Gender across the life-course

Institute members have collaborated on a perspective piece on the dynamism of gender across the life-course.

Gender is a complex social construct. Contemporary discussions of gender continue to evolve, and it is now well understood that scientific approaches to the study and measurement of gender are not sufficient to capture real-world experiences of gender dynamism across time.

This paper argues for movement away from static and binary perceptions of multifaceted gender towards an understanding of gender as dynamic – including across different stages of the life-course.

Dr Brooke Brady, member of the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute and lead author of the perspective paper, says that more understanding is required. “This perspective piece presents three aspects of gender’s dynamism – that the meaning of gender has changed over time, that there are significant cultural differences in the meaning of gender, and that one’s own gender and relationship to it can change, evolve, weaken and galvanise across the lifetime.”

“People are extremely heterogeneous and diverse – so it is imperative that we as academics reconsider how gender is measured, defined, and valued. This is especially true in ageing research where gender dynamism is perhaps least studied.” says Dr Brady.

Read the full piece here.