Definitions and Differentiate, Essay Example

The World Health Organization provides the best definitions of both Sex and Gender. In the context of sex it is defined as “refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.” (World Health Organization, 2010).  On the other hand the concept of gender is defined as “socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women” (World Health Organization, 2010). Hence sex is more concerned with the biological and physiological attributes and gender falls more into sociological interests.  Sex on one hand does not have a great deal of variation between societies whereas gender may have considerable variations. Examples of gender stratification include:

• In Western democratic states women have earnt  significantly less remuneration than men for similar work
• In VietNam, many more men than women smoke, female smoking has not been considered socially acceptable
• In Egypt women are not allowed to leave the country without permission of their husbands
• Traditonally women have been involved with doing more domestic chores than men

Ethnicity is about your place of origin and the culture that you are most related to – “Ethnicity is about tradition, learned behaviour and customs. It is about learning where you come from, and celebrating the traditions and ideas that are part of that region” (Differencebetween.net, 2010).  Race relates to that of your biological features “

Race is your biologically engineered features. It can include skin color, skin tone, eye and hair color, as well as a tendency toward developing certain diseases” (Differencebetween.net, 2010).  The distinction is between culture and that of biological association. Social conditions that give rise to racism are usually prejudice, bigotry and stereotyping. Most of this stems from ignorance or a lack of proper education.

Works Cited

Differencebetween.net. (2010). Difference Between Ethnicity and Race. Retrieved 11 22, 2010, from Differencebetween.net: http://www.differencebetween.net/science/nature/difference-between-ethnicity-and-race/

World Health Organization. (2010). What do we mean by “sex” and “gender”? Retrieved 11 22, 2010, from World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/index.html