Gender Differences

The words gender and sex are two different words with two different meanings that are, nonetheless, often confused and used interchangeably; the word gender is thought to be a softer, more polite way to talk about sex, particularly sexual differences between men and women. Sex, however, refers to the biological distinction of male and female (i.e., his sex is male; her sex is female), whereas gender refers to cultural aspects of masculine and feminine, the degree to which and how one understands what it means to be male or female. To illustrate, many languages (e.g., French, German, Spanish) assign gender to nouns (e.g., in Spanish, the noun la casa “house” is feminine, whereas el reo “river” is masculine). Many people believe that there are differences between men and women (e.g., men are objective, solution oriented, and dominant; women are passive, nurturing, and intuitive) and differences in the ways in which each sex relates to, and understands itself to be in, the world. Having an understanding of these differences is important for anyone working in educational psychology.

However, it is important to know that many of these differences that are assumed to be normative, universal, and timeless may, similar to language, actually be [Page 430]culturally constructed and indeed vary from culture to culture and generation to generation. With only a few exceptions (e.g., visual-spatial abilities, aggressive behavior), there is little empirical evidence for many gender differences between men and women.

This entry reviews gender differences between men and women, many of which are stereotypical assumptions and a few of which have empirical support. A brief review of feminist contributions to the subject is also considered, as well as the binary construct of gender and some of its criticisms, including that not all cultures share Western notions of masculine and feminine behavior. Not everyone's chromosomal makeup is strictly male (i.e., XY chromosomes) or female (i.e., XX chromosomes); rather, some people are born intersex. Therefore, implications for sexual orientation are reviewed, as well as transgender, transsexual, and intersex concerns, including an illustration from the well-known John/Joan case. Multicultural considerations are also discussed, as well as applicable diagnostic considerations and their importance to educational psychology.