Overview of The Article "The Social Construction of Gender"

In today’s society, Americans have taken it upon themselves to assume the identity of humans. In the article “The Social Construction of Gender” Mariah Powers, the author writes about how discrimination defines women and the immorality that affects the upcoming generations of children. Powers writes this article to the people of the United States who have constructed gender.

“Gender identity can be affected by and is different from one society to another depending on the way the members of society evaluate the role of females and males. Our gender identity can be influenced by the ethnicity of the group, their historical and cultural background, family values and religion. Often people confuse or misuse the terms gender and sex”. This quote proves that gender identity can affect the positions of a man and a woman but also the environment either that the person lives in or is raised in. Whenever a person is in a certain domain then they tend to adapt to the surroundings and it becomes themselves. “However no matter the form, sexism has overall negative consequences and results in stereotyping women, and even prejudice and discrimination”. The author believes that sexism is wrong and has a negative impact on women and because of it, it causes stereotyping and prejudice.

“Gender discrimination is another way one could define sexism and in particular this is associated with discrimination and stereotyped beliefs against women”. Discrimination is “the treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based that on the group”. The author’s message to the audience is that discrimination is a big part of gender identity and that women are being targeted by stereotypes and sexism. “Society constructs our gender and categorizes its members similar as it does with age, ethnicity, race, social class, and status”. The author shows the main purpose of this article by giving examples such as race, age, and ethnicity. “The social construction of gender could be further been seen by the way parents behave to their children, by their expectations about how their children should behave and act, and by the toys, they buy for them”. This quote shows the reader, not just women and men get discriminated because of their assumed gender, but also how parents act towards their children. Parents of young children already have set high expectations for their child even before the child is born, by automatically assuming that pink is for a girl and blue is for a boy.

“I recently attended a baby shower party and I was shocked first by the amount of items a baby needs and even more about the color choice of each item. Everything was pink, as a baby girl was expected, and honestly I never imaged how many different shades of pink actually exist for products such as baby clothes”. The author experience with the baby shower made her believe that even unborn fetuses are put too high expectations by the choice of color. “Recently I had conversation with my husband relating to the issue of sexism regarding a car show he was watching on TV where standing next to the new cars were beautiful female models. My comment was that is an example of benevolent sexism”. The author puts her opinion in the article to show the audience that she is trustworthy and credible. The author’s perspective of the car show is sexist because there is a beautiful girl standing by the car, therefore, the focus is on the girl and not the car. “When it comes to culture and religious influences in a society regarding the view of gender I believe the concept of institutionalized sexism is appropriate to describe this situation”. Whenever religion cross path with gender there seems to be confusion in the society. Whenever there is a person who is transgender religion seems to be difficult, because some people may think it is wrong and that they are against God.

The author uses information from James M. Henslin. “Unfortunately in several countries around the world such as Arabian courtiers, Africa and India things have not changed much and women are still considered a minority and do not have equal access and rights in their societies as do males. The author shows the audience sympathy by saying that women in numerous countries are not considered as being as much respected as men and are treated differently, whenever everyone should be equal. “Another example is the situation of a female working in the business field that is expected to dress in masculine way in order to be considered successful and to be taken more seriously. Women are not being taken as seriously as they should. Women are even being discriminated even at work, in order for men to take them as a far-reaching person then they are required to dress unfeminine just to be able to be considered successful. “Most likely there will be an area staged as the housekeeping corner where girls the play and there will be another area with building blocks and tool kit items where the boys play”. Even children are having to have a high expectation because of their gender. The stereotype continues on with younger children. For an example, females are supposed to be the ones that stay home and cook and clean, therefore younger females are expected to “practice” housekeeping. While males are supposed to the “Man of the house” and work to take care of their families, so young males anticipate working with tools and building blocks.

The author states a quote from the author’s Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, and Robin M. Akert. “People tend to conform to their group and will do the same even when they engage in discriminatory behaviors as they want to fit in and be accepted by their group which is known as normative conformity”. The author is trying to say that people who obey their religious group, will stay the same in gender no matter if they do participate in immorality behaviors. “For instance when a society, due to religious and cultural reasons, view women as weak or inferior people living in the society will develop the same views and will act accordingly”. The author believes that she wrote this article in perfect timing whenever discrimination of gender and women being considered weak. “Gender is socially constructed and a result of sociocultural influences throughout an individual's development”. The author of this quote believes that our gender is grouped and that our culture has an influence on a person's self-development. “The United States of America and other developed countries have come a long way in trying to eliminate discrimination against women but there is still a room for improvement”. This quote is saying that the United States is trying to enhance how they see women and trying not to invent stereotypes about females. This process is still being improved but it is great that they are trying to stop the discrimination and stereotypes about females.

Overall Mariah Power brings gender and discrimination and brings to the table and shows the audience the difference between the discrimination between children and women. Power displays the view from how unborn fetuses are expected a certain color for their gender. Also how children are required to only play with certain toys based on the stereotypes for their future. Lastly, how women are demanded to dress masculine to be considered as successful and to be taken more seriously than they actually are.