Gender Reflection Paper

Society’s understanding of gender roles debate about gender equity and have always been connected to the social roles that men and women we assigned to shape Americans views of education for girls and boys. What has also been affected is race and social class between females and males who attend schools. Ideas of what women and men are suppose to be and do have cut across different classifications. Ending unfairness in schools has rested on change to gender roles mainly women.

When you send your children off in the morning to go to school, no matter what grade they are in whither it be elementary, junior high, or senior high, you expect that they will receive the best education that they can get. They should be asked challenging questions, encouraged and called upon to participate in class, they should also be given as much help as they need to secede by the teacher. However, this is most commonly not the case. Parents and the children themselves are unaware of what is going on because gender bias is not a noisy problem. Most people are unaware of the secret sexist lessons that occur every day in classrooms across the country. In this essay I will use two essay's from the reader:

An ever changing, yet common issue, in today's generation revolves around how society views gender. The general consensus dictates that gender, as a whole, is a spectrum, rather than a standard set for each individual male and female to follow throughout everyday life. However, there are those individuals who wish to remain reluctant in changing their view of society. Some believe it is better to allow the education system to be segregated by gender, in order to provide more resources to both girls and boys. One person in favor of this public education reform is David Brooks, a neuroscientist who published the article titled “The Gender Gap at School.” A thorough analysis of the effects of literature on men and women, biological factors

Men and women struggle with stereotypes everyday in their lives. From a young age, children are taught to be themselves, and embrace their special identity. Yet, our school systems are constantly reminded how to act by administrators and peers. As illustrated in, “Dude You’re a Fag”, the author, C.J. Pascoe, gives countless examples of inequality between genders in the school setting. Instead of schools trying to change someone’s uniqueness, schools settings should embrace gender fluidity; this transition would ward off harassment and buoy up ingenuity.

2. I chose this test because I was interested in seeing what I thought about male/female roles.

Prior to reading the article Doing Gender, I have never paid attention to the concept of doing gender. I found it interesting how these roles go so unnoticed because they are so enforced in our society. We never stop to think or questions if an individual’s actions are masculine or feminine. For example, some of us are just so use to having our mothers cook and our dad’s do all the heavy lifting but we never stop to think why is it like this or what does this represent.

Gender stereotyping and gender preferences have been a problem in society for many years. Modern day society has only just emerged from the ideology and mind-set that males are the dominant gender. However, some of this still lingers within the educational system. Hatton (1998) states that boys have been the preference over girls in the classroom as boys are more lively and interesting. Teachers rely on the good behaviour of the girls, which makes them ‘less interesting’, so that the time can be spent with the boys (Hatton, 1998). Gender is the distinguishing biological aspects of a person that considers them to be a male or a female (Davies, 1998). However, in this modern society we live in, ‘gender’ cannot so easily be labelled this black and white. In Australian schools today, the schools experience transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) young people (Ullman, 2015). This is to say that there are some young people who do not conform to what society biologically says they are. A metaphorical theory that Ferfolja, Diaz and Ullman (2015) discuss called the ‘unseen half’ perfectly places this social unjust issue of gender inequality. This theory states that diversity, individual or communities, within the educational system often undervalued or found difficult to understand are rendered ‘invisible’ in day-to-day practices (Ferfolja, Diaz, & Ullman, 2015). As recent as 1979, women were

Real Lives of Most Men." He says to a friend of his "This must be a

Gender Matters is a collection of various essays on feminist linguistic texts analysis, by Sara Mills. Mills develops methods of analyzing literary and non-literary texts, in addition to conversational analysis based on a feminist approach. The author draws on data from her collection of essays gathered over the last two decades on feminism during the 1990s. The essays focus on gender issues, the representation of gender in reading, writing, and in public speaking. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of feminists’ analysis of sexism in literature and the relation between gender and politeness. The article is informative for my research paper, as my

I attended a presentation by a black transgender male, named Shahan, who expressed his journey through transition and advocated for other black transgender people. He talked about Tumblr and how he used this app during his transition to help connect with other people experiencing the same things. Groups of transgender males and females use the Tumblr app in order to reach out and relate to one another. Tumblr is a blogging website that is not censored as much as other websites. pIctures and videos of all kinds also circulate the tumblr app. Shahan expressed how these videos and pictures helped him tramedly through his transition phases. Also having the support of other transgender people helped him because he didn't feel as isolated. Throughout his presentation he stressed how hard it is for black males and females to come out.

     For many years society has embraced the idea that the difference between men and women were biologically determined. Thou through traditions, media, and peers we act accordingly to how others view us. Each individual has pressure placed upon them based on their gender. Our sex is determined by genetics while our gender is programmed by social customs. Some theories interpret that a women is tender and a loving mother while on the other hand men are aggressive hunters and are the dominant one of the family. People who support this theory seems to believe that men and women are happier when fulfilling the roles nature determined for them. Women are to be nurturing and men are to be providers by

The textbook identifies four approaches to gender development: biological, interpersonal, cultural, and critical. Define each theory. Then answer the following question: which of the theoretical approaches to gender do you find the most valid? Be sure to include at least two examples from your own experience as well as two scholarly sources to back up your claim.

According to Helsin, Possamai and Possamai-Inesedy (2011 p. 625) gender stratification occurs when a specific gender has unequal access to power, property and prestige. As gender is classed as a master status it forms a significant structural characteristic within society (Helsin, Possamai & Possamai-Inesedy 2011, p. 310). Therefore, it is society, through social construction that determines what gender norms are considered appropriate and can be passed through generations of people via agents of socialisation such as family, mass media or in the form of symbolic interaction (Macionis & Plummer 1997, pp. 139-141).

As a child, I never saw being a female as a detriment and yet now I realize that it was such an obsticle. However that apparent detriment has not shaped my identity, but rather my triumphs over what people perceived that I could or could not do has molded me to be the person I am today. I was encouraged by both parents to do whatever I wanted, and yet I recognize how my own father treated me differently because I was a girl. There were many things that I was never taught how to do because they were not tasks for females in his mind. Things such as using a lawn mower, a weed whacker, and even working with some power tools were skills that I was never given the opportunity to learn. On top of this, he has stated that it drives him crazy that I walk around bare footed when I garden and do not wear gloves and end up with dirt under my nails. I have been told that I should “act more like a lady”. Looking back I now believe that there were certain stereotypes that he applied to me and that I was expected to fulfill. There were also things that he would not teach me because they weren’t “ lady like”. This could be due to the fact that “Males receive an incomplete education because they (not to mention their female peers0 learn little about women their schooling.” (Nieto p. 49) If women are never presented in curriculum in a positive and contributing light, then it truly becomes a man’s world filled with their own one-sided notions.

Throughout today’s society, there are multiple views and opinions on whether or not there are more than two genders or if gender is even just a social construct. Each person has their own individual preference on how they express their gender. Therefore, we can no longer assume what someone identifies as just by looking at them. Over the years I have learned more about gender expression and gender identity as I gained friends who were homosexual as well as transgender. I feel as if I was introduced to all of these ways of life at a young age, therefore I can, in some ways, teach those who are uneducated and do not know what to think. I have personally never really thought about the different gender identities I could label myself as but as of right now I identify as a cisgender female