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Conference publications

Abstracts

XIX conference

Social gender and its role in the modern society

Mizyourina T.

Russia, 454021, Chelyabinsk, Br. Kashirinykh street 129

2 pp. (accepted)

Gender includes a number of characteristics, that are used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Nowadays, the term «gender» is commonly used even to refer to the physiology of non-human animals, without any implication of social gender roles.

Speaking about gender, we may define gender as a social category that has come to be seen as highly fluid. It’s worth mentioning, that the social sciences sometimes approach gender as a social construct while the natural sciences investigate whether biological differences in males and females influence the development of gender in humans; both form a debate about how far biological differences influence gender identity formation.

Categorizing males and females into social roles creates binaries in which individuals feel they have to be at one end of a linear spectrum and must identify themselves as a man or a woman. Globally, communities interpret biological differences between men and women to create a set of social expectations that define the behaviors that are «appropriate» for men and women and determine women’s and men’s to rights, power in society, resources and health behaviors. Although the specific nature and degree of these differences vary from one society to the next, they typically favor men, creating an imbalance in power and gender inequalities in all countries.

Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex and social role to gender identity. Today, the distinction is strictly followed in some contexts, like feminist literature, and the documents written by different organizations, but in most contexts, even in some areas of social sciences, the meaning of gender has expanded to include «sex» or even to replace the latter word.

Social identity refers to the common identification with a collectivity or social category which creates a common culture among participants concerned.



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