Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
essay on gender theory
gender theories essays
gender theories essays
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: essay on gender theory
For my analysis I have chosen the article Comparative Gender Mainstreaming in a Global Era, written by Walby from the Institute of Women´s studies at Lancaster University. This essay analyses gender mainstreaming as a new form of feminist policies, which is often contested. But there are more issues to discuss. The essay deals with several key words: gender, gender equality and inequality, gender mainstreaming, intersectionality, gender politics. These terms describe the different processes which are often interrelated. In the next part I will explain the terms mentioned in the essay and I will give you examples of gender mainstreaming on local/regional, national and transnational level.
Gender
First, I would like to start with brief explanation of the term gender, what is crucial for explanation of the processes mentioned in the article. According to Braidotti there are three possible levels how we can investigate gender:
1. Gender as a dimension of personal identity („gender as an interpersonal process of self-consciousness and as the dynamic relation of self-images to individual and collective identity“)
2. Gender as a principle of organization („gender as the foundation of social institutions ranging from family and kinship structures to the division of labour in social, economic, political and cultural life“)
3. Gender as the basis for normative values. („gender as a system that produces socially enacted meanings, representations of masculinity and feminity which are shot through with issues of ethnicity, nationality and religion“.) (Braidotti, 2002, p. 287)
Kiczkova claims that while the sex refers to the biological givenness of men and women, starting by the differences of genitals and reproductive dispositions, physiologic...
... middle of paper ...
...p://www.db-decision.de/GenderMainstreaming/belgium.html
Lubelcová et al. (2011) Inovácie v sociálnych a verejných politikách. Problémy konceptualizácie a nových nástrojov. Univerzita Komenského, Bratislava
Verloo, M. (2001) Another Velvet Revolution? Gender Mainstreaming and the Politics of Implementation. IWM Working Papers.
Sunderland, J. (2004). Gendered Discourses. Palgrave Maximilian, London, str. 14 – 22.
Verloo, M. and Lombardo, E. (2007). Contested Gender Equality and Policy Variety in Europe: Introducing a Critical Frame Analysis Approach. In Verloo, E. (Ed.): Multiple Meanings of Gender Equality. A Critical Frame Analysis of Gender Policies in Europe. Central European University Press, Budapest – New York, pp. 21 – 49
Yuval-Davis, N. Intersectionality and Feminist Politics. In European Journal of Women´s Studies. August 2006, Vol. 13, No. 3. pp. 193 – 209.
According to feminist Victoria L. Bromley, if feminism is about combating all forms of inequalities, including oppression, towards all social groups, then feminists must study how masculinity oppresses both men and women. Patriarchy, men’s powers and dominance, hegemonic masculinity, the idea that the “dominant group” in society is most powerful, and hyper masculinity, the exaggeration of the emphasis on male characteristics, all lead to oppression through multiple forms: privileges and unearned privileges, hierarchies of power and exclusion. Bromley argues that the feminist approach towards eliminating oppression, is to use an intersectional analysis, a theoretical tool used for understanding how multiple identities are connected and how systems
McCann, C. R. & Kim S. (2013), Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives (3rd ed.) (pp 161-173).
In my first article ‘Incorporating Gendered Identities into Transition Studies.’ The authors: Nastasia and Kartoshkina propose that women’s gender identity is “up for grabs” and that identities are in a transition right now where women are unclear of their role in society. The article discusses paradoxes in the transition studies between west and east similarly to the article ‘Feminism and Post-Communism.’ The propaganda messages during the 1940’s to 1980’s were to promote women to work outside the home by liberalizing the idea of family and prohibiting sexually explicit images or writings, creating relationship related problems for women. There then became no account for relationship related problems, sexual harassment, rape, domestic violence or divorce. During post-communism, difference has become embraced, where certain topics of diversity would have remained taboo, in post-communistic Eastern Europe these topics are not off limits. This created a huge difference in genders rather than their goal of equality. Clearly women have been under represented and treated like second-class citizens during this period. There is ...
This article was written to bring attention to the way men and women act because of how they were thought to think of themselves. Shaw and Lee explain how biology determines what sex a person is but a persons cultures determines how that person should act according to their gender(Shaw, Lee 124). The article brings up the point that, “a persons gender is something that a person performs daily, it is what we do rather than what we have” (Shaw, Lee 126). They ...
“The Social Construction of Gender” talks about gender as a concept created by society. In it, the author explains why society felt the need to create gender as a social institution and how gender is embedded into everyday life. The labeling of people as male or female is used by societies as a way of deciding who takes over which responsibilities and who does which tasks. The author of the article concludes that gender and gender inequality is created by society
Gender refers to psychological and emotional characteristics that cause people to assume, masculine, feminine or androgynous (having a combination of both feminine and masculine traits) roles. Your gender is learned and socially reinforced by others, as well as by your life experiences and g...
