A hundred years of debates on sex differences: Developing research for social change

After women secured the right to vote some hundred years ago, the assertions about their innate inferiority gradually began to vanish, giving way to theories about the countless aspects which apparently differentiated them from men. In this paper, we follow the evolution of research on sex differences, starting with the work of the first female psychologists who questioned the theories that justified women’s subordinate positions in society. We trace the main developments of the studies on sex differences, their relationship with social roles, gender stereotypes, and gender identity, and describe the strategies used to highlight the role of society rather than of biology in shaping men and women’s personalities and behaviors. We describe the controversies this area of research gave rise to, the debates over its political implications, and the changes observed over time in women’s social positions and within research perspectives. Finally, we discuss the mutually reinforcing effects of social organization and lay conceptions of gender and reflect on how the field of research on sex differences has contributed to building a fairer society.

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Running as a Woman (or Man): A Review of Research on Political Communicators and Gender Stereotypes

Review of Communication Research ◽

10.12840/issn.2255-4165.020 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. 109-138

Author(s):

Kelly L. Winfrey ◽

James M. Schnoebelen

Keyword(s):

Political Communication ◽

Gender Stereotypes ◽

Communication Research ◽

Scholarly Journals ◽

The Public ◽

And Gender ◽

The Right ◽

Year Of The Woman ◽

Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

Women gained the right to vote nearly 100 years ago, but it was not until 1980 that political scholars and practitioners began paying much attention to the role of women in elections and it was the so-called “Year of the Woman” in 1992 that sparked increased scholarly attention on women as political communicators. A record number of women, 117, ran for the U.S. Congress in 1992, but the number of women running and serving has been slow to increases since that time. One reason may be the unique challenges gender poses for female political communicators. Over three decades of research has proven gender stereotypes and expectations play a key role in how women (and men) communicate with voters. This review of research summarizes major findings and changes in gender and political communication research over the past three decades. Our focus is on communication by candidates and how gender shapes that communication. In all, 119 scholarly sources were reviewed; these sources included scholarly journals from related disciplines as well as books. Gender stereotypes in political communication have also been studied using a variety of methodologies, and to reflect that the research reviewed in this essay include both quantitative and qualitative methods. This summary of existing research includes a discussion of the gender stereotypes faced by candidates and how candidates present themselves to the public in light of these stereotypes.

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Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9–10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences

Children ◽

10.3390/children8050411 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (5) ◽

pp. 411

Author(s):

Shervin Assari ◽

Shanika Boyce ◽

Tanja Jovanovic

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Parental Education ◽

Predictor Variable ◽

National Sample ◽

Hippocampal Volume ◽

Study Data ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The Right

Aim: This study tested sex differences in the association between hippocampal volume and working memory of a national sample of 9–10-year-old children in the US. As the hippocampus is functionally lateralized (especially in task-related activities), we explored the results for the right and the left hippocampus. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study data. This analysis included baseline ABCD data (n = 10,093) of children between ages 9 and 10 years. The predictor variable was right and left hippocampal volume measured by structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). The primary outcome, list sorting working memory, was measured using the NIH toolbox measure. Sex was the moderator. Age, race, ethnicity, household income, parental education, and family structure were the covariates. Results: In the overall sample, larger right (b = 0.0013; p < 0.001) and left (b = 0.0013; p < 0.001) hippocampal volumes were associated with higher children’s working memory. Sex had statistically significant interactions with the right (b = −0.0018; p = 0.001) and left (b = −0.0012; p = 0.022) hippocampal volumes on children’s working memory. These interactions indicated stronger positive associations between right and left hippocampal volume and working memory for females compared to males. Conclusion: While right and left hippocampal volumes are determinants of children’s list sorting working memory, these effects seem to be more salient for female than male children. Research is needed on the role of socialization, sex hormones, and brain functional connectivity as potential mechanisms that may explain the observed sex differences in the role of hippocampal volume as a correlate of working memory.

