Gender: The Basics

Gender: The Basics is an engaging introduction to the influence of cultural, historical, biological, psychological, and economic forces on ways in which we have come to define and experience femininity and masculinity, and on the impact and importance of gender categories. Highlighting that there is far more to gender than biological sex, it examines theories and research about how and why gender categories and identities are developed and about how interpersonal and societal power relationships are gendered. It takes a global and intersectional perspective to examine the interaction between gender and a wide range of topics including:

Relationships, intimacy, and concepts of sexuality across the lifespan

The workplace and labour markets

Gender related violence and war

Public health, poverty, and development

Gender and public leadership

This new edition includes increased coverage of trans visibility and activism, LGBTQ studies and critical masculinity studies, global developments in women’s political leadership, links between gender and economic wellbeing, and cyberbullying.

Supporting theory with examples and case studies from a variety of contexts, suggestions for further reading, and a detailed glossary, this text is an essential read for anyone approaching the study of gender for the first time.

Table of Contents

1. Gender: everybody has/does one

2. Theoretical frameworks for thinking about gender

3. Power, inequalities, and prejudice

4. Relationships, intimacy, and sexualities

5. The gendered workplace

6. Gender, leadership, and public life

7. Global patterns of gender-related violence

8. Global patterns of gender and health

9. The shape of our future: gender and the aging population

Epilogue: the future of gender

Glossary

Index