Social

UNIT 2 SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF Construction of

Gender
GENDER*
*(Adopted from Block 1, Unit 3, MGS-001)

Structure

2.1 Introduction
2.2 Objectives
2.3 Introducing the Topic
2.4 What is Social Construction?
2.5 Social Construction and Gender
2.6 Construction of a Girl Child
2.7 Sex Segregation
2.8 Division of Labour and the Sphere of Work
2.9 Let Us Sum Up
2.10 Unit End Questions
2.11 Answers to Check Your Exercises
2.12 References and Suggested Readings

2.1 INTRODUCTION
As the title of the Unit goes, our main aim is to develop familiarity with the
meaning, various dimensions of the social construction of gender for women
in development through case studies and citing examples. Sociologically, the
social construction of gender speaks about the relationship of gender with
various institutions like caste, kinship, marriage and so on.

From the perspective of gender and development, the process of gender

construction can be explained concerning the aspects of women’s life like
work, decision-making, honour killing, and the notion of autonomy and
freedom. Gender construction operates both at the macro and micro level and
very much embedded in the institutional arrangements of the society. In this
course, the gender construction will be explained from sociological and
development perspectives to understand the complex phenomenon of
women’s discrimination and inequality face by women on account of sex.

2.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying this Unit, you should be able to:
• Explain the processes of gender construction concerning the culture and
order of the society.
• Examine the implications of gender construction with development
indicators like sex segregation, division of labour, decision-making, and
socialization. 43
Introduction to • Examine the relationship between gender and the structural arrangements
Gender
of society, and
• Analyze the necessary features of the universal position of gender
construction.

2.3 INTRODUCTING THE TOPIC

The Unit discusses the meaning of the social construction of gender. It starts
with explaining the meaning of social construction and understanding gender
concerning culture, sex segregation, workforce participation, decision-
making, honour killing, and the notion of autonomy and freedom. First, the
section on gender construction focuses broadly on the culture and various
structures like work, sex segregation, and division of labour, perpetuating the
existing gender divisions based on sex difference. Similarly, in the section on
work and the sexual division of labour, we discuss gender as an analytical
tool to understand the inequalities that are reflected in ways of hierarchization
of tasks, unequal distribution of resources, the invisibility of women’s work
in agriculture and informal economy, and the sex segregation in the sphere of
work within the household.

2.4 WHAT IS SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION?

It is very often said that there is no such thing as a social reality and “what
social constructions are?” Similarly, in reality, there is nothing intrinsically
“good” or “bad”. These are but social constructions. In other words, morality
is the acquired vision of society. How is the vision of a society or its social
construction shaped? Is it shaped automatically? Is it culture-specific? Let us
examine this process of social construction. Every day we observe various
objects, experience a lot of events and related to various social interactions.
These entire phenomena that are experienced individually help to develop an
image of the society or the world. Indeed we filter everything that happens to
us every day through lens or screen of our understanding of our world. This
ordinary sense of the word or thing forms the basis of social reality or the
construction of social reality. Social construction is a social process in which
both individual and other social processes are intrinsically related. Every
construction or image of the world is influenced by the individual’s
experience of society and his/her interaction with various social processes.
Therefore, it is argued that the social construction carries subjective biases as
it is shaped by individual experience. Social construction is also influenced
and dominated by the interests of a particular group or class of people. For
instance, in Pakistan, power and education rest with a few elites and take an
interest in developing the human resources of the majority. In this sense, the
culture, norms, ideologies, and values of the dominant group justify and
sustain a particular form of social construction. Hence, social constructions
through which we understand everyday life try to classify people based on
caste, class, religion, community, kinship, gender, etc. The classification of
44
people is the product of social construction and forms an integral part of the Social
Construction of
social processes. Social processes such as primary socialization and social Gender
institutions' presence help produce an accepted kind of social construction.
Hence, gender is the product of such social construction.

