ABSTRACT
Gendering occurs as an integral part of the routines of everyday life. The construction of gender is a systematic process that begins at birth and is continually shaped, moulded and reshaped throughout life, according to the sex of the newborn. Lorber and Farrell (1991) consider gender as the major status indicator. While this may be so for some groups in society, for others the major status indicator may be race or ethnicity. However, gender retains its significance, and Lorber and Farrell (1991) argue that the reason for having gender categories that are constantly constructed and reconstructed in terms of their difference occurs because, in any social group, gender is a fundamental component of the ‘structure of domination and subordination and division of labour in the family and the economy’ (pp. 1-2). This conceptualisation is similar to Sawicki’s libidinal economy, in which women and men:
are not automatically compared; rather gender categories (female-male, feminine-masculine, girls-boys, women-men) are analysed to see how different social groups define them, and how they construct and maintain them in everyday life.
