Gender is a social construction

Social construction (social construct) is a concept or practice that is the construct of a particular group. When we say that something is socially constructed, we are focusing on its dependence on contingent variables of our social selves rather than any inherent quality that it possesses in itself.

For example our notion of "marriage," what this terms includes and doesn't include and what it means to us does not exist "out there" in the world, but only in and through the social institutions that give it meaning within a culture.

From birth on, infants of both sexes are conditioned by parental and other adult responses to behave, think, act, and interact in gender-specific role manifestations. This analysis will explore the social construction of gender to show how men and women are often "assigned" certain traits and attributes that may or may not be limiting to their development.

There are many examples of the different traits and attributes that males and females are socialized to accept as their own in society. Female children, for the most part are encouraged to be cooperative, compassionate, caring, and nurturing; largely in preparation for roles as wife and mother. Male children, in contrast, are socialized toward independence, assertiveness, competition, and achievement; they are often expected to suppress their emotions and feelings, especially ones that are tender.

Gender traits - attributed or acquired - permeate every interaction between men and women in both formal and informal and intimate and professional environments. Although the pattern in contemporary society is toward a greater form of egalitarianism than in the past, this pattern is not universal. Women, in the main, are still socialized toward undertaking the so-called "dependent" roles of wives and mothers, while men are socialized toward regarding themselves as more independent and less nurturing than women. These patterns of socializing gender are important in that they affect the ways in which males and females perceive themselves and construct their external affects. For instance, conversational style (men talk; women listen) is one external affect of gender differences.