Gender Discrimination (My observation in Laramie from the perspective of gender role)

Gender Discrimination between Men and Women
Pradeep Neupane

This paper is an attempt to explore and analyze the gender issues manifested at workplace, sports, media, politics, and fashion. I have examined gender dynamics and impact of gender stereotypes in Walmart workers, basketball game, university transportation services, mass media, fashion, and politics. This research presents an overview of my experiences, values, attitudes, and thoughts in relation to integrating gender considerations into sociocultural value regarding men and women’s participations, activities, and roles in a variety of social and political institutions. I also explore gender perspective issues concerning power, strength, attitude, behavior, work- division, and perception regarding gender and sex differences between men and women. This paper focuses on how differences and inequalities   affect men and women’s rights and opportunities in the workplace, sports, politics, and the media.

Introduction

Although the implementation of variety of government and society’s plans, policy, programs, and law enforcement has been conducted by government and organizations, for example, NGOs and INGOs, to grant women equal opportunities and rights as men, gender stereotypes have been consistent over time. We think this as good or bad based on whether the society accepts or denies these behaviors, beliefs, practices, and attitudes. I think gender stereotypes are shaped by society. We are taught, since our childhood, to see differences in clothing, playing, and living styles in the society. Discrimination may not have negative connotation all the time. It depends on whether discrimination is for empowerment and opportunity or essential to provide certain level of support to disadvantaged people. For example, if there are very few natives joining college compared to migrants, policy to reserve some quota for natives as disadvantaged group can be positive discrimination. But my focus in this paper is discrimination against essential or fundamental human rights of equity in opportunities and choices. Why is there discrimination between men and women at workplace, sports, politics, and media? Why do men think that masculinity, power, and violence define their manhood? I was pondering with these gender perspectives questions in association with learning gender roles in a society. Therefore, I decided to study and analyze gender stereotypes in different areas, such as, work place, sports, and politics.

Gender and workplace

 By the end of February 2011, I planned to observe men and women’s jobs in Wal-Mart. I went to Wal-Mart in the evening (6:00pm) and at night (11:50pm). I observed what men and women were doing. It was very interesting to see work-division between men and women at different time intervals. I found that numbers of women were working in the cash counter to serve the customers and a few men were working in the car repair and electronic areas in the evening. On the other hand, less numbers of women were working at the cash counter while many men were running big carts of groceries to unload and put these groceries in the respective areas at night. Some men were supervising works done by women in the evening and at night. I followed and continued the same schedule from three to four days. I observed the same event almost every day I visited. I tried myself to analyze these realities that shape men and women’s role differently in the workplace. Why are women only associated with cash-counter jobs and men with electronics and heavy loading? This is an example of gender stereotypes that exemplifies men and women were assigned in their specific jobs.

Next, let me discuss these issues at University’s transportation service. I always use the service of the Union Express to travel from my apartment to the University and back to my apartment. I carefully observed gender role in driving bus for two weeks in last month (March, 2011). I noticed that men were driving big buses almost all the time, while women were driving small buses. There were only few women who drove big buses, but, they drove these buses not very frequently. For me, this is clearly a gender bias in assigning men and women driving different buses. I think women can drive the large buses as confidently as men but still men are assigned to larger buses and women are assigned to drive smaller buses. What is the reason behind this type of work difference between men and women in the context of driving Union Express at UW? The reason may be different from my opinion, but, I would say gender based conceptions and roles have created these gender inequalities between men and women at workplace.

Gender and Sports 

I analyzed gender inequalities at sports to see how men and women are performing different roles at sports. I went to watch a basketball game on every weekend for three weeks at the Arena, University of Wyoming last fall semester.  As each match went through, cheerleaders danced, jumped, and cheered the spectators. I noticed that the cheerleaders were all females. I never found men as performing as cheerleaders except the Cow Boy Joe (mascot) (I guess male) who puts a mask on his face and entertains people while game is going on. I think, not only female but male cheer leaders also can dance, jump, and cheer at sports.  Why we never see men as cheerleaders in games? Coming from different culture, I was not able to understand the origin of gender role of cheerleaders. Therefore, I asked a man seating beside me during the game: Why there were only female cheerleaders?  He replied, “I think women cheerleaders entertain people better than men cheer leaders and it is female job.” May be men are not suitable for this job. American football is still pretty exclusively male. I often see male football but rare female foot ball in television. World famous sports club are all male dominated. I think this is an indication of gender stereotype in sports.

