The characteristics of individuals are revealed as a result of their relationships in the social environment and affect both themselves and other people in various ways. Although the characteristics of individuals express a multidimensional scope, they can be classified in various aspects. It is possible to classify people according to characteristics such as personal characteristics, physical characteristics and gender. It is possible to classify all these features of individuals as innate features and acquired features (which are the product of learning). The features that individuals have without their own choices, which are determined before they open their eyes to the world, are innate features. Although gender is an innate feature, it completely affects the relationships, worldviews, careers, personality traits, interests and social lives of individuals throughout their entire lives. Gender is a multidimensional concept with sub-dimensions. It causes not only the distinction between men and women, but also many more and shapes social life. Gender refers to a diversity that has biological, psychological, sociological and moral characteristics. People have sexual roles, orientations and identities depending on their gender. Gender roles include certain behaviors that are socially determined by gender. These characteristics attributed to genders are based on social processes such as interaction, socialization and expectations. In order to separate the sexes from each other and to shape the social life accordingly, the society imposes features on the genders, these features are referred to as gender roles and affect every individual in the society.
Gender (Sex) and Gender (Gender) Difference
Gender (sex) and gender (gender) are often used interchangeably and evaluated in the same sense. Recently, these two concepts have begun to be distinguished from each other, especially with the increasing orientation on this subject in the literature of sociology and psychology. First of all, it is the need to explain and distinguish the differences and the reasons for the differences that cause the feeling of obligation to explain the facts and events with the concept. The debate on whether the reasons for the differentiation of men and women are based on biological or psychosocial (sociocultural) reasons has led to the need to separate and explain the concepts of gender and gender. While there are those who attribute the basic differences to biological origins, there are also those who explain them with cultural reasons. The generally accepted view is that the difference between men and women is based on both biological and sociocultural reasons. The biological explanation emphasizes the physical and genetic characteristics of men and women, which in turn defines biological sex. The psychosocial explanation sees the source of gender differences as cultural characteristics and emphasizes the social aspect of gender.
Sex is based on the genetically based structure that biologically separates men and women (Yüce, 2017). Sex is characterized by sexual organs and is inherited. Gender refers to the expectations of the society towards men and women in the social environment, the behaviors, orientations and attitudes that it understands from femininity and masculinity and deems appropriate for genders. Gender is the expression of biological sex in the psychosocial environment (Dökmen, 2009). Psychological, cultural and social factors are the basis of the formation of gender (Yüceol, 2016). While gender makes a difference depending on a single factor (biological difference), gender makes a difference depending on many factors (psychological, cultural and social). As a result of gender, there is a hierarchy between men and women. While the biological difference between men and women does not create any inequality, gender creates a social difference between these two genders. It is an example of the effect of gender that the male pilot comes to life when the pilot is mentioned, and the female stewardess comes to mind when the stewardess is mentioned. Attributing a gender to occupations, clothing, colours, behavior and attitudes corresponds to the concept of gender. While biological sex distinguishes between men and women only in genetic structure, gender distinguishes between unnatural elements and the sexes. While gender is a concept that is innately attributed and not the product of learning, gender is the product of learning and acquired as a result of interaction with society.
