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30 April 2020

Race and Gender are Social Constructs: Sally Haslanger

When defining an individual, most people do so by their gender or race, a white male, a

black male, or an Asian teenager. This definition begs the question of what gender and race are?

The general meaning of gender would be the characteristics that differentiate between femininity

and masculinity, girls and boys, and women and men. Race, on the other hand, is understood by

most people as the ethnic differences in people that can physically or behaviorally be observed.

However, Sally Haslanger gives a philosophical explanation of gender and race in her theory of

'Gender and Race as Social Constructs.' This paper is for her idea that gender and race are social

constructs that society tells us to judge each other by.

Sally argues that being a female or male is not about being born with male and female

biological body parts. Thus, possession of such characteristics is not, by themselves, enough to

classify someone into either gender. However, she continues, the society reserve for females

certain activities, norms, and social roles that differentiate them from their male counterparts.

According to her, females, for the most part, are perceived or observed to have certain bodily

features that differentiate their biological role of reproduction, unlike in males. In most cases,

society assigns females roles in the dimension of subordination while men are in a position of

privilege1. Thus, genders are constructed by society, which puts them in the respective

hierarchical power relations. Her definition of race is a group of individuals who are positioned

in the community as subordinate or privilege in a social, legal, economic, and political dimension
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Feminist Metaphysics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
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and assumed to have ancestral links to a particular geographical area. In other words, an

individual's race concurs with a specific geographic area, as well as their physical features.

Therefore, her argument is that gender and race are not born with, but it is the society that

assigns these identities.

Gender is a position created in a network of cultural beliefs, ideologies, and social

institutions2The boundaries that the society has created between man and woman, a boy and a

girl, a male and a female are not there but rather an illusion created based on the reproduction

possibilities that each one has. The mentioned boundaries explain why it has placed expectations

on individuals based on their perceived gender. It is evident because when children are born,

they behave the same way. However, as they grow, they learn through socialization the

acceptable ways of acting out the biological sex (male or female).

Parents and society as a whole shapes how the children grow up by highlighting the

expectations they have of them based on their gender. People learn through social gatherings,

media, cultural and religious teachings. For instance, biblical teachings instruct a woman to be

submissive; thus, she puts a woman in a subordinate position as compared to men. The society

rewards masculinity over femininity. This reward is because it is perceived that men are

'stronger' and 'more able' as compared to women. Therefore, people struggle with issues such as

the gender pay gap whereby males are paid more than women doing the same work within the

same work environment. The justification of this is by the perception of superior masculinity.

Therefore, gender is not about someone being born with female or male body parts but is shaped

mainly by the social and cultural environment.

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Alcoff, Linda M. "The Metaphysics of Gender and Sexual Difference
.
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Just like gender, one is not born into a certain race, but the society assigns it based on the

demarcated geographical area, perceived body type, and how the members of this group are

viewed and treated. Therefore, society places superiority to other races over others. The race is a

way the community tries to explain cultural and social differences among themselves without

considering human diversity3. Race does not have any biological meaning, and it is just the

society that placed perceptions that differentiate individuals with various physical appearances

and cultural practices. Society has created unnecessary economic, social, and political meanings

of the race for selfish reasons. One is born in a particular geographical region and culture hence

expected to automatically carry on with the identity that the society has already assigned them.

These expectations have created stereotypes, both negative and positive, about diverse groups of

people across the world.

Conclusion

Race and gender are social constructs, and people need to think about these concepts, but

first, one needs to debunk what he/she knew previously. They are socially and socially

constructed norms that place expectations on individuals on how they should behave, be

perceived, or treated. It clear that gender is not only about the biological differences between

males and females but the roles, activities, and behaviors that the society expects of them. Girls

grow up learning to be caring while men grow up learning to hold positions of power. Young

children do not know the racial difference until they grow up to face the societal pressure to treat

them differently from those with diverse physical appearances and ancestral links.

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Du Bois, David G. "W.E.B. Du Bois: the last years." Race & Class
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Works Cited

Alcoff, Linda M. "The Metaphysics of Gender and Sexual Difference." Visible Identities, 2006,

pp. 151-176.

Du Bois, David G. "W.E.B. Du Bois: the last years." Race & Class, vol. 24, no. 2, 1982,

pp. 178-184.

"Feminist Metaphysics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford Encyclopedia of

Philosophy, plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-metaphysics/#SociCons.