Social Construction of Gender

1. Social Construction of Gender

2. Vignette • 1) Sheena and Jaye are sister and brother. Sheena is invited by a neighbor to an all girl birthday party. Jaye wishes to go, but the neighbor said that he can’t go because he’s a boy. What would you tell Jaye if you were his parent? • Now, reflect on what the different ways say about your assumptions of gender.

3. Gender as a Social Construction • 1) What is Gender/Sex? • Gender/Sex as falsely dimorphic. • 1 out of 20 children do not have XX or XY. • Everyone expresses gender more complexly • Some people have gender identities that do not match their genetalia. • Many societies have three genders. • 2) Gender is taken for granted and “essentialized.” We cannot even see how we participate in creating it. • 3) We have different expectations, different rules and different values for people in our society that is based on gender. • We pressure people to perceive boys and girls as opposites. When they aren’t, we either ignore the transgressions or punish them.

4. Gender as a Social Construction • 4) Gender is a process, stratification system and structure; • Process = day to day interactions reinforce gender as opposites. For examples, conversations, rituals of daily life, sayings, etc • Stratification = Men as a group have more status and power than women as a group. Women are treated as “other,” and compared to men. • Structure = Gender divides work in the home and economic production. It legitimates those in authority and organizes sexuality and emotional life.

5. Gender as a Social Construction • 5) What is necessary for society’s perpetuation? • Rules for allocating goods • Assigned responsibility for children and others who can’t care for themselves • Common values and the transmission of them. • Legitimate leadership. • Expression of the above through arts, music, stories, etc. • What social categories influence the way the above exist?

6. Gender as a Social Construction • 6) Gender is an achieved status: Children learn to walk, talk and gesture in concert with their status. Indeed, we can tell the difference by such social markers (show picture) • 7) Given that for us, gender means opposite, think of the consequences of this for success in the workplace.

7. Gender as a Social Construction • 8) What is work? • Any activity that creates goods and services for one’s own use or for exchange or pay. There is paid work (market); coerced work (slavery) and domestic work.

8. Gender as a Social Construction • 9) Industrialization reduced work to pay. Why? • 10) Most domestic work is devalued or invisible. • For example: babysitter versus lawnwork. Also, domestic work not included in the economy

9. Gender as a Social Construction • 11) How does our conception of gender affect work? • Products created for different tasks • Expectations for different jobs. • Value for the tasks done: for example, is it truly more valuable to work outside than inside? • Gender displays both men and women create to control the workplace.