I. Gender is historically contingent (located in time).
II. Gender is culturally specific (located in material practices and specific places).
III. Gender is an interpretation of what female and male bodies mean in relation to what we believe about the world (our philosophy).
IV. There is a cultural reciprocity between gender practices and perceptions of biology, and there is a tendency to forget that a fact is both observed and interpreted.
V. Frequently, even though a gender practice has been discarded, the perspective it created on "nature" can be difficult to eliminate.
VI. Our systems of social policy and cultural practice reflect a tendency to conserve the ideological result of practices that are no longer apparent. E.g.—Women no longer wear corsets, but the medical establishment treats them as if they do.
VII. We let competing ideologies undermine healthful practices. E.g.—After surgery, one should rest and recover vs. after childbirth, the mother should care for the child.
VIII. Sexual inequality is the single most prevalent form of inequality in the world. The majority of those in poverty, in dire need of improved health care, without access to education, without access to political rights, etc., are women.
