What is Gender How Do We Experience Gender

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What is Gender?How Do We Experience Gender?

• A Presentation for Impact Forum
• College of Management
• Georgia Tech
• Monday March 10,2008
• By Astrid Pregel President Feminomics Inc.

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What is Gender?

• What are little boys made of?
• Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
• That's what little boys are made of !
• What are little girls made of?
• "Sugar and spice and all things nice
• That's what little girls are made of!
• Mother Goose

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What is Sex?

• Sex describes the biological differences between
  men and women, which are universal and are
  determined at birth.
• One Sex Model
• Galen 200 AD - took Aristotles theory of women
  being undeveloped males and advanced the idea
  that womens genitals were simply copies of mens
  only turned inward
• Andreas Vesalius, 16th century and the father or
  modern anatomy continued to draw womens anatomy
  incorrectly
• Two Sex Model
• Late 18th century two sex model gradually
  accepted

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Does Gender Matter?

• Gender equality is more than a goal in itself.
  It is a precondition for meeting the challenges
  of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable
  development and building good governance
• Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General of the
  United Nations

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Gender Concepts

• Roles for men and women created by our families,
  societies and cultures
• Includes expectations held about characteristics
  and abilities and includes the concepts of
  femininity and masculinity
• Gender roles and concepts
• Are learned
• Vary amongst cultures
• Change with time
• Are NOT Natural

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Sex vs. Gender

• Sex
• Biological - Determined at birth
• Universal-Same all over the world
• Immutable - Does not change over time

• Gender
• Social- We learn it
• Not Universal- Regional differences
• Mutable- Can change over time

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Gender vs. Sex Quiz

• Women give birth to babies.
• Men go to war.
• Most bus drivers are men.
• Men are stronger than women.
• Men are logical and women are emotional.
• Women live longer than men.
• Women need to be taken care of.
• Women have trouble with numbers.
• Men get prostrate cancer.
• There has never been a U.S. female president.

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Gender Schemas and Stereotypes

• Life would be chaotic if we started each human
  encounter with no information
• Schemas and Stereotypes are simply preset
  packages of ideas about people to help us
  negotiate our lives

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Common Stereotypes

• Facts, Natural, Normal
• Men are the breadwinners
• Women are in charge of the home
• Men are leaders, women follow
• Women have softer, more yielding characters
• Men are stronger, linear thinkers

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Leadership in the USA

• Vast majority of leaders in the USA are tall,
  white men
• Studies confirm this truth
• Doorway studies
• Boardroom tests
• What assumptions should other races, women,
  shorter people etc. hold about their abilities?

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Is Seeing Believing??

• Stereotypes and gender biases can cause people to
  just
• SEE WRONG!

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Challenging Stereotypical Truths

• I just dont think that women should be in an
  orchestra
• Zuben Mehta
• Women have smaller technique than men
• Anonymous
• 1970s blind auditions introduced at prodding of
  women
• Between 1970 and 1996 probability of women being
  selected for a seat in a symphony orchestra
  increased by 50
• (Mr. Mehtas orchestra now has 49 women)

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Is Hearing Believing??

• Stereotypes and gender biases can cause people
  just to
• HEAR WRONG!

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Challenging Stereotypical Truths in Academia

• Swedish Medical Research Council
• Council taken to court by two female researchers
• In 1997 women scientists in Sweden needed to
  publish 2.5 times more publications than men
• Article peer reviewed by three men
• Nepotism and Sexism in Peer Review C. Wenneras
  A. Wold (1977)

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Is Reading Believing??

• Stereotypes, biases and gender expectations can
  cause people to READ and EVALUATE WRONG!

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Responsibility of a Leader

• Problem with stereotypes occur when they lead to
  serious misperceptions of reality
• Entirely possible to undervalue someone without
  knowing it
• Entirely possible to see, hear, read and evaluate
  others
• INCORRECTLY !

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Androcentric SchemaMale-Centered Schema

• (Sandra Bem 1993)
• Essentialist Thinking
• Theory or belief system that explains womens
  inferiority as an absolute fact
• Confirmation of belief system often justified by
  anecdotal evidence and expert opinions
• Dualistic Thinking
• Either /Or thinking
• Organizing thinking around two absolute polarized
  belief systems

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Dualistic Thinking

• Feminine Traits

• Masculine Traits

• Dependent
• Sex Object
• Physical Appearance Important
• Submissive
• Weak
• Incapable
• Unintelligent
• Emotional
• Receptive
• Intuitive
• Timid
• Content
• Passive
• Cooperative
• Sensitive

• Independent
• Sexually Aggressive
• Achievements Important
• Dominant
• Strong
• Capable
• Intelligent
• Rational
• Assertive
• Analytical
• Brave
• Ambitious
• Active
• Competitive
• Insensitive

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Wisdom of the Ages?

• For although there may be exceptions to the
  order of nature, the male is by nature fitter for
  command than the female
• Aristotle 4th century BCE

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More Wisdom of the Ages?

• (W)omen is naturally of less strength and
  dignity than man
• St. Thomas Aquinas 1268

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and More Wisdom?

• Secondary sexual characteristics of men were
  selected because of the success of the strongest
  and boldest men and that the chief distinction
  between the intellectual powers of the two sexes
  is shown by mans attaining to a higher eminence,
  in what ever he takes up, than a woman-whether
  requiring deep thought, reason, or imagination or
  merely the sue of the senses and the hands
• Darwin 1871

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...More Wisdom of the Ages?

• Man is called by the Creator to this position of
  leader, as is shown by his entire bodily and
  intellectual make-up
• Catholic Encyclopedia 1911

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Wisdom?

• Shame, which is considered to be a feminine
  characteristic par excellence but is far more a
  matter of convention than might be supposed, has
  its purpose, we believe, concealment of genital
  deficiency
• Sigmund Freud 1932

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..and more Wisdom???

• innate differences between men and women might
  be one of the reasons fewer women succeed in
  science and math careers.
• Larry Summers President Harvard University
• 2005

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Risks of Stereotypes,Biases and Schemas

• as an individual
• as a leader of a team
• as a subordinate or team member
• as the leader of an enterprise
• as the leader of a non profit
• as a leader in government
• as a mother or a father
• as a husband or a wife

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How Do We Proceed?

• Visibility
• Vigilance
• Veracity
• Viability
• Humility

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Personal Reflection Exercise Gender Stereotyping

• Briefly describe a personal experience either as
  a child or as an adult where you or someone close
  to you was differently treated or regarded
  because of gender
• Reflect on the results of the Implicit Bias Test.
  What did you learn about yourself? What did you
  learn about gender concepts?

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Preparation for Plenary Discussion

• Each participant shares a personal story or a
  reaction to the implicit bias test with the small
  group
• Small groups identify and record 2-3 common
  themes or experiences
• Discuss in the Plenary
•