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Melissa Hernandez
Professor Ditch
English 113A
7 December 2014
Gender Discrimination
Gender discrimination affects women in society negatively because we are treated
unequally compared to men. In the article, Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning
of Gender, Aaron Devor talks about Learning to be properly gendered members of society
only begins with the establishment of gender identity. (Devor 35) It states as we grow, we
develop what our gender is and how society sees it as. In the second article, Rethinking
Womens Biology, Ruth Hubbard talks about the argument that womens biology is a social
construct. A common theme between the two essays is that both authors talk about about gender
discrimination. In Hubbards article, she provides examples about how women are physically
and mentally different than males. My thoughts to why the author wrote about gender
discrimination for their theme is to explain that society gives males and females a label for how
they portray themselves and that gender discrimination affects both sexes. The reason why
theres more discrimination towards women in the workplace, sports, and education is because
women are often compared to men. Women are thought to be incapable of performing the same
abilities as men. Gender discrimination affects women negatively because their treated unfairly
because of their sex.
Gender discrimination is the theme of the two articles, Rethinking Womens Biology
and Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning of Gender. In the two articles, they

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both elaborate that there is a distinct gender inequality. Hubbards article argues about how
womens biology is a social construct. Hubbard writes an example in her article stating When
women tried to get access to higher education, scientists initially claimed we could not be
educated because our brains are too small They granted that we could be educated the same as
men but questioned whether we should be, whether it was good for us.(Hubbard 46) Thats an
example of gender inequality because its questioning if females have the potential to be
educated the same as men. Hubbard and Devor wrote about gender discrimination to inform their
audience that people specifically women are put into a category because theyre normally
compared to men. Women are compared to men because theyre questioned if they can perform
the same abilities.
Gender discrimination affects women in society negatively because theres an unfair
imbalance between males and females. Males have much more superiority than females. Males
are prone to be higher than females. Theres an inequality between genders because males have a
better opportunity in workplaces, education, in sports, and in everyday life. It affects society
negatively because it causes an imbalance for females, making them seem like they dont have
the ability to do what men can do. Gender discrimination can also affect a person physically and
mentally. Gender discrimination is aimed more at females because they believe males are more
capable of doing things like playing sport, hard workers, and educated more than females. An
example that describes gender discrimination that I found relatable was from my Sociology class
when we discussed that in 2013 female full time workers made only 78 percent for every dollar
earned by men. In other words, there is a gender gap of 22 percent allowing there to be gender
discrimination towards females in the work place. Also, many people fail to notice that they
could possibly be performing gender discrimination by the way they talk about the other persons

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sex. Gender discrimination can affect women in many aspects of their lives allowing them to feel
unworthy of themselves because of all the negativity thats received.
Gender discrimination is a stereotype of social roles based on gender. In Hubbards
article she writes, Our concept of ourselves is socially constructed and political because our
societys interpretation of what is and is not normal and natural affects what we do. (Hubbard
47) In her article Hubbard provides an example stating what men do is called work and what
females do is interpreted as the natural manifestation of our biology. This is related to gender
discrimination because its saying what men do is considered working and what females do isnt.
In Devors article he writes, Persons who perform the activities considered appropriate for
another gender will be expected to perform them poorly (Devor 40) This can be gender
discrimination in sports because its stating that if males are better at certain sport females should
perform poorly because of their sex. These two examples both explain that there is a distinct
gender discrimination in the workplace as well in sports.
While reading these two articles about gender discrimination, I realized gender
discrimination has played a role in my life when I wanted to join the military. During my senior
year of high school I was interested in joining the Marines. Many people told me I didnt have
the ability to join because I was a petite female. That didnt stop me I went to training twice a
week to get my strength up to go to boot camp. When I first started to realize there was gender
discrimination was when my sergeant started processing the males to go to boot camp before
females. I was with the program for over a year and never got processed to get my shipping date,
when incoming males who were with the program for a matter of months were already waiting to
be shipped out. That was only the beginning of when I started feeling gender discrimination.

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At the beginning of my thought of being a Marine I wanted to join Active duty which is
full time, as time went by I switched to wanting to be reserved to be able to be a full time student
and still earn the title of being a Marine. My sergeant had told me if I wanted to be reserved I
would have to wait a longer time to leave and my job opportunities would be limited. I thought
that wasnt fair because a male who wants to enter the military as reserved can enter any job they
want and females cant. At that point, I began to feel as if the military favors males over
females. Gender discrimination affected me when I wanted to join the military because males
seem to have more priority than females. Although I put all my effort into joining the Marines it
still wasnt enough. Gender discrimination took a toll on my life because I was treated unfairly
due to my sex.
Although gender discrimination was a part of my life when I wanted to join the military, I
feel that there should be equality between males and females. Gender discrimination affected my
life negatively because it lowered my hopes on being a Marine to the point where I just gave up
and dedicated my time to only school because it seemed impossible for me. While reading
Hubbards and Devors articles an instant thought I received was why does there need to be
gender discrimination? Why cant it be normal to be able to do the same things and not
discriminate about gender? Gender discrimination will always be negative rather than positive,
but it shouldnt stop you from doing what you want.
The common theme of the two articles Rethinking Womens Biology by Ruth Hubbard
and Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning of Gender by Aaron Devor is gender
discrimination. In writing about gender discrimination, both authors demonstrate that there is an
inequality between genders. Hubbard and Devor writes to inform their audience that gender
discrimination affects women negatively because men have more superiority. Gender

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discrimination is aimed more at females and can affect them in everyday life. It affects women
negatively in the work place, education, and in sports. Males have much more superiority over
females that females work sometimes goes unnoticed. Although gender discrimination affected
me when I wanted to join the military, I believe there should be fairness between genders. In
conclusion, neither gender should be treated less because of their sex. Society should allow
females to have the same equal opportunities as males.

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Works Cited
Devor, Aaron, Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meaning of Gender.
from Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality by Holly Devor.
Copyright. 1989 by Holly Devor

Hubbard, Ruth, Rethinking Womens Biology from The Politics of Womens Biology.
Copyright. 1990 by Rutgers University Press.