Gender Roles And The Society

What is gender roles really about? What really makes it so important in our day to day lives? Well to first understand gender roles, you have to understand gender. The dictionary definition of gender is "either the male or female division of a species, especially as differentiated by social and cultural roles and behavior:" While Gender roles are more complex, they are something that society has shaped us to look at in a certain way. The sociological perspectives all help justify gender roles. They are seen as essential to society's makeup because the assigned roles work together. Men are, also, seen as dominant and women as submissive. These views are what make individuals in society act a certain way towards a gender because of the beliefs

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.

Men were the only people for many years to have jobs to maintain the family. I believe because women were so late in gaining equal rights they, till this day they are underpaid. It is unfair that both sexes can have the same qualifications and job and yet women still fall short in salary pay. Even when it comes to promotions bosses tend to choose men because it gives their company a better imagine, a more “manly” image. A man in front of a company is said to show more strength and business knowledge rather than a women. People tend to be somewhat skeptical of what a women is capable of handling in their jobs as well as in a everyday life situation. Women aren’t as involved in meetings are given any challenging tasks because women are seen as incapable to handle it. During the hiring process there tends an abundance of discrimination. Women are typically chosen for women-based jobs like cleaning or nursing. Men are typically chosen for manly jobs like business and construction. Women able to to the same jobs so it’s not like they don’t try, they just aren’t very likely in getting the job. When it comes to the hiring process sexism tends to be programmed into people 's brains.

There has been a major development in women’s equal rights since the Equality Act 2010 was introduced that includes gender equality as one of the strands which states people under this act cannot discriminate or harass and victimise another individual( Ref). The gender pay gap between men and women has been on debate for many years. This essay will examine whether or not in this modern day society their still remain gender inequalities through the use of relevant theories this essay is determined to establish whether these inequalities still exist in employment by exploring social, biological and cultural explanations and differences between men and women. Why women are more likely to be discriminated and oppressed and how I can use this awareness to challenge and address gender inequalities in employment.

Gender roles determine the way society works, and the way it views people. Whether it is considered unfair or not, there are many factors that are created from gender roles. Almost all parts of English life from 1674 to 1913 was influenced by gender(Clive, 1.) This way of life made a lasting impression, causing the years to follow to develop and abide by what is known as gender roles. Although gender roles have become a lot more diverse in society, there are still stereotypes and misconstrued gender identity, gender-specific expectations, and gender-specific separation and gaps that still exist today.

Society expects men to be brave and strong. They are expected to be in charge of their families by making the most important decisions and supporting them financially meanwhile, women are dependent and cannot achieve much by themselves. One can go back to after 8000 BC and see that men hunted animals meanwhile women stayed at home to care for their children and gather fruits and plants (Reilly). All of the early imposed leadership expectations have been a part of what has shaped the gender expectations in the present society. Even though men and women are capable of performing the same tasks, traditional gender roles keep both genders away from gaining social equality. One can see a difference when both genders are compared in education, employment, child care, domestic duties, and marriage. Although women have made many advances leading up to the amount of equality present in the 21st century, men still manage to have more rights and do not have to fight for equality.

Everyone has their own definition of what a “perfect world” would be. Richard Wasserstrom in “Sex Roles and the Ideal Society” states that in an assimilationist ideal society, a person’s sex should be as unimportant as eye color is in our society today.1 But should we just ignore a person’s sex all together to make the world equal? A different opinion from Phyllis Schlafly in “The Power of the Positive Woman” states that sex should be a relevant factor in family roles and social roles.² But should a person’s sex completely dictate what they can or cannot do within their family and in society? In this paper I will argue that Wasserstrom’s ideal society will not work because I think that eventually humans would naturally make general gender roles based on the different activities that each sex excels in. I agree, to some extent, with Schlafly’s that sex should be a relevant factor with reference to roles in the family and society. In my ideal society, there would be a balance in social and family roles, which would be based on an individual’s personal strengths and weaknesses. In this utopia, complete equality is possible, unlike in Wasserstrom’s and Schlafly’s.