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Exploring Gender Differences in Support for Rightist Parties: The Role of Party and Gender Ideology

Politics & Gender ◽

10.1017/s1743923x17000599 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (01) ◽

pp. 80-105 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Rosie Campbell ◽

Silvia Erzeel

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Western Europe ◽

Gender Ideology ◽

Radical Right ◽

Special Issue ◽

Gender Ideologies ◽

Populist Radical Right ◽

And Gender ◽

The Right

This contribution to the Special Issue on Gender and Conservatism uses expert and election surveys to explore the extent to which the feminist or traditional gender ideology of parties of the right relates to their economic and liberal/authoritarian ideology. We show that although parties of the left generally espouse more feminist ideologies than parties of the right, there are a significant number of rightist parties in Western Europe that combine laissez-faire economic values with liberal feminist ideals. That said, there is more homogeneity among parties of the populist radical right than rightist parties more generally. We find that despite some variation in their gender ideology, parties of the populist radical right overwhelmingly—with the exception of one party in the Netherlands—continue to adopt traditional or antifeminist gender ideologies. In terms of attracting women voters, we find that rightist parties who adopt a feminist gender ideology are able to attract more women voters than other parties of the right. We detect several examples of center-right parties that include feminist elements in their gender ideologies and are able to win over larger proportions of women voters than rightist parties that fail to adopt feminist positions.

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Introduction

10.1332/policypress/9781529212204.003.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

Charles Devellennes

Keyword(s):

News Media ◽

State Violence ◽

The Political ◽

Political Leaders ◽

The Social ◽

Fundamental Challenge ◽

New Type ◽

The Right ◽

Over Time

This chapter gives introduces the gilet jaunes. The gilets jaunes, a group of French protesters named after their iconic yellow vests donned during demonstrations, have formed a new type of social movement. The gilets jaunes have been variously interpreted since they began their occupation of French roundabouts. They were at first received with enthusiasm on the right of the French political establishment, and with caution on the left. The fourth weekend saw scenes of violence erupt on the Champs Élysées, notably around and within the Arc de Triomphe, which towers over the first roundabout built in France. The headlines of newspapers and stories of the news media became almost exclusively focused on the violence of the protests. Images of state violence became ever-present on Twitter and independent media outlets, making it clear that it was the use of disproportionate force by police units that was at the centre of the events. The chapter explains that the aim of the book is to show that the use of violence is not the only tale to be told about the role of the protesters in the contemporary French context. Their contribution to the political landscape of France is quite different. They have provided a fundamental challenge to the social contract in France, the implicit pact between the governed and their political leaders. The movement has seen the numbers of participants diminish over time, but the underlying tension between the haves and the have-nots, the winners of globalization and those at risk of déclassement [social downgrading], are enduring and persistent.

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Zing Zing Bang Bang: How Do You Know What She Really Meant. Gender Bias in Response to Irony: The Role of Who is Speaking to Whom

Psychology of Language and Communication ◽

10.1515/plc-2016-0014 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 219-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Anna Milanowicz ◽

Piotr Kałowski

Keyword(s):

Gender Stereotypes ◽

Language Use ◽

Response Times ◽

Intergroup Bias ◽

Comparison Theory ◽

Stereotype Activation ◽

The Social ◽

And Gender ◽

Activation Conditions

Abstract Literature points towards the role of context in irony interpretation and the existence of gender differences in language use. We decided to examine the influence of interlocutors’ gender stereotypes on interpreting and reacting to ironic criticism in conversation. To this end, we designed two experiments gathering participants’ responses to the same ironic utterances voiced both by women and by men in control and gender stereotype activation conditions. Results of the first experiment showed that women tended to use irony significantly more often when responding to a man than to another woman. The second, ongoing experiment will additionally examine participants’ response times and total time of utterance in respect to their addressee’s gender. The results are discussed with regard to the social comparison theory (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987) and the linguistic intergroup bias theory (Wigboldus & Douglas, 2007).

