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Alvin Lurye
Professor Ditch
English 113A
30 September, 2015
Composing Genders Progression
Every story in Composing Genders has a common idea that gender is influential to
society today and that it will always be influential in society. Two articles in particular that share
a common theme are Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender by Judith Lorber
and Are We Facing a Genderless Future? by Barbara Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert which have
the common ideas that gender has progressed. In the work place, changes in how kids are being
raised, and how stereotypes are being perceived in todays society, and with these changes the
common idea is that in the future there wont be any gender roles that people have to follow in
society.
Judith Lorber in the article Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender
explains that there are several differences between sex and gender. Lorber supports her
explanation by comparing that sex only means the biology of a persons genitalia, while gender
describes a behavior of masculinity or femininity, or even a mix of both, for example in the text
Lorbor describes a situation where a man is taking care of a young child on a New York City
bus and it was difficult to see whether or not the child was a boy or girl, because the child was
wearing genderless white clothing, with a baseball hat, so the assumption was the child was a
boy. But the same child also had earrings and little flowered sneaker. The authors purpose is to
demonstrate so that people can understand the construction of gender and how it relates to sex,

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while the two terms are not synonyms they do have a relationship. Lorber writes in a serious tone
for young adults that are studying gender in college or for anyone that is just generally interested
learning more about the construction of gender. In Barbra Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert in the
article Are We Facing a Genderless Future has a similar theme to Lorbors article and claims
that today in society that there are very few differences in the way girls and boys are being raised
that eventually we will live in society that doesnt have genders just people of different sex that
behave in similar manners. Kantrowitz and Wingert support their claims by illustrating how
gender differences are minimal between all boys and girls, for example more girls are playing
sports today which is surprising because in the past only boys used to play sports and its not just
one sport in particular that girls are playing its every sport that girls get involved in. The
authors are trying to inform members of society that in the future there wont be different
genders roles so that people in society can used to the idea of everyone working similar jobs and
behaving in the same way. Kantrowitz and Wingert article is meant for young people that plan to
be key members of society.
The articles share a common idea that gender has progressed so much for todays society
that in the future that people will be doing the same things and not conform to societys gender
roles. With the details focusing on the workplace, the way kids are being raised today, and how
stereotypes are being more tolerated. The authors are writing about this idea because they want
to inform the new adult members of society on how society is continuing to develop and move
away from previous beliefs and philosophies. This common idea has applied to my in an
expectedly way. I grew up playing sports all the time and as a young kid I would only play or
talk about sports with other boys, but growing up going to high school and now college Ive met
more and more girls that not only play sports but had a genuine interests in professional sports

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teams like I do, which was surprising to me when it first happened but now its just a regular part
of how I other people
One of the places society has seen one of the biggest changes is the workplace. Today
society is seeing more women having empowering jobs than ever before and the rate of women
in these jobs are growing exponentially each year. Another reason why women have a higher
force in the workplace is because today were seeing more of a pay equality when it comes to
similar jobs at work. Their used to be the impression that women would only get paid 75% of
what a man is paid for a similar occupation. One more approach the work force is changing is the
percentage rate of households that has two people working fulltime. An additional method the
workplace is changing is the role reversal of between the stay at parents. In Lorbers article she
discusses a situation of man not working during the daytime and riding the subway with his
infant daughter. This shows a social role reversal is occurring, because it is usually the mother
that takes care of the kid during the day while the father is at work.
A different way society is progressing away from gender roles is the way is the behavior
of kids and the way theyre being raised. Today children are sharing more interests and hobbies
than ever before. Some of these interests include sports. In previous generations sports were
merely played by boys, but today girls are more encouraged to play sports. Even professional
womens sports are more advertised and broadcasted, a perfect example happened this past
summer with the Womens World Cup being played in Canada during the summer, which saw
United States Womens National Team (USWNT) win the whole tournament which was their
third ever world title and their first since 1999.With the USWNT winning the World Cup it got
every soccer fan in America, new or old, excited about the main womens professional league,
National Womens Soccer League. Womens sports, soccer in particular, have progressed so

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much that this year in the new FIFA video game (FIFA 16) womens national teams are included
for the first time ever. This also marks the first time in the history sports video games that women
players are included in a professionally sponsored sports game. Theres also a common idea
shared between the last two paragraphs about women taking charge in the workforce that was
mainly dominated by men.
Another way society is progressing away from gender roles is the decreasing of
stereotyping. If a young girl was to dress n boyish clothing she would be considered a tomboy,
but if she was to continue dressing like that while she gets older she might be called a lesbian
or a dyke, the same can be said about boys if they were to wear a pink shirt when theyre
young it wouldnt be considered a big deal but if that boy was older hed be called a wimp or a
wuss, but in todays society with a higher tolerance for people to express themselves others
dont feel like theyre being judged. A different reason why stereotyping is less of an issue today
is because in America we live in a society mixed of people from different cultures, races, and
sexual orientation that we as Americans should be tolerant to everyone which starts with how
parents raise their kids. If parents raise their children to be tolerant then in future therell be less
discrimination.
There are several common ideas between the readings by Lorber and Kantrowitz and
Wingert, but there are also some things that contrasts each other in the readings. In Night to His
Day: The Social Construction of Gender, Lorber is claiming that in the future we might face a
future without gender roles, because of the way children are being raised and she also giving us
the possible warning signs that its happening. While on the other hand in Kantrowitz and
Wingert Are We Facing a Genderless Future? the authors are stating that it is inevitable for the
future to be lived without gender roles. Another difference between the readings is the way they

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perceive men and women jobs. In both readings they agree that women are taking more and
more men dominated jobs, but the difference comes when the have different opinions on men
taking women dominant jobs such as nurses and secretaries. In conclusion the two readings have
several shared ideas with the main one about informing young adults about the always
progressing society we live in and how to survive it.

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Works Cited
Lorber, Judith. "Night to His Day: The Social Constuction of Gender." O'hara, Rachael Groner
and John F. Composing Genders. Boston: Leasa Burton, 2014. 19-30.
Wingert, Barbara Kantrowitz and Pat. "Are we Facing a Genderless Future?" O'Hara, Rachael
Groner and John F. Composing Gender. Boston: Leasa Burton, 2014. 68-71. Print.