Gender in Close Relationships: Public Policy vs. Personal Prerogative

Abstract

The interface of research on gender in close relationships with applications to social issues is considered within the context of the dialectic between public policy and private transactions. The distinctions between public and private are discussed in terms of three dimensions proposed by Benn and Gaus (1983): access, agents, and interest. Each of these dimensions may play a role in determining how interpretations of public and private translate across particular issues. The principle of interest is expanded to demonstrate how close relationship research and public policy may be reciprocally influenced. Conceptualizations of gender will also influence choice of policy interventions with respect to transactions within close relationships. Three concepts of gender are defined, and are applied to specific contexts in which social policy implications can be drawn. It is suggested that in research on close relationships as well as in relevant applications to social policy, public and personal values may influence both the scientific effort and its applications to social action.

Opening Doors to Feminist Research

“…To clarify first the relationship between gender and the discipline of psychology, current uses of gender are divided into three major dimensions, each of which implicates differing approaches to research. These three dimensions of gender are (a) gender as defined by female/male difference, (b) gender as a set of belief systems, and (c) gender as a reflection of hierarchical power relations (Worell, 1993a).…”

“…A social-construction approach to gender encourages the study of situational contributions to behavior, as well as personal cognitions, meanings, belief systems, and attribut:ions about the self and others (Worell, 1993a;Worrell & Todd, 1996). Gender thus becomes a process whereby situations and interactions, rathler than people themselves, become gendered (West & Zimmerman, 1987).…”

“…The Sixth Principle I leave the applications of Principles 4 and 5 to your creative imagination, and move on to consider Principle 6, which has energized some important feminist research on social activism. In concert with this principle, a great deal of gender research has been designed and applied toward influencing social and public policy (Worell, 1993a). Research on violence toward women, sexual abuse of children, sexual misconduct of therapists with their clients, abusive pornography, rape, sexual harassment, termination of unwanted pregnancy, child custody decisions, the fallout from negative stereotyping-are all feminist topics that have stimulated action by psychologists and others in the service of social equality and gender justice.…”

Feminist therapy: From dialogue to tenets.

“…Gender is salient in the way in which interpersonal transactions are represented in belief systems and power relationships (Worell, 1993). The feminist therapist thus integrates the new conceptions about women's psy-chology and the goals of the women's movement into the therapeutic process (Espin, 1994).…”