Doing gender

In psychology, sociology and gender studies, "doing gender" is the idea that gender, rather than being an innate quality of individuals, is a social construct that actively surfaces in everyday human interaction. This term was used by Candace West and Don Zimmerman in their article "Doing Gender", published in 1987 in Gender and Society.[1] According to this paper, an individual's performance of gender is intended to construct gendered behavior as naturally occurring.[2] This façade furthers a system through which individuals are judged in terms of their failure or success to meet gendered societal expectations, called the accountability structure. The concept of doing gender was later expanded in the book Doing Gender, Doing Difference, edited by Sarah Fenstermaker and Candace West.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Doing Gender was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference West and Zimmerman 2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).