Gender and politics

It is interesting to know that Wyoming is the first state in the US where women were given their voting right. I began thinking about gender and its roles in Wyoming’s politics. I looked at research done by Regina Branton to study the political data regarding women’s positions in politics and their participation in politic interactions. Wyoming’s politics is dominated by male politicians. According to Regina, “Sex-role socialization, gender discrimination, and structural barriers make it difficult for women to enter the political sphere” (Branton, 1994). Societal and traditional beliefs place certain criteria and expectations upon women, for example, by considering women better at caring for children and for doing household activities (cleaning, cooking). This made it difficult for women to enter politics and to hold a position in public offices.  Men have played dominant political role in the most government offices (branches) including legislature branch and county court, however, women in Wyoming have more political representation than at national level. People in Wyoming generally expect that women primary responsibilities are to care for children and work at home; therefore, people find it difficult in voting or electing female candidates, who have children, in public offices and legislature branch.  According to Wyoming’s eGovernment Site, Nellie Tayloe Ross was the first (and only women) to serve as Governor of Wyoming (Wyoming Government, 2011). Many policies and programs are conducted by Wyoming State to encourage and strengthen women’s participations and leadership in Wyoming. I found that women’s success in politics were lower than men’s success in Wyoming politics because of societal expectations placed by societal and traditional beliefs-women’s primary jobs are to care children and to serve their family at home.

Gender, mass media, and fashion

 While I was concerning the gender roles in relation to mass media and fashion, one quote by Elsa Schiaparelli stuck in my mind-“Women dress alike all over the World: they dress to be annoying to other women” (Zimbio, 2011). From my observation of the mass media (television, newspaper, radios, magazine including internet), I observed that these media focused on several strategies to show women what women should look like. I found videos and advertisements on television and internet that humiliated and objectified women’s body as sexual objects. I noticed that programs, movies, and news from mass media were designed to be interpreted from a masculine perspective that reflects women’s role as kind, loving, caring for children and family, and obeying men’s orders. Moreover, I visited several places, like, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Safeway located in Wyoming. I observed that women were more interested in wearing different clothing (color, style) from men. When I went to K-Mart with my friends (all males) for shopping, they were reluctant to buy a pink color T-shirt. Some of my friends shared their thought that pink-color cloth is only for women. Also, I did not see men wearing pink color cloths. A familiarity with mass media and fashion about women’s roles and life styles including clothing led to richer discussions with higher degree of relevance and this helped to understand that women are much more targeted and influenced by mass media than men.   

Results

The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the activities, attitudes, gender roles, and complexities between men and women in terms of gender roles in various social arenas.  This study addresses the gender issues as a key factor for the reason of decreased women’s opportunities and rights in a society. I tried to focus on how gender inequalities affect women’s values, rights, equity and access to opportunities in the society. Every observation shows a glimpse of hermeneutic (in the sense that I tried to interpret the things in social and cultural contexts) lived experience during my research regarding gender related issues, work division, and discrimination between men and women.  Lived experience in the sense that I have experienced those realities myself besides seeing them in other work places, sports, transportation, fashion, etc. Although the proportion of women is growing in several areas, for instance, fashion, sports, jobs, and politics; various forms of gender discrimination have been playing major roles in weakening women’s success. Gender stereotypical perspectives and long held belief system might have prevented women to facilitate their access to physical and social needs.    All my observations discussed above and my experiences show that gender is a socially constructed term and its interpretations and perceptions have made it difficult to change gender biased social norms for equity and access to all social, political, cultural, and economic opportunities for women.

Conclusion

All in all, this research concludes that gender stereotype is still a major problem for women in societies that have limited women's access to opportunities though the law of the state guarantees equal rights to all despite gender, origin, color, ethnicity, or economic status. Gender stereotypes are observed on daily basis from workplace to media because people are more likely to follow social norms what it identifies and accepts certain tradition, culture, and norms of a society as standard for all.  Societal institutions, such as, education, culture, religion, economy, family, beliefs and personal experiences maintain, enforce, and create social stratification, inequalities and differences based on gender between men and women that ultimately underestimate women’s values and rights. This has brought many challenges to equal opportunities and rights for women as men have in a society.  Research indicates that women have less access and equity at several areas, for instance, workplace, sports, and politics, and women are dominated by male because of gender stereotypical societal institutions (education, family, friends, religion, and culture) and public perception of traditional gender roles. 

