Gender and Sex Diversity

A Few Definitions. In this section we discuss what is known about learning differences
between males and females. Let’s start by distinguishing between the word gender, which
refers to traits and behaviors that a particular culture believes to be appropriate for men
and women, and the word sex, which refers to the biological differences of men and women
(Brannon, 2002). Regardless of the age, culture, and many other differences among your
students, you will be confronted with both sex and gender differences. Sex differences are
almost always immediately obvious and controlled by nature. Gender differences instead
are psychologically and socially controlled differences related to how individuals express
their biological sex in their behavior. Gender bias occurs when a person has unjustified views
of female versus male competencies favoring one gender over the other.

Nature versus Nurture. There is much debate about the extent to which biological differences
(nature) and gender socialization (nurture) affect people’s behavior. There are physical
characteristics such as size and growth rate that can be explained by genetics (Berk,
2006). In addition, sex hormones affect the development of gender differences in the
brain. For example, testosterone affects the development of the right and left hemispheres
of the brain, with males exhibiting more lateralization of their brains than females
(Meinschaefer, Hausmann, & Guentuerkuen, 1999). Other evidence for the role of hormones
in gender differences comes from research on women’s change in abilities across
their menstrual cycle. Specifically, when female hormones are at their lowest, females do
better on tasks in which males are typically superior, (such as visuospatial ones), and when
female hormones are at their peak, females do better on tasks in which females typically
excel, such as verbal fluency (Hampson, 1990). However, males and females are mostly
indistinguishable in their brain anatomy. The two documented exceptions are that the
corpus callosum is larger in females than in males (LeDoux, 1996, 2002) and that the areas
of the brain involved in visuospatial processing are larger in males than in females
(Frederikse et al., 2000). Still, what is not clear is whether these brain differences are the
cause of the different behaviors that females and males display or their effect.
The case for nurture is supported by cross-cultural research, which shows that all societies engage in gender
socialization: teaching the behavior and attitudes considered appropriate for a given sex. All cultures have genderspecific roles and treat males and females differently in many respects; however, different societies display quite different gender roles (Feingold, 1992; Grossman & Grossman, 1994). Additional support comes from a sociocognitive theory of gender, which emphasizes the role that observation, imitation, rewards, and punishment play in children’s gender development. For instance, many parents
encourage different activities, traits, and toys for boys and girls (Brannon, 2002; Bronstein, 2006). Peers are also found to reward gender-appropriate and punish genderinappropriate behavior (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006), playing an important gender-socializing role. Finally, the media also shape gender roles by portraying females and males as having different traits or engaging in different activities
(Comstock & Scharrer, 2006; Pacheco & Hurtado, 2001). The role of gender socialization is illustrated in
Figure 2.6, which shows the responses of two fourth-graders, a girl and a boy, to the Unusual Uses Test, which is used to measure students’ creativity (Silvia & Phillips, 2004). Can you tell which of the two sheets was written by a boy?