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Gender Roles And Norms Of Society

Decent Essays

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.
The first two words on the list are fairly similar because they describe professions which could potentially be extremely dangerous. Policemen and firemen are viewed as heroes in society because they are willing to put themselves in dangerous situations to protect their citizens. In some ways, the fire and police department are the closest thing society has to Batman or Superman. As the heroes of society, policemen and firemen are assumed to have a lot of courage, bravery, and physical strength; all qualities people usually associate with masculinity. This could be a reason why both of these words end in “man.” There are some people who use the term “policewoman,” but

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