Check Your Progress Exercise: 1

Note: i. Use the space given below to answer the questions.

ii. Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.

1. What is social construction?

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2.5 SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND GENDER

In this section, I talked about social construction and gender.

Sex and Gender

Understanding the social construction of gender starts with explaining the

two concepts, i.e., gender and sex. Often, these two terms have used
interchangeably; however, they bear different meanings as concepts. Gender
refers to differences, hierarchies, rankings which exist between two sexes.
Gender explains cultural constructions of various roles that women and men
in society play. Further, gender analyses the aspect of shaping women's
behaviour according to the normative order of the society. Gender as a
conceptual tool is used to analyze the structural relationships of inequality
between women and men, as reflected in various aspects of life, such as
household, labour market, education, and political institutions. Sex, on the
other hand, refers to the biological differences between female and male,
which are the same across time and place. Gender can therefore be defined as
a notion that offers a set of frameworks within which the social and
ideological construction and representation of differences between the sexes
are explained (IGNOU p: 7). For instance, gender explains the structured
relations between women and men within society.

In Singapore, housework continues to be understood as a gender-based issue,

as it is intrinsically linked to women's role and activities. Domestic work is
gender-specificity remains central to Singapore's social life and state
policymaking (Phua and Yeoh 2008). Therefore, women's association with
housework and men's proximity to public work are the products of socio-
45
Introduction to cultural contexts. Further, this notion of separation/difference brings
Gender
discrimination between two sexed persons. Women's social expectations as
natural mothers, wives, daughters, and homemakers exist at the ideological
level and operate in the material environment. Some feminist geographers
have argued that space and gender are socially constructed, and women's
bodies, activities, and socialization processes are limited to specific physical
territory and structure. Sex, on the other hand, connects the individual with
her/his sex categorization and eventually restricts the individual with the
social notion of femininity and masculinity.

Cultural Construction of Gender

Gender is being a complex phenomenon that is socially constructed and

culturally determined. Culture describes a web of relationships that expresses
the meaning, pattern of living, and values of the institutions. Culture covers
almost every aspect of life, ranging from organization of production, the
structure of family and institutions, ideologies and normative patterns of the
society and forms of interactions or relations. The cultural construction of
gender talks about the construction of masculinity and femininity in the
context of socialization, i.e., the individual acquires the gendered bodies of
being feminine or masculine in social development. The construction of
femininity and masculinity plays an essential role in shaping the institutions
of family, economic organization, political, and religion. The understanding
of gender concerning culture reflects the structure of stratification, existing
power relations between women and men, and the process of acquiring the
accepted roles and behaviour. We can explain gender construction about
culture through the following points;

• Gender Construction supports dominance: The gender categories are

never neutral, nor are they equal. This construction of gender perpetuates
the system of dominance across society. Gender as a system of unequal
relations provides a range of choices to women and men in spheres of
work, production process, access to resources and power, accepting the
specific gender roles, and sex segregation in the work and labour market.

• Gender construction vis-a-vis Individual Expression of Gender:

Feminist psycho- analysis assesses that gender cannot be seen as
exclusively cultural, linguistic, and political constructions. Therefore, we
need to distinguish between the rigid construction of gender and
individual reflections of these constructions. The rigid construction of
gender is those images that are socially, historically, culturally
determined. For example, the socialization of a girl child like a
housewife by internalizing some of the socially accepted behaviour
ranging from dress code and good conduct to care and nurture. In
addition to the socio-cultural construction of gender behaviour according
to sexual identity, there is an individual's notion of expressing gender
behaviour. Individual inflexions are made by interacting with an
46 individual psyche with socio-political or cultural, or historical norms. For
 example, suppose a boy/girl undergoes sex transformation. In that case, Social
Construction of
there are a couple of questions, such as how societies respond to Gender
variation in individual "s expression of gender identity, to what extent
societies internalize various gender roles and behaviours. This point
brings us to the discussion of gender as the concept within the social
construction of gender. Doing gender involves a complex set of socially
governed perceptual, interactional and micro-political activities that cast
particular action as an expression of masculine or feminine nature (West
and Zimmerman 1991). Gender is an achieved action that is located in a
particular social situation. Therefore, it is an observed feature of social
situation, i.e., gender outcome of and produced social arrangements. For
example, the newborn only carries the sex identity imposed upon the
individual by the society. Even though continuous interaction with the
parents or primary caretakers, the infant accomplishes gender identity.
Often, the unequal treatment of parents towards boys" vis-à-vis girls
creates gender difference and turned into gender discrimination. Doing
gender is a process that legitimizes the fundamental division of society.

