Gender Roles In American Culture

In the Mundugumor societies, they have standardized the behavior of both men and women as “actively masculine, virile, and without the softening and mellowing characteristics that we are accustomed to believe are inalienably womanly” (165). The Mundugumor women disliked childbearing and even disliked children. Unlike the Arapesh, both sexes of the Mundugumor people were angry and aggressive.

In my culture, rigid gender roles are enforced from the moment a child can communicate. Sex and gender in the Haitian community are used interchangeably. Men are expected to fulfil their duties as the “strong breadwinner” while women were expected to be submissive to their husbands and tend to the home and children (Benokraitis, 2015). Girls are taught to cook, clean, and care for the home, while boys are taught to be independent, vocal and financially stable. A husband does not feel the need to help in the domestic realm, as he is socialized into believing that it is not his responsibility. Religious affiliation plays an extensive role on many of the beliefs held by my family and culture. Many of the views I’ve previously held regarding gender roles have changed over the years.

Cultural beliefs about sex and gender determine how they are translated into patterns of behavior.

Chapter three of Ancestral Lines begins with Barker being taught how to paint a Tapa (a personally designed cloth) by two elder women, as the process is explained Barker compares the Tapa cloth to society “composed of basic elements that fit together to produce a whole.” (Barker 2017:75) Barker also breaks down the “three key facets of contemporary social organization: The socialization of children into gendered adults, the formation of kin- based groups and categories, and the formation of alliance between groups through marriage exchanges and life crisis ceremonies.” (Barker 2017:75-76) Things to note about children in general and as socialized gendered adults: when a child is born, they are not considered ‘socially human’ and are believed to be vulnerable to attacks from spirits because their souls are not yet attached to their bodies. Mothers are the main source of care. Girls are often put to work first, assisting their mothers with cooking, cleaning, and caring for infants. Boys contrastingly help their fathers with hunting, building, and protecting. While inequality is prevalent, women are not without power and enjoy high levels of security and influence. They also believe that men

The Sonqo people and the Yanomamo people had their differences, but in the end were a lot more alike than you would think. They both portrayed gender distinctions in everything they did. One gender was always superior than the other, in this case the men seemed to be. Men were always the high and almighty, given way more power than women. As I read more, I began to find some answers as to why this might be so. Each group, the Sonqos and Yanomamos, have their own beliefs and their own way of organizing their pack. This all is different for each group depending on the natural environment they were brought up in and continue to live in. It was very interesting to learn more about these two groups and to see what they all had in common and what they did differently. I enjoyed searching for the frequently asked question as to why they do what they do and if there is any meaning behind it. In the paragraphs to follow, I will be talking more about why gender distinctions develop and also how different environments can shape who you become as an individual and as an united community.

In this session, I will discuss the gender roles in my family. The definition of gender role is the degree to which a person adopts the gender-specific behaviors ascribed by his or her culture (Matsumoto, D. R., & Juang 2013, 156). For example, traditional gender roles recommend that males are aggressive, angry, and unemotional. It goes further and explains that the male should leave the home every day to make a living and be the main wage earner. The traditional gender role for the female purpose is to stay at home and care for the children. It explains that the female is to be nurturing, caring, and emotional (Matsumoto, D. R., & Juang 2013, 156). These traditional roles for female and male are the opposite of one another. It is believed that the culture is likely to influence our perception about gender role in a family. In my family, my parents utilize the traditional gender role. Growing up, my father went to work every day and my mother stayed home with me and my sister. I believe my parents were influence by their parents and their culture to be traditional gender role parents. My father explained to me that they chose traditional parenting role because both sides of the family utilized traditional parenting gender roles. I believe my parents felt pressure to obtain the gender roles of the mother staying home with the children while the father worked. However, when my younger sister was old enough to go to school, my mother started to work. It was believed that when

Some cultures view men as being in charge and women are not allowed to make any family decisions.

They spoke of other tribes where the children belong to the wives and their families. '' You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the children.'' This remark makes it seem that there is no 'love-making' in this culture, but only 'child-making,' in which the woman has no real role. In a description of a ceremony, ''It was clear from the way the crowd stood or sat that the ceremony was for men.

The concept of the masculinity of real men and femininity of real women has been questioned from one age to the next/ from one culture to another. Upon interviewing three people I have been able to identify cultural patterns. When one looks at society from a broad viewpoint we see a divergence among cultures because of the cultural bias’s implanted from an early age. Additionally, movements by men and women have been fortified because of the reactions to the rationales projected by different cultures. Throughout society the concept of real men and women has been inundated by differentiating cultures allowing for a mixing of belief systems however, someone’s principal belief comes from their family heritage.

Many people turn to their cultural background to seek answers to life’s unpredictable happenings because your culture is deeply rooted and in chaos it remains unchanged. It can provide you with the light at the end of the tunnel during a tough moment, but it is not the silver lining in every situation. Sometimes the path that our culture wants us to follow in the rearing of our children is not necessarily the optimal path for growth. Strict patriarchal views disguised as traditional values designed to inhibit the growth of a curious and a thriving teenager can be detrimental to their self-discovery. Granted that a how-to guide on raising your children does not exist, it is important to understand that placing restrictions can be harmful.

But it is suggested that marriage was the legal representation of girls becoming women. Many boys were expected to go through a reckless adolescent stage, which is partially the reason they married later in life; their reckless behavior consisted of drinking in excess, acting upon their sexual desires, and reeking havoc on the city with violence and vandalism. Not just in youth, but also in infancy, a boy was more valued than a girl. Evidence of this is found in the archeological

This is referred to as "Machismo". Márquez says "The brothers were brought up to be men" ( Márquez 31). From birth males are raised to become the leader of their homes and community around them. Young boys are taught to act as men as to bring honor to the family and be given respect in their society. Men are made out to be nothing but masculine.

One of the biggest fieldwork observations made by the Endicotts is the gender differences between males and females in the Batek community, or lack thereof. Batek people choose to live in a noncompetitive gender egalitarian community, which acknowledges the gender differences between males and females, but does not believe the differences give either sex superiority over its complimentary counterpart(25). This equality is something that makes gender a topic that the Batek rarely address and is seen as almost irrelevant. In fact, until Batek children begin to show the first signs of puberty, boys and girls are only called children rather than little boys or girls. It is not until these sign begin to develop that they make the distinction between young men and

We are taught Gender by our family members from a very young age. For example, girls receive pink gifts and boys receive blue gifts. Shaw & Lee said, “Gender is embedded in culture and the various forms of knowledge associated with a given community.” (Shaw&Lee, p.116.) For example, in one community it might be acceptable for a girl to play football, and in another community the members believe, girl

These social constructions may be very difficult to separate from the biological realities of maleness and femaleness. For example a cross-cultural study done by anthropologists recorded that boys within many societies tend to be more aggressive than the females within that same culture. Females in turn tend to be more nurturing in those cultures. Since these differences are universal, are they a product of biological differences? Or do all societies need men and women for different roles and so they socialize their children appropriately? A study on Australian aborigines has shown a high level of female aggression, leading many researchers to speculate that behavioral differences are cultural in origin.