ABSTRACT
Gender has been explained and analyzed as sexed embodiedness, sexuality, sexual identity, gender identity, gendered divisions of labour, gendered social relations, and gender symbolism (see Hawkesworth, 1997). It is most commonly seen as a social construction based on biological sex, 'a holistic concept that cannot be directly measured' (Kathlene, 1991, p. 6). But to assume that gender is merely 'two equal social categories makes the mistake of simply paralleling the use of sex as an analytical category' (Duerst-Lahti and Kelly, 1995b, p. 15). The social roles, social relations, and the social practices of gender are embodied in the control of institutions, resources, and knowledge, which in turn reflect and shape the distribution of power in society. Gender power, then, is defined as:
power and power dynamics resulting from the practices of people performing gender within the normative constraints gender modes impose. These practices encompass (e)valuation of things, behaviors, and ways of being. The interpretation of these practices is implicitly and explicitly rooted in the social constructions that give meaning to biological-physiological sex (and the social interaction between the sexes more generally). Like gender, gender power is dynamic, fluid, and situationally derived... (ibid., p. 20).
