What
do we mean when we talk about gender?
Anthropologists
tend to suggest that sex biological, while gender is cultural.
1.We
use ‘sex’ to refer to what people perceive at the biological level.
2.‘Gender’,
on the other hand, relates to the construction of culturally meaningful
categories around this biological division.
Keep
in mind though, that what people perceive about human bodies (biology)
is also cultural.Cultural ideas
shape our perceptions.
Gender:
Definitions
Gender
roles:The tasks and activities that
a culture assigns to each sex.
Gender
stereotypes:Oversimplified but strongly
held ideas about the characteristics of ‘men’ and ‘women’.
Gender
stratification:Unequal distribution
of rewards (socially valued resources, power, prestige, and personal freedom)
between men and women, reflecting their different positions in a social
hierarchy.