Box: 1 The case of Agnes: A transsexual boy

West and Zimmerman discuss the three analytical categories, such as

sex, sex category, and gender, to understand the notion of doing
gender. Garfinkel’s case study of Agnes, a transsexual boy, would be
an apt example for understanding gender construction. Agnes adopted
a female identity at the age of seventeen and underwent sex
reassignment surgery some years later to understand the gender
construction. She possessed male genitalia and required to project
herself as a woman. She was obliged to learn the feminine features
and analyse femininity within the socially structured situation. She did
not possess the socially agreed biological category to be classified as
the female sex. More central to this argument is Kessler and
McKenna’s position, i.e., Biological criteria (sex) is hidden from the
public perception and individual continues to behave according to the
socially agreed criteria of male or female. Male or female are the
products of the gender attribution process and form an essential part of
gender accomplishment/activities. For example, if a child sees a
picture of a person with a suit and tie, immediately the child connects
the picture with the image of a man. The sex category is socially
situated and acquired by the individual through everyday interaction.
People perceive the activity of an individual and deduce the category
of sex. In this context, gender is understood to be the product of
culture and society.

The example mentioned above shows that the categories of masculinity and
femininity are socially constructed, and the gender identity can only be
established in conformation with the biological identity. Femininity and
masculinity is nothing but accepting and showing conformity with socially 47
Introduction to accepted gender behaviours and roles. Gender identity is subjective.
Gender
Therefore, these categories do not stay static in the history and culture of the
society.

• Socialization

Socialization is how the child transforms into the social being by adhering to
social values, norms, and socially desired behaviour. Many feminists see the
socialization process as a self-perpetuating system and have shown concern
in sex role socialization. Sex-role socialization is a means to women’s
oppression in the larger context. Stanley and Wise argue that sex role is often
understood as gender role, i.e., expressing attributes of femininity or
masculinity. The moment you perceive socialization as a system, we
understand the process as a patriarchal system, which only perpetuates the
expected values and norms. Family as an institution helps in internalizing two
concepts such as socialization and gender roles. The mother or primary
caretaker responds differently to the child based on the sex categorization.
The differential attitude includes touching, caring, and ideas about autonomy
of boys and absence of autonomy of girls. The more parents display
differential behaviour like exposing children to specific toys, the more the
child will express gender stereotypes. Parents are seen as channels through
which gender stereotypes are communicated to the children, and later, the
children internalize the multiple stereotypes (Stanley and Sue Wise).

Check Your Progress Exercise: 2

Note: i. Use the space given below to answer the questions.

ii. Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.

2. What is cultural construction of gender?

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2.6 CONSTRUCTION OF A GIRL CHILD

