Gender as a Social Construct: An Analysis of the Gender Characteristics in the Bedouin Society

Gender as a Social Construct:
An Analysis of the Gender Characteristics in the Bedouin Society
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December 11, 2020
Understanding the intersections of gender, culture, and society is important for any anthropologist. It allows him to have a better understanding of how culture reflects the norms (and deviances) of gender based on the different structures and functions of the society. Accordingly, while the ‘strict’ limitations on gender is now unclear in the modern-day society, traditional societies present a good representation about how cultural practices reflect gender-based constructs. Although there are a lot of different reasons for this, one of its is the fact that indigenous or traditional societies are least affected by the ‘scapes’ (Appadurai) of globalization and therefore less heterogenized compared to modern societies CITATION Sri06 \p 5 \l 1033 (Srinivasan 2006, 5).
Accordingly, this article would like to focus on the intersections of gender and culture in the Bedouin society. This would focus on the works and findings of Abu-Lughod’s work entitled Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. All in all, it is my belief that by looking at gender-based constructs in the Bedouin culture would reveal the fact that gender is a social construct rather than an innate phenomenon.
Analysis of the Reading
Before proceeding with the actual analysis of what makes gender a social construct, a closer scrutiny of the context of the reading is essential. Abu-Lughod’s work emanated from her desire to analyze the relationship between tradition and gender in the Bedouin society.
Specifically, the Egyptian Bedouin’s culture as expressed in its societal structure and poems would reveal that is follows a patriarchal society, which means that is highly-made dominated. For example, Abu-Lughod noted how the family structure is defined by the “patriarch [controlling the] resources; [while] his dependents are weaker, younger, and control no resources independently” CITATION Sri06 \p 80 \l 1033 (Srinivasan 2006, 80). Additionally, the author also noted that even the terms used to denote the wife (wliyya) of the household translates to ‘under the protection’, which shows how women are viewed as frail, weak, and needed to be protected by the men.
Finally, the strict gender norms were further evidenced by Abu-Lughod with the description of the Bedouins’ code of honor, which provides a socially accepted guidelines among the Bedouins about how a man should act in relation to his gender.
Gender as a Social Construct in the Bedouin Society
After establishing the idea about the strict gender norms in the Bedouin society, Ab...