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Gender Role Analysis Essay

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Gender Role Analysis

Gender Role Analysis Men and women are different. How different depends on what stereotype one chooses to believe. Although it has been argued that some stereotypes are positive, they are never beneficial. Society creates gender stereotypes and perpetuates them through societal institutions. In this paper the roles of gender will be analyzed regarding education, public policy, and the workplace. How education shapes gender, the gender norms in government, the law, policies, and the role of gender in the workplace will be discussed. Education In many cases the classroom reinforces gender stereotypes perpetuated by society. This can be found in the materials used for instruction, …show more content…

They are also instruments for enforcing those values” (Sapiro, 2003, p. 285). The law and policies of the United States do reflect this country’s gender norms. In the beginning of this country’s history women were not even thought of as citizens. The passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, and its determining that no citizen should have his privileges or immunities abridged did not apply to women. In the 19th century women could not vote, own property, or even hold a job unless their husbands allowed them to do so. With women in such a beleaguered state there certainly would be no representation for them in the laws and policies of the land. The best a woman could aspire to would be to raise her sons to be productive citizens, thereby contributing to the “republican motherhood.” However, even though women were not yet recognized by the government they were still fighting for their rights and slowly they began to win them. Once women earned the right to vote in 1920 when Congress ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, they began even more strongly to seek change. As a result of their struggle, laws and policies began to change to reflect the growing idea of equality for women. In 1963 the Equal Pay Act was put into action allowing women to make equal money for equal work, along with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, barring sex discrimination in hiring, firing, promotions, and working conditions. The Education Act of 1972 barred

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