Socially-Determined Gender

Paper Summary:

An analysis of this claim with support for the argument that gender is socially determined. It shows how people create own destiny and that people's free choices cause them to be stuck in certain social positions. It examines the "essentialist" argument that believes that significant differences exist between different groups.

From the Paper:

"One of the most important points that the authors make in this chapter is the fact that the choices that people make throughout their lives contribute to their own imprisonment in conventional gender roles (and thus to the lower status of women, for the gender roles of men and women are not simply complementary but are in fact arranged hierarchically). This is turn makes it easy to blame women for their own lowered status: Well no one made her have children, one can say, or no one made her get a degree in English rather than in engineering. But, as the authors argue, in fact the choices that people make (especially vis--vis the biology of childbearing, obviously) are so constrained by both society and socialization that to call them choices at all is deceptive."

More papers on Socially-Determined Gender:

• Persuasive Essay # 146138 : "Theoretical Approaches to Gender"
• Essay # 31736 : "Gender in Latino Society"
• Essay # 88883 : "How does Gender Intersect with Inequality"

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