References

Branton, R., (1994). A Comparison of Under-Representation of Women in Politics Nationally with Women in Wyoming Politics. Department OF Political Science. Retrieved from             

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?vinst=PROD&attempt=1&fmt=14&startpage=  1&ver=1&vname=PQD&RQT=309&did=1338828661&exp=0414 2016&scaling=FULL&vtype=PQD&rqt=309&cfc=1&TS=130299664&clientId=18949

Wyoming Government, (2011). Governors of Wyoming. Retrieved from              

http://www.wyoming.gov/chronology.aspx

Zimbio, (2011).The Lip Gloss Conundrum. Retrieved from            

http://www.zimbio.com/Schiaparelli/articles/pVF4I6MeKPt/Women+dress+alike+overworld+dress+annoying

Gender, Sex, and Sexuality

Gender can be defined as the socially constructed behavior, attributes, and characteristics that a particular sex performs. On the other hand, sex is biological difference between male and female. Sexuality means sexual expression and orientation. Gender, sex, and sexuality seem to be very interrelated terms, but, usually the meaning is broad and complicated to define in a particular manner that suits every individual in every society.

            ‘Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation,’ co-edited by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman is a canonical works that contains essays, poems, and comics including an introduction, an intermission, and an epilogue by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman. This anthology is structured into five parts that gather stories, personal experiences, and gender issues from a diverse group of trans individuals that effectively and profoundly deconstruct, rebuild, and reevaluate the concept of gender. The contents of this book represent the gender identity, and step by step process of transition via their experiences, stories, and interpretation of gender which is the overarching theme of this anthology. The writers describe gender histories and events that have reflected their sense of being transgender or gender queer. Each part covers the stories and personal experiences of writers which are provocative, humorous, insightful, tender, and strong. All stories, essays, and poems of each part give the relationship and issues regarding sex, gender, and sexuality.

Equally important, Kate Bornstein, along with other authors in this book, challenges the gender ideology and narrates gender identity through her experiences. Some authors have different opinions from others for the very concept of ‘outlaw’, making its meaning more complexity and relating it to the greater depth of gender binary issue. According to Bornstein's quote in her memoir, ‘Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us’ (1994, pp. 3-4), “there is need for recognizable identity and the need to belong to a group of people with a similar identity.” By this, she means if an individual wants to be accepted and wants to have an identity in the society, he/she must belong to either one of two groups of people: males or females. In practice, gender includes the social behavior, activities, attributes and cultural characteristics that a society identifies and determines appropriate for men and women.  Gender is too broad and complex to interpret in a particular way in association with social interaction and relation among individuals.

 Furthermore, human beings need to have an identity not only for themselves but also for others.  We use every set of standards to identify ourselves and others in every society, and each set of standards has an opposite set, like; female versus male, good versus bad, and hetero- versus homosexual. Every society has an assumption that an individual must fit into one set of standards that society specifies as standard for an individual to belong to in a binary system. Also, the male and female binary system is devised and adopted as a natural occurrence; however, authors in this book challenge the binary system and set themselves as contradictions to this system. They provide strong argument, experiences, and events that give a clear evidence to disprove hetero-normative systems of sex, gender, and sexuality.

            It is generally believed that gender and sex are interconnected and non-interchangeable terms. Social and cultural beliefs assign the gender identity depending on the type of genitals you have. This is clear from the fact that it is very difficult for people to recognize and accept any individual as a man who has vagina and any woman who has penis. This fact is opposed by the Sherilyn Connelly in her essay ‘The Big Reveal.’ She emphasizes that her gender identity has not affected by her penis. For her, sex organs are not the basis for gender identification; he/she must be comfortable with his/her inner feelings and emotions. Thus it can be concluded that gender reflects an individual’s identification of the mind and emotions, whereas; sex belongs to biology of body and comfort within one’s body.

The concept of gender, however, has been challenged by sex reassignment surgery (SRS).  By successful SRS surgery and hormonal intake, people have transformed themselves from one sex to another. This gives an idea that gender is changeable and shows clear evidence that change in gender requires change in sex as well, but, some activist opposes this concept. In ‘I am Transreal: a reflection on/of Becoming Dragon,’ Micha states how trans people become complete and perfect both internally and externally via SRS. In ‘Trans-ing Gender: The surgical Option,’ Mercedes Allen talks about the health related problems, financial burdens, religion restrictions, and their own personal view in doing the GRS. There are many health related issues related to GRS and hormonal therapy that have challenged the need of GRS among transgender people. Some trans are fine with the genitals and physical body they were given. In contrast, other find it necessary to have GRS in order to fit in society.  This explains how trans people are opposing the social set of standards and are seeking an alternative standard set for identification.

