Gender And Gender Roles

In many shops, there seems to be an obvious separation between boys and girls items, for example, the birthday cards, books, clothes, and toys. This is shown in a variety of ways the boy's items are mainly the color blue and the books have pictures of either action figures, superheroes or tools. Whereas the girl's items are mainly the color pink. The books show pictures of fairies, princess, and Bratz. The cards also have the theme of the color pink for girls and blue for boys. The girl's cards have a lot of sparkles and pretty pictures whereas the boy's cards are covered in camo kind of illustrations and also have action figures on the covers. The children's clothes are separated into sections where there are labels for the boy's clothes and labels for the girl's clothes. The girl's clothing is all pretty and pink, it is covered in sparkles. Whereas boys clothing has camo patterns, blue colors, and pictures of action figures.

In present day all around the world, society has certain expectations for the actions and behaviors of males and females. There are many factors in our everyday lives that contribute to the gender norms that society has set. This essay will discuss how situations in life can play a part in how people treat other people based on their gender. It is believed that males are the leaders of our world, but in present day woman can do as much as men can do. From The Journal of Marriage and Family, Hu states, “Differentiated gender roles in adulthood are rooted in one’s gender role socialization. In order to understand the persistence of gender inequalities in the domestic sphere, we need to examine the gendered patterns of children’s housework time.”(2015, P.1). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females that they must be taught. These roles define how females and males are viewed in society, their household, and workplace. In The Journal of Sports behavior by Hardin, he states, “Although gender role differences from biological and “Natural” exists in popular consciousness, research has long demonstrated that instead, many are long time socially constructed… Individuals understand their gender because they are given names and treated in particular ways, such as dress in pink for girls and blue for boys, that reflect social construction of gender. Bandura's social cognitive theory is key in understanding the factors in socialization”(2009, P.3). Bandura's theory of of social cognition is that behavior, environmental events, and cognitive factors are the main keys that shape attitudes and actions of an individual. Although, gender roles play a very big part in our society, specific genders are treated differently while dealing with peer influence, media influence, as well as employment.

Literature throughout history has displayed to us the evolution of the male and female gender roles in society. Women have been described as ‘the angel in the house,’ whilst men are typified as dominant and prevailing in comparison to women. The gothic genre in literature is used to personify and exaggerate these stereotypes, by using gothic motifs such as dream sequences and themes such as horror and terror. Not only does the gothic exaggerate the stereotypes, but it also allows them to be contravened, due to the transgressive nature of the genre. The psychoanalytical aspect of this genre, allows for repressed desires to be made eminent and therefore characters can transgress and in the process, cross their contemporary gender boundaries. Keats uses the gothic device of Negative capability in order to conceal the transgression of the females in his poetry, Carter revised gothic fairytales in order to display them from a feminist approach and Stoker uses gothic themes, set against the backdrop of the fluidity of Fin de siècle period, to allow characters to stray from their gender stereotypes.

From the day that we are born our gender is influenced to partake in certain gender roles depending on our sex. One’s sex is distinguished by biological characteristics that set us apart, while our gender “consists of whatever behaviors and attitudes a group considers proper for its males and females” (Henslin 292). Males are influenced to partake on more aggressive roles to show power and dominance, whereas, female are influenced to partake on more nurturing and subservient roles. However, if one fails to do so they are labeled a feminist “not masculine/feminine enough” or gay/lesbian.

The male gender role is beginning to emerge as an important and legitimate controversial topic. There are two conditions that defined a male: biological and social. Biology provides a dichotomous male and female prototypes. Male babies are traditionally born with one X and one Y chromosome, as well as the genitalia, called the testes. A key biological function of males is the reproduction, in which a male attempts to produce offspring that will carry their genes. Males typically have higher testosterone levels than females, which stimulates the development of male secondary sexual characteristics, such as aggression, growth in hairs, testes, and muscles. However, the social components of a male play a significant role in the definition of a

Gender socialization often begins early once parents are shown the sex of their child; from then on, baby showers are planned according to gender “appropriate” colors, which are often pink for girls and blue for boys. Even differences in how children are spoke to can be picked up easily in Western cultures. Girls are called pretty and sweet, whereas boys are handsome and strong. Ultimately, the way children learn to identify with their gender culture is in part due to not only family and friends, media, schools, and religion, but also from the toys that may inexplicitly advertise gender expectations. Gender-typed toys may be bought for children as a way for parents to encourage and reinforce gender-appropriate behaviors. However, recent debates have engulfed toy manufacturers and major retailers, which has brought about changes in toy design and marketing in an effort to make reflect more realistic and gender neutral options.