The construction of a girl child discusses growing a girl into a female in
patrilineal and patriarchal societies like India. It will reflect on the issue of
constraints that a girl faces in the process of socializing herself as a female,
48 adhering to differential values attached with the male vis-à-vis female child,
how does she acquire appropriate roles to her gender identity, and what are Social
Construction of
the mechanisms which help her in internalizing cultural values and Gender
visualizing the image of her future. Dube (2000) refers to the process of
socialization as female as how women are produced as gendered subjects.
She further discusses creating gendered subjects through the medium of
language, rituals, ceremonies and practices. The construction of a gendered
subject, i.e., carrying the identity of femininity or masculinity, is both
socially and culturally produced. For example, in every culture, the gender
difference is rooted in biology or preordained nature. In Indian Hindu
families, the notion of gender difference begins with the sphere of
reproduction – both mother and father share different role concerning
procreation. It is culturally considered that the father is the provider of seeds
and the mother provides the platform to receive the seeds and nurture them
further. These role differences are culturally imagined and reflected in other
social institutions like family, marriage, and kinship. The social construction
of gender questions the preconceived idea to assign unequal roles to male and
female, and to analyze how other gender roles are learnt within the complex
of relationships and institutions. Gender identity is created through learning
gender roles. Therefore, it becomes essential to understand the process of
gender construction in the broader context of family and kinship structure.
Family and kinship are central to the understanding of socialization. In
socialization, the family plays two significant roles, such as 1. rules of
recruitment of members in the family and 2. configuration of roles based on
gender and age divisions and providing training in the acquisition of future
roles. These family roles have become agencies in imparting the characters of
growing up female in Indian society.

Girl child and the Natal Home

The construction of femininity is a continuous and complex process and is

conveyed through language, proverbs, and rituals. The context of natal home
for both married and unmarried daughters is widely used in the form of
proverbs in socialization. The desire for a boy child is explicit in day to day
conversation in the forms of saying. For instance, parents who have only
daughters often commented that the future is black as they are not having any
support" (Dube 2000: 90). Similarly, in regions like Maharastra, girls are
honoured with accomplishments as girls are always associated with home and
household works. In the process of acquiring femininity, the parental home is
always referred to be a temporary shelter, there. Therefore grow up with the
notion of having their own house in future. Girls grow up with the desire to
have their own house evaluate and instruct their lives to learning socially
appropriate behaviour verbs and rituals to realize this inevitable fact of
transferring the girl "s membership from her natal home to the husband's
home.

Dube, in her book, documented some of the sayings spoken in various parts
of India. In Orissa, there is a saying that "equates daughter with ghee". The
49
Introduction to proverb's meaning is both things are valuable. However, both start to stink if
Gender
not disposed of on time. Similarly, there are festivals like Durga puja and
Gauri puja, which reiterates the idea of "homecoming" in the context of
goddess. These festivals are full of rituals that convey the message to young
girls of their reality of leaving their mother's home and being invited to the
natal home. In this context, the girl's socialization takes place through rituals,
proverbs, and festivities that emphasize the need to learn adequate feminine
behaviour of obedience, submissiveness, accommodative, etc. The
construction of a girl child begins with getting temporary membership at the
parental place and the inevitability of learning some of the ideal feminine
characters.

The socialization process of the girl child involves the inherent steps of
construction of femininity at the pre-pubertal and post-pubertal phases. In the
pre-pubertal phase, there is a differential value attached to the son vis-à-vis
daughters. Sons are preferred for the continuation of descent, and daughters
are valued for maintaining the sense of pre-pubertal purity in the society. The
importance of pre-pubertal purity amongst the girls has given special
recognition in rituals of the various region of India like Maharastra, West-
Bengal, Karnataka and North India. In these regions, a little girl is associated
with different customs like marriage, name giving ceremony, observing
seclusion during menstruation and celebrating Navaratra by feeding pre-
pubertal girls. These celebrations implicitly emphasize the auspiciousness
and purity of the girl child or virgin woman. The construction of femininity is
a continuous and complex process and is conveyed through language,
proverbs, and rituals. The context of natal home for both married and
unmarried daughters is widely used in the form of proverbs in socialization.
The desire for a boy child is explicit in day to day conversation in the forms
of saying. For instance, parents who have only daughters often commented
that the future is black as they are not having any support" (Dube 2000: 90).
Similarly, in regions like Maharastra, girls are honoured with
accomplishments as girls are always associated with home and household
works. In the process of acquiring femininity, the parental home is always
referred to be a temporary shelter, there. Therefore grow up with the notion
of having their own house in future. Girls grow up with the desire to have
their own house evaluate and instruct their lives to learning socially
appropriate behaviour verbs and rituals to realize this inevitable fact of
transferring the girl’s membership from her natal home to the husband's
home.

