Doing Gender By Candace West And Don H. Zimmerman

409 Words2 Pages

In the article “Doing Gender,” Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman are trying to explain how gender is socially constructed (through believes and practices) embedded by everyday interaction or social interaction. In other words, by “doing gender.” They claim gender as an accomplishment that can’t be avoided and it’s constantly watched and judged by others. Also, West and Zimmerman introduced the concept of gender and the implication of it in our society, as well, by introducing the distinction between sex, sex category, and gender. In the article “Femininity and Masculinity,” Raewyn Connell introduced the term of hegemonic masculinity, which refers to the domination of men over women through practices, ideologies, and social interactions. Over the article, Connell focused on how society through social institutions encourages femininity and masculinity. Social institutions like the education (e.g. schools encourage men to be competitive, aggressive, physically dominant and leaders), workplaces (e.g. the power hierarchy among men like executive while women get lower ranks like “secretary,” nurse, etc.) and bureaucracies (e.g. factory/industry encourage women to focus on their physical appearance like clothes/“fashions,” and cosmetics/make up). …show more content…

Both articles relate to this concept in explaining how society and culture have created a patriarchic society in which the dominant gender is male. Gender affects how we think of ourselves due to the social expectations associated with being masculine or feminine, male or female. Society teaches us how to behave by having an establishing certain guidelines through gender roles. In other words, we are expected to follow a certain behavior due to our sex or gender. Males are expected to be leaders, tough, ambitious and proud while females are expected to be emotional, sensitive and affectionate patient, and