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"I Would Never Be a Secretary"

Reinforcing Gender in Segregated and Integrated Occupations

George Washington University kennelly{at}gwu.edu

Gender affects us, but we also affect gender. This study reveals some of the ways women in two types of occupations—furniture sales and secretarial—shape the system of gender. As they struggle to define their identities within a segregated occupational structure, these women evoke notions of their differences from men and from other women, as well as their similarities to each group, in ways that are consistent with feminist theoretical positions on these issues. I argue that the ways these women define themselves have consequences for the shape of the system of gender. Many women inadvertently reinforce gender either by upholding traditional gender categories or by devaluing women. Yet some women create a powerful opportunity to dismantle gender by appreciating the work women have done and aligning themselves with these women to break out of staid gender categories.

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