Gender Resume: An Alternate Version of Examining the Self in Everyday Life
Dacia Charlesworth, Ph.D.
Department of Communications
Robert Morris University
Moon Township, PA 15108
charlesworth@rmu.edu
412.262.8282
Objective: To help students better understand how their participation in cultural activities
contributes to the formation of their gendered identities.
In his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959), Goffman argues that we are
all actors in our daily lives and that our interaction with others while we are playing different
roles aids in the development of our concept of self. Goffman terms this developmental
feedback “symbolic interaction.” When discussing topics such as “symbolic interaction” and
“self-concept” in my courses, students rarely have difficulty providing examples from their own
lived experiences that demonstrate that they understand these concepts. However, I wanted
students to understand that these experiences tend to reify cultural norms, attitudes, and beliefs
generated in larger contexts. Taking these factors into consideration, I created the “Gender
Resume.”
Activity
The first step in constructing a Gender Resume is to familiarize students with the concept
of “symbolic interaction” and how gender is socially and rhetorically constructed. Symbolic
interaction theory posits that identities are socially constructed and that everyday life is similar to
theatre in that we perform several roles as actors do. Although an actor may stake out an
identity, such as “father,” the validity of that identity usually depends on the responses or type of
feedback from significant others in the actor's networks (Goffman, 1959). The conceptualization
of gender is one of the best examples to demonstrate how symbolic interaction, through the
elements of performance, rhetoric, and ideology, functions. Not only is gender a type of
everyday life performance, but it is also created and maintained through rhetorical discourse that
is framed by and implicitly reproduces cultural ideology. When viewing gender as a
performance, I explain Butler’s notion that gender may be primarily understood as the stylization
of the body and the routine ways in which our bodily gestures and movements create the
appearance of an abiding gendered self (1990, p. 270). In terms of rhetorically constructing
gender, I use Burke’s observation that rhetoric may be a general body of identifications rather
than a particular address and that these identifications are persuasive because of their trivial
repetition and dull daily reinforcement instead of extraordinary rhetorical skill (1969, p. 26).
Using these concepts, I want students to examine how their self-concept has been formed by
cultural activities that, more often than not, present participants with idealized gender norms.
The gender resume is also designed to illustrate that being a gendered person is a task that we
have already spent most of our lives learning how to do.
Working independently, either in or out of class, students list their gender
accomplishments and reflect upon these experiences so that they may explain what their
participation in a specific cultural activity taught them about communication and gender. This
assignment is divided into four areas: Education (includes any activities where students were
taught to “do” or not “do” their gender), Teaching Appointments (includes any activities where
students taught others how to “do” or not “do” their gender), Honors and Awards (include any
awards/honors/recognition students received that can be linked to “proper” gender behavior), and
Memberships and Organizations (includes membership to any club or group that taught students,
in small or large ways, how to “do” or not “do” gender).
Sample Gender Resume
Education
Girl Scout Summer Day Camps, Provo, UT, 1978-1985.
At these day camps, we learned how to tie knots, start fires, and cook among other things. We
also sang songs, hiked, swam, rode horses, and sailed. The mission of the Girl Scout
Organization is to enhance girls’ lives and I enjoyed the independent activities in which we
participated; however, there were several other activities where our troop had to cooperate. Even
though we engaged in competition with other troops, I never felt that they were our enemies.
Then, of course, the act of selling Girl Scout cookies taught me how to approach strangers and
also helped me refine my persuasive and interpersonal skills. While females are encouraged to be
friendly and cookies (or the baking of them) are certainly associated with women, I really liked
talking and visiting with people around my neighborhood. This educational experience taught me
both feminine and masculine characteristics.
Teaching Appointments
Pop Warner Cheerleading Coach, Phoenix, AZ, 1991.
As a cheerleading coach to fifteen girls aged 8-12, I tried to teach them the importance of practice
and being prepared. Although some might discount cheerleading as a pointless activity, I made
sure these girls learned how to work together and support each other (traditional feminine traits).
