Gender sociology

1. Gender Socialization: Differences and disparities
between Male and Female Youth in India
PROF. MELISSA REMEDIOS

2. Introduction
• Gender socialization is the process of teaching members of society
how to behave according to gender expectations, or gender roles.
• Examples of gender stereotypes are that girls are passive and boys
are aggressive.
• The most common agents of gender socialization are parents,
schools, and the media
• Gender socialization is the process through which children learn
about the social expectations, attitudes and behaviours typically
associated with boys and girls. This topic looks at this socialization
process and the factors that influence gender development in
children

3. Gender Socialization: Early in Childhood
• The process of gender socialization begins early in life. Children
develop an understanding of gender categories at a young age.
• Studies have shown that children can discern male voices from
female voices at six months old, and can differentiate between men
and women in photographs at nine months old.
• Between 11 and 14 months, children develop the ability to associate
sight and sound, matching male and female voices with photographs
of men and women.
• By age three, children have formed their own gender identity. They
have also begun to learn their culture’s gender norms, including
which toys, activities, behaviors, and attitudes are associated with
each gender.

4. Significance of Gender:
• Gender is one of the first social categories children become
aware of. By the time they are three to four years old, they have
formed their gender identity.
• They also begin to learn cultural and social gender stereotypes:
that certain behaviours are associated with their gender or
whether is activities, recreational leisure time or pursued
interests which become known to be typical for boys and girls.
• Although children play an active role in shaping their gender
identity development, their knowledge about gender comes
from many sources of socialization, including parents, peers
and teachers.

5. Disparities:
• In India, households are a primary site in which male privilege
and control over women are expressed.
• Despite being banned since 1994, selective abortion of female
foetuses has become increasingly common and excess female
mortality among children under age 5 years is seen in all parts
of the country
• While gender norms are broadly reinforced culturally and
institutionally, it is within the household that children first learn
about gender roles, equating maleness with power and
authority and femaleness with inferiority and subservience.

6. The understanding of Gender Socialization
• Gender socialization occurs not only through the acquisition of
gender-appropriate behaviours, but also through observing
adults in the household, who are role models to children.
• When the household is characterized by family violence,
children encounter another form of gender socialization.

7. The gender norms and the influence of them
• There are several factors (e.g., ethnicity, race, social class,
school/school teachers, and attainment of puberty) contributing to
the gender socialization of young adolescents, as there is
particularly strong evidence around the key role of parents and peers
to the idea of gender socialization
• Parents' contribute to gender socialization through both direct and
indirect communication with their children in terms of different rules
and sanctions and expectations from boys and girls. However, there
is no complete clarity on whether this influence is mediated through
parents own endorsement of stereotypical or equitable gender
attitudes, division of labor in the homes, linked to the family structure
(two parent vs. single parent homes), or shaped by the mothers' or
fathers' attitudes

8. Conclusion
• The idea of gender socialization starts from the time the child is
in the womb and continues till adult life, there are various
disparities that are quite prevalent among youth cultures which
demonstrates a certain stereotypical attitude, its important to
encourage our youth to be able to have a gendered equitable
and encouraging mindset and build a world of harmony around
us.
• In our next video we will learn more about these gendered
disparities and how they affect everyday life.

9. Thank you!