Gender Roles And Its Effects On Society

We all had our share of favorite Disney films when we were growing up. Girls lean more toward all of the Disney princess films. One Disney princess in particular that everyone loves is Cinderella. Cinderella is what every little girl wishes they could be, with her long blonde hair, and finding her prince charming. However, “By looking a little bit further into Disney films, we realize that they were setting up gender roles for us as kids, that we aren 't completely comfortable with today” (“Gender Roles in Disney Films”). Now, as adults we realize that Cinderella was mainly about gender roles and societal norms. “Results suggest that the prince and princess characters differ in their portrayal of traditionally masculine and feminine characteristics, these gender role portrayals are complex, and trends towards egalitarian gender roles are not linear over time” (England, Descartes and Collier-Meek).

To understand gender differences within language and society, we must first realize how our genders were divided. The division between the sexes began with the agricultural revolution that transformed human civilization that is believed to have taken place between 8000 and 7000 B.C.E. The consequences of agriculture and the ability to harvest and store food, eliminating the need to hunt and gather, were life changing. Settlements began to develop and gender roles were forming. Men would tend to the fields and the herds while women had a tendency to remain close to the homes, becoming the caretakers of the children and households. As civilization developed, the work done by the men away from the home grew to be regarded as more important than the work done by the women. Due to this newly found perception, “men came to play the more dominant role in human society, which gave rise to the patriarchy” (Spielvogel 4-5). This mindset has been fortified in human culture and has defined gender roles in societies throughout the centuries.

Gender roles govern the way that most of the world’s population interact with one another. Many African cultures uphold deeply patriarchal gender roles which dictate how women and men interact with one another. Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, a staunch feminist, gives readers a look into Nigerian gender roles in her short story Birdsong. Her writing in Birdsong and her TEDtalks explore and expose how these gender roles are harmful and how important it is for many stories of young women of color to be heard.

From the moment we are born we are put into one of two categories, boy or girl. We are never asked or considered to be anything but. No in between, no blurred lines. And because of the society we created, we attach extensive stereotypes to each of those genders. This is simply known as gender roles, or more specifically; “a set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex”. This includes all kinds of stereotypes, like, that women should stay home, cook, and be “girly”, and that men need to be strong, the sole provider of the house, and “manly”. Not to say you can’t be those things, but those roles can be very constricting for most of the population. Gender roles can be so restricting that they affect our lifestyle, workplace, and mentality and self image.

The topic of gender roles is a subject that has been discussed and argued upon for several years, regarding the depiction and expectations of what it means to be a man and, conversely, what it means to be a woman. Along with the topic comes what and how society defines masculinity and femininity. Society has given men the title of being masculine due to the reflection of  dominance, strength, aggressiveness, independence , and the use of interpersonal skills. Whereas society has given females the title of being feminine for having the qualities of being vulnerable, modest, dependent, and delicate. The definitions for both genders follow behind the depiction and expectation on how one may act, whether male or female. A male wants to appear

Gender roles are determined by both societal culture and the result of biological makeup. Media as an impact on the decision of what your role will be in society. Your decision on what you want to be is formed through the span of grown and observing what happens in society. Your biological makeup can also guide what you gender role is because it categorizes you into male or female.

The proper gender roles during that time produce restriction on accomplishing goals out of the norm by society. The Chloe culture in the book viewed woman as overseer of the home and family. This could be overwhelming or boring causing them to seek other avenues for pleasure. When that direction was followed it was not acceptable in their society, therefore, provoking them to feel that the only way to be happy is in death. Although the gender role was hash over time, it began to change giving women the desired freedom. After all, our gender roles in our today society also have altered over the years with the advancement of the profession women are now viewed by their skill that qualifies them for top jobs. In the past women roles and attitudes

