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Gender And Gender Roles

Good Essays

Why should we pay attention to or worry about gender roles and the dynamics that stem from them when we are constantly being bombarded with serious and pressing issues afflicting our society i.e. the political, environmental, electoral, domestic, international, etc. etc.?

Because many of the headaches we grapple with everyday stem from these gendered norms and our collective adherence to them, and they will continue to creep up into our lives, our research, our media, our paychecks, our opportunities if we don’t recognize just how pervasive and consistent they are.

You might question this and argue that we are above and beyond the confines of “gender norms”. You might say something along the lines of, “Yes, I imagine there is some work to be done, but look at how far we’ve come! What else could or should we possibly do? - sign another Change.org petition, share another graph about the wage gap? Aren’t we already doing great work? Just look at the way we raise our children! They choose toys and costumes without the pressure of gender conformity. We pressure toy distributers to follow suite. California recently added a non-binary choice to birth certificates. Women are exposing powerful men’s sexual misconduct and violence in the workplace like never before. And in contrast to the belief that women could do no wrong, we can look to disgraced Aun San Suu Kyi of Myanmar who has lost some honors and recognitions in the midst of a genocidal crisis.

Yes, these are all true!

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