Dube, in her book, documented some of the sayings spoken in various parts
of India. In Orissa, there is a saying that "equates daughter with ghee". The
proverb's meaning is both things are valuable. However, both start to stink if
not disposed of on time. Similarly, there are festivals like Durga puja and
Gauri puja, which reiterates the idea of "homecoming" in the context of
goddess. These festivals are full of rituals that convey the message to young
girls of their reality of leaving their mother's home and being invited to the
50
natal home. In this context, the girl's socialization takes place through rituals, Social
Construction of
proverbs, and festivities that emphasize the need to learn adequate feminine Gender
behaviour of obedience, submissiveness, accommodative, etc. The
construction of a girl child begins with getting temporary membership at the
parental place and the inevitability of learning some of the ideal feminine
characters.

The socialization process of the girl child involves the inherent steps of
construction of femininity at the pre-pubertal and post-pubertal phases. In the
pre-pubertal phase, there is a differential value attached to the son vis-à-vis
daughters. Sons are preferred for the continuation of descent, and daughters
are valued for maintaining the sense of pre-pubertal purity in the society. The
importance of pre-pubertal purity amongst the girls has given special
recognition in rituals of the various region of India like Maharastra, West-
Bengal, Karnataka and North India. In these regions, a little girl is associated
with different customs like marriage, name giving ceremony, observing
seclusion during menstruation and celebrating Navaratra by feeding pre-
pubertal girls. These celebrations implicitly emphasize the auspiciousness
and purity of the girl child or virgin woman.

Box 2: Case Analysis

In Navaratri, the customs of worshiping and feeding virgin girls are widely
practice across India. On the eightieth day of the festival, pre-pubertal girls
are invited for worship and food. The girls represent Mother Goddess and
they were worshiped and offered food along with other gifts as part of the
ritual. Two points can be inferred from this analysis, 1. In this festival the
forms assigned to the girls are essentially feminine in nature, 2. The
consciousness of femininity is constructed through their dressing style and
from the gifts offered to them, and 3. a sharp distinction can be made
between the phases of pre-puberty and post-puberty, and consequently,
there is a sense of purity and sacredness is associated with the pre-pubertal
phase of women’s life. The construction of femininity is symbolized in
these rituals and the sense of feminine features is systematically built into
the minds of the girl child.

The onset of puberty is the phase, which is marked by changes and

transformation in women’s life. This phase is associated with several pubertal
rituals, dietary prescriptions and seclusion of girls for a certain day and these
are practiced widely across India in various forms. These pubertal rituals
express the significance of sexuality and motherhood for a girl child and the
notion of controlled sexuality in this phase of women’s vulnerability and
adulthood. Marriage and motherhood as two goals are highly valued for the
girls in this age and often made evident to them by allocating specific roles to
young girls, observing complete seclusion and imposing food restrictions
during menstruation, and so on. The construction of a girl in a Hindu family
51
Introduction to is indicative of the fact of learning feminine behaviour and socialize by
Gender
adopting the structured role of an imaginary wife and mother.

2.7 SEX SEGREGATION

There is a linear relationship between economic structure and sex
segregation.