Since 1987, there have been plenty of change in specified gender roles and society’s attitude towards them. In the past thirty years, gender roles have changed drastically while still following traditional gender outlines. Families have become more co-operated by both parents and sometimes a third party. Work places, such as McDonalds, have changed slightly around gender role though females still can not assist in unloading trucks of supply. Relationships have become easier to manage when there are no gender roles. This paper is to discuss the changes gender role has caused in family life, work place, and the working of a relationship; this paper also discusses the attitude towards change and to what extent it goes too.

Most married couples can develope a share of understanding about who does what in the relationship. Sometimes it can be unspoken recognitions of the division of labor and the responsibilities. A plan for marriage is equally shared between chores and plenty of other duties. Throughout history, gender roles have been changing and the plans are not followed anymore than it has been. We live in a world where no one is perfect. There are different people where they have different beliefs. In 1848 women had no rights until the 1920s. Women and men always had the same rolls through the years. Men always made the decisions and worked while the women would stay home and do house duties. The men always had to respect the women and their children unless they disobeyed their rules. Although there are divisions of labor between the human affairs, there can be changing in social expectations, which can be reflected in different gender roles at many different times.

The generation now has made it easier to equalize men and women but there is still a substantial amount of places where gender inequality is still happening in the workplace and where females still face discrimination. Women are often discriminated in the workplace and are usually not promoted as quickly as men are and they also receive less pay. History shows that women have not always been defined as property and thought of as second class citizens. But in the 21st century many have seen a drastic change in the so called “traditional” family ways where women are suppose to stay home and take care of the household chores, food, and children and men are suppose to work to support their family and provide financial stability. Many assume that in the workplace women are more vulnerable and less competent than men because women 's instincts are to put their family before work or anything else. Whereas men are the ones who will usually stay the late hours to work. People on both sides of the political spectrum and everywhere in between seem to be fearful of what is to come and more fearful of others than they are often willing to admit.

Society today places many ideals when it comes to proper behaviours regarding gender roles. These are considered societal norms that are widely debated and controversial. Society has created a norm, which encompasses specific expectations and rules that change the daily lives of men and women, giving them specific tasks and behaviours to abide by. These standards are known as gender roles, which are defined as distinguishing actions, thoughts, and feelings of males and females. Gender roles are said to be a result of nature, which is a natural process, every male or female is to follow. On the other hand it can be a result of nurture, which changes ones way of thinking and adapting their lifestyle to fit their environment. Either way gender roles are a part of someone’s life from the moment of their birth, as they develop, and long after that, this proves that gender roles are influential to a person’s life and development. This essay examines how media such as music, family life, and different parenting styles encompass gender roles and teaches behaviours regarding them. Therefore, gender roles define males and females are a result of nurture and not nature.

This paper will discuss gender roles and gender equality in today’s society in comparison to the society of the first, second, and third waves of feminism. Present-day society should be growing in order to be conscious of individuals who voice themselves as male, bisexual, transgender, female, queer, intersex, lesbian, other, the list is unlimited. However, society is unfortunately stuck in a black and white world and does not want to change; this essentially makes it difficult for those who are deemed as unacceptable because they do not conform the “black and white, female/male” world. Problems regarding gender do not just stop at roles; society also has a setback with gender equality. Unfortunately, this predicament started in the first wave of feminism (19th century) and still occurs in the real world as well as the virtual world through commercials, magazines, and social media, etc.

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

It is a known fact that women faced inequality in the past, however, it is arguable whether they still face inequality today. When bringing statistics to the table, there is a wage gap between men and women. This is caused by many things. For one, women have tended to exceed men when it comes to education. However, men still tend to receive better jobs with higher pay. This is because gender inequality. There is also inequality inside of the work place. Men tend to receive more promotional opportunities and higher advancement opportunities than women. This is mainly because of gender roles and stereo types. It is perceived that women should not be in the work place. Instead they should be at home cooking and caring for the family. Even if women do not stay at home they are expected to take up jobs that consist of caregiving and low advancement opportunities. In some instances, women are expected to take care of the kids at home and still work at their caregiving jobs. Overall, the lack of equality because of stereo types and gender roles will result into poverty for women.