Psychology

How does one learn and develop gender

Introduction
At a time when societal progress is increasingly demanding greater input from the society to propel its globalized outlook, the ability to learn and develop gender is very critical in facilitating greater contribution.  Effective learning and development of ones gender is critical in aligning an individual with the societal expectations which create the impetus for growth.  However, the notion of gender learning and development has increasingly elicited a hotly contested debate with one school indicating that they are innate while the other indicates that they are learnt.  It is from this consideration that this paper evaluates mechanisms that an individual employ to learn and develop gender in the society.  In conclusion, the paper provides clear recommendations that can be employed to improve learning and development of an individuals gender.

Brief analysis of gender
According to Matsumoto (2001), gender is a holistic term that is used with reference to a wide range of characteristics that differentiate females from males.  As a result, it extends from an individuals biological outlook to their social roles in the community.  It is worth noting that categorizing people as females or males as Joan (2004) indicates creates binaries that make them to strongly feel they have to be part of the unit linear spectrum in identifying themselves as either men or women.  Michael Foucault, a western philosopher argued that human beings are objects of power and therefore a signifier of the title attributed to them.  Therefore, its learning and development constructs the ideologies on behavior, the action, beliefs, attitudes and even values that they depict in the wider society (Bruce, 2005).  Learning and development is also depicted to be a lifelong process that continuously improves peoples viewpoints on variant issues and creates new horizons for their expectations.  It is from this consideration that gender learning and development is cited to be very critical in the society.  

Learning through socialization
In his theory of learning, Albert Bandura indicated that an individuals immediate environment is very critical for their learning.   As Thomas and Hanns (2000) point lout, the theory of learning indicates that depending on the forces that present themselves in the environment, the extent and development will greatly vary.  Learning and development of ones gender therefore follows and is influenced by the following major factors.

Learning and development through peers
According to James (2007), peer pressure remains one of the most influential learning and development tool for an individuals gender.  At an early age, most of the boys and girls form social peers from which they learn and develop many of their personality traits.  Eric Erickson in his psychosocial stages of development indicated that peer influence among the youths presents one of the strongest forces in shaping their beliefs, orientation and association in the society.  Due to this association, Matsumoto (2001) argues that peer influence for the children and adolescents influences their core abilities to learn their major differences, in relation to gender.  Notably, through peer interaction, analysts indicate that by the age of two years most children have started to develop preference for the same gender.  While supporting the same notion, Joan (2004) argues that peer influence fast develops an individuals understanding about gender based on complementary information.  It is particularly worth noting that in tandem with Eric Ericksons theory of personality development, current media especially the television and computers are invoking the sense of gender with great vitality at all stages (Rogers, 2006).

Caretaking
Barbara and Newman (2008) explain that at any time, the society considers a family to be the initial most important trainer of an individual about core issues they are expected to follow.   Notably, the females have generally assumed the role of caretaking in the society as men join in the process much latter.  The absence of the male parent at the early stages creates a sense of masculinity in the family and the community.  In a family where a mother is left at home when the father goes away to work, Matsumoto (2001) reports that there is tendency for development of dependency by the females and a possible sense of excessive aggression by the males.  Besides, care giving further develops gender in that most fathers tend to give less effort towards daughters nurturing in their growth.  As a result, the female child remains with the mother or the caregiver who encourage her to take feministic roles such as cooking and taking care of other children while boys are allocated more wanting tasks (Thomas and Hanns, 2000). Over 75 of mothers and caretakers belief that their boys are stronger and should therefore be allocated much wanting tasks while girls are allocated less wanting duties associated with the homestead.  Though this notion is widely held in the developing world, it is increasingly being abandoned in the western communities.

Education
It is no doubt that education acts as one of the most important factors that teaches an individual and further develops their gender in the community.  According to social learning theories, an individuals mind continues to develop depending on the information they get cumulatively (Bruce, 2005).  When children go to school, they are subjected to key life realities that point about sexuality.  This realization however acts as a catalyst towards further discoveries associated with them being either females or male.  Particularly, it leads to formation of peer groups among the boys and girls which further correlates the societal demands and how they are expected to act.  An important tool at this point is the media which provides endless information to the learners on their genders and expectations of the society.

According to cognitive theories of personality development, individuals develop their knowledge cumulatively and therefore increasingly become analytical as opposed being receptive of the information they get.  Therefore, the development of gender in an individual becomes subject to their cognitive capabilities which facilitate an analytical outlook before assimilating a given trait.  As a result, most adults are increasingly deviating from some oppressive gender related roles and developing new acceptable trends in the community (James, 2007and Matsumoto, 2001).

Religion demands and orientation
Analysts indicate that religion is one of the main influential factors to the largest numbers of people in the society.  In gender, the same consideration is evident as people follow the religious teachings with great vitality.  In most religions, the teachings provide a holistic coverage of the expected lifestyles in leadership, family issues, and in the community.   With key examples of leaders in historic times, men are depicted to be better leaders in their communities than women (Rogers, 2006).  Therefore, followers easily differentiate their expectations from an early age in the society.  Christians, Muslims and even Buddhists have over the years considered that male leaders are better because their religious icons were male.