Human beings have been, and always will be, dichotomized into either male or female. When determining a person’s sex we often look for differences in facial features, body shape or mannerism’s, but another promising way to determine a persons sex and one that is most often used today, is through gender roles. Gender roles are behaviors that portray masculinity or femininity. The theory behind gender roles through multidisciplinary viewpoints is the focus of this paper. Throughout history and in every culture these roles have shifted and transformed into what society says is expectable. In this analysis, gender roles will be examined through a sociological, biological and evolutionary scope.
Throughout nineteenth century Europe and leading into the twentieth century, the division and integration of equal rights and liberties towards both genders was a predominant issue. From the 1860’s and beyond, male suffrage was expanding due to working-class activism and liberal constitutionalism, however women were not included in any political participation and were rejected from many opportunities in the workforce. They were considered second-class citizens, expected to restrict their sphere of influence to the home and family, and therefore not encouraged to pursue a beneficial education or career. Because they were seen as such weak entities, the only way they were able to advocate their interests and dissatisfaction was through their own independent organizations and forms of direct action. With hard work towards improving women’s involvement in the workforce and towards political emancipation, womanhood gradually became redefined. When looking back on these crucial times in history, it is necessary to view how various images and ideas of females represented such integral symbols in modern Europe that influenced the pivotal changes they succeeded in putting forward. Earlier photos show women in society as solely conforming to what society wants them to be, however later this changes and images of women go against what is seen as appropriate and advertise the efforts made towards gender equality.
In “Gender as a Social Structure: Theory Wrestling with Activism”, the author Barbara Risman explains her theory to readers about how gender should be thought of as a social structure. Thinking of it as such would allow people to examine how gender is ingrained in almost every part of society, thus putting gender on an equal level of importance with economics and politics. In society, gender dictates many of the opportunities and limitations that an individual may face in his or her lifetime. Barbara Risman points out the three aspects of the gender structure that happen at an individual, interactional, and institutional level (Risman, pg. 446). First, gender contributes to how a person will develop themselves in life. This is the “individual level”. At an interactional level, men and women face different expectations that are set by society. The individual and interactional level are linked because sometimes, changes to one level can affect the other. The third level, the institutional level, notes that gender is affected by laws, rules, and organizational practices that dictate what
This essay will aim to discuss the relationship between Western Feminisms and International Feminisms as explored by various non-Western Feminists. It will aim to investigate the origins of this 'relationship ', the complexities/complications within it, evaluate how effective both paradigms are in the third wave and ultimately what is still needed to be done to create a transnational, intersectional feminist movement irrespective of the backgrounds of all women.
As Lorber explores in her essay “Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender, “most people find it hard to believe that gender is constantly created and re-created out of human interaction, out of social life, and is the texture and order of that social life” (Lorber 1). This article was very intriguing because I thought of my gender as my sex but they are not the same. Lorber has tried to prove that gender has a different meaning that what is usually perceived of through ordinary connotation. Gender is the “role” we are given, or the role we give to ourselves. Throughout the article it is obvious that we are to act appropriately according to the norms and society has power over us to make us conform. As a member of a gender an individual is pushed to conform to social expectations of his/her group.
Feminist political ideology focuses on understanding and changing political philosophies for the betterment of women. Studying how the philosophies are constructed and what makes them unjust, this field constantly generates new ideas on how these philosophies need to be fundamentally reconstructed. Liberal feminism, for example, was built around promoting economic and political equality for women. By arguing the older concepts of the split between public and private realms as a way to politically protect male domination of women as “natural”, and ideas about a women’s place in the household, came evidence that supported legal cases leading “to the criminalization in the United States of spousal rape” (qtd. in McAfee). Another completely different approach is radical feminism, which advocates a separation from the whole system, perceiving that the sexual relations between male and female as the basis of gender inequality and female subordination (qtd. in McAfee). Democratic femin...
Gender is such a ubiquitous notion that humans assume gender is biological. However, gender is a notion that is made up in order to organize human life. It is created and recreated giving power to the dominant gender, creating an inferior gender and producing gender roles. There are many questionable perspectives such as how two genders are learned, how humans learn their own gender and others genders, how they learn to appropriately perform their gender and how gender roles are produced. In order to understand these perspectives, we must view gender as a social institution. Society bases gender on sex and applies a sex category to people in daily life by recognizing gender markers. Sex is the foundation to which gender is created. We must understand the difference between anatomical sex and gender in order to grasp the development of gender. First, I will be assessing existing perspectives on the social construction of gender. Next, I will analyze three case studies and explain how gender construction is applied in order to provide a clearer understanding of gender construction. Lastly, I will develop my own case study by analyzing the movie Mrs. Doubtfire and apply gender construction.
Gender is an important aspect of our social life; it comprises of power relations, the division of labour, symbolic forms and emotional relations (Connel, 2000).
In order to answer the question above this essay will discuss in depth what exactly sex is and what gender is and the differences between the two terms. The research carried out will display that we live in a patriarchal society without a doubt as we look at how gender links to inequality in society. A patriarchal society can be clearly seen from the gender inequality in the labour force which is paid labour and also in unpaid labour which occurs in the household. Another area the answer will reflect on is how gender inequality links to education which overall links to society. Finally the answer below will show how the media also portrays gender inequality and how it affects the people in society.