“Sex”
and “gender” are two social constraints that people often find themselves stuck
in the labyrinth of. Gender refers to the personal and social characteristics
of an individual as opposed to the biological traits that we associate with
different sexes. Hence, gender is often considered as a social construct or
something that we as a society create and enforce. In the introductory chapter
of the book “The Gender Trap:
Parents and the Pitfalls of Raising Boys and Girls” written by Emily W.
Kane, the author explains through her own experiences of how the gendering of
inanimate objects is a prevalent practice carried out by the society through devolving
means to create markers of gender which has nothing to do with anything
biological.
“Night
to his Day”: The Social Construction of
Gender by Judith Lorber further takes forward the idea of how gender affects
the organization of the society and distribution of power making the society a largely
gender stratified one. Such societies are maintained through a careful cultivation
of attitudes, behaviors and systems that encourage everybody to believe that
one gender is innately better than others. Both the authors mention that the
first people who teach us about gender are our parents. The gender constructions
that kids see outside of the home also tend to reinforce the dynamic women and
men into archetypal roles onto them as they grow up.
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