Impact Of Gender On Social Influences