            Additionally, identification of sexual orientation is not always associated with gender or sex identification.  Trans people create confusion regarding the connection between sexuality, sex, and gender.  They may have sexual expression and orientation to males or females in a similar way as a male might be attracted to either male to female.  The sexual expression and orientation of a trans person to males or females despite their sex changes or assigned at birth, suggests that sexual identification and orientation is influenced by personal experiences and interpretations gained from societal factors, such as, school, family, friends, religion, and culture. But there are gendered difference in trans people’s expectations, experiences, personal interpretations, and understanding about sexual orientation and desire among transsexual people in how society perceives, negatively or positively.

The experiences of different authors and their mixed reactions regarding the gender issues, for example, equality and right for transgender people, differ from one another, however, their common purpose is to be accepted as a human. The authors have focused on gender issues that they encountered in their workplace, on the bed, and in society from diverse individuals, like, their intimate life partners, their friends, and family.  Transgender people face many serious consequences: humiliation, dominance, harassment, and discrimination in society and thus this situation discourage their participation in social activities, and these situations act as a hindrance for the overall development of trans people in society.

            Furthermore, many authors explain that the definition of gender based on binary sex is inadequate. Gender can be defined according to the context, opinion, feelings, and social interpretation of how a society and its people specify roles for a particular sex. Gender roles are interrelated with an individual’s sex. Society and government impose strict rules and regulations to limit rights and opportunities for trans people.

            Interestingly, authors have argued that if trans people can cry, and act, and have blood, feelings, and emotions as other human beings have, why are trans people being harassed and not accepted into society. In ‘Trans Corporation,’ CT Whitely gives an example showing the benefit of being a transgender man in corporation. It shows that trans people are successful in understanding and interacting with both male and female groups to deal with complicated situations.  In the ‘Princess,’ comic, Christine Smith portrayed the bullying issue faced at school with great force and humor. To overcome all these obstacles, many others have raised their voices against the system and discrimination. In ‘Letting My light Out,’ Leona Lo addresses the issue of Christian fundamentalism’s threat to a trans woman. All these reflect their issues, problems, and complications on one hand, and, their positive role and contributions to enlighten their capability and success for the development of society on another hand.

            Additionally, Julia Serano in her essay ‘Performance piece,’ discusses that gender is not a merely performance rather it is a “confusing and complicated mess” (Bornstein et al., 2010:85).  Our bodies and our desires are influenced by all external expectations that people place on us. She argues that gender is inexplicable, profound, varied, and intricate. Gender reflects behaviors and ways that come to an individual naturally which are not always associated with our physical performance. She gives an example that her way of acting and clothes she wore were the same during her hormonally transitioned state. Gender is an “amalgamation of bodies, imagination, desires, identities, life experiences, sensations, and behaviors” shaped by both naturally and socially acquired culture and language (Bornstein et al., 2010:87).

            Furthermore, she argues, why would people express their feelings and emotions that may denote non-normative genders that bring high risk when shown in the public if gender is merely a performance? We, as human being, have learned gender from our birth.  Certain characteristics, behaviors, and ways that come in one’s life are somehow more naturally influenced than others.

             All in all, many poems, essays, comics, and experiences shared by many authors in ‘Gender Outlaws’ focuses and challenges the gender ideology and gender stereotypes to a greater depth. Bornstein and Bergman discuss about their memory from the past association, and analyze the physical and mental changes occurred in trans communities as a result of active movements of trans activists, and slowly changing interpretation of social norm. “Gender Outlaws’ emphasizes that constant intersections with gender, race, religion, sex, and sexuality is a fundamental need for successful representation of trans identities rather than isolation. To prove and illustrate this, Bornstein and Bergmann in this anthology have provided several diverse stories from trans communities. Authors have challenged, via their experiences and active movements, the social pressures that exist for trans people due to the socially structured binary gender system. To me, works and attitudes of discriminating, harassing, and imposing inhumane rules and norms on people based on gender, sexes, and sexuality in this modern era, obviously are the reflections of human tyranny. Thus, let’s create truly more just, equitable, and peaceful society by ending all the forms of discrimination and inequalities that exist in society.

Work Cited

Bornstein, Kate, and S. Bear Bergman, eds. Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation. Berkeley,           California: Seal Press, 2010.