Articles Analysis Essay on Gender

Definition of Gender by Judith Lorber

According to Judith Lorber, many people assume that gender is the poor phenotypic representation of genetic composition. The question of gender has been treated with so much routine that people tend to take it for granted. Although sex is determined by the genes we carry, it goes way beyond that. Gender, just like so many other things in the society, is constructed and reconstructed with each passing day. Through the social of people and the day to day human interaction we encounter, gender is created and recreated. Judith asserts that gender is not just something that is preset and stays like that forever. Gender is subject to constant changes.

The way people defined gender a few years ago is very different from the current definition of the same. There is a common saying that what a man can do a woman can do better and that people make houses while women build homes. This statements are ambiguous in nature and have a lot to do with the speaker and the intended crowd. For the longest time now, the women have been treated as the weaker sex and not capable of making decisions that matter. There exist also some male chauvinist that think the womans place is in the kitchen. Domestic work has long been affiliated with the woman to the point that some men are incapable of handling minor duties in the absence of a woman. The setting of the world has a much messed up perspective of women socially, politically and even career-wise. It is for this reason that the battle of women to prove their worth and stand up to these claims in an attempt to achieve their desired position has been persistent and intense throughout time.

However, Lorbers theory of construction of gender seems to be in play. To prove this, she gave an example of a man she saw with a tiny baby in a carrier on his chest. Not so long ago, this would have been the ultimate shocker as raising kids was the womans responsibility and no one could question this. However, the society has gradually but consistently redefined gender and now raising a child is a mans responsibility as much as it is a womans. Furthermore, the clothing on that baby was male-like judging from the color and the fact that they were baseball sports attires. Lorber was equally shocked to find out she was a little girl because of the tiny earring she noticed upon close inspection. These two changes were significant to prove that gender as part of the daily life is something we define.

The Gender Knot by Allan G Johnson

In any gender discussion, the woman is always the underprivileged sex. In the United States, the female to male earnings ratio 78%: 82%. The difference is way larger in developing third world countries. There are still countries in Africa that believe that the womans place is in the kitchen and her sole responsibility is to give birth and raise children. This article can eliminate such backward thinking. In fact, this article is more empowering to women and black people. Its significance is to enlighten women to fight for their position and status in the society.

The twenty-first century presented American women with a chance to explore that which they were not experiencing before. For instance, it is in this century that women started taking education seriously and pursued professional courses that were initially reserved for men. The author says that although the gender ratios were not in their favor, they still have it and do not trail far behind the man as far as income generation was concerned. This paper is going to discuss five ways women are sexually objectified and commodified.

First, women are commodified through domination. Men are obsessed with control. They want to be the ones in charge and will do anything to maintain their privilege. Therefore, women are left as the inferior gender that is meant to be controlled and dominated over. Men play the roles of kings and command at the expense of reducing women to subjects. Secondly, women are sexually objectified ad emotional beings. Women having emotions is deemed inferior, and it is the beginning of their objectification. As emotional beings, women are reluctant to stand up for their rights. Men, on the other hand, present themselves as unemotional and in power and they use this to objectify and commodify the women.

Thirdly, women were and still are commodified through reduced privileges. For instance, women were denied basic right over their bodies, sexuality, marriage, and even divorce. Such matters are personal and depend on an individual. However, the society did not allow women such privileges, and they had to be made by someone else. Fourth, women were objectified in the labor industry. Most of the work they did went unpaid. The same job done by a man would attract a salary. Similarly, at the home level, domestic labor is left for the women, and they are not compensated in any way. Finally, women were sexually objectified, and for that reason, they were not deemed fit to take over authority. The ruling was exclusively a mans job, and this was not a matter of discussion.