The notion of sex segregation has become apparent with the advancement of
industrialization and the capitalist economy. Sex segregation is mainly
observed and studied within the occupation and economic structure, which
reflects women's entering into a particular kind of profession in the regime of
any economic reform. Purdah or the practice of female seclusion is widely
followed across countries and communities, and it prescribes evident gender
segregation in rural tasks and activities. In Bangladesh, female seclusion is
operated according to the inside/outside divide (Kabeer 1990). The author
says that the poor women in Bangladesh are subjected to the twofold process
of stereotyping. On the one hand, poor women are perceived to be passive
and vulnerable, and on the other hand, they regarded as the target groups of
policymakers and development practitioners. These images of women have
been reinforced through cultural constructions like women have always in
need of male protection for their survival. The social norms and practices
have portrayed women to be passive and dependant in the larger context of
society. For example, the notion of inside/outside divide has curtailed
women’s freedom to move beyond household premises. Therefore, they
perform activities within the sphere of domesticity. In the agricultural
process, the activities near the homestead were performed and governed by
women exclusively. The culture and society at large shapes women's
engagement with the specific nature of activities.

There is a comprehensive division between men and women in terms of

differential wage, access to MGNREGS job card, nature of work, and work in
the labour market. Traditionally, women have perceived to be dependent as
far as employment is concerned. For instance, within the family, women have
access to resources through the male counterpart. Similarly, women in the
labour market go through the male channels in accessing wage and other job
opportunities. The employment figures of Census 1991 shows severe male-
female disparities in accessing the available opportunities. In the labour
market, the predominant numbers of women are non-workers, and out of
89.77 women, a substantial percentage of women belong to marginal
workers.

Further, the majority of women are concentrated in the unorganized sector as

compared to the male workforce. The ratio of female to male workers in the
unorganized sectors seems unfavourable to women. In the unorganized
sector, 95.79 per cent of females concentrated compared to 89.77 per cent of
male workers. In the organized sector, there is a more significant
52 concentration of women in the public sector than in the private sector. There
is segregation based on gender within the labour market, and this division has Social
Construction of
led to rising socio-economic insecurities for women working in unorganized Gender
and private sectors (Seth 2001). The author indicated that the states having
low female status are into low paid and hazardous employment. The
proportion of women in the central government services is deficient as
compared to men. Having an understanding of women's employment in all
sectors of labour market, it can argue that women are mostly concentrated in
low paid primarily they are low in status hierarchies.

Similarly, women’s participation in political and technical employments is

very low. In the agricultural sector, women’s have substantial contribution;
however, they have mainly employed marginally. With agriculture, there is
sex segregation about the nature of work concerning women and men. In
most of the states in India, men are engaged in ploughing and irrigation
related activities and women have exclusively engaged in works like sowing,
nurturing of plants, and harvesting. Men are mostly associated with the
market as immediate actions of the agricultural produce, and the control of
resource and surplus is considered man's domain. Therefore, the benefits of
the new government scheme and the new improvised farming practices do
not percolate down to women. Women having less accessibility to monetary
resources and new schemes are led them to resort to low wages and deprived
of any labour benefits. The structure of patriarchy of the private domain gets
reflected in the structures of the public domain. The social construction of
gender reveals the discrimination and inequality existing in family, work and
employment.

Over the past 20 years, globalization has led to an export-oriented economy

in countries like India, which created several manufacturing jobs and brought
most women into the paid workforce. Women engaged in manufacturing jobs
have increased their quality of life and have received higher authority by
earning money. However, in developing countries like India, sex segregation
within the labour market has remained the sole determinant in women’s
decision making and wage negotiation. In developing countries, women are
less educated compared to men. Therefore, the women have always gone for
temporary, part-time, and risk-prone jobs without labour and health benefits.

Within the unorganized sector, women are resorting to low in the hierarchy
compared to the male. For instance, in Bangladesh and Cambodia, 85 per
cent and 90 per cent of factory jobs are held by women, particularly in the
garment industry. In Colombia and Zimbabwe, 65 per cent and 87 per cent of
jobs in the cut flower industry are held by women, respectively. In the fruit
industry of South Africa, women comprise 69 per cent of temporary and
seasonal workers. The data shows that women substantially concentrated in
the unorganized workforce. However, they have no formal contract as
employees and exposed to poor safety conditions and other vulnerabilities.
Women as the workforce are primarily important to the global economy and,
at the same time, devoid of health and labour protection.
53
Introduction to Check Your Progress Exercise 3
Gender

Note: i. Use the space given below to answer the questions.

ii. Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.

