Gender: Meaning, Identity, Roles, and Everyday Usage

It may also refer to the expectations that societies attach to these categories. For example, a society may promote certain ideas about how men or women should dress, behave, work, communicate, or form relationships. These expectations are called gender roles or gender norms.

A person’s gender cannot always be determined from clothing, appearance, voice, name, interests, or occupation. People of the same gender may express themselves in very different ways.

Personal identity

Gender may refer to a person’s internal understanding of who they are. This is more specifically called gender identity.

A person may identify as:

• a woman;
• a man;
• nonbinary;
• genderfluid;
• agender;
• another gender identity.

Some people use more than one term to describe their gender, while others prefer not to use a specific label.

Social and cultural category

Gender can describe the ways societies classify people and assign expectations, responsibilities, opportunities, or limitations to them.

Ideas about gender may influence:

• clothing and appearance;
• family and caregiving roles;
• education and employment;
• communication styles;
• political and legal rights;
• relationships and marriage;
• expectations about masculinity and femininity.

These ideas differ across cultures and historical periods. A behavior considered masculine in one society may not be viewed the same way in another.

Gender expression

Gender may also be discussed through gender expression, which is how a person presents or communicates gender through appearance, behavior, clothing, hairstyle, voice, name, or mannerisms.

Gender expression does not always reveal gender identity. For example, a man may enjoy clothing or activities that his culture considers feminine without identifying as a woman.

Grammatical classification

In grammar, gender is a system that groups nouns, pronouns, adjectives, or other words into categories.

English has limited grammatical gender, mainly in pronouns such as he, she, and they. Other languages may classify many nouns as masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Grammatical gender should not be confused with a person’s gender identity.

Gender and sex

Sex generally refers to biological characteristics, including reproductiveanatomy, chromosomes, hormones, and other sex characteristics.

Gender concerns identities, expressions, roles, expectations, and social classifications.

The concepts are connected, but one does not always determine the other.

Gender and sex assigned at birth

Sex assigned at birth is the classification recorded when a person is born, usually based on visible physical characteristics.

Gender is broader and may include a person’s internal identity and social experience.

A person whose gender identity corresponds with their sex assigned at birth may describe themselves as cisgender. A person whose gender identity differs from their assigned sex may describe themselves as transgender.

Gender and gender identity

Gender is the broader concept.

Gender identity is a person’s internal sense of their own gender.

For example, discussions about gender may include identity, expression, roles, norms, discrimination, and equality. Gender identity refers specifically to how a person understands themselves.

Gender and gender expression

Gender identity concerns who a person knows themselves to be.

Gender expression concerns how a person presents themselves.

Expression may be masculine, feminine, androgynous, mixed, or difficult to categorize. It does not necessarily indicate a person’s identity.

Gender and sexual orientation

Gender concerns identity and social classification.

Sexual orientation concerns patterns of sexual or romantic attraction.

Knowing someone’s gender does not reveal whether that person is heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, or another orientation.

A gender norm is a social expectation about how people of a particular gender should look, behave, or live.

Examples may include beliefs that:

• certain jobs are suitable only for men or women;
• one gender should be responsible for earning money;
• another gender should provide most childcare;
• men should avoid emotional expression;
• women should dress or behave in particular ways.

Gender roles can change over time. Individuals may follow, reject, adapt, or reinterpret them.

In everyday speech, people sometimes use gender as a polite substitute for sex. However, this can create confusion because the two words do not always mean the same thing.

In academic, medical, legal, and social discussions, writers should identify the precise concept they mean. Terms such as gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, and sex assigned at birth are often more accurate than using gender alone.

The adjective gendered describes something influenced, divided, or categorized according to gender.

Examples include:

• gendered expectations;
• gendered language;
• gendered clothing;
• gendered division of labor.

• gender identity;
• gender expression;
• gender roles;
• gender norms;
• gender equality;
• gender bias;
• gender discrimination;
• gender diversity;
• gender gap;
• gender-neutral language.

1. Gender roles differ across cultures and generations.
2. The survey asked participants how they described their gender.
3. Clothing does not always indicate a person’s gender identity.
4. The organization introduced policies designed to promote gender equality.
5. Some languages assign grammatical gender to ordinary objects.
6. The report examined how gender bias can affect hiring decisions.
7. The form included several gender options and allowed respondents to write their own answer.
8. Teachers discussed gender-neutral language with the class.

However, gender does not determine:

• sexual orientation;
• romantic orientation;
• sexual interests;
• relationship structure;
• sexual behavior;
• willingness to participate in sexual activity.

A person’s gender identity, clothing, appearance, or mannerisms never establish consent. Consent must be communicated for the specific interaction and must remain voluntary and current.

Understanding gender can help people communicate more respectfully, avoid stereotypes, and recognize the difference between personal identity and social expectation.