Gender Cortada

8/2/2019 Gender Cortada

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What is a Woman

what is a woman?... Tota mulier in utero,says one, woman isa womb. But in speaking of certain women, connoisseurs declarethat they are not women, although they are equipped with a uteruslike the rest we are told that femininity is in danger; we areexhorted to be women, remain women, become women. It wouldappear, then, that every female human being is not necessarily awoman; to be so considered she must share in that mysteriousand threatened reality known as femininity. Is this attributesomething secreted by the ovaries? Or is it a Platonic essence, aproduct of the philosophical imagination? Is a rustling petticoatenough to bring it down to earth?

- Simone de Beauvoir


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contd

The fact is that every concrete human being is always asingular, separate individual. To decline to accept such notionsas the eternal feminine, the black soul, the Jewish character, isnot to deny that Jews, Negroes, women exist today thisdenial does not represent a liberation for those concerned, butrather a flight from reality.

Hence, acknowledge that different social identities exist (thatsthe reality), however, give them their own individual spacesrather than tying them to a trans-historical universalcharacteristic.


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Some Questions to ponder

Why are scientists generally men? If science is, at all, aboutintelligence why are women not so intelligent?

Why Power has always been embedded in Men? Why female actors paid less that male actors? Women account for only 3% of the CEOs at the helm of thebiggest 500 U.S. companies (2010). Why did we celebrateIndra Nooyi CEO status so much? Why differential wage rates at all levels in labour market?


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Is human anatomy so important

Are women what they are because of their body?[Aristotle said: The female is a female by virtue of acertain lack of qualities we should regard the femalenature as afflicted with a natural defectiveness]

Simone de Beauvoir presents a scathing critique byarguing as to why should womens subjectivity be tiedto their bodies and not mens. Both have glands; bothsecrete hormones.

Humanity becomes male and women are representedin relation to men (often secondary; without anyautonomy).


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Biological or Sociological ?

Sex is biological ascribed Gender is social achieved Margaret Mead s work (1935, Sex and Temperament in ThreePrimitive Societies); the concepts of gender were cultural; vary across

different environments. 1940s and 1950s the biological based views dominated Sex Role Theory


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contd

Role theory brought out the relation between society and

the individual.

Had been critiiqued

These critiques led to emergence ofgenderas a concept

Naturalism to social constructionism (natural

precedes the social)


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contd

Social authority creates 'culturally appropriate' forms of male and femalebehaviour Sexual and economic institutions interact. (Interesting to look at works ofMarcuse). There is a definite process through which the interaction of institutions andindividuals happen Gender boundaries are drawn with certain political, economic and socialfunctions. Boundaries have been drawn and redrawn over centuries (Think of thosehistorical moments)


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Contd

Political issues of concern - how women continued to beexcluded from formal political activity; what was thedifferent style of political action of women (as comparedto other marginalized groups - think about women saintsas revolutionaries; prostitutes as rebels; also think abouthow they were sought to be controlled).

In economics the question raised is why similar amountof time and labour has differential value based on sex.


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Some Comparison

Name Sex CompanyPackage ($)

Indra Nooyi Female CEO (Pepsi Co)10.7 million

James Skinner Male CEO (McDonald's) 20 million

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Lynn Laverty Female CEO (Sunoco's)1.5 million

Male CEO (Tesoro)18.6 million

Gender Cortada

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