Cross-Cultural Models or Approaches to Gender

Inherent in the concept of gender is its sociocultural construction. Where a person is born may be the most important question in discerning who they will become, including how they will conceive, express, and socialize others into a gender. Basically, culture matters. Socialization of gender starts at birth and continues throughout the life span. While variations in approaches to and forms of gender are found across cultures, socialization for gender roles is ubiquitous—so much so that learned roles are often seen as natural and expected. However, decades of psychological and anthropological research has helped us understand different approaches to gender cross-culturally, with patterns both across and within cultures becoming better understood. This entry highlights the theory that directs views of gender and culture and gender ...