Social ‘representing’ falls to women because men are bound by productive labor.

Evidence

The family is not a closed community: notwithstanding its separateness, it establishes relations with other social units; the home is not only an “interior” in which the couple is confined; it is also the expression of its living standard, its wealth, its tastes: it must be exhibited for others to see. It is essentially the woman who will organize this social life. The man is connected to the community as producer and citizen, by ties of an organic solidarity based on the division of labor; the couple is a social person, defined by the family, class, milieu, and race to which it belongs, attached by ties of mechanical solidarity to groups socially similar to themselves; the woman is the one most likely to embody this most purely: the husband’s professional relations often do not reflect his social level, while the wife, who does not have the obligations brought about by work, can limit herself to the company of her peers; besides, she has the leisure, through her “visits” and “receptions,” to promote these relations, useless in practice, and that, of course, matter only in categories of people wanting to hold their rank in the social hierarchy, that is, who consider themselves superior to certain others. She delights in showing off her home and even herself, which her husband and children do not see because they have a vested interest in them. Her social duty, which is to “represent,” will become part of the pleasure she has in showing herself to others. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1550

Categorization

• XREF: Durkheim’s mechanical vs organic solidarity invoked directly; ties to the earlier chapters on woman as the class-managed body and household confinement. — connects to: Women’s economic dependence makes them define themselves through men’s desires. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 298; Gender stereotypes both reflect and reproduce the division of labor — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2922; People stereotype groups to justify an existing division of labor (+2 more)
• DEFINE: Defines ‘represent’ as the woman’s social duty of displaying the couple’s rank.

Broader Connections

• Gender stereotypes both reflect and reproduce the division of labor #expands (0.85) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2922
• Woman’s cultural role is to soften the harsh edges of male-created law and necessity #corroborates (0.82) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 396
• People stereotype groups to justify an existing division of labor #expands (0.80)
• Women dominate Muslim community-volunteering roles, making it gendered labor #exemplifies (0.75)