Final answer:
Gender refers to the social and psychological characteristics that society associates with being a woman or a man, and it varies across different societies and individual experiences.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term which refers to the social and psychological characteristics of becoming a woman or a man is gender. Gender involves the behaviors, personal traits, and social positions that a society attributes to people based on their biological sex. It is distinct from the term 'sex', which denotes biological characteristics differentiating males and females. Gender identities and roles are shaped through the process of socialization, and they may vary greatly between different societies and cultures. For instance, individuals who strongly identify with the gender opposite to their biological sex are known as transgender. This distinction between sex and gender suggests that while biological differences are generally consistent, gender is a social construct that can manifest differently across cultures and individual experiences.