The relationship between gender and work go hand in hand. It is like talking about life and oxygen. Which mean everybody talk about work or gender at least one in their life. It is essential to take an intersectional approach to understand people’s experiences within the economy because people are often oppression by multiple sources that put them at a disadvantaged not just merely by one marker, which are based on race, sexual orientation, status, and other identity markers that shape their lives.
Throughout history, men and women stand on two different spectra. While, a typical man is described as masculine, aggressive, reliable, and independence. Woman is supposed to be feminine, caring, nurturance, and compassion. Women are viewed as the lower class compared to men. As according to Ridgway, in Western societies, gender status beliefs are widely held cultural beliefs that view one gender as generally superior and obliquely more capable than the other (Ridgway 525). This means that traditionally men would view as superior to women because they are strong and sociality, in turn, favor men as the breadwinner of the family.
Being the breadwinner of the family, “men seek a higher-paying job with more authority to reinforce their sense of masculinity” (Schilt 387). This illustrates that men see themselves higher than women and in continuing to prove their superiority they do things that the norm consider masculine to prove their place in society.
As Ridgway puts it people are incapable of interacting with each other if they cannot guess the other’s sex; therefore, gender is an integral part of every organization of interaction(Ridgeway 524).
For example, intuitively when we see a baby, we almost always classifying the baby if the baby is a boy or a girl and look at the baby clothing or marker to justify our guest are correct. Also when growing up, I heard statements like “Boys do not Cry” or “Boy do not play with dolls” or “Girl do not play with robots” that is stated from parents and educators. This illustrates Lorber’s view that “social statuses are carefully constructed through prescribed processes of teaching, learning, emulation, and enforcement “(Lorber 2). Which mean at a young age people are conditioned to how to act accordingly to their gender. Gender is a social constructed that is being enforced through our school and work institute. When people, specificity white privilege man, and middle-class women interact with people that are not considered the norm in their circle. They tense to becoming judgemental and intolerant.
For example in Loretta case, Loretta who is a black butch lesbian, large and has a shaved head. An electrician, who works in a trade that is among the lowest number of minority workers faces discrimination. Tradesmen would make fun of her and people of color, and they would tell her that she should not be here. Thus, they picked on her about her large status and saying that her size is not appropriate for a woman (Denissen and Saguy 391). This example, illustrate that the hardship that women face when they do not fit in a traditionally feminine woman stereotype, which makes other tradesmen uncomfortable because they view it as they are losing their masculinity. Therefore, in order to protect their masculinity and power, the tradesmen insult women or people that do not fit in the stereotype of a traditional man or women. Denissen and Saguy ” argue that the presence of women in male-dominated jobs threatens the perception of this work as inherently masculine” (Denissen and Saguy 384). Loretta’s story perfectly demonstrates intersectional theories. Loretta is discriminated not only because she is black and queer but also because she is a woman who does not fit in the typical female category.
How individuals identify also play a huge factor in the spectrum between gender and work that they will experiences. Speaking from my own experience as a transman I do experience the hardship that Schilt points out in her article “Just one of the Guys? How Transmen Make Gender Visible at Work”. I started to transition to a male in 2015. At that time I was 20 years old. I started an apprentice program to become a sound installer journeyman. In my workplace, there was only one female, and the guys refer to her as a tattletale who is only got the job because her dad, who is a general.
Aside from the only women in the group of the tradesman, I was the only Asian person there. Thus, I was the smallest guys in the group, and I chose to still stealth about my identity, I try to be just one of the guys at. However, I find that I would not fit in with the guys. I keep a distance from them. For my own safety because I do not want them to find out that I am a transman. Who knows how they would react? Also, I cannot bring myself to speak disrespectfully toward women or LGBT groups just to fit in. Through my observation, the tradesman would make disrespectful remarks toward women and flamboyant guys in the group.
Saying things like “you guys better watch it, that guy might be gay or transgender, so watch it.” Which means the trade mean view feminine qualities as a negative demeanor in the workplace. While working there, I also take notice that the foreman, who supervise all the journeymen are what we would call typical white male. Whom is white, tall, and masculine event through I find that many other tradesmen of color are more skilled than the foreman. My personal experience supports Schilt findings that “Coworkers and employers often rely on gender stereotypes to evaluate men’s and women’s achievements and skills” (Schilt 388) Therefore, I make a decision to quit the apprenticeship program because I know the odds of me climbing the ladder to from an apprentice to a journeyman to a foreman is close to 0%. Not only am I physically small is status, look younger than my age, and Asian but also a transman. Everything that I identify with does not fit with the qualities that the foreman at my previous workplace has. Which is why after quitting the apprenticeship program I choose to go back to school to broaden my perspective and to educate myself more.
In conclusion, individuals experiences with work involving their status, gender, and the identities that they associate themselves with. Gender is a social construct that change through time. However, western societies do not react positively to does changes because it does not fix what they view as typical female or male. They want gender to be black or white, but gender is a spectrum like colors are part of a spectrum; there is no definite answer. A person can both be feminine and masculine. Through education, one can widen their point of view and be more understanding and adaptable towards changes towards the issue of gender in the workplace.
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