Analytical category referring to the process of social and cultural construction of what is understood as feminine and masculine in each society and time in history. The category describes the process by which, in each society, different skills, abilities, duties and obligations are culturally assigned to people according to their sex. The term also indicates that gender acts as a principle for interpreting and ordering the (natural and social) world in a hierarchy between genders that places the masculine principle in a superior position with respect to the feminine, structuring societies this way and favouring unequal access to material, ideological and symbolic resources. Power relations are therefore an intrinsic part of the gender system.
Gender is also part of one’s personal identity and includes psychological, bodily, sexual and cultural aspects, assigning roles, expectations, behaviours and attributes to individuals according to their gender assignment or ascription. Sexuality is also a key concept in defining gender, as heterosexual marriage and heterosexuality act as an ideal model within the sex-gender system of many societies. This paradigm is referred to by some authors as the ideology of compulsory heterosexuality. Gender, moreover, connects with other inequalities, such as phenotype or ethnicity, social class and sexual diversity, thus leading to complex, intersecting and overlapping systems of oppression and privilege.