General Points:

1. Sex Differences are not as large as we think they are.
2. Sex differences are largely the product of culture and not biology.
3. Traditional beliefs about the genders are harmful to females, males, and society in general.

Sex Differences are not as large as we think

Over 20,000 studies comparing males and females in the last 20 years. Differences have NOT been found in:

• Memory
• Intelligence
• Creativity
• Analytic ability
• Leadership ability
• Personality

Small differences, on average, 10% or less have been found on:

• Emotional expressiveness
• Agression
• Some verbal skils
• Some spatiial skills

(Women and men are more alike then different on these qualities)

Why do we think the genders seem so different?

1. Our culuture tells us they are.

   We hear it constantly, we receive social approval for saying it's so.

2. Our beliefs that they are different (gender stereotypes) lead us to notice, remember, and process people in ways that confirm our gender beliefs.
   
   
   
3. Sex-segregated social roles that call for different behaviors and skills make the gendrs seem very different.
   
   
4. Gender is an important social identity.

   We want to believe that differneces are large adn that our sex is superior. Stereotyping the other sex is a source of bonding and conversation.
   
   
   

Gender differences are largely the product of culture, not biology.

1. Gender differences are getting smaller and smaller and we make progress toward gender equality.

   Changes are occurring "faster than the gene can travel."
   

2. Whether differences are found and how large they are is very situation-specific.
   
   
3. Hundreds of studies indicate that gender differences arise out of this differential treatment.

• differential gender socialization
• differential reinforcement and differential modeling

Studies showing Differential Socialization:

Perry et al. (1989):

Boys expect less parental disapproval for agression than girls.

Fagot (1978) & Langlois & Downs (1980):

Sons are rewarded for more physically active play and are left alone to play independently more oftn than are girls.

Fagot & Leinbach (1978) & Martin (1990):

Parents respond more positively to their children when they play with sex-appropriate toyes.

Etaugh & Liss (1992):

Boys and girls are more likely to receive the gender-traditional toys they ask for than the gender non-traditional toys they ask for.

Sidorowicz & Lunney (1980):

Subjects interacted with a 10 month old child introduced as either a girl, boy, or neither. Gender label greatly influenced whether suject chose a toy football, doll, or teething ring to play with the child.

Block (1979):

40 year longitudinal study found that parents treated boy and girl children differently thoughout the lifespan.

Berndt & Heller (1986), Huston (1983), and Martin (1990):

Gender inconsistent behavior interferes with child's popularity, especially boys'.

Harmfulness of Traditional Gender Roles

• Women are underpaid:

  Females, on average, earn .70 for every $1.00 a man earns. Those living below the poverty line are disproportionaltely women and children.

• Women often experience a glass ceiling:

  Very few women are found in positions of power (1-2% of top executives, 39% middle managers, 10% US Congress).

• Women are overworked:

  When employed full-time, married and cohabitating women do over 70% of the housework and childcare. Second shifts and leisure gaps.

• Women face great danger:

  They are disproportionately the victims of sexual and domestic assault (approximately 25% of US women are raped).

• Women are sex objects:

  Valued according to their adherence to unhealthy and unrealistic beauty norms. This leads to low self-esteem and eating disorders.

• Males are success objects:

  Valued by how much money they make. Expect to make career choices based on $ rather than self-actualization. Price of "marketplace masculinity": poor relationsips with their children, poor mental and physical health. Low self-esteem if role cannot be met.

• Men's relationships and mental health are often compromised:

  Norms discouraging emotional expression interferes with giving and receiving of emotional support and with parenting.

• Emphasis on physical toughness for men:

  Results in risky health behaviors such as not using condoms, sports injuries, drug/alcohol abuse results in risky health behaviors

Conclusion

1. Some Qualities should be promoted, regardless of gender. To suggest that one gender "owns" these qualities limits the other.

2. Our values are determined by us, not be evolution or natural selection. We can chose gender equality.

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