Gender Roles And Gender Analysis

Remember the 50s in America, how men were the predominant head of the household and women were expected to cook, watch their kids, and clean? This is an excellent example of gender roles, and how they control some aspects of life. Gender roles according to multiple sources are, the way people behave, what they do and say, to express being a female or male. (“Gender Identity”, Blackstone, "Gender Spectrum"). They are forced upon an individual from the day that person is born even in the most trivial of terms of putting boys in blue clothes and girls in pink. Throughout that person’s life from then on, they will face everyday cultural expectations to act according to their sex. Gender roles can often be confused and hurtful, many stores have moved away from assigning products to a specific gender, but not only can gender roles affect behavior, it plays a huge role in transgenderism.

When a person is born, they are either male or female. Before they are born, their parents are going to set goals and expectations for them. Sometimes parents will name their child after a famous celebrity hoping they will be just as great as them. Each gender will have different ways they should live their life in order to stay within their gender role. Some will meet the expectations and other will not. That does not make them look less of their gender, they will just be expected to meet them. Over the years, some gender roles have submerged and others have risen above. They will be able to show how the gender roles are supposed to be in jobs, education, and marriage and also how they can benefit from stepping out of the 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.

One of the key concepts detailed by Pringle (2007), is the idea of hegemonic masculinity, which was originally coined by Connell (1995). Connell suggest that the concepts of hegemony and masculinity have been intertwined, which has created a social form of a masculine ideal, developed around male dominance, power and patriarchy over groups who are deemed “weaker” such as women and homosexual men. Hegemonic masculinity is essentially a socially elite or desirable status, with which the “performance of ‘masculinity’” can be legitimately practised within society.

According to Connell, masculinity is closely connected to gender relations and these patterns among masculinities are “hegemonic”, by which he means it’s ‘subordinate’ and ‘dominant’. The description of “hegemonic masculinity” is the currently accepted and culturally dominant successful form by the public. Drawing on Webster, “hegemonic masculinity is defined as the current configuration of practice that legitimizes men's dominant position in society and justifies the subordination of women, and other marginalized ways of being a man.” Consequentially,

Your _____ depends on whether you were born with distinct male or female genitals and a genetic program that released either male or female hormones to stimulate the development of your reproductive system.

Gender can sometimes be seen as biological characteristics humans have, when in fact it is the social characteristic ones society deems either masculine or feminine. Sex, on the other hand, is the biological differences in humans, for example, hormones and sex organs. People usually play gender roles in society, otherwise known as gender ideology. Gender ideology is when men and women have certain attitudes regarding their ‘fixed’ roles, responsibilities and rights. Throughout history men and women have been socialized to play these expected roles that have been placed on them due to their sex. In my own personal life I have encountered many instances where I have been socialized in relation to sex and gender.

Why should your gender determine how to live your life? Throughout my whole existence, I’ve been told to act and dress like a “girl” by most of my family. I never understood why it was such a huge deal, until I was much older. Gender expectations are still around today and they still continue to be affect the way men and women are treated. A man that acts within his own gender role is praised, but a woman is forced to stay in a certain limit within her role. Men and women shouldn't let their gender define themselves and it should not pressure them to live up to a certain standard created by society.

In gender studies, hegemonic masculinity is the norms and values upheld as an ideal for all males. The concept of hegemonic masculinity was proposed first from a field study in Australian high schools of social inequality by Kessler. (Kessler et al. 1982) The concept was later made popular by sociologist R.W. Connell. All men are upheld to the image of being the strongest and most aggressive, and to hold the power over women and other men.

Throughout the course many, women that we have encountered were perceived as the stereotypical gender appropriateness. For example, women were expected to cook, clean, and take care of their children or siblings if the girl was not married yet. Nevertheless there were women, who worked as well as following the appropriate gender roles such as Vienna from Johnny Guitar, Josephine from Ballad of Little Jo, and Alexandra from O’ Pioneers. However the women all had a role in society and that was to do housework, took on a man’s role, and became the women they wanted to be.

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.

Hegemonic masculinity can be seen as culturally idealised concept in which is both personal and collective and can be commonly understood as the continuation of the breadwinning husband and caring subordinative woman (Donaldson 1993).

As I self-reflect on my beliefs (Russo & Spatz, 2013) about gender roles, I have contributed to perpetuating the gender roles in society. Once acknowledged, I must make activism a part of my daily life, especially as a mother (LaDuke, 2013), and I am evolving to make a change for the generations that follow me. Hence, as a parent, I desire my children as well as the children in my family to engage in activities that are enjoyable to them. I will not subject them to limiting their activities based on society’s labels of masculinity or femininity. For example, one of my sons participates in tap and ballet classes, which are activities traditionally reserved for girls and gays (Risner, 2014). Also, the male members of my family are apprehensive

In many cases the classroom reinforces gender stereotypes perpetuated by society. This can be found in the materials used for instruction,