Equality Between the Two Sexes

Before this class I believed men and women’s gender roles in society were strictly defined. As I gained more knowledge from the Critical Thinking Reader, The Grapes of Wrath, and my research project, I learned that gender roles change based on an individual’s environment, socio-economic standing, and societal norms/expectations. These resources helped clarify that men and women’s roles in society are interchangeable and there are no definite lines or barriers that keep them from fulfilling all roles, that being said men and women can also remain stuck in the roles society has traditionally seen them in.

As a country, we have come a long way to reaching equality between women and males. During the 19 centuries women fought for their right to vote. When talking about gender, there are a lot issues that continue to be present until this day. Women had to fight for equality during the 19 century which lead up women in today’s society to have a voice. Despite of all the improvement close to gender equality, society still expect particular things from females and males.

For a long time, men and women have been dealing with the controversy of gender roles. In modern day, the battle for gender equality has been more known. In the story “Guys Suffer from Oppressive Gender Roles Too”, the author Julie Zeilinger explains how males are held to a more macho standard, but do have prevalent emotions. If we were to let go of these rigid rules about what is manly, there would be no standard for any gender. If that was reality, men shouldn’t have to feel humiliated about staying home, and if their companion makes more money than they do. Zeilinger talks about how males detach themselves from some emotions, and live a “life nub to a true range of human emotion” so they can meet this masculinity standard. However if males

Today in society it can be agreed that women have indeed gained many rights that were not accessible to them 100 years before. Although, despite the mentality that men and women are treated equally there are still very many discrepancies between the treatment of genders. Many of which can be attributed to the expectations placed on the genders, gender roles between both genders, and women in the workplace. These issues have caused a great rift to form between the genders, a rift that has caused one gender to claim dominance over the other and this can develop a sense of inferiority by the submissive gender.

Gender roles are the portrayal or demeanor learned by a person as appropriate to their gender, determined by the prevailing cultural norms. Currently many women and men are trying to escape the traps of society that force them into a precise “women” or “man.” Why are women who want to better the way they are, seen as wrong because they want to one-up men. To what extreme will culture go in order to manipulate women into believing they need to live by certain rules created by the thought that men are and will always be better than women. The goal of our research paper is to show the gender norms in each culture, and to inspire the readers regardless the gender to diminish the boundaries that gender roles, and society form and try to demand from an individual. We will first address communication between the genders, the gender norms in the Mexican culture followed by the Russian culture and the African culture. Then we will address the genders at work and home as well as the eyes of society. In many different cultures, the stereotypical aspect of how women should be, result in women being inadequate to express their true feeling and thoughts because of the fear of being dishonored, thought of as less and the fear of being less of a women than those that remain in the women stereotypes.

For thousands of years, established gender roles have been a part of our society. Women are commonly known as sensitive, emotional, or passive. On the contrary, men are described as rational, competitive, independent, or aggressive. Believing women are more emotional than men is stereotyping. However, the stereotype is not entirely untrue. Development of gender roles is often conditioned more by environmental or cultural factors than by hereditary or biological factors. The development of gender roles between men and women involves the inference of peer community of each gender, the communication style of male and female and the intimacy or connection level of men and women.

In present day it is easy for a person to take for granted what comes so simple to them. Women have not always been in the position in which they are seen as equals to men. In the course of the last decade, women have evolved as human beings through revolutions in the 1920’s, 1960’s and modern day era.

Great importance was placed on the preservation of traditional gender roles, specifically the role as a mother, and the separation and segregation of the worlds of men and women. Women were continuously told that they are biologically different from men to rationalize why their worlds, careers, and activities should

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.

Now that the factors affecting their experiences have been identified, it is necessary to consider the attributes that shaped women’s experience. Women made choices and acted differently from men. This was not merely a result of their biology but also due to their culture. Due to the difference in attitudes, female reactions tended to be different from that of men. Women also had different expectations and priorities than men.

Although now in the modern era gender based roles are more flexible there is still that fine line between whether you are truly a man or truly a woman. Three stories help further develop the sense of the gender roles applied on others through the

Society has established roles in which differentiate men and women, by focusing on how they, as individuals, should portray different characteristics. This allows for the opportunity of mislead perceptions, by the displays of gender in an unequal manner. If a man shows any characteristics that only a woman should have, he may be seen as weaker or maybe even deviant. This is true for a woman too, as that if she portrays too much aggression or competitive characteristics, she may be too manly, instead of fulfilling what should be her more nurturing role. Both men and women seem to face gender inequality, not just one more than the other. They both can face criticism, unequal treatment and stereotypes based on whether they choose to follow the exact way society has classified the gender “norms.” Although society has created these labels, it solely comes down to the individual on whether or not they choose to be deviant against them completely, in some ways, or simply not at all.

As men filled more leadership positions in military and in government, they became known as the dominant and assertive gender due to the tasks required by their occupation. Women, however, were often seen in caregiving roles such as nurses and maids who display compassion and submission. Janice Lee, author of Gender Roles exerts that these constraints are traits, expectations, and behaviors associated with men and women and what it means to be ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’” (Lee 7). If a human being were to not conform to this societal formed idea, they become an outcast as they are depicted and stereotyped as incompetent, unattractive, and overall less likable beings (Lee 8).

When examined, gender roles have remained traditional in certain aspects. However, there is a place where traditional gender roles are not being excepted as they once were. Sadly, not everyone excepts that it is becoming more egalitarian.In the United States, women reported that they experienced one to two sexist incidents each week (Gervais, Hillard, & Vescio, 2010). These are either verbal or nonverbal behaviors that people were presented to them (Gervais, Hillard, & Vescio, 2010). With that aside, a man and woman who are in a relationship are starting to have more flexible roles.

Men and Women's lives are controlled by the double standards all around them. Every gender is told how to feel and how not to feel, how to act and how not to act rather than just acting and feeling as they want to. The lives of human beings are plagued by these awful societal rules that are all meaningless. Despite the progress made in equality for men and women, double standards create inequality for both genders.