Patriarchy and Gender

         Gender and patriarchy, two words that have different meanings and that are often confused or misinterpreted. Gender is not to be confused with one's "sex category" that is ascribed from birth. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles and behaviors that society for the most part agrees on as appropriate for male and female.  What society views as appropriate does not necessarily mean it is set in stone that those are the only roles one needs to follow. For example, gender is done from the time we are born because we are assigned male or female from our parents, the way they do that is by putting colors on us such as blue or pink to distinguish between boy or girl. Gender is done on a daily basis and is something that is done unconsciously for the most part. For instance things I do on a day to day basis consists of putting on jewelry, make up, choosing to wear leggings and skirts which are simple tasks that emphasize doing gender. Not only is one choosing gender by the things that they do on a daily basis but also we assume gender, Judith Lorber's reading "The Social Construction of Gender" explains how this occurs. In Lorber's article she writes about how gender is done when one instantly determines whether an infant or newborn is male or female due to the colors he/she is wearing or due to the type of clothing.

            Patriarchy, according to Allan G. Johnson's article "Patriarchy, the System" is a term that can be defined as "an arrangement of shared understandings and relationships that connect people to one another and something larger than themselves." I like the way Johnson defines Patriarchy because patriarchy isn't only male dominance, which many including myself automatically think when they hear Patriarchy. With patriarchy there is a problem and that problem is that we all participate in it unknowingly and therefore the issue of male dominance arises. An example of how we participate in patriarchy is simply allowing men to do what "men should do" such as pay for your meal when you go out on a date, allow men to do the macho work when it comes to lifting heavy things in a workplace, and allowing them to get away with not helping make dinner or be in charge of the kids in the morning. Patriarchy isn't something that should have different levels but instead should allow for men and women to work on the same level when it comes to many things so that there isn't a hierarchy. The terms patriarchy and gender are both often misunderstood as previously stated and in order to make changes we have to have a clear understanding of what the words actually mean to better society vs. trying to completely change things around.