Gender Differences

Let us begin by examining the origin of the differences between men and women. Contrasting approaches have been taken to explain the formation of gender identities and the social roles based on those identities. Social influences play an important role in analyzing gender differences. Now, before analyzing these approaches, we need to make important distinction between sex and gender. In general, sociologists use the term sex to refer to the anatomical and physiological differences that define male and female bodies. Gender is linked to socially constructed notions of masculinity and femininity; it is not necessarily a direct product of an individual’s biological sex. The distinction between sex and gender is a fundamental one, since many differences between males and females are not biological in origin. Sociological interpretations of gender differences and inequalities have taken contrasting positions on this question of sex and gender. Three broad approaches will be explored below. First we shall look at arguments for a biological basis to behavioral differences between men and women. Next, attention will turn to theories placing central importance on socialization and the learning of gender roles. Finally, we shall consider the ideas of scholars who believe that both gender and sex have no biological basis, but are entirely socially constructed.

Gender and Biology: Natural Difference

How far are differences in the behavior of men and women the result of sex rather than gender? In other words, how much are they the result of biological differences? Some authors hold that aspects of human biology – ranging from hormones to chromosomes to brain size to genetics – are responsible for innate differences in behavior between men and women. These differences, they claim, can be seen in some form across all cultures, implying that natural factors are responsible for the inequalities between genders which characterize most societies. Such researchers are likely to draw attention to the fact, for example, that in almost all cultures, men rather than women take part in hunting and warfare. Surely, they argue, this indicates that men possess biologically based tendencies towards aggression that women lack.

Many researchers are unconvinced by this argument. The level of aggressiveness of males, they say, varies widely between different cultures, and women are expected to be more passive or gentle in some cultures than in others (Elshtain 1987). Theories of natural differences are often grounded in data on animal behavior, which reveals variation over time and place. Moreover, they add, because a trait is more or less universal, it does not follow that it is biological in origin; there may be cultural factors of a general kind that produce such characteristics. For instance, in the majority of cultures, most women spend a significant part of their lives caring for children and could not readily take part in hunting or war. Although the hypothesis that biological factors determine behavior patterns in men and women cannot be dismissed out of hand, nearly a century of research to identify the physiological origins of such an influence has been unsuccessful. There is no evidence of the mechanisms which would link such biological forces with the complex social behaviors exhibited by human men and women (Connell 1987). Theories which see individuals as complying with some kind of innate predisposition neglect the vital role of social interaction in shaping human behavior.