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This chapter uses Sandra Bem’s scholarship to demonstrate the intersections between developmental and social psychological approaches to understanding masculinity and femininity.

To highlight Sandra Bem’s contributions, we examined masculinity and femininity, broadly defined, from a socio-developmental theoretical perspective, conceptualizing gender development as embedded within a socio-historical context.

Our review of the literature illustrates that both age and social contextual features influence femininity and masculinity and more specifically that in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, femininity and masculinity vary depending on the sex (same- vs. other-sex) of those in the social context. Along with demonstrating the current utility and extensions of Sandra Bem’s research, we also emphasize the feminist and social justice applications of her body of work.

Weaknesses in the existing methodology where instruments are designed based on the assumption that masculinity and femininity are stable traits rather than characteristics that vary are discussed. Limitations to research focused on either social or developmental perspectives are highlighted and suggestions for a more integrative approach are provided.

Similar to how Sandra Bem’s work showed that sex and gender need not be linked, research and theory on the developmental and contextual specificity of gender also demonstrate that there is freedom in the expression of gender.

Gender-stereotyped organizational expectations compromise outcomes desired from numerically balanced gender representation. Sex-roles allow both men and women to exhibit masculine or feminine behaviors based on their self-construal of “psychological-gender.” Emotional intelligence (EI) is considered “feminine” and rational intelligence “masculine.” So, using Bem sex-role inventory and Emotional Intelligence Appraisal, the current study explored EI in 217 senior Indian managers from masculine/feminine sex-role perspective. There was no difference in EI of men/women. Moreover, EI did not differ in men/women categorized in “same” sex-role. However significant differences emerged across sex-roles with feminine sex-role participants actually scoring significantly lesser than androgynous or masculine sex-role participants although emotional intelligence is considered as a feminine intelligence. Implications of sex-role-driven differences in EI in organizational context are discussed.

This qualitative study explores college students’ gender schemas. Sandra Bem’s pioneering work on sex roles and gender schemata are highlighted.

Over 600 college students at a diverse southeastern university were asked to describe the advantages and disadvantages to men’s and women’s gender. Although the question was framed broadly, students devoted significant attention to issues surrounding work and family, highlighting the importance of these roles to their understanding of gender. Over 6,800 responses were coded in The Ethnograph software.

The results showed a gendered schema among these students, with gendered views of work and family, in which men are associated with work and women largely with family. Some racial patterns are also discussed.

This chapter ends with a discussion on how the gender schemas expressed support and maintained a separation of work and family.

The measurement of gender in health research often consists of the substitution of the word “gender” in a question that is really asking about sex (physiological characteristics). When gender roles and expressions are actually measured it is normally with a tool such as the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), which is time-consuming to complete and requires expertise to analyze. This study introduces a brief gender measure: a categorical, single-item, self-report, gender measure (SR-Gender), and demonstrates the validity and usability of this new tool.

The SR-Gender was validated in two studies. Participants in Study One were 137 undergraduates. Concurrent criterion validity was assessed by an analysis comparing responses to the SR-Gender and the BSRI and an open-ended gender question. The goal was to ascertain whether the gender identities that these students reported in the SR-Gender were consistent with the classifications obtained on other gender measurement tools. In the second study, the SR-Gender was used with a group of adults over 65 years old in a study of aging with illness.

This study established that the SR-Gender classifications of gender identity were consistent with the results obtained by the open-ended gender question and more complex BSRI measure. The SR-Gender was easily understood and used by younger and older adults, and resulted in nuanced gender classifications.

The SR-Gender takes seconds to complete and provides health researchers with categorical gender classifications that can then be used in analysis of health outcomes, separately or in tandem with physiological sex. It treats masculinity and femininity as independent constructs and includes the potential for androgynous and undifferentiated responses. It is not recommended for in-depth gender research due to the simplicity of the tool.

This chapter introduces the SR-Gender, a simple, quick, and easy-to-use gender measure that could transform health research from paying lip service to gender to actual gender classification, allowing researchers to directly explore the impact of gender identity on health, separately or interacting with other social determinants of health.

There exist a number of approaches that attempt to explain the occupational choices of youth from different perspectives. The social cognitive theory and the self-efficacy approach, to name the most influential, emphasize the centrality of cognitive abilities of individuals in making a career choice, and look at professional orientation primarily through the lenses of micro factors. This chapter extends existing approaches by accentuating the importance of cultural traditions and stereotypes for occupational choices.

This chapter uses official statistical data ranging from the rise of the USSR to the present day. These have been collected by the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) and were partly retrieved from archives.

