Life Span Development II School Age and Adolescence

Life Span Development II: School age and Adolescence 3 (2+1)

Lesson 24 : Gender Identity and Sex Role Stereotypes

Concept of Gender identity

• Gender refers to attitudes and perceptions on one’s own sex
• Gender identity is the individual’s internal sense or perception of being male or female.
• Gender roleor sex role is the outward expression of maleness or femaleness in social settings and the duties and responsibilities one has to perform as a male or female.
• Masculinity and femininity refers to those qualities of personality characteristics of man or woman.

When one speaks of a masculine man that person is expressing a value judgment based on an assessment of the personality and behavior characteristics of the male according to culturally defined standards of “maleness”.

Similarly a feminine woman is labeled according to culturally determined criteria for “femaleness”.