1. How does sex segregation help to understand gender construction?

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2.8 DIVISION OF LABOUR AND THE SPHERE

OF WORK
Gender relations are situated within the sexual division of labour and often
create gender conflict. African agriculture is often perceived to be the female
system of farming. African women carry out agricultural work independent
of their household and family. Within agriculture, the sphere of work is
divided along gender lines. Women and men's work was located within the
sexual division of labour that is the product of existing domestic and kinship
arrangements. In Africa, the separation of the sphere of work between women
and men implies the social exchange of labour between women and men.
However, women’s sphere of work is surrounded by a complex set of claims
and obligations. As Whitehead argued, two different kinds of social
environment govern women’s economic activity in Africa. In women’s
sphere of work, they have access to resources like land and the produce was
shared with their children, husband, and other family members.

On the contrary, women should work for their husband and other family
members, but there is no direct return for women's labour. Here, women's
sphere of work is independent of domesticity; at the same time, women's
labour is constructed within the social climate of rights and obligations.
Women’s work in the husband’s field is conceptualised under her general
rights to welfare and maintenance as the household member. In the African
female farming system, women have the autonomy in contributing their
labour. However, other activities related to production like disposal of food
crops and access to land are embedded in the social environment and
structural arrangements. Africa, In women’s sphere of work, they have access
to resources like land and the produce was shared with her children, husband,
and other family members. Boserup's model on women's role in economic
development was widely acknowledged within the field of women's work.
The model explicitly discussed the notion of the sexual division of labour in
the context of modernization. First, the author argued for a female farming
54
system and the relegation of women's agricultural work in the wake of Social
Construction of
modernization. African agriculture exhibited a dualism based on gender, i.e., Gender
the cash crop sector is managed by the menfolk. The food crop sector is
organized through women's labour and their traditional farming methods.
This model emphasized the feminine nature of subsistence farming and
women's inability to participate in the modern farming sector. Though this
model had shown a clear cut sexual division of labour in the agricultural
sector, at the same time, it was criticized because of completely neglected
women's contribution to modern food production. Whitehead argues, to meet
the increasing cash needs of the African households, women have
significantly contributed to the family labour for cash cropping or increased
trading. Women’s contribution towards the cash crop sector is also
conceptualized according to the household arrangements. For instance, in
Africa, the assumption is that the well being of women is dependent on the
well being of the household. Therefore, despite women having an
independent domain of work, their activities, claims, and obligations are tied
with the structural arrangements.

Work is often understood to be physical and mental labour. According to

Hochschild coined the term "emotional labour" reflects a particular kind of
work associated with care and nurture. Emotional labour is associated with
female occupation both in the domain of family and work sphere. Within the
family, women's unpaid work is described as a labour of love.

Box 3: Labour of Love

Have you many children? The doctor asked.
God has not been kind to me. Of fifteen born, only nine [Link] your
wife work?
No, she stays at home.
I see, how does she spend her day? Doctor asked.
Well, she gets up at four in the morning, fetches water, and wood,
makes the fire and cooks breakfast. Then she goes to the river and
washes clothes. After that she goes to town to get corn ground and
buys what we need in the market. Then she cooks the midday meal.
She brings the meal to the field.
She takes care of the hens and pigs, and of course she looks after the
children. Then she prepares supper so it is ready when I come home
(Mitter 2000)

The above-mentioned describes the nature of labour associated with females

and considered to be feminine. Even in the world economy, women continue
to work for low-paid wages and bear the image of causal or temporary
labourers. The image of peripheral workers or casual workers that women
bear reflect the notion of job insecurity and women‟s inaccessibility to any
55
Introduction to other forms of benefits and career progression. Within the work sphere,
Gender
women have limited freedom and autonomy.

