Lecture 3 Imagining Gender: The social construction of Gender

Gender is a Power Relationship Not This… Gender Differences ↓ Inequality But this… Inequality ↓ Gender Differences

The Social Construction of Gender Social constructs: classifications of reality that are agreed upon or accepted Gender Ideology: a set of beliefs about the definition, roles, status, and relationships of males and females We are socialized into a gender system (culture) that tells us how to act.  And, through our actions, whereby we accept, reject, and/or modify these ideas were recreate gender.

Gendered Society “Doing Gender” Behavior, Interaction, Socialization Gendered Institutions Gender Ideology Gender Identity

The same, but different? “Gender means sameness” and “gender means difference”?  How does gender create differences between men and women?  How does gender create sameness among all women and among all men?

Thinking Beyond Gender Roles Social Roles: behavior expected from a status position  Gender is present in all social roles, NOT a social role in itself As a master status position, gender affects how we are expected to perform roles and how our actions are judged  Master Status Position: status positions that affect all other social positions in society

Just What are Women Lacking? A 2006, study surveyed 935 alumni of the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland found that while the view of an ideal leader varied from place to place — in some regions the ideal leader was a team builder, in others the most valued skill was problem-solving  But whatever was most valued, women were seen as lacking it. Respondents in the United States and England, for instance, listed “inspiring others” as a most important leadership quality, and then rated women as less adept at this than men. In Nordic countries, women were seen as perfectly inspirational, but it was “delegating” that was of higher value there, and women were not seen as good delegators.

Our multiple social roles Role Strain: the stress or strain experienced by an individual when incompatible behavior, expectations, or obligations are associated with a single social role  CEO and Woman Role Conflict: a situation in which a person is expected to play two incompatible roles  CEO and Mother  Homemaker and Father

Interacting with Gender Our identities, gendered and otherwise, do not express some authentic inner "core" self but are the dramatic effect (rather than the cause) of our actions and behavior Gender identities arise out of social interaction  We organize our behavior and activities in the context of social life to become gendered

Doing Gender Gender is accomplished by managing our behavior in relation to normative conceptions of appropriate attitudes and activities for particular sex categories  appears to be the natural  reproduce social structure

Gender Accomplishment depends on: Where we are  Context/Social environment Who we are with  Status positions  Social roles What we are doing  What is the goal of the social interaction?

“The Hot Chick” How is gender (male/female) accomplished (or not) in this film clip?

How would gender be accomplished in these situations: A young man on a date? A mother at a family dinner? Two guys watching a football game? What is important in these examples?  Context  Participants  Roles

Can you think of some ways that you do gender?

“Doing Gender” with Language The dominant social status of men in our society is reflected in language 1. Man as an indefinite pronoun 1. Exclusion of women in visualization 2. Pronoun usage perpetuates male/female roles 1. Status positions 3. Sex ascription to non-human objects 1. Nurture, owned, small/dependent VS. decisive, strong, controlling

Optional Performances We ALL perform gender – traditional or not Not a question of whether to DO a gender, but what form that performance will take. Gender norms and the binary understanding of Masculine/Feminine can be changed by our behavior