Professor of history and women’s studies at Pennsylvania State University Mrinalini Sinha stood at the podium in front of a packed auditorium in the Liberal Arts building on March 27. Several students sat on the floor for Sinha’s lecture, “How to Bring a Global Perspective to Gender.”

Not only did Sinha document the meaning gender has in different parts of the world, but she discussed what it would mean to re-examine gender as an analytical category. 

Sinha said humans recognizing “man versus woman” is a relatively new concept with “parochial European origins.”

“I thought her idea of taking away from the Eurocentric model and understanding it is more localized and that there is no global model for gender was really important to understand,” said Nicole Coldiron, a senior history and humanities major.

Mrinalini Sinha, a professor of History and Women’s Studies at Pennsylvania State University, discussed the concept of gender in a global context Friday in the Liberal Arts Building. - Seth Eisner /The Lumberjack

Sinha said though men and women are anatomically different, these differences should not be considered any different than how different races or physical features are considered; because defining “gender” is much more difficult than defining race, it contains much more potential for confusion.

“The idea of men and women is different for all these different cultures, but it’s not a binary concept,” said Jan Carpenter, a professor of women’s and gender studies. “We act like people have always been divided into men and women, and what she’s saying (is) that it’s not necessarily true. We don’t necessarily have these categories of just men versus women.”

Sinha answered several questions, one of which regarded her stance on which cultural model could present as the “global perspective.” Sinha’s answer emphasized her lecture title on bringing a global perspective to gender, but not necessarily applying a global model.

“Maybe gender has no fixed meaning,” Sinha said. “My aim is not to pose a challenge to national models. We can’t say it works in one specific model and use it globally. Each works in its own way for a reason.”

Coldiron agrees with this statement and believes gender roles are constantly changing. 

“We live in a world where if you’re a woman you have certain roles, and if you’re a man you have certain roles,” Coldiron said. “I think it’s important to understand that’s not necessarily how it has to be or how it is. The roles of women now are not the same as they were 100 years ago.”

Regarding Sinha’s point on the difficulty of defining gender, Carpenter said she believes gender is a social construction upon which modern society depends.

“I agree that it’s this idea that’s used to create hierarchies of power in society; it’s a way of dividing up roles in society,” Carpenter said.

Sinha was also asked if she believes the categorization of humanity into genders and races will continue indefinitely. Sinha said her amazement with this generation made such a world view seem more feasible.

“Your generation is quite remarkable,” Sinha said. “You have shown older generations that issues such as gender, sexuality, race and the like don’t really matter, and we are all capable of doing a good job regardless of ‘roles.’ Your generation as a whole takes initiative on issues and dismisses any biases.”