The most vital concept mentioned in the reading that significantly affected my personality development is gender. As it is defined by Weber, gender is the number of “biological and anatomical characteristics attributed to males and females” (8). It is vital to mention that, according to the author, gender is socially structured. Thus, the general differences-based discrimination is the mere representation of the social constructs which naturally affect no real inquiries. In other words, gender-blind discrimination results from historically formed obscure oppression towards a particular gender. My personal experience shows that for white females from the middle class, the problem of gender is the most affecting. The core reason for this is that the current tendencies in the battle against inequality are centered on race inquiries, ignoring other aspects such as class and gender (Desmond and Emirbayer 350). Gender discrimination significantly affects the formation of self-perception during allocation within the larger society.
The most common prejudices and difficulties affecting my life were in the sphere of employment. For me, it was astonishing that in some professions, females practically have no promotion only because of their gender. As a result, the identity-forming for females is incomplete due to the socially-conditioned limitation. The rising principles of femininity also significantly affected my personality. The patriarchal system of values is promoted in the larger community to the children. The forced life values in finding a husband were always the point of my contradiction with the larger society. Focusing on development without striving for the developed family institution is one of my primary life settings, which was formed due to the personal denial of social norms. Due to this problem, my view of the family concept was distorted. Therefore, gender discrimination affected my personality formation, affecting my career and family relations.
Works Cited
Desmond, Matthew and Emirbayer, Mustafa. “What Is Racial Domination?” Du Bois Review, vol. 6, no. 2, 2009, pp. 335-355. doi: 10.10170S1742058X09990166
Weber, Lynn. “Defining Contested Concepts.” Understanding Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality: A Conceptual Framework. Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 5-16.