Ok pple....u dun have to read thru! im warning 1st hahaha dis post is juz a review of what i tried to learn today. So dun bother reading! u'll get bored, believe me! hahaha (its juz for my own reference...nak save foolscap paper katekan hahaa)

Gender is a social construct that entails achieved characteristics. it is a social construction invented by society as a means of categorization. According to S. Franklin, gender is defined by who we are and what we do or what society tells us to do. Put it simply, gender is a belief and a practice. This complex social process is structurally sustained through the collection of meanings and the building of a schema of what it means to be a male/female and what do they do.

We study gender because it enables us to look at and understand society through gendered lenses. With the pervasiveness of gender in society, it serves to explain gender influencing all aspects of our lives including the institutions that we live in - family (gender roles), media (gender portrayals), school (gendered education tracks) and work (income gaps between genders). We also learn that institutions are gendered such that there exist stereotypes that are already inherent. These stereotypes stem from the gender beliefs and identities dictated by society and in turn, causes individual prejudices, institutional sexism and gender stratification which very much affect life chances of individuals. These beliefs also reaffirm gender limits and induce self-fulfiling prophecies about gender.

It can be seen that gender affects almost all aspects of our lives and impact society as such in creating gender typing. One aspect of life is advertising. Advertizing is a critical and essential tool in the advancement of capitalism as it encourages the consumer demand and mentality. Yet the laten function of advertising is that it also sells values, romance and sexuality. Happy ads sell and based on this notion, advertisers use this to their advantage. Women in advertisements are portrayed as submissive, 'decorations', playing secondary roles to men and also viewed as sex objects. These media portrayals are not actual reflections of society. However, as Dr Leslie mentioned in lecture...advertisements keep enforcing these ideals about women and becomes internalized within ourselves and this in turn will cause us to have prejudices about gender.

Gender pervades the workplace and it presupposes a gendered division of labour. This is the notion that labour is divided along gender lines - women work at home while the males work to support the family economically and financially. With females entering the job market, gender stereotype kicks in. Women in general, have lower wages than their male counterparts despite having the same qualifications and working experience. This income gap can be explained by Browne's Human Capital Theory and Joan Acker's contribution on the gendered organization. Arlie Hochschild coinage of the Second Shift describes the women's responsibility to the family that limits her career choice and advancement.

hahaha i think dats enough for now :p