The Construction of Gender: Some Insights from Feminist Psychology

Abstract

Presents a review of the psychological contructions of gender and considers the implications of gender construction on gender research in accounting. Constructions of gender contain two competing biases: alpha bias, which is the tendency to exaggerate male‐female differences; and beta bias, which is the tendency to minimize or ignore differences. Both biases have disadvantaged women in the work place. A presumption of female‐male personality traits provides a rationalization for restricting women′s work roles. However, arguing that gender differences are trivial ignores real differences in women′s and men′s access to power and resources. An alternative approach to gender is suggested in which attention is focused on the context in which behaviours are observed. Rather than viewing gender as an issue of absolute difference, gender should be viewed as a process rooted in an asymmetric power distribution between women and men.