Gender as Structure
Gender consists of whatever behaviors and attitudes a group considers proper for its male and female members (Henslin, 2014). What may be considered normal behavior in one group may not be viewed the same in all groups. Same sex relationships have been structured in ways that majority of gay and lesbians have been stereotyped for years. Much is the same with different government policies and regulations; they are not all are universally accepted by every member of all groups in every society. Prevalent in our society is the structuring of a multitude of tasks as gender specific, tasks such as moving a heavy object. It is not to say that a woman could not move a heavy object. Rather, if a male is available, he is typically …show more content…
As stated by Merchant (2012) These differences have, to a certain extent, put women in the workplace at a disadvantage because of their perceived inferiority to men, mainly due to historical gender inequalities (p 2). This unfortunate state has been hard fought for hundreds of years by woman and can be dated back, according to Scholastic, (2015) all the way to one of the first feminist publications, in 1792, entitled A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, by British writer Mary Wollstonecraft (para. 1). Consequently, this fight for woman’s equality, especially in the workplace, has gone through three distinct waves. In fact Merchant (2012) continued to state that the first wave was primarily focused on gaining political equality for women by giving them the right to vote, the second wave was correlated with a significant increase in the participation in the workplace. The third wave, started in the 1990’s, is arguably still in existence today, and is associated with an increase of females in leadership and managerial positions. There are now many women in the top positions of large prominent companies such as Mary Barra, who according to Fairchild (2014) became the first woman to lead a major automotive company when she took the reins at General …show more content…
Thereby, a woman may earn less than a man while doing the same tasks the man is doing. If the differences between women and men begin to blur, society 's "sameness taboo" goes into action (p. 5). There can be a paradox where even if a female is capable of doing a task, such as building a wooden project; if a male counterpart is available it will likely be passed on to him. Gender Forum (2015) indicated this gendering of work almost a self-fulfilling-prophecy and even though the task does not really entail any further skills than what the female has already done, it is declared as "men 's work” and helped solidify the point made by Judith Lorber, referring to Gayle Rubin 's idea of "sameness taboo" (para.
Gender consists of whatever behaviors and attitudes a group considers proper for its male and female members (Henslin, 2014). What may be considered normal behavior in one group may not be viewed the same in all groups. Same sex relationships have been structured in ways that majority of gay and lesbians have been stereotyped for years. Much is the same with different government policies and regulations; they are not all are universally accepted by every member of all groups in every society. Prevalent in our society is the structuring of a multitude of tasks as gender specific, tasks such as moving a heavy object. It is not to say that a woman could not move a heavy object. Rather, if a male is available, he is typically …show more content…
As stated by Merchant (2012) These differences have, to a certain extent, put women in the workplace at a disadvantage because of their perceived inferiority to men, mainly due to historical gender inequalities (p 2). This unfortunate state has been hard fought for hundreds of years by woman and can be dated back, according to Scholastic, (2015) all the way to one of the first feminist publications, in 1792, entitled A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, by British writer Mary Wollstonecraft (para. 1). Consequently, this fight for woman’s equality, especially in the workplace, has gone through three distinct waves. In fact Merchant (2012) continued to state that the first wave was primarily focused on gaining political equality for women by giving them the right to vote, the second wave was correlated with a significant increase in the participation in the workplace. The third wave, started in the 1990’s, is arguably still in existence today, and is associated with an increase of females in leadership and managerial positions. There are now many women in the top positions of large prominent companies such as Mary Barra, who according to Fairchild (2014) became the first woman to lead a major automotive company when she took the reins at General …show more content…
Thereby, a woman may earn less than a man while doing the same tasks the man is doing. If the differences between women and men begin to blur, society 's "sameness taboo" goes into action (p. 5). There can be a paradox where even if a female is capable of doing a task, such as building a wooden project; if a male counterpart is available it will likely be passed on to him. Gender Forum (2015) indicated this gendering of work almost a self-fulfilling-prophecy and even though the task does not really entail any further skills than what the female has already done, it is declared as "men 's work” and helped solidify the point made by Judith Lorber, referring to Gayle Rubin 's idea of "sameness taboo" (para.