In the English language, ‘being’ entails a sense of identity, while ‘doing’ connotes action. Gender, for years, has been marked as a sensitive issue in society because it taps many sectors. West and Zimmerman (1987) mentioned the difference between sex and gender, sex refers to biological and anatomical features of being male and female while gender is more socio-cultural in nature. Gender roles are a product of various cultural norms in various countries. The classification of members of society into two distinct categories of such as ‘girl’ or ‘boy’ or ‘woman’ or ‘man’ works in a social manner (West and Zimmerman, 1987). The phrase from the authors says that a society has dictated if not determined what it is to be female or male in their context. The article mentions that there are instances that expect how a man or woman would react. It is difficult to define a standard feminine identity or a male identity due to cultural difference.
The issue on gender has always been linked to issues on stereotypes where both boys and girls are expected to act in a certain way that is ‘appropriate’ for their gender. However, gender is both identity and an action. Gender is not only linked to social interaction, but an individual’s emotional and psychological assessment of him or herself. A girl can be biologically a girl but acts and identifies herself more towards the masculine orientation. It is inferred that it is difficult for personal expression for people who feels differently about their gender because society today still have their own biases and prejudices towards people who decide to cross their ‘gender lines’. Both males and females are still trap into expectations and societal categories that deem them to be who they are expected to be and not who they want to be. Doing includes both the gender appropriate and inappropriate actions and emotions on the level of its acceptability. Social structures in away produced a control over gender identification because of the promulgation of situations, interactions and activities expected for the two gender.
Gender, in reality is both ‘being’ and ‘doing.’ Being in the sense that it allows an individual to live out what he or she feels and believes is his or her true identity. Doing, suggesting that a person may not perform the tasks biologically expected from him or her but the actions he or she feels that best represents his or her self-assessment. Many people in the world experience ‘role-conflict’ because they are bothered with the decision of conforming to what is socially accepted and expressing their individuality. It is difficult because the roots of gender stereotypes are already historically embedded in nations; people already have their predispositions about what it means to be a man or a woman. In the current time, although many things have change in gender perspective, expectations still weighs down on the shoulder of boys and girls to develop accordingly. The Gender is considered as a sensitive topic because it produces a limit to people, limit to their interactions, limit to their expression and many other aspect of individuality. West and Zimmerman (1987) shared in the conclusion of their article that re-conceptualizing gender is a daunting task because of its complexity. It must be treated both in institutional and cultural context because it is embedded in the social structure.
References:
West and Zimmerman (1987). Doing Gender. Gender and Society Vol. 1 No 2 (June,. 1987) pp 125-151.
