Title: Gender role - Wikipedia
Headings: Gender role
Gender role
Contents
Background
Theories of gender as a social construct
Major theorists
Talcott Parsons
Geert Hofstede
John Money
Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman
Biological factors
Culture
Religion
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Studies on marriage in the U.S.
Communication of gender roles in the United States
Media
Social Interaction
Changing gender roles in marriage
Changing roles
Gender stereotype differences in cultures: East and West
Communication
Nonverbal communication
Communication and gender cultures
Communication and sexual desire
Gender stereotypes
General
In the workplace
Economic and social consequences
Implicit gender stereotypes
Gender inequality online
Politics and gender issues
In political office
Feminism and women's rights
Men's rights
Gender neutrality
Transgender and cross-dressing
Sexual orientation
Criminal justice
Gender roles in family violence
See also
References
External links

Content: Gender expression
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines gender roles as "socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women". Debate continues as to what extent gender and gender roles are socially constructed (i.e. non-biologically influenced), and to what extent "socially constructed" may be considered synonymous with "arbitrary" or "malleable". Therefore, a concise authoritative definition of gender roles or gender itself is elusive. In the sociology of gender, the process whereby an individual learns and acquires a gender role in society is termed gender socialization. Gender roles are culturally specific, and while most cultures distinguish only two ( boy and girl or man and woman ), others recognize more. Androgyny, for example, has been proposed as a third gender. An "androgyne" or "androgynous person" is someone with qualities pertaining to both the male and female gender. Other societies have claimed to identify more than five genders, and some non-Western societies have three genders: man, woman, and third gender. Some individuals (not necessarily from such a culture) identify with no gender at all.