Economy and Doing Gender: a Comparative Study of Government and Non-government School Systems

Abstract

Gender is an ongoing phenomenon and no finality about gender perception and representation can be had. Different variables play a significant role in shaping gender perceptions. Similarly, the present research critically analyzes the written essays from the students of government and non-government school systems in Punjab Pakistan about doing gender. The data was collected on 10 October 2020 from the students of Bacon House school at Multan and Government Elementary School at Vehari. It was collected under four major headings including religion, economy, social roles and physical attributes about being male and female. The present research has employed Mills (1995) model of Feminist Stylistic Analysis because half of the participants include female and half are of male gender. Moreover, the researchers have also implied Fairclough’s 2012 model of Critical Social Analysis which argues that in order to analyze a text one should know normative and Marxist critique of language. The rationale behind using these research models is to know the effect of economy on the perception and representation of gender from the participants of different school systems. The analytical categories of the amended research model include; normative critique, representation, marxist critique and critical social analysis. The findings of the research reveal that economy is a significant feature in making and rapturing an individual’s perception about being male and female because the students belonging to non-government school systems have expressed their views about being a male and female more in terms of economy as compared to their counterparts. Additionally, the research confirms that doing gender never stops.