bashoGWSS1

I'm Emily Endert and I'm an Ecology, Evolution and Behavior major (in the Department of Biolgical Sciences). I transferred last January after doing a little over two years at Luther College. I think gender is a part of everything that happens to us everyday, whether it is screaming it's prescence or whether it is shown unconcsiously in our thoughts and actions. Someone's gender is a part of their identity and heavily influences the choices they make, and whether they stick to specific gender roles, or choose to go another way. With our society historically being a partiarchal dominated society it's definately been interesting watching politics in the last year, as women (especially Hilary Clinton and Sarah Paulin) are choosing alternate gender roles by running for office to lead the country.
I work in a bar (well, actually it's a British Pub) and it is very interesting to see gender issues at work there. There are usually more men then women that will choose to come to the pub alone, and I think a lot of it is the social stigma that if a woman is seen drinking by herself, she is seen as being out of bounds. It is also a law that one woman cannot close a bar by herself, for safety reasons. I appreciate this rule, but at the same time, you can make the most in tips late at night, but the girls can never stay alone to make all the money at the end of the night, whereas the guys can. It's very interesting to be aware of all these things in my everyday life.