After a review of extant theoretical frames pertinent to career choices, this chapter suggests a theory of occupational choices through the lenses of gender, thus deploying Sandra L. Bem’s (1973, 1981) framework on gender schema. Proposing a theoretical model that links micro and macro factors, the chapter then demonstrates how the approach functions in the Russian post-socialist context.

The novelty consists of incorporation of sociocultural aspects of occupational choices, thus allowing a scope for comparative research. Additionally, the proposed model of gendered career choices can be employed for explaining differences within sexes. Besides, the model argues that not primarily intelligence but often external factors shape career choices.

This study aims to further investigate the relationship between perceived adherence to gender norms and binge drinking in college students. Thus, researchers examined college students’ perceptions of adherence to masculine and feminine gender norms when gender and alcohol consumption of a vignette character were manipulated.

Undergraduate participants (N = 368) were randomly assigned to one of four vignette conditions: female moderate drinker, female binge drinker, male moderate drinker, male binge drinker and then surveyed regarding perceptions of the vignette character.

The results of this study indicate that there are significant relationships between the vignette character’s alcohol consumption and perceived adherence to feminine gender norms. The character’s gender, as well as the participant’s own alcohol consumption patterns, also related to perceived adherence to feminine gender norms.

College students’ perceptions of binge drinkers are influenced by gender norms, which has important implications for safe consumption of alcohol. When young men (or young women) are encouraged to drink to avoid appearing too feminine, negative consequences may be more likely. In this study, perceptions of the vignette character’s safety were also found to be related to alcohol consumption of the vignette character, as well as the alcohol consumption of the participant, suggesting that a heavy drinker might not show as much concern for another’s heavy consumption.

Purpose: The Internet provides patients easy access to scientific information originally, limited to medical professionals. However, this information may not be entirely relevant to the patient’s context. Therefore, doctor–patient conversations need to contextualize this information to the specific circumstances of the patient’s illness. A problem exists insofar as this conversation may not always meet the patient’s expectations. Interpersonal competence, an important aspect of emotional intelligence, is therefore critical for medical practice in the digital era. “Medicine” is viewed as a “masculine” profession requiring competence, while compassion as “feminine”. Gender stereotyped socialization prescribes gender - congruent emotional display norms for men and women thereby, influencing both gender behavior and emotions. Psychological androgyny is the coexistence of masculine and feminine behavior traits in the same individual irrespective of biological sex. This leads to responses, which are appropriate for situations irrespective of biological sex, rather than gender-stereotyped behaviour. In this study, I explored the role of gender personality and interpersonal competence in doctor–patient interaction.

Design/ methodology/approach: Sixty Indian doctors across different specializations completed the self-report format of emotional intelligence appraisal (Emotional Intelligence Appraisal-EIA) as measure of interpersonal competence and Bem’s Sex role Inventory (BSRI) as a measure of psychological androgyny.

Findings: Psychologically androgynous doctors scored significantly higher on interpersonal competence than non-androgynous doctors.

Practical implication: Since both male and female doctors undergo similar training, there is a need to explore in greater depth the nature of the relationship between androgynous gender behaviors in doctors and corresponding interpersonal competence correlates, to understand their impact on patient care and healthcare related outcomes for both patients and doctors. This is especially critical because, in addition to increasing incidents of violence against doctors in Internet-empowered world, previous research also points to varying patient outcomes and legal complications based on biological sex of doctors.

The following ethnographic study was conducted to better understand the site-specific, qualitative impact of organizational, taken-for-granted assumptions and practices regarding gender and family life in the reproduction of on-the-ground gender inequality. More specifically, this case study considers the consequences of organizational assumptions consistent with Bem’s (1993) three “lenses of gender” – androcentrism, essentialism, and polarization – on direct service provision for homeless clients in a small, faith-based, social service provider.

Interview and participant-observation data were gathered during time spent volunteering with Integrity Intervention (pseudonym): a small liberal Methodist outreach ministry for the homeless. Data collection was guided by the following question: How do Integrity Intervention’s cultural models (or “schemas”) for gender and family life shape the ways the organization becomes a gendered social space?

I find that expectations for client behavior were deeply gendered, in a manner consistent with the “lenses of gender.” Additionally, normative expectations for subordinate masculinities were also informed and crosscut by race and class marginalization. Ultimately, my findings suggest that the “lenses of gender” may be imbued with class and race-specific interpretive meaning. I delineate forms of site-specific gendered, racialized, and classed cultural schemata for understanding poverty and homelessness, and explain how they ultimately work together to preclude inclusive and gender-equitable service provision.

This study is limited to providers and participants in one particular nonprofit organization.

The conclusions of the study bear implications for understanding the various forms through which gender inequality is reproduced – particularly in settings of faith-based social service provision.