Gender and behavioral differences in human development

Gender Behavior

The fabric of the human condition is the determination of sexual reproduction. For this reason and many others sex and gender, independently and together make up a huge body of human interest and an equal if not greater amount of confusion and controversy. The first thing question asked when we are born is: "is it a boy? Or is it a girl?" There are many expectations to gender behavior according to people's norms. How do we act? How do we dress? How do we behave? All of those questions define our gender. Some researchers even argue that gender role assignment begins even before the traditional question asked in the delivery room.

Gender-role expectations and assignments are set forth at birth, sometimes even prenatally, for many American couples elect to find out the sex of their child during the mother's pregnancy. Early preparations can then be made, such as the selection of nursery room color and decor and the purchase of gender appropriate toys and clothing. Traditionally, the predominant color for newborn boys' clothing, bedding, and/or room has been, and continues to be, blue. Similarly, the traditional color representing girls is pink. While children of both genders may initially receive soft, cuddly toys to play with, it is considered most unusual for the growing female child to be given male toys, such as footballs and trucks.

Denmark, and Nielson 455-456)

These perceptually simple actions, on the part of parents accompanied by the social normalcy of peer encouragement to follow these guidelines show a perfect example of the innate social foundations of the gender role system.

In the article "Doing Gender" Dan Zimmerman and Candace West argue that we actually "do gender" throughout our everyday lives as prescribed by social relationships, mores and taboos as well as role model and peer and adult relationships, with both our own identified and the "other" identified gender. We do gender while socializing with other people in our society. Zimmerman and West contend that gender expression is a choice, rather than a strict set of rules that are determined by the biology of the sexed being. (383) it is also clear that gender displays are also more fundamentally connected to socialization, than was once believed, at least as general concepts, such as mothering. (380) From a research perspective the differentiation between sex and gender is an important aspect of social development, as Zimmerman and West proceed through an extensive review of traditional and modern differentiation between gender, i.e. The identified role as male or female and sex, the biological expression of the same. (381-382) What seems to be most interesting about the emphasis on these two aspects of social consciousness is that viewpoints do not seem to change the rigidity of gender role assignment and gender display.

If for example one takes boys and girls on a playground, both genders have different behaviors and interests and frequently gravitate toward different games and activities. According to a rather simplistic, though universally accepted model, in assumptions and research, boys are known to be strong and alert, seeking out games or activities that are active and physical while girls are less interested in physical play and more interested in social play, such as role playing or mimicry of idealized or observed social situations. Many would call such observations, be they real or perceived, applications of sex role stereotyping:

Sex role stereotypes are widely-held beliefs about those behaviors and characteristics (Singleton, 1987). The stereotypes to a large extent become the roles. Society forces people into certain roles simply by expecting that those roles are proper and enforcing them. In general, the roles prevalent in modern Western society prescribe that men should be domineering, aggressive, and superior at the maths and sciences, should become successful in their careers, and should control and suppress their feelings. Women, on the other hand, should be submissive, nurturing, gentle, better at languages and the humanities, emotional, and desirous of nothing more than a happy family and a husband to provide for her, while she remains at home and tends the house. (Feldman NP)

It is in fact dangerous to attribute all gendered actions of children or adults through the eyes of these persistent stereotypes, many of which we are actually not consciously aware of even holding, and may actually be excessively and openly resistant to in our conscious thought. The development of these gendered roles, can even be said to be exaggerated during the school aged years, as children are experiencing a period of growth and development that requires active role play to acculturate themselves to their potential perceived social situations.

Denmark, and Nielson 459) the differential socialization of boys and girls and how children are rewarded and punished for different sets of behaviors according to their gender. Adults may praise a girl for helping her mother and a boy for exhibiting independence from his mother. Similarly, boys may be admonished for crying and girls for engaging in rough play. Modeling and imitation is a second approach to the understanding of a child's gender development that has been discussed by numerous researchers (e.g., Brannon, 2002; Golombok & Fivush, 1994). Children observe the behaviors of adults and peers who share their own gender. They also note those behaviors that are rarely seen in one sex, but often seen in the other. Children then use these observations to shape their own behavior according to what they believe is typical for girls and boys. Finally, Block (1984) suggested that parents play a crucial role in shaping their children's behaviors in ways deemed appropriate for each sex.... many parents choose different clothing for their children, encourage them to play with gender-typed toys, and divide household chores along gender lines.

Van Volkom 609)

Van Volkom also contends that there are variations on this theme that put some children in a position, where stark contrasts are only perceived and not really evident in play or behavior. Van Volkom, in fact discusses the prevalence of the "tomboy" girl, who can simply be seen according to this researcher as an expression of a child who chooses not to differentiate and follow strict social guidelines with regard to gendered play and dress.

Yet, as West and Zimmerman argue; "It is necessary to move beyond the notion of gender display to consider what is involved in doing gender as an ongoing activity embedded in everyday interaction." (384) to look beyond gender display, most exaggerated in some children, one must also logically step toward gendered adults. The variance of gender social display is also clearly not limited to children and the level to which researchers can delve into the reasons for and perceived meanings of gender differences is greater. One would think this would mean that research on adult gender roles is less cloudy than it is with children, yet this is far from true. In this summation of several gender role studies, regarding gender roles and work the generalizations of research can be seen as demonstrative of gender stereotypes, playing an important role in the fundamental happiness or lack their of, of adults, in one of their most crucial social roles, that of work.

Work and family roles have different meaning for men than for women and these differences can be related to mental health, especially distress. Work affects gender when the meaning of work is the issue because women see work as a prevention from taking care of her family properly, whereas men see work as the key importance which will lead him to take care of his family. This difference in meaning is then interpreted as the cause for women's higher levels of distress. Work roles and gender in this case also seems to benefit men, leaving them with lower levels of distress compared to women. Lastly, identity and role satisfaction are seen as very important because the most consequential effects of work conditions on well-being are seen through job satisfaction and self-esteem. Here it is important to see the differences in gender between men's and women's self-concept. This reminds us that men and women have different social constructs which lead to much different experiences with work. As seen through these four studies, gender roles have a big impact on work roles and vice versa. Some research seems to point toward more benefits for men in relating to the work scene, but the main point as mentioned before is that gender and work roles are closely related and men and women have very different views on the meaning of work in their lives. (Spykerman NP)

Another fascinating aspect of gender roles is the idea of gender mobility. For the most part gender roles are a fixed set of expectations, that are closely guarded by society and determine normalcy or abnormality. "From the standpoint of persons who regard themselves as normally sexed, their environment has a perceivedly normal sex composition. This composition is rigorously dichotomized in the "natural," i.e. moral entities of male and female." (Garfinkle 116) Garfinkle then goes on to explain that legitimate transfer of an individual from one recognized gender to the other is strictly prohibited, and even when such occurrences result in a perceived change they are never really considered "legitimate" by those who considerer themselves "normally" gendered. Name changes, surgery or even legal birth certificate changes on this subject are scrutinized, difficult to attain and never really expressly respected as legitimate proof of someone's sex or gender, once they have occurred. (117)