The current Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, has contributed to many controversial news topics throughout his career. Most recently occurring was the scandal involving himself, a waitress at his local café, and his choice to pull her ponytail. He claims the incident was just “horsing around” (Davison, 2015), however many have called his actions into question after the waitress complained. Labeled as inappropriate behaviour for a man in his position, the waitress explained how powerless and uncomfortable it made her feel. The abuse of power and lack of respect displayed by Key shows his ignorance surrounding gender roles and feminism. This essay will focus on this state of vulnerability commonly experienced by waitresses in these environments,

3. Why is our parent’s depiction of these roles important to how we see ourselves?

Society has institutionalized gender roles since the beginning of time, a common one is that women are the nurturers and housekeepers, while men are the breadwinners of household. In spite of centuries, and fighting for women 's rights, such as the right to vote in the late 1920s. Women still have roles to fulfill, even in a modern society that is dominated by a virtual world. Gender identification has multiplied from that of men and women, to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ).. Nonetheless, we still have particular roles even for women in gay virtual communities. Education and gender are significant in dictating the participation as well as limitations of women in social media. They demonstrate that gender roles are persistent even in social media, but most importantly, that women are the primary object of societal values.

Historically, women were expected to be at home and for men to work. Ultimately, it was seen that a woman's role was to gather berries and food and men were to hunt. Since women were needed to stay near the home to cook, care for the home, and children. Gender roles are not static, but may change over time as the society changes and is reshaped by factors such as globalization, new technologies, environmental pressures, conflicts, health epidemics, and the rise of religious fundamentalism (Ingoldsby & Smith, 2006,p.333). Globalization has helped create a global platform for women’s equality. There has been numerous efforts made around the world to help women’s status. The change can come from deliberate efforts by governments and other change,

Gender roles are the roles in life that society deems appropriate for each gender to play. These roles are recorded in countless ways, such as art, literature, and media. In order to understand gender roles in literature, we must have a good knowledge as to why gender roles even exist. It is common to try to categorize things and people; this is part of human nature. It is no surprise that men and women have been categorized as well. Throughout history have been wars, famine, and plagues. It is in those times that gender roles are the most inforced. It is “In periods of cultural insecurity” that “the longing for strict border controls around the definition of gender” and other things become much more

As a child I never really knew much about gender roles and stereotypes, I just went with it. As I grew older I was forced to face reality and deal with the gender roles and stereotypes. I wasn’t a masculine kid and always had feminine features and attributes. I never liked playing rough, I didn’t like to get in trouble or cuss. This resulted in me being teased and called gay in elementary school. I had to fake a persona in order to not be bullied and teased everyday. The bullying and teasing came from the viewing of stereotypes at a young age in my peers homes life. For girls it’s the opposite, if they enjoy playing rough, getting in trouble or cursing they’re called tomboys. From a young age as well it’s evident that we’re given these

From a young age, people are told who they must be and how they must act determined by their gender. Gender roles are a set of societal norms that dictate a person’s behavior based on the appropriate and acceptable rules for their gender. This notion derives from the assumption that girls favor dolls and dress-up, while boys prefer toy guns and trucks. These instances contribute to the concept that those of male and female gender must fulfill a specific ideology. These societal standards are ingrained within us as children and we are taught to become exceedingly aware of them. Girls are trained to become vessels of unstable emotions with an excess amount of vulnerability and sensitivity. Females must be the picturesque embodiment of

Gender roles are a conflict in our daily lives that seem to affect the lives of mostly women, and sometimes men too. The roles of many male and females in our society may be different, but why should one have an advantage over the other? The world seems to evaluate males and females differently weather it is for employment, education, and many other situations in life. One's gender should not be a factor of how they should be treated throughout their lifetime, meaning there should not be any opposing attitude or decision towards a human being based on their gender. Gender should just be the state of being male or female to avoid the possibility of causing gender bias. Both males and females should be looked at, and treated equally

Throughout the years, gender roles have been present in our day-to-day lives and within our households. We were taught from a young age how boys are supposed to behave or carry themselves as well as how girls should act or dress. These views that were instilled in us at a very young age evolved into the gender role opinions most people acquire today. The most common or “traditional” opinion of what the preferred gender roles should be are the man belongs in the work place making the money for the household, while the woman remains at home making along with raising the children and keeping the home clean with a hot meal for when the man returns home. Over a period of time the “traditional” gender roles society obtained began to be questioned