1. Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural Approach Chapter 5
Gender
Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural Approach by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett. Copyright © 2004 by Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

2. Clarifying the Difference
Gender
Refers to the social categories of male and female
Sex
Refers to the biological status of being male or female

3. Traditional Cultures From Girl to Woman
Girls typically work alongside their mothers from an early age
Girls typically maintain a close relationship with their mothers
During adolescent the ‘world contracts for girls’
Girls endure new restrictions observed for women
Girls have narrower socialization at adolescence because of their budding sexuality is more likely to be tightly restricted

4. Traditional Cultures From Boy to Man
Boys typically have less contact with their families and more contact with peers
During adolescent the ‘world expands for boys’
Boys enjoy new privileges reserved for men
For boys, manhood is something that has to be achieved

5. ‘Achieving’ Manhood
For boys the attainment of manhood is often fraught with peril and carries a definite and formidable possibility of failure
In most cultures an adolescent boy must demonstrate three capacities before he is considered a man
Provide
Skills that are economically useful
Protect
Show he can contribute to protecting his family
Procreate
He must gain some degree of sexual experience before marriage

6. Gender in American History
I was discouraged from pursuing a profession because it was considered “unhealthy” for women
This view was connected to beliefs about menstruation – specifically that intellectual work would draw a woman’s energy toward her brain and away from her ovaries
… thus disrupting her menstrual cycle and endangering her health

7. Girls in American History
Four areas where the lives of adolescent girls were narrowly constricted:
Occupational Choice
Intellectual Work
Sexuality
Physical Appearance

8. Three Manhood Transformations (Rotundo, 1993)
Communal Manhood (17th and 18th centuries)
The focus on gender expectations for adolescent boys was on preparing to assume adult role responsibilities in work and marriage
Self-Made Manhood (19th century)
Males were increasingly expected to become independent from their families in adolescence and emerging adulthood
Passionate Manhood (20th century)
Passionate emotions such as anger and sexual desire became regarded more favorably as part of the manhood ideal
Self-expression and self-enjoyment replaced self-control and self-denial as the paramount virtues

9. “Gender Intensification Hypothesis”
Psychological and behavioural difference between males and females become more pronounced at adolescence because of the intensified socialization pressures to conform to culturally prescribed roles
Gender intensification occurs especially for adolescents who are exposed to socialization pressures to conform to traditional gender roles
How did your answer compare?

10. Family, Peers and School
Differential Gender Socialization
Socializing boys and girls according to different expectations
Creates an understanding of ‘appropriate’ behaviours for males and females
Differential socialization most often results from how parents and teachers were socialized
Reflects a culture’s beliefs about gender
Parents and teachers may do this without even thinking consciously about what they are doing
One study found that 90% of all infants observed at
an American shopping mall were wearing clothing
that was gender specific in color or style

11. Magazines … a special issue
This media forms the most obvious focus on gender socialization especially for adolescent girls
Physical appearance is stressed as being of ultimate importance
There is also an intense focus on how to be appealing to boys

12. Cognition and Gender Kolhberg’s Cognitive Developmental Theory of Gender
Gender is a fundamental way of organizing ideas about the world
Age 4 or 5
Identify things as appropriate for either males or females
Age 12 to 16
Perceptions of gender become more rigid – gender intensification
Age 3
Understand themselves as being either male or female
Age 6 to 10
Perceptions of gender become less rigid
As adolescents become more capable of reflecting on these issues
they become more concerned with compliance to gender norms
for themselves and other.

