Question

What does it mean to say “Gender becomes a social construction—like race—when it is treated as an unchanging, fixed difference and then used to deny opportunity and equality to women?”

Answer 1

Initially, the characteristics are commonly seen as typical of men or women, for example, aggressiveness or emotional expressiveness are not disconnected, distinct categories. Every person has these qualities to some degree. To the extent that gender differences exist at all, they are manifested not in absolutes but in averages, tendencies, and probabilities. Many people consider aggressiveness to be a masculine characteristic, but many women are aggressive than many women. Likewise, emotionality tends to be associated with women but many men are more expressive and emotional than many women. As with racial differences, research shows that there is more variation within gender categories than among them, a finding that seriously undermines the view that gender differences are genetic or biological.

Then the fact that gender is a social construction is illustrated by the fact that what is thought to be appropriate gender behavior varies from time to time and from society to society. The behavior expected of a woman in Victorian England would thoroughly out of place in 21st century America, and the typical behavior of a contemporary man would be regarded as outrageously scandalous in Puritan America. This variability makes it difficult to argue that the differences between genders are hardwired in the genetic code; if they were, the variations over time and place would be nonexistent.

Third, the essentially social nature of gender roles is further illustrated by the relationship between subsistence technology and gender inequality. Our species evolved in East Africa and relied on hunting and gathering to satisfy their need for food. Our distant ancestors lived in small, nomadic bands that relied on cooperation and sharing for survival. Societies at this level of development typically divide adult labor roles by genders like men hunting and women gathering and although, they may tend toward patriarchy, women and women's work are highly valued and gender inequality is minimal. The subordination of women is more closely associated with settled agricultural communities, the first of which appeared about 10,000 years ago in what is now the Middle East. Women are consigned to household and domestic duties, with a strong emphasis on producing and raising children. Since the infant mortality rate in these societies is high which is around 50 percent more, women spend much of their lives confined and secluded, pregnant or nursing young children, far removed from the possibility of contending for leadership roles in their communities.

Biology may shape one's personality to some degree, and researchers continue to explore the links between genetics and gender roles as well as the interaction between them. However, at its core, gender is social and experiential, not biological. Gender like race is a social construction, especially when the supposed differences between men and women are treated as categorical, natural, and fixed and then used to deny opportunity and equality to women.