The right tools for the job: Constructing gender meanings and identities in the male-dominated building trades

Abstract

For women in male-dominated occupations, the gender beliefs and expectations of men co-workers create dilemmas for constructing and managing an occupational identity. Women often find themselves in a double bind where they are held accountable to contradictory expectations for a feminine presentation of self and a masculine performance of work. While previous research demonstrates the strength of gender double binds in constraining women’s actions and reproducing the dominant gender system, I argue that these conditions also create possibilities for resistance and change. Based on data from in-depth interviews with women who work in the building trades, this study examines the relationship between structural constraints and women’s agency in their response to normative constructions of gender. Rather than being forced into choosing between a stereotypically ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ role, tradeswomen manipulate gender rules by engaging in reflexive gender displays that emphasize the most advantageous identity for each situation.