The social construction of gender is the anticipated behavioral patterns assumed to follow from the sex of an individual. The manner in which the society is taught to become socialized is more salient and most of the time goes unnoticed, and therefore, it is right to put a claim that gender is socially constructed from day to day practices irrespective of our awareness with regards to the construction. The society today serves a crucial role in the social construction of gender which has raised numerous questions over an extended period in debating and defining if both female and male are equal. Women, in particular, have been overshadowed by the believing in man as the dominant sex.
The best example of the social construction of gender is the female circumcision among the Kikuyu society. Most girls agree to undergo such surgical operations voluntarily. There are arguments that the efforts made towards abolishing this custom are as a result of the neocolonial supremacist attitudes possessed by the European women. Kikuyu women believe that the European humanitarian concern, as well as suspected ethnocide, is none other than an attempt to eliminate the indigenous culture. Most of these women think that the current efforts are geared towards the abolishment of their culture. Clitoridectomy is perceived as a counterpart of the male circumcision, and it is an essential rite of passage that bestows both adult privilege and honor on the deserving girls. This practice is socially constructed because some Kikuyu lineages like mbari wa Njora entirely disapprove the practice. Also, Kikuyu women who have acquired western education no longer values Clitoridectomy.
Another example describing gender as a social construct is the body rituals performed among the Nacirema men. Among the repeated rituals done by men is the lacerating and scraping of their face using a sharp instrument. This practice results from the overall assumption of them believing that they have ugly bodies and via the daily forms of the rituals done on their bodies will give them satisfaction and the true meaning of life. The characterization of these men as holy mouth-men is just like the modern-day dentist, and hence it is just a social construction biased towards the male gender.
Works cited
Miner, Horace. "Body Ritual among the Nacirema." American Anthropologist 58.3 (1956): 503-507.
Kratz, Corinne A. "Circumcision, Pluralism, and Dilemmas of Cultural Relativism." A. Podelefsky, P J. Brown, and S. Lacey (New York: McGraw Hill, 2008) (2003): 269-80.