Gender Roles (Gender Role)
Role is a sociological concept that expresses the duties and responsibilities of individuals in the social environment (Dökmen, 2009). Gender roles are defined as the expectations for exhibiting behaviors that are imposed on gender and gender by the society and which are deemed appropriate for the genders. Gender roles constitute the way of expressing culture-specific masculinity and femininity in the social environment. Masculine (masculine) and feminine (feminine) behavioral attitudes are assigned to genders by society. Expecting masculine behaviors from men and feminine behaviors from women is appropriate for gender roles determined by society. Children learn behaviors that are appropriate for their gender by interacting with the social environment since they are born. Culture, society, parents, school environment and mass media have a great influence on the learning process. When the child performs a behavior suitable for his/her gender, the environment approves it, while when he/she performs a behavior that does not fit his/her gender, it disapproves and criticizes the behavior (Çavdar, 2013). At the very beginning of their lives, children learn the games they play, the cartoons they watch, the clothes they wear, their attitudes and behaviors whether they match their gender or not, and they exhibit this in the way expected from them. These roles learned in childhood also affect the future lives of individuals. Adults tend to act in accordance with gender roles in their career choices, reflecting their feelings and thoughts, and interacting with other people (Dökmen, 2009). While men hide their feelings in accordance with the widely used stereotype “men don’t cry”, women take responsibility for housework more in accordance with the stereotype that “women are responsible for housework”. While gender does not impose any duties and responsibilities on individuals, gender creates artificial roles that separate men and women. These roles bestowed on the sexes can vary from society to society. Gender roles may differ according to the cultural structure, race, economic level and historical process of the society.
Gender roles mean the socialization of the sexes. Generally, men exhibit masculine behavior. Masculine is used to mean “masculine”. Women, on the other hand, generally display feminine behavior. Feminine is used to mean “feminine”. While men reflect their gender to social life with masculine behaviors, women reflect their gender to social life with feminine behaviors. The adoption and adaptation of these behaviors to social life is known as gender typing in social psychology. Gender typing is the individual’s accepting and exhibiting the behaviors expected from his/her own gender. Gender role stereotypes have a great impact on the separation of genders into certain behaviors that are deemed appropriate. The typification of genders, their categorization according to appropriate behaviors, and expectations for genders create a tendency to see men and women as one type. Creating a certain mental representation of femininity and masculinity and fitting each woman and man to the mental representation created by ignoring their individuality is the main reason behind the formation of gender roles. The most important result of stereotypes about genders is sexism. Sexism is aimed at separating people according to their gender, taking a hostile attitude and seeing them as superior or inferior (Asan, 2006). The discourse of “this is a woman’s job” or “this is a man’s job” for an action can be given as an example of the use of sexism in social life. The biggest problem created by gender roles, gender stereotypes and sexism is gender discrimination (Çavdar, 2013). Gender discrimination can be defined as the social and cultural inferiority of one gender to the other. Due to today’s patriarchal society, it is mostly women who are negatively affected by gender discrimination. The most common examples of social gender discrimination are that girls are not educated, some professions are closed to women, and women are seen as weak and inadequate. Because gender discrimination is prohibited by law and today, it manifests itself indirectly, rather than indirectly, because individuals are afraid of reactions. While there are no legal barriers that can limit women’s career advancement, there are some unseen and unofficial barriers. The stereotypes and prejudiced thoughts imposed on femininity also indirectly lead to gender discrimination (Dökmen, 2009).
The Traditional Gender View and the Equitable Gender View
The expressions gender equality and tradition describe two extremes of gender. While the traditional gender view is based on gender discrimination, the egalitarian gender view does not discriminate between the sexes. The traditional gender view poses limitations, controls and various obstacles in social life for individuals. The traditional view emphasizes that women’s living space is oriented to housework and that men are in the role of working and earning money. When the previous literature is examined, it is seen that women are the gender most affected by the traditional gender view (Erzeybek, 2015). The basis of the egalitarian gender view is based on “gender equality”. Gender equality is based on the fact that individuals should not be discriminated against in any way in social, cultural, political, academic, economic and family contexts (Zeyneloğlu, 2008). Zeyneloğlu (2008) drew attention to three dimensions of gender equality. The first of these; gender non-discrimination, the second; accepting that there are some differences in the birth of men and women and preventing the inequalities that result from these differences, third; to develop programs to prevent gender inequality towards women.
Being aware of the fact that men and women have developmentally diverse and differing needs and strengths, identifying the differences that create inequality and implementing policies to establish a balance between the two sexes in the field of life requires the adoption of a gender equity view.
