array_search
// array demo
public $gender = array(
  1 => 'Male',
  2 => 'Female',
  3 => 'Other',
);
$gen = 1;
if ($gen == array_search('Male', $this->gender)) {
  $gender = __d('member', 'male');
} elseif ($gen  == array_search('Female', $this->gender)) {
  $gender = __d('member', 'female');
}
