In this chapter we give a brief overview of the ways of thinking about psychology and gender that have been developed in recent decades. We begin by sketching the most common ways of conceptualizing gender in psychology. We then discuss some feminist critiques of these ways of understanding gender. Then we turn to current feminist thinking about femininity and masculinity, the production of gender in daily life, gender asymmetries in power, and intersectionality.

Setting the stage

Since the early years of academic psychology, researchers have been interested in finding out what (if anything) distinguishes men's and women's mental life. This interest has continued to the present day. In part, of course, the persistent interest in questions of male–female difference stems from policy debates regarding equality between the sexes, family organization, and other crucial social issues. When psychologists have searched for differences between men and women, they have usually turned their sights toward traits, abilities, and emotions. They have conceived of these as personal characteristics and examined whether certain characteristics were prevalent in women as opposed to men, or vice versa. In Chapter 14, we take up research on such differences in detail.