Gendered Careers and Gender Performances

Gender definitions are far reaching and often difficult to overcome. Before children are even born the question is asked, “Is it a boy or a girl?” What does it even matter? There is nothing you can do to change it, hopefully you won’t love it any less depending on the answer. We ask because the answer determines what clothes we will buy for the baby or what sports we will teach them and even how we communicate with them. Though these actions may seem sexist, they are preparatory in nature for what life to come. Gender highly defines who you are and what you are allowed to do in many aspects of life.

Through the context of history we are able to see the importance of gender and the role it has played in the life of humans since the beginning of our existence. The idea and terminology of hunters and gatherers was given exclusively to men in there ability to provide for their families. When ancient tribes would live and survive as groups it was the men who found and killed the food and the women who cooked and prepared it for the rest of the tribe. It is easy to see how the actions of each gender have been conditioned over time to fit the expectations of society. There are other restrictions applied to genders by nature that also aide in defining a gender role. Females are the only sex able to become pregnant. The hormones human glands naturally secrete create certain appearances and tendency that are filed under a strictly male or strictly female category. The scripts are already written, as humans we are supposed to comply and read the one that belongs to us, to overcome this notion would require jumping hurdles hundreds of years high.

We have been given our genders, though not by choice, and based on these genders we act out certain performances. These roles are acted out through communication, costuming, and other elements of microforming on a daily basis. When communicating, men tend to use report talk while women use rapport talk. Men give the facts tell their demands and make everything straight and to the point. Women tend to use more opinionated passive ways of stating what needs to be accomplished. Women will often also use questions rather than statements. A woman might ask, “Would you mind being here by eight in the morning tomorrow?” where as a man may state “Be here at eight.” These demands or instructions often vary widely depending on whether they are coming from a male or a female.

Constructive criticism is something that also must be conveyed and understood in the workplace and this too can be interpreted very differently depending on which sex the message is coming from. Where John Doe may say, “Your performance has been very poor this quarter and if I don’t see an improvement I will be forced to take action.” Jane Doe may remark, “You really could be doing better and trying harder. Please make an effort so I don’t have to take further action.” There are times though where constructive criticism coming from the same gender may be helpful if you work best with negative reinforcement it is possible that John Doe’s statement may motivate you more. The same applies to the converse.

Gender roles are also acted out through the clothing we choose to wear and the clothing which is deemed appropriate for us to wear. What is difficult about women and clothing in the workplace is there are basically two extremes with nothing in the middle considered acceptable. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is one of the few organizations remaining that still provides clothing for its employees and a great example of one extreme. There is a catalog employees must choose from basically with the only option being size. The FBI and their required uniform is a great example of how one extreme of the organizational world requires women to look as much like men as possible. All efforts are made for women to blend in with the men; it is as if we are not even there. Women are told their shirts can’t be too tight so there should be no sign that we have breasts. There are often certain rules and allowances for what can be done to the hair as well.

Another of the remaining organizations providing uniform represents the opposite extreme of organizational costuming: flight attendants. This and other gendered organizations allow for skirts and signs of femininity because they are selling an experience. These fields of work typically require full makeup, styled hair and particular shoes as well. Both extremes, in my opinion, reveal that the workplace is a male dominated sector. If the women must be considered equivalent with the man she is required to blend in and lose her feminine appearance. If the women is there for the mans entertainment or service she is required to show her legs, walk in heels and put on a face.

It is these gendered organizations which concern us most. In the early years of the 21st century we should be at a point in humanity where women and men are considered equal in the workplace and overall in life. Unfortunately we have just proven that this is quite far from the truth. There are male and female dominated careers. Certain careers are considered unacceptable for women to be involved in and the same is true for the converse. Careers which are deemed appropriate for women include being a mother to her children, nurse, waitress, flight attendant, receptionist and cheerleader. These careers show our softer more feminine side and require little to no responsibility. Typically women in these roles fall under the supervision of others and are rarely found supervising others. These informal roles for women allow them to be integrated into the workforce while still maintaining their femininity and taking care of their domestic responsibilities.

If these career fields are considered to be female dominated that leaves every other field to be dominated by men. OF course this is not completely, wholly and always true but the portrait is painted. Men are said to excel in sports, technology, management, and many other similar career fields. These jobs typically leave men with much responsibility and high amounts of power. Supervision is a must and often there is no direct supervisor to his position.

It is to be expected that the next question to follow is “to what extent?” Though there are examples of careers that are dominated by each gender there are plenty of examples of career fields that are approximately equal in gender participation. This statement is very true and in fact the gender career equality is increasing but it is highly unlikely the playing field will ever completely level. Historically, men worked and women did not. Men either hunted or found food or worked to make money to pay for food and women typically stayed home. In the middle of the twentieth century, during World War II women began to enter the workforce but the careers were very unbalanced. We have been and are currently working towards bridging the gendered career gap and this can be seen through the examples given earlier. These are no longer as concrete as they once would have been. Men are now often found as flight attendants, cheerleaders, nurses, Mr. Mommies and this is all without questioning the sexuality of the man. Though we are getting closer we may never fully close the gap due to natural elements that would require thousands of years of evolution. Ironic isn’t it: almost every aspect of our life is effected by whether we are male or female and we don’t even get to decide for ourselves.