I remember becoming upset with three girls because they were not practicing the words or
movements of the cheers on their own. One time I became so frustrated with these girls that I
yelled “I don’t care if you don’t practice because it’s not me who will look stupid out there.” I
suppose I was reinforcing the idea that cheerleaders are decorative but I also wanted the girls to
take responsibility for their own actions. This activity taught me feminine characteristics (how to
be supportive, caring, and on display) but it also taught me masculine characteristics (how to be a
leader).
Special Honors and Awards
Junior Varsity Cheerleader, Duchesne High School, Duchesne, UT, 1986-87.
Varsity Cheerleader, Duchesne High School, Duchesne, UT, 1987-1988.
I was so thrilled to become a cheerleader, a status symbol in our culture. At cheerleading camp
we competed against cheerleaders from other schools but were expected to get along with our
squad. We learned to yell our loudest (a trait not usually expected of females but perhaps because
we were yelling to support men this was acceptable). As a cheerleader, I learned to be critical of
my physical appearance, that I always had to look good (during halftime we would always run to
the bathroom to check our hair and makeup), and that my main job was to support the team.
Now, I recognize that cheerleaders could be considered second-class citizens (i.e., not as
important as the males participating in the sporting event).
Memberships and Organizations
Member, Future Farmers of America, Duchesne High School, Duchesne, UT, 1986-1989.
While most people may associate the Future Farmers of America (FFA) with a predominately
male membership, many women participate in the FFA. While my brother focused more on
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horticulture and agriculture, I participated in the speaking contests and livestock activities. We
would go on fieldtrips where we would judge horses, cows, and chickens and I remember feeling
strange evaluating a cow’s utter. I was selected to be my chapter’s FFA Sweetheart in 1989. The
FFA Sweetheart pageant was not like any other pageant in which I’ve participated. We did the
stereotypical things like bake a cake, be interviewed, perform a talent, and model a formal
evening gown; however, we also took a test on our knowledge of the FFA organization, lassoed a
bale of hay, and participated in a timed contest of saddling a horse. Although some events
reinforced the notion that women must be pleasing to look at and able to bake (stereotypical
feminine traits), other activities valued knowledge and practical skills (stereotypical masculine
traits).
Debriefing
The day the gender resume is due, I begin by asking students if they found it difficult to
compile their resume. The response is usually mixed and this leads to a discussion of the
implicit and explicit intentions of cultural activities and why students felt compelled to
participate in such activities. Next, I ask students to share and evaluate an experience from their
resume. Finally, we discuss the importance of verbal and nonverbal communication in our
everyday lives, especially as it applies to gender.
Appraisal
This activity provides students with a structured opportunity to investigate how cultural
activities communicate certain ideological messages and impact self-concept. When individuals
discuss the various activities in which they have participated, students learn how being gendered
shapes our reality and the extent to which communication shapes our perceptions of self. I
encourage each instructor to prepare her or his own Gender Resume and distribute it to the class
before the assignment is due. This way, students have a concrete example of the types of
activities they could include (stress that even if students did not take piano lessons or participate
in Boy Scouts, they still participated in cultural activities such as school and playing football or
“house” with neighbors).
Each time I assign this activity, I always learn something new and am invited to think
about the rhetorical construction of gender and identity formation in different ways. For
example, this semester one of my students discussed his experience with sex-segregated physical
education classes in high school. While I was aware of this practice, it was not until my student
mentioned this experience that I considered the consequences of this practice. This activity also
lends itself to examining issues of ethnicity and class; that is, students could develop a “Culture
Resume,” and list experiences where they learned about their culture or the cultures of others.
The compilation of a Gender Resume invites students to pay attention to the roles and activities
they perform in everyday life as well as to how communication constructs these roles and
activities that shapes who they are.
References and Suggested Readings
Burke, K. (1969). A rhetoric of motives. Berkeley, University of California Press.
Butler, J. (1990). Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology and feminist
theory. In S. Case (Ed.), Performing feminisms: Feminist critical theory and theatre (pp. 270-282). Baltimore,
Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press,
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books.
Pearson, J. C., West, R. L., & Turner, L. H. (1995). Gender & communication. 3rd edition. Madison, WI:
Brown & Benchmark Publishers.
Wood, J. T. (2001). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture. 4th edition. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth.
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