Sex-gender distinction
Topic: Equality and Social Justice · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 3 "Equality"
Meaning
The sex-gender distinction is a key feminist idea. Sex is the biological difference between men and women. Gender is the set of roles that society assigns to them. Feminists argue that most inequalities between men and women come from gender, which society made. They do not come from sex, which nature made. So these inequalities can be changed. Simone de Beauvoir (1949) put it this way: "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman".
Example
Only women can bear children. That is sex. But this does not mean only women should raise children or do housework. That is gender, a role society has assigned. India's Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 gives women 26 weeks of leave for the biological fact of childbirth. It also requires crèches where there are 50 or more employees, so that childcare does not keep women out of work.
Don't confuse with
- Natural inequalities: these are differences in inborn ability. The sex-gender distinction shows that many differences called "natural" between men and women are really social roles.