The Doing and Undoing of Gender

The Importance of Being a Credible Female Victim

Bibliographic Data

ID12310474
AuthorsEmma Jeanes (0000-0002-0562-6200, University of Exeter, corresponding author), Emma L Jeanes
Year2007
Volume14
Issue6
Pages552-571
Publication date2007-10-18
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGender Work and Organization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0968-6673 • E-ISSN: 1468-0432
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-0432.2007.00371.x
OpenAlexW2159500471
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited36

It is increasingly argued that gender is something we ‘do’ (or ‘undo’) rather than ‘are’. The doing of gender, or the accomplishment of gender, becomes credible when it conforms (in broad terms) to certain normative conceptions of gender. Resistance to, or subversions of these norms, or the failure to appear credible, deny the individual a gendered authenticity. Attempts to unshackle notions of gender — to ‘undo gender’ and to accept the outcome as authentic, open and fluid — have been matched with concerns that this theoretically empowering process may result in the loss of political power — the notion of woman (or man) in whose name we can act being lost as the binary is eliminated. These tensions are explored in the context of the UK Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (rev. 1986) . This article demonstrates how the doing and undoing of gender in an employment tribunal accomplishes or negates the ‘authenticity’ of gender

Context (archaeology · Doing gender · Gender equality · Normative · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Undo · Undoing · Computer Science · Discrimination and Equality Law · Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies · Gender Studies · History · Law · Psychology · Sex work and related issues

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