Before the emergence of the discipline of gender studies, there was an understanding that the social is biologically determined; that is, boys and girls are like that because they were born like that. The understanding that the dual division of norms constructed by society does not coincide with the biological one gave rise to the development of gender studies in the 1960s and 1970s (Baligar, 2018). Currently, the direction of social constructivism was developing in the social sciences. It is based on the idea that a person has an active consciousness, and the whole social reality depends on what kind of consciousness a person has, what they know and what norms and patterns they are guided by. Accordingly, all this “gender superstructure” and gender relations are socially constructed, not biologically predetermined behavior parameters (Baligar, 2018). This means, firstly, they may not correspond literally to the binary system of gender patterns, which is tied to the division into male and female, and secondly, they may change over time.
The binary system too rigidly fixes patterns of behavior, a set of responsibilities and expectations for a woman and a man. Non-compliance with these patterns causes disapproval on the part of society and can provoke real painful sanctions (for example, the dismissal from work of fathers who ventured to take parental leave) (Sarti et al., 2018). It is worth noting that the possibilities to choose behavior scenarios are significantly narrowed. The binary gender system usually becomes a tool for reproducing gender inequality in society. It is difficult for a woman who is seen only as a mother and a housekeeper to become president.
Modern reality offers a wide range of patterns, including gender behavior. That binary system of sex roles, which was mentioned above, ceases to coincide with the requests and desires of people, becomes too tight. Its lack of alternative contradicts the wide possibilities of choice in planning family life, professional career, creative trajectories of personality that exist in modern society. Thus, gender becomes an essential object for sociologists to study, as it is directly related to the changes taking place in society.
References
Baligar, M. P. (2018). Gender theories in sociology. Journal of Research and Analytical Review, 5(3), 617–619. Web.
Sarti, R., Bellavitis, A., & Martini, M. (Eds.). (2018). What is Work?: Gender at the Crossroads of Home, Family, and Business from the Early Modern Era to the Present (Vol. 30). Berghahn Books.