Nature Vs Nurture in Gender Inequality

Final Essay - Womens, Gender, and Sexuality Studies – WGS – 250

Final Essay

Nature vs Nurture in Gender Inequality

All Souls College which is located in Oxford, England is considered one of the most prestigious schools in the world. It has the one of the largest financial endowments at 272 million pounds and they do not have any undergraduate students. Each year, the school admits new graduates who successfully passed a grueling entrance exam that many consider to be one of the most challenging in the world. One of the questions posed in a previous exam was “What difference should it make to feminism whether gender differences are natural (biological) or socially constructed? To answer this question, one must become familiar with the feminist movement and understand how the construction of gender differences may influence the direction of the group’s fight for social equality. As we will see, while biology is the foundation and excuse used by males to place women in specific social roles, it’s is ultimately the social construction of gender and the need to change this ideology that is at the core of feminist efforts.

By definition, feminism is a movement by a collection of individuals in the fight for woman’s rights for social, political, and economic equality. They believe that woman are unjustly oppressed and treated inferior to men because of their sex and offer visions and goals on how these issues could and should be rectified. Feminism attempts to change the cultural mindset of a sex based social hierarchy and focuses on creating awareness on what behavior towards woman is consider discriminatory, what behaviors create the disadvantage,  and the changes needed to achieve gender equality. Central to the efforts of the movement is the question “Why are women treated inferior to men?” To the feminist movement, the analysis of whether this is socially or biologically constructed is key.

The idea that gender differences are based on biological makeup goes back to the idea of biological determinism, which is the idea that a person’s social identity has been pre-determined by their sex. Depending on whether one is a male or female, biology determines metabolic state, which influences and determines psychological and physical traits. Women are anabolic, thus, they are meant to conserve energy. This makes them weak and passive, suitable for less strenuous activities away from political or social matters. Men are the opposite. They have katabolic metabolisms that make them energetic and strong, and more suitable for strenuous activities and political issues. This type of explanation was often used as an argument to justify sexism, arguing that women were actually “built” not to have certain rights.

The same biological determinism was used to argue women’s places in the household and in the labor market. Since women are biologically made for childbearing and responsible for birth, the creation and caring of children is defined as the natural role for women. Thus, the household responsibilities for the children and the rest of the family was seen as natural to women. On the other hand, since men are more suitable for strenuous work, their place was outside of the home, engaging in food producing activities such as agriculture. Woman’s labor was considered “biological” because her labor was derived from the womb while the work performed by men was seen as productive or “true” labor since they used bodily instruments.