Dr. Brainer
Social Construction: Case study 1
The social construction of gender is the operation of gender and gender differences that arise from social and cultural environments. Gender is the cultural attitude and behaviors, which shapes how the male and female are looked upon in the society. The social construction of gender divides the roles of men and female based on either the historical background of the family, ethical and cultural information and even based on what they believe in. It creates boundaries on which activities a specific sex group does. Sex is the biological differences between male and female since it is the basis on the individual reproductive system. The definition of social construction of gender is for gender roles for a specific sex coupled with how the society determines men and women. Society is living based off the idea that whatever genitalia you are born with defines your gender which is not always the case.
Female and gender gap in the rural environment is a case study on the social construction of gender. The women in our society have been set aside to do specific roles in our rural setting. Women automatically have to partake in role of being a mother or housewife while men are praised for doing the bare minimum. There is also this idea that is a woman makes more money than a man in the household that it wrong. Society thinks that the female should always feel less than the man but in reality that isn’t how it works. They have no permission to undertake well-known heavy duty chores in the rural area as men’s work (Bryant & Pini 55). In the 21 century, work is universal and any person can do it. The women are treated as invalids; it is permissible for them to do a lesser job like the house chores. All persons who are capable of working should receive permission without discrimination of sex. Women can work as well as men can work (Coward & Krout, 43). Women are a building block and they should be empowered to do all the work especially in the absence of men. The sidelining of female in the rural areas is unfavorable since they should have a chance to materialize through sustainable development goal.
The social construction of gender for a female in a rural setting has its basis on sex. Female receive lighter works to do and lack permission to do masculine work. Rural setting has a cultural belief that female should always look after the home as their male counterparts go for work to feed the family. A male can only do family providence, and it is a taboo for a man to sit in the house as the woman goes out to work. The women in the household or relationship needs to be emotional and nurturing while the man has to put on a persona that they are tough and strong. The rural society perceives this as a day-to-day normal activity yet it is actually creating boundaries between the male and female. The case study concluded that social construction has a very big gap in rural settings while the gender gap in the society increases daily. The female in the urban settings is more empowered compared to those in the rural settings.
The social construction of gender is due to social and cultural settings. People believe that as human beings, the male and female have defined roles to play. The monitoring of cultural and social environments is possible when we do not have defined roles in the society. Communities have a different impact on people; some people are changing to the fact that gender difference should not receive an upper hand in their daily activities. Empowerment should be a key factor to reduce the social construction of gender, people especially women should be taught the importance of not choosing what they can do because of the society. Our beliefs in society about how men and women need to act because of their physical appearance is extreme and needs to change. Gender gap increases daily but the roles of men are being picked up by the female as the male strive to work through. In conclusion, the social construction of gender should be reduced by the society and roles should not be define based on sex; both male and female should have an equal chance to work on what they love most.
Works cited
R.T Coward & J.A Krout (eds), 2016, Older rural women-Mystical forbearing and unsung.
Lia Bryant,& Barbara Pini, 2010, Gender and Rurality.Routedge Amazon.com