13. Masculinity, Femininity, and Androgyny
The Bem Sex Role Inventory
Describes traits regarded by most members of the American majority culture as being masculine or feminine
Most widely used measure of gender role perception
A cross-national study of young people in 30 countries found similar gender role perceptions with remarkable consistency

14. Bem Sex Role Inventory … the answers!
Affectionate – Feminine
Independent – Masculine
Aggressive – Masculine
Sympathetic – Feminine
Athletic – Masculine
Child-Like – Feminine
Tender – Feminine
Individualistic – Masculine
Competitive – Masculine
Gullible – Feminine
Self-Reliant – Masculine
Compassionate – Feminine
Shy – Feminine
Analytical – Masculine
Dominant – Masculine
Ambitious – Masculine
Loyal – Feminine
Understanding – Feminine
Assertive – Masculine
Cheerful – Feminine

15. But what about adolescents? Is androgyny best for them?
The term used for the combination of masculine and feminine traits in one person
Advocates of androgyny have argued that being androgynous is better than being either masculine or feminine because an androgynous person has a greater repertoire of traits to draw on in their daily lives
Advocates point to research that show androgynous children are more flexible and creative than other children (Hemmer and Klieber, 1981)
Androgynous women are better at saying “no” to unreasonable requests (Kelly et al., 1981)
But what about adolescents? Is androgyny best for them?

16. Gender Roles in American Minority Groups
African American Women
Female role contains a variety of characteristics that reflect the difficult challenge that Black women have faced historically which include
self-reliance
assertiveness
perseverance
Black adolescent girls tend to have higher self-esteem and are less concerned with physical appearance than White girls

17. Gender Roles in American Minority Groups
African American Men
Black men have been frequently subjected to insults to their manhood, from their status as property during slavery to being denigrated as “boys” not matter what their age (in some parts of the United States)
Economic conditions in many American cities make it difficult for Black men to fill the traditional “provider” aspect of the male role
As a consequence of these humiliations, according to some scholars, many young Black men adopt extreme characteristics of the male role in order to declare their masculinity in spite of the discrimination they experience

18. Gender Roles in American Minority Groups
Latino Women
Gender roles have been highly traditional until recently, much along the lines of the traditional culture
The role of women was concentrated on caring for children, taking care of the home and providing emotional support for the husband
Woman have been taught to emulate the Virgin Mary by being submissive and self-denying

19. Gender Roles in American Minority Groups
Latino Men
The role of men has been guided by the ideology of machismo which emphasizes males’ dominance over females
Men are expected to be the undisputed head of the household and to demand respect and obedience from their wives and children
The traditional aspects of manhood are strong among Latinos to provide for a family, protect the family from harm and procreate a large family

20. Gender Stereotypes in Emerging Adulthood
Occurs when people believe others possess certain characteristics simply as a result of being a member of a particular group
Gender Stereotypes
Attributing certain characteristics to others simply on the basis of whether they are male or female
Example: Truck are “male”
Example: Shopping are “female”

21. Persistence of Beliefs about Gender Differences
Even when there is a statistically significant difference between males and females, for most characteristics there is nevertheless more similarity than difference between genders
Most human characteristics fall into a NORMAL DISTRIBUTION where a small proportion of people rate much higher; a small proportion rate much lower; but most people fall somewhere in the middle
Take a look at the next slide to see how this works !

22. The Bell Curve looking at math and gender
Even when gender difference exist between males and females
the portion of the two bell curves that overlap is much
greater than the portion that is distinctive to either gender

23. Persistence of Gender Differences
Gender schemas tend to shape the way we notice, interpret and remember information according to our expectations about genders
Social roles for males and females enhance or suppress different capabilities (social roles theory)
Differential gender socialization leads males and females to develop different skills and attitudes which leads to different behaviours – the differences in behavior seem to confirm the appropriateness of the different roles

24. Gender and Globalization
Adolescent girls today have opportunities that were unknown to women in previous eras of Western history
The proportion of females in fields such as medicine, business and law are considerably higher than 20 years ago
However, women tend to earn less money than men even when they are doing similar work
Gender equality still has a long way to go!

25. Gender and Globalization
In countries outside the West, adolescent girls have much less in the way of educational and occupational opportunities
In most developing countries adolescent girls are considerably less likely than boys to go to a secondary school
As traditional cultures proceed toward economic development, they may offer more opportunities for girls
As economies become more developed and complex, brain matters more than brawn and men’s physical advantage ceases to matter in work – women may have more opportunity for different gender roles