or the other. Sex is the biological fact of being male or female’. In other words, gender is a social and cultural dimension, whereas sex is natural. Further, he states
that gender has two aspects; they are gender identity and sex role.
2.7.1 Gender Identity
According to Spencer 1985: 275, the term of gender identity is often used interchangeably with sexual identity. It refers to whether one considers oneself a
male or female. Whereas the term sex role is often used interchangeably with gender role. It consists of the culturally defined set of behaviors that are considered
appropriate for each sex in a society. In other words, gender identity almost never changes but sex roles may change.
Hence, Spencer 1985: 275 also says that there are certain unusual cases in which sex and gender identities do not match. So, we can say that they have two
gender identities. In modern term, it is usually called androgyny Spencer, 1985: 275.
2.7.2 Sex Role
Spencer 1985: 275 states: Sex role can be used interchangeably with gender role, which consists of the
culturally defined set of behaviors that are considered appropriate for each sex in a given society. Gender roles are not natural, but cultural so that they are
determined by social agreement instead of biology.
This definition is not related to Social Psychology.
In ‘Social Psychology’, Zanden 1984: 445 states ‘gender roles are sets of expectations that define the ways in which the members of each sex should behave’.
Furthermore, Skrynek and Snyder as quoted by Zanden 1984: 445 define sex role as follows:
Usually men are typically stereotyped as dominant, independent, competitive, self-confident, aggressive, and logical. But, then, women as submissive,
dependent, emotional, conforming, affectionate and nurturing. Gender roles frequently elicit from men and women’s behaviors that confirm their stereotypes.
The behavior for each sex is determined by social agreement. For this, Taylor et al. 1997: 317 made a table of the common gender stereotypes, as follows:
TYPICAL MAN TYPICAL WOMAN
aggressive gentle unemotional cries
easily likes math and science
enjoys art and literature worldly
does not use harsh language ambitious tactful
objectives religious dominant
interested in own appearances competitive
aware of feelings of others self-Confident
strong need for security logical talkative
acts as leader neat in habits
independent dependent
In our society, there are also inequalities based on sex, which are called gender inequalities. These concepts are reflected in gender inequality manifestations. Fakih
1999: 12-13 divides them into six categories. They are: a.
gender and women marginalization, b.
gender and subordination ,
c. gender and stereotype,
d. gender and violence, and
e. gender and burden.
Each definition and reflection of gender inequality manifestations will be discussed clearly in Chapter IV.
18
CHAPTER III METHOD OF INVESTIGATION
