A social construct is something that exists not in objective reality, but as a result of human interaction. It exists because humans agree that it exists.

Race is not biological. It is a social construct. There is no gene or cluster of genes common to all blacks or all whites. Were race “real” in the genetic sense, racial classifications for individuals would remain constant across boundaries.

In other words, race is structured into our understanding of why particular people occupy certain positions in society and experience the world around them as they do. Having a race-based analysis of social relations opens us up to the understanding of why we cannot view the world from one perspective alone.

An example of a social construct is money or the concept of currency, as people in society have agreed to give it importance/value. Strong social constructs rely on the human perspective and knowledge that does not just exist, but is rather constructed by society.

As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time. Gender is hierarchical and produces inequalities that intersect with other social and economic inequalities.

Gender is a social, rather than a biological construct, and varies with the roles, norms and values of a given society or era.

Although the article mentions “two genders,” society recognizes a plurality of genders, for instance, cisgender, transgender, genderplural, gender ambiguous, and genderqueer. In contrast, science recognizes two sexes—male and female—with intersex conditions as mutational variations2.

But overall, the data reflect broader findings in psychology, which show that biology and society interact to cause gendered behavior. In other words, contrary to the popular progressive belief, gender is partly socially constructed—but it’s not just a social construct.

Social Interaction In a marriage, oftentimes each person’s gendered roles are determined by his or her parents. Because society holds these expected roles for men and women within a marriage, it creates a mold for children to follow.

Since the mid-20th century, dramatic change has taken place in gender relations in the United States, as illustrated by women’s labor force participation rising from 32% in 1950 to 57% in 2018 and men’s falling from 82% to 69% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017, 2018b).

• Gender inequality.
• Impunity.
• Inadequate human, technical and financial investments.
• Weak coordination and monitoring mechanisms at the national level.
• Insufficient data and research.
• Limited attention to neglected groups and issues.
• Dearth of evaluations and evidence to guide programmes.