Angelo Del Rosario

Del Rosario 1

Professor Turner
ENG 114A
8 November 2016
Social Construction: Gender
Rosie the Riveterwas originally created to encourage
women to take wartime jobs in defense industries while men
were off fighting in World War . When World War was
over the poster lost its meaning, it was later re-used to
symbolize womens rights. This picture on the left is a mock of
the famous Rosie the Riveter, Rosie is replaced by a man
holding a baby and a dustpan with the words He can do it
instead of She can do it. This visual text shows how men could and are able to do so called
housewife things. In western society, its hard to see men actually taking care of children, instead
its more common to see women take care of their children, the visual pokes fun at this topic
implying that men should and could be able to to what women are set to do, vice versa. In
Catherine Cucinella article, Introduction: The Funny Thing about Humor is that It is Really
Really Funny, she says we laugh at situations, actions, or behavior we find illogical,
unexpected, or inappropriate (Cucinella, P.5), meaning that we find this visual text to be
unexpected because we usually see more women taking care of house chores and children. I
argue that in western society people are judged based on their gender, for example if one is a
male western society assumes that they would be in charge of the family's income while the
woman is a house wife. I believe that society has put a social construction form on gender that

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currently damages our society. Social construction are images or concepts developed by the
societys thoughts and
ideas. For example if society finds it easier to have females have lower pay than males, then its
going to be difficult to understand when someone finds a female that makes more money than a
male. Although gender roles in western society are continuously improving, I believe that the
social construction of gender is slowing the process down.
Once a child is born it is set into a specific gender, meaning they are raised according to
gender. For example, when a male is born it is taken to the nursery with blue blankets, and when
a female is born it is taken with pink blankets. The social construction of gender is a process
right from birth, from picking their toys to favorite activities. Parents are also sucked into the
social construction of gender, with their kids they serve as roles models. Once the parents find
out the sex of their child they go out and buy clothes that go with their childs gender. For
example, girls get dresses while boys get a shirt and pants. Their toys are even gender related
boys get action figures and girls get dress up dolls. These items that parents buy arent for just
them to notify their gender but it is also helpful to reinforce the gender identity for the society.
Some parents even further the gender socialization by the use of different activities. Once their
child gets older they sign them up for extra curricular activities like basketball for boys and
gymnastics for girls to also help reinforce their gender identity.
In the article Night to his Day: The Social Construction of Gender by Judith Lorber,
As a process, gender creates the social differences that define women and man...individuals
learn what is expected (Lorber, P. 60), this shows how gender is a process from birth.
Throughout their lives man and woman are continually growing of how to deal with certain

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situations to remain the gender they are supposed to be playing. Boys are taught to be
masculine, like play sports, but since western society has constructed this for boys to naturally
play sports when boys do other social activities that dont represent their gender or masculinity
they are judged. Girls are taught to do feminine things such as cheerleading, if they do something
masculine like bodybuilding they are portrayed as a tomboy. In Humor Styles, Peer
Relationships, and Bullying in Middle Childhood, by Dana Klien and Nicholas Kupier, says
...make aggressive jokes against the victim's back, to both damage the victim's reputation, and
entertain the crowd, thereby gaining social support.( Klien and Kupier, P.72), this shows that it's
okay to poke fun at this topic because it is supported by society. When others see something
different other than seeing what they are normalized to see they get confused and judge the part.
These gender roles that men and women have to act upon are forcing them to separate
themselves and label themselves as different from others.
In western society we have seen so many improvements on gender. For example we see
more women being the big bosses in some of Americas 500 largest companies. According to
an article The Percentage of Female CEOs in the Fortune 500 Drops to 4% by Valentina
Zarya, women since 2014 have taken over to become The Big Boss. We typically see men on
the top never women. Also now in the current presidential campaign, which is usually consisted
of male competition Hillary clinton, a woman, is in the race to become the first female President.
The changes that are being made in western society about gender roles are constantly growing. In
an article Mom Teaches Her Son That Chores Arent Just For Women, Gets Criticized
Online

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by James Gould-Bourn he shows a recent tweet from a mom showing pictures of her own kid
doing the dishes, laundry, and other chores. The mom explains how chores arent for just
women but its also for men, and she claims that her kid is not only going to be a man but also a
productive man of society of outside and inside the home. When the mom posted this she was
being harassed by others saying how inappropriate it is for making your kid a slave. Its due to
social construction that this happens. If boys were taught at a young age to cook and clean at a
young age society wouldnt be so weirded out by this. Society sees young boys to be active and
playing video games they dont see them do chores. As the gender roles of society are
continually growing, the social construction of gender is still at play and will slow the pace that
is growing at.
Gender has always been a topic that had to be talked about and needed help creating
stable connection between the two genders. Due to the social construct of gender, the differences
of gender roles will not be enhanced as quickly as they could. I believe that if the western society
has an open mind about change it can definitely help out the differences. As a society we
shouldnt be afraid of change, we should be considering change as change may be good for us.

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Works Cited
Klein, Dana. Kuiper, Nicholas. Humor Styles, Peer Relationships, and Bullying in Middle
Childhood. Handout.
Zarya, Valentina. Fortune. 6 June 2016.
http://fortune.com/2016/06/06/women-ceos-fortune-500-2016/.
Gould-Bourn, James. Bored Panda. 31 October
2016.http://www.boredpanda.com/mom-teach-son-chores-not-for-girls-nikkole-paulun/.
Lorber, Judith. Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender. pp.54-66.