I think the one thing in rebel without a cause that really stood out to me as far as gender roles in our culture goes, is how the film kind of reversed the gender roles of James mother and father. What I mean by that is it seem like the way the film portrays him was his mother was the more dominant figure in the marriage and his father took the subordinate role that at that particular time in film was generally the domain of low of a female character. I think the film really illustrated this is when James is coming up the stairs and he sees his father cleaning up the mess from the tray of food he dropped and he’s wearing a flowered apron and he seems to be trying to clean up the mess in a hurry before his wife sees what he had done, at this

Throughout history, many professions have been categorized as either masculine or feminine. For example, whenever people hear the words teacher, nurse, flight attendant, and prostitute, they usually automatically think of these “service” professions as feminine. There are many masculine professions which produce similar effects. Interestingly, while there is no linguistic symbolism in most feminine careers, many masculine professions end in the word “man.” Out of the many professions that end in “man,” the words “policeman,” “fireman,” “chairman,” “businessman,” and “weatherman” seem to be five of the most commonly used ones. The meanings of these words, and especially the qualities they imply, not only describe gender roles and norms in today’s society, but also describe gender roles from previous societies.

When I was a little girl, my neighbors and I would always be outside until our parents called us in for dinner. We would be playing football, riding our bikes, playing gas station and other games you played when you were little. Even when I was younger we were all in a stereotype of what we could and not do because of the gender roles placed on each one of us. Society has told us that we need to play with the toys that they label as appropriate for your gender. That is why we see even at younger ages the commercials on the television socializes you into what a girl should play with and what a guy should play with which puts us in the gender roles that we have in society. The boy toys were the action figures, blue colored, and more violent. While the girl toys were pink, sparkly, and mostly dolls. When I was younger sometimes I wasn’t able to hang out with the boys at recess for they would say it’s a boy sport and you are a girl. Looking back now, I realize that these boys at such a young age was putting me into a category of being weak and more sensitive. We see this every day, girls being labeled as a group of being more nurturing and sensitive and boys being more masculine. This can be contributed to the fact that as we were younger we grew up with specific gendered toys that could have impacted our life into how we label each other even today.

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

Society has clearly defined boundaries between what is considered to be male or female. The development of an individual’s gender role is formed by interactions with those in close proximity. Society constantly tells us how we should look, act and live based on gender. Family, friends and the media have a tremendous impact on how these roles are formed and the expected behavior of each gender role.

Gender Roles and Inequity are important because we live in a society that is very judgmental. Many women have struggled with the chance to have equal opportunities as men before I was even thought about coming into this world. Many families remain together because of the work the woman puts in. However the woman never gets the acknowledgement they deserve for their commitment. The effort and devotion of the woman has always been unshakable in all cultures. However, the honor and accountability women receive from the society and men is completely unfair. Women have to struggle to get the equality inside their house and place of employment not to mention respect in the overall society as one. This causes a women to become worn out while at the same time trying to maintain their task as well as struggling for their chance of equal rights. It is known that racism and sexism are one in the same because of the unfair prejudice applied to them. Things may have changed to allow women to work next to men, however women will probably never make the same wage or have as much ability as men. No matter how much women struggle they will never give up on their chance for what’s fair.

Today we live in a world that continually stresses to us that, "All men are created equal." While this sounds great at face value, further inspection tells us that this is far from realistic and sadly may never be. One can examine any aspect of society whether it be race, religion, language, level of education, sexual orientation or economic status and notice that there are numerous characteristics and factors of identity that enable others to treat others differently. This truth may not be pleasant or make one feel all warm and fuzzy inside, however it is our society’s reality, however dismal it may be. Even if the statement above as to the equality of all men were true, how about women? Clearly women have made tremendous strides towards

Children are told from a young age that they can be anything. They can be an astronaut, a pilot, the president or even find the cure to cancer. Yet, all of this is rubbish! What children are sadly forced to learn as they grow up is that some things in life are predetermined, even who and what people are. The truth is no one has any control of their identity because society chooses who and what people are, Society separates the rich from the poor, the messiahs from the outcasts and strong from the frail. Regardless of background, society subjects the individual to partake in stereotypes, assimilate its culture, and isolate the few who attempt to resist. History, as told through literature, exemplifies the struggles of individuals