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Female Roles in La Cinta Dorada by María Manuela Reina and Models of the World

East European Journal of Psycholinguistics ◽

10.29038/eejpl.2021.8.1.agu ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ana María Aguilar López ◽

Marta Miguel Borge

Keyword(s):

Internal Model ◽

Point Of View ◽

The Past ◽

Male Characters ◽

The World ◽

And Gender ◽

Psychological Balance ◽

Over Time ◽

Female Drama

Our model of the world that we perceive within ourselves, our conscience, in short, our psychological balance is influenced by our surroundings. Part of the input to which we are exposed in this immediate environment is related to texts, self-managed discourse, which can also influence our internal model of the world; hence they are deserving of our attention. In the same way as the models of the world that we construct throughout our lives, reality is not static and also changes as time goes by. From a social point of view, we can see that the roles of women in modern-day society and the ways that those roles can be perceived today are a consequence of changes initiated in the past within different areas and in a prolonged process over time up until our day. With the aim of evaluating whether female drama has contributed to that change, we present an analysis in this paper of the play La Cinta Dorada [The Golden Ribbon] by María Manuela Reina, written and set in the 1980s, a decade that for Spain implied a more obvious abandonment of the most traditional conceptions of the role of women. In the analysis of the play, we see how the models of the world of the older people are counterposed with those of the younger people, a generational divide that is enriched with the gender difference, as we also analyze how the psychological structures of the female and male characters confront the clichés pertaining to another era in reference to such topics as success, infidelity, matrimony, and gender. The results of our analysis demonstrate how Reina responds to archaic conceptions, thereby inciting the audiences of the day to question their respective models of the world, especially, with regard to the role of the woman in society.

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Reaching Back to Traditional Teachings: Diné Knowledge and Gender Politics

Genealogy ◽

10.3390/genealogy5040095 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 95

Author(s):

Souksavanh Tom Keovorabouth

Keyword(s):

Well Being ◽

Oral Traditions ◽

Traditional Teaching ◽

Teaching Philosophies ◽

Western Influence ◽

Two Spirit ◽

And Gender ◽

The Right ◽

Creation Stories

As Diné, we must understand the traditional teachings that were once in place through oral traditions and teachings. There are many troubles Diné (Navajo) women and Nadleeh (Two-Spirit) people face from outside the community, but due to western influence, we endure the same effects from within our own Nation. Through this paper, I aim to propose resolutions to move our Nation in the right direction for social change and build a community of acceptance by reaching back to traditional teaching philosophies without the influence of cis-heteronormative patriarchal structures. I argue that adoptions of these western institutions have severe effects on Diné women and Nadleeh (Two-Spirit) livelihood and well-being. In this paper, I examine three areas of Diné philosophy and cosmology: (1) the central role of K’é (family) and the matrilineal clanship, (2) Diné women and Nadleeh voices in our creation stories, and (3) Hozhó, the beauty way, to understand the masculine and feminine energies of Diné cosmology in order to address the importance of women and Nadleeh on Dinétah.

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The Representations and Implications of Gender Stereotypes Portrayed in Three Selected TV Advertisements Shown in Bangladesh: A Critical Interpretation

Shanlax International Journal of English ◽

10.34293/english.v9i1.3461 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

Saheeh Shafi

Keyword(s):

Gender Stereotypes ◽

Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis ◽

Analysis Framework ◽

Gender Representations ◽

Language And Gender ◽

Political Implications ◽

The Social ◽

Critical Interpretation ◽

And Gender ◽

Precise Interpretation

This paper aims at a precise interpretation of gender stereotypes portrayed in the three selected TV advertisements in order to find out their implications in Bangladeshi context. The analysis begins with Goffman’s Gender Stereotypes Hypothesis, a theoretical framework to examine and justify the thematic features present in the ads. After critically examining the hypothesis and Kress and Van Leeuwen’s Systemic Functional Analysis framework is used to analyse and interpret the semiotic features such as; the signs and symbols. After that, Fairclough’s Discourse Analysis is used to find out the stylistic features and their implied meanings in the advertisements to search the social, cultural and political implications. Then the paper uses Pope’s The Rape of the Lock and it’s Cultural-Ecofeminist Analysis of Francois d’Eaubonne to connect the above mentioned frameworks from a contextual view-point. To give the interpretation of Stereotypes deeply rooted in the minds of both male and female, Freud’s Psychoanalysis is used. Both Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis are taken into consideration for exploring the Gender Stereotypes thoroughly. This research is basically a blend of Literature, Language and Gender along with other Disciplines to interpret Stereotypes from a holistic framework. To predict the future progression of the gender representations and their implications in the coming years in Bangladesh, an umbrella term “Multi-Disciplinary Framework” will be used to examine whether the changes in gender roles both at home and outside in the workplaces due to the changes in different socio-economic and cultural factors are reflected or not in the TV advertisements.

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