identities does exist within each gender. Burke’s study concluded that, the “patterns of temperament vary among societies” (1991, p. 841). In most societies, male exhibit active and competitive temperaments while females are more cooperative and expressive.
However, according to Burke and Cast, in some societies the males show cooperative and expressive temperaments while females are more competitive (1997, p. 287). Consequently, their social roles are different compared to other societies. This shows that gender studies should be a function of social and cultural factors. In my view, studying gender should be in the context of the prevailing cultural and social factors in a given society.
Gender Identities in the Different Cultures
Gender studies also face a challenge of defining gender identity in social and cultural contexts. The gender identity phenomenon has many aspects. Certain behaviors, attitudes and attributes are exclusive to either male or female. However, the underlying issue is the society’s view of the qualities of being feminine or masculine.
Culturally, physical attributes, traits, and occupational preferences reflect masculine or feminine gender identities. A study by Burke and Cast established that individuals base their personal qualities on culturally defined gender characteristics to “define themselves as feminine or masculine” (1997, p. 278).
Moreover, gender identities tend to be more variable depending on the internalized behaviors that the individual engages. The behaviors then shape their identities and by extension their social roles (Drass, 1986, p. 301). In this regard, studying gender faces the challenge of defining gender identity in the context of a given culture.
In my opinion, studies should use a multidimensional approach as gender roles relate to gender identities, which are both dependent on social and cultural factors. In addition, gender inequality and underrepresentation in any given society influence gender studies. The politics and gender polarization in contemporary societies, in my view, hampers objectivity in gender studies with regard to political participation and representation in leadership.
In my opinion, future work on gender should focus on how societal institutions including political institutions, religion and economic structures can modify gender identity. Among the greatest challenges of studying gender, is the issue of gender identity in the context of cultural structures.
In this way, socialization can be improved in many social settings. Secondly, gender studies should focus on cross-cultural and sub-cultural differences in order to understand the meaning masculine and feminine roles and identities in the context of that culture. Since such roles or identities are not universal, the studies should provide insights on a society’s division of labor, power structure and responsibilities as well as help to modify the challenges of defining gender identity and roles.
Gender Attitudes Studies
Gender attitudes involve common views associated with an individual’s gender and are variable across cultures. In most cultures, masculine attitudes reflect justice while feminine attitudes in most situations tend to be in terms of care. In particular, the gender-role attitudes shape the gender roles and identities (Spence, 1993, p. 625). By extension, the gender-role attitudes influence the reproductive behaviors, family relationships, and the political participation of each gender in any given society.
Accordingly, children develop their gender-role attitudes from their experiences with social structures including the family and society. From these early experiences, the children identify the appropriate masculine and feminine roles within the society (Drass, 1986, p.298). The gender-role attitudes can be traditional, such as men providing for the family and female caring for children, or untraditional, where roles are assigned based on ability or circumstances regardless of gender. Additionally, the untraditional gender roles differ from culture to culture. As a result, gender attitude studies should be done across cultures, in order to draw meaningful conclusions.
Gender attitude studies conducted involving the Caucasian middle class adults alone cannot be conclusive. Firstly, the studies involve adults instead of children or adolescents whose present gender-role attitudes has an impact upon their roles in adulthood. Secondly, in my opinion, the gender-role attitude studies should involve societies with a history of gender inequality and discrimination. In particular, the studies should involve the African-Americans whose attitudes on gender roles has implications on gender participation in public affairs.
Conclusion
Gender studies in contemporary societies often face challenges from underlying social and cultural factor. Precisely, the gender roles and gender identity are dependent on cultural and political constructs of a particular society. In addition, these factors determine the political participation of either gender and are variable across cultures. In my opinion, studies should focus on understanding the gender roles and identities and how they are shaped by gender-role attitudes across many cultures.
Reference List
Burke, J. (1991). Identity Processes and Social Stress. American Sociological Review, 56, 836-849.
Burke, J., & Cast, D. (1997). Stability and Change in the Gender Identities of Newly Married Couples. Social Psychology Quarterly, 60, 277-290.
Drass, A. (1986). The Effect of Gender Identity on Conversation. Social Psychology Quarterly, 4 (2), 294-301.
Spence, T. (1993). Gender-Related Traits and Gender Ideology: Evidence for a Multifactorial Theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64 (2), 624-635.
Stet, E., & Burke, J. (1996). Gender, Control, and Interaction. Social Psychology Quarterly, 59, 193-220.