Gendering the Market

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic data collected on the trading floor of a large, Midwestern commodities exchange, I show how attention to variations in the pace of work within an overwhelmingly male-dominated workplace reveals different repertoires of gender. During periods of market activity, gender is constituted within a language of competence. Seemingly gender-neutral categories such as handling pressure, being aggressive, and being physical mask a gendered logic. By contrast, during downtime in the market, gender reemerges as a more overtly sexualized form of difference. Jokes and references to women's bodies make gender a more overtly salient characteristic of the trading floor. More careful attention to the meanings of gender draws attention to both overt and covert gendered logics in the construction of a gendered workplace.