gender inequalities Essay

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Is biology destiny? While biology does determine the group a person is segregated into, society has the ultimate power to establish the way we are perceived as ‘gender’. By comparing the views of social biologists and social constructionists, I intend to put forth the idea that biology is in fact, not destiny. Sex is a biological term where as gender is a cultural one. Socio- biologists argue that biology, meaning our genetic make up; shapes the behavior of the individual and in turn also determines social in-equalities such as gender inequalities present in society. Socio- biologists believe that the sex a person is born, categorizes them into the way society will perceive and treat them, this theory is known as biological determinism(O’ Shaughnessy and Stadler, 2006). Socio- constructionists believe however that ‘gender is a social distinction between men and women (Germov & Poole, 2007) and you are not born a woman or a man but rather female or male and develop into either a woman or a man due to society and its structures .Social ideologies such as gender hierarchy, culture, order and institutions are said to contribute to gender inequality, not the sex of the person as thought by socio-biologists. Prior to the feminist movement in Australia in the 1970’s, the word ‘gender’ did not exist; there was very much a socio-biologists view present in society at this time. This meant there was great masses of gender inequality present in Australia, males and females role’s in society were given to them based on a whole range of other differences: ‘bodily strength and speed, physical skills (men have mechanical skills and women are good at homemaking work i.e. sewing), and their mannerisms; (men are seen as aggressive and strong and women are nurturing) and so on’ Connell (2002). These ‘genetic’ differences were said to be the ‘back bone’ to the way females and
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