“Gender-Role Preference, Gender Identity, and Gender Socialization among Contemporary Inuit Youth”
Richard G. Condon and Pamela R. Stern
Ethos Vol. 21 No. 4 (1993), 384 – 416

Abstract                                                                                                    

            In Alaska there are gender-role differences in many activities; these include subsistence hunting, crafts and manufacturing, household tasks, childcare and socialization, initiation rites, and warfare.  Richard G. Condon and Pamela R. Stern in “Gender-Role Preference, Gender Identity, and Gender Socialization among Contemporary Inuit Youth” believe gender-role differences to be the result of socialization.  In the article the authors have three objectives: to discuss gender roles of Inuit culture, to examine these roles within youth culture, and to reveal the societal pressures that evoke gender behavioral differences.  Most importantly, the aim of the article is to look at the change in gender roles from the traditional to modern period in Alaska.

            First, the authors explain the transition between the aforementioned periods and how social and gender role changes took place through these cultural changes.  Next, Condon and Stern delineate the research methods they use to assess the changes.  The various types of interview formats provide seminal results about Inuit youth and their gender roles.  Interesting results include the concept of hard work; the youth do not associate this action with either gender but rather consider it be applicable to both sexes.

            Ultimately the authors reveal a strong sense of gender identity in Inuit culture.  Regardless of recent social change in Alaska, gender roles have been maintained with specific tasks and behaviors assigned to each sex.  They reveal, however, two critical differences between the traditional and modern period.  The first is the rise in mass media; this exposure has lead to acculturation of gender norms in the lower forty-eight.  The second critical difference is varying degrees of continuity from the traditional and to modern period.  In the modern period female roles are still defined by parental assigned tasks whereas male roles are no longer defined by tasks.  As a result, the modern period has enabled males to freely construct their own identity with less societal pressure.

            Condon and Stern close by suggesting possibilities for future research on the topic.  They also illuminate how changing gender roles not only are a reflection of a transforming culture but also aid in transforming the culture.