How and why have some feminists distinguished between sex and gender? (15)

Gender means a social and cultural distinction between males and females, as opposed to sex, which refers to biological and therefore unchangeable differences between men and women.Some feminists distinguish between sex and gender because sex refers to the biological differences, namely women's ability to bear children and suckle babies and the different sexual organs. However, they see gender as a socio-political construct where it ascribes different roles for men and women, committing women in the past to unpaid labour in the house such as raising children. This is how the distinction is made.The reason some feminists distinguish between the two is because they believe sex differences give no justification to gender distinctions and so believe human nature to be androgynous, where sex has no influence on social role or status. Some feminists believe men and women should be judged as an individual not based on their sex, a view which has become a mainstream liberal view and rightly so. They make this distinction to help bring a sense of empowerment to women to help achieve their goal of genderless 'personhood' to help bring about social change and break down outdated social constructs.