At the family level, men are considered to have greater authority while women are considered to be submissive.  Particularly, the creation of Adam and placement in the garden of Aden before Eve has been cited to have greatly significant of the position and roles to be played by both genders (Bruce, 2005).  The development of religious doctrines in relation to gender is the holy consideration of the religious teachings which demand strict followership.  However, it is worth noting that the view point of religion is increasingly coming under major criticism as people view it to be highly stagnating.  One school of thought indicates that females have increasingly been discriminated while the other school cites poor interpretations of the Holy Scriptures (James, 2007).

Economic and gender position in the community
According to Joan (2004), the immediate environment of an individual forms a critical element in facilitating greater understanding of other internalized concepts.  Economic status therefore presents an individual with external environment that further molds their considerations on gender.  Notably, some communities which still regard bride prices to be a critical aspect for their childrens marriages create an inherent understanding of the place of women in the society.  They are depicted to be part of the family extended sources of wealth and therefore serving as a pointer of the roles they are expedited to play before and after they get married.  Matsumoto (2001) indicates that many communities especially in the developing countries with high prices attached to girls during marriages invoke great favoritism to them as opposed to boys who are expected to give out their wealth.

Besides, women over the years have constantly been discriminated in the society especially in areas of paid employment.  Though it can be traced far from earlier discrimination in the education sector, Barbara and Newman (2008) indicate that their poor economic status has been used to emphasize their home-based nature.  As a result, this consideration has created the viewpoint of submissiveness at the home setting and mens domineering outlook in the community.  Consequently, the prevalence of male gender in the top offices has created the impression that men as opposed to women are indeed more effective in high profile tasks.

According to Santrock (2006), more men are involved in managerial and political related activities that result to wielding power more than women.  As a result, this outlook is taken to be the norm, a consideration that has greatly contributed in the quest for power by more women in the society.   With this great dominance, the views and possible intentions of addressing the situation becomes greatly limited and even at times confronted with key resistance form those in authority.
Learning gender through culture

Cultural values and beliefs
According to David (2008), cultures form one of the most important elements that act as a platform and a teaching facet to individuals gender.  Notably, everybody is brought up in a culture with definite systems of operations that are well defined for both men and women.  At this point an individual is placed in a system that orients him or her towards a certain outlook in the community.  In his study, Thomas and Hanns (2000) - indicated that at an early stage, learning gender is not very crucial mainly due to the poor understanding depicted by children.  However, it becomes critical as they grow in creating the sense of individuality in them.  While the mechanisms that a culture teaches an individual about his or her gender greatly varies, Barbara and Newman (2008) emphasizes on the need for people to understand their gender as the basis of further developments.

Belonging to a given culture presents an individual with key values and beliefs expectations that define their core outset in relation to others in the community.   Though analysts are indicating of the great degradation for variant communities, the cultural outset is still highly regarded.  Santrock (2006) explains that while women are expected to be gentle and to take lower profiles in key issues such as politics and family aspects, men are required to be much stronger and therefore take a more controlling outset.  In the Muslim communities as Rogers (2006) points out, men and women values are highly differentiated with the female gender taking a much lower hand compared to their male counterparts.  As a result, young children are aligned with the cultural beliefs that prepare them for the differentiated roles.

Community set up
Cultural setup acts as a closed and cyclic system where everybody is viewed to harbor particularistic considerations towards completing the cycle.  As a result, both genders are presented with goals that dictate the required affiliation.  According to James (2007), most of the male students have been opting for science and mathematics oriented subjects while the female genders go for the simpler subjects depending on the extended community goals.   Though this outset has increasingly been criticized, it is still employed in many parts of the world.  Cultural goals therefore act as a major supporting platform upon which preparation for performing the outlined duties follow a given trajectory.   From the above consideration, a culture is able to guarantee itself an effective sustainability of leadership at the home and corporate level.  

Cultural rites in the community
Notably, Barbara and Newman (2008) point out that community rituals and ceremonies by different cultures acts as pointers of an individuals gender either through participating in them or experiencing their execution.  In most of the developing countries, youths are subjected to variant rituals such as circumcision that are conducted to both genders differently.  For instance most of the boys undergo initiation to adulthood through circumcision in many African and Asian communities (David, 2008).  Consequently, passage of this rite marks a key development mark where new roles associated with motherhood, fatherhood or community leadership is established.

Conclusion
It is from the above discussion that this paper concludes by supporting the thesis statement, at a time when societal progress is increasingly demanding greater input from the society to propel its globalized outlook, the ability to learn and develop gender is very critical in facilitating greater contribution.  It came out clearly from the analysis that effective learning and developing an individuals gender is crucial for an individual to be wholly compatible with the societal demands. Besides, it came out effectively that people should seek to learn their genders s a platform to create positive development in different areas of social cultural and economic orientation.  It is therefore crucial that people view gender positively and seek mechanism of improving its positive ideals in the community.