2.9 LET US SUM UP

The unit discusses the concept of gender while making the distinction
between biological sex and social gender. The unit contributes to the
understanding of gender both as social and cultural constructions. Gender as
a social division has impacted women and men differentially in socialization,
work, sex segregation, and division of labour.

2.10 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1. Is gender socially constructed? Substantiate your arguments with suitable
examples.
2. Gender is a product of society and culture: Comment the statement.
3. How do aspects like division of labour and sex segregation explain the
notion of femininity and masculinity?

2.11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress Exercise 1

1. Social construction is a social process in which both individual and other

social processes are intrinsically related. Every construction or image of
the world is influenced by the individual‟s experience of the society and
his/her interaction with various social processes. Therefore, many often it
is argued that the social construction itself carries subjective biases as it
is shaped by individual experience. Social construction is also influenced
and dominated by the interests of a particular group or class of people.

Check Your Progress Exercise 2

1. Gender is being the complex phenomena is socially constructed and

culturally determined. Culture describes as a web of relationships that
expresses the meaning, pattern of living, and values of the institutions.
Culture covers almost every aspects of life ranging from organization of
production, structure of family and institutions, ideologies and normative
patterns of the society and forms of interactions or relations. Cultural
construction of gender talks about the construction of masculinity and
feminity in the context of socialization.

Check Your Progress Exercise 3

1. There is a linear relationship between economic structure and sex

segregation. The notion of sex segregation has become apparent with the
56 advancement of industrialization and capitalist economy. Sex
 segregation is mostly observed and studied within occupation and Social
Construction of
economic structure, which reflects women‟s entering into a particular Gender
kind of profession in the regime of any economic reform. Purdah or the
practice of female seclusion is widely followed across countries and
communities and it prescribes obvious gender segregation in rural tasks
and activities.

2.12 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED

READINGS
Stanley, L. and Wise, S. (2002) ‘What’s wrong with socialisation’, In
Jackson, S. and Scott, S. (Eds.) Gender: A Sociological Reader, London:
Routledge.
Jackson, S. and Scott, S. (2002) Introduction: The gendering of sociology, In
In Jackson, S. and Scott, S. (Eds.) Gender: A Sociological Reader, London:
Routledge.
Dube, L. (2001) Anthropological Explorations in Gender: Intersecting
Fields. India: Sage Publication Pvt. Ltd.
Kabeer, N (1990) ‘Poverty, Purdha and Women’s Survival Strategies in
Rural Bangladesh’, In Bernstein, H, Crow, B, Mackintosh, M, and Martine, C
(Eds.) The Food Question: Profile Versus People?, London: Earthscan
Publications Ltd.
Kabeer, N. (2010) Gender and Social Protection Strategies in the Informal
Economy, London: Routledge.
Seth, M. ( 2001) Women and Development: The Indian Experience. New
Delhi: Sage Publications.
Whitehead, A. (1990) ‘Food Crises and Gender Conflict in the African
Countryside’, In Bernstein, H, Crow, B, Mackintosh, M, and Martine, C
(Eds.) The Food Question: Profile Versus People?, London: Earthscan
Publications Ltd.
Redfern, C and Kristin Aune (2010). Reclaiming the F Word: The New
Feminist Movement. Bangalore: Books for Change.
West, C. and Zimmerman, D.H. (2002), ‘Doing gender’, In Jackson, S. and
Scott, S. (Eds.) Gender: A Sociological Reader, London: Routledge, pp-31-
42.
Mitter, S. (2002) ‘Women Working World Wide’, In Jackson, S. and Scott,
S. (Eds.) Gender: A Sociological Reader, London: Routledge, pp-112-116.
Patel, R. (2010) Working the Night Shift: Women in India’s Call Center
Industry, New Delhi: Orient Black Swan.
Kabeer, N. (2000) The Power to Choose, London: Verso.

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