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Gender Roles And Stereotypes In Modern America

Decent Essays

Imagine, a world where you cannot vote, hold a job, or even walk down the street without another person’s permission? That is what it would have been like, if you were born as a female around the early 1900’s. Flash forward almost a century later and women are still in a struggle with the opposite sex in todays’ society. Women for decades have battled for equal rights. But will we ever get there? Probably not, but I certainly would like to think so. Fair and equal wages, the opportunity for job advancement, affordable childcare, and abortion rights. These are just a few in a long list of rights that we as women have been pushing for since the very beginning. However, gender roles and stereotypes are changing in modern America. In …show more content…

Gender roles are set in place during childhood. Little boys are discouraged from playing with baby dolls and keeping house. Meanwhile little girls are given these toys as soon as possible. The notion that men are the breadwinners of the family is taught at a very young age. In the United States, females only make up eleven percent of congress. With such a small amount of female state representatives, it is no wonder that the laws and rights of women are the way that they are. Since, the founding of our country women have worked the same jobs for less wages and have had to fight for career advancements. Our country leads the world in the smallest amount of women with an active role in government. Women have been dubbed the weaker sex. I believe this is a false statement. The Affordable Care Act is stated as “the greatest advance for women’s health in a generation” by the National Partnership for Women and Families. However, the election of our new president might change things. Women have fought hard for the right to decide what happens for and to their bodies. We are no longer the property of our husbands or male counterparts. Sexual misconduct and domestic violence are still a prominent threat to all women. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence states that “1 in 3 women have been a victim of some form of physical violence by a domestic partner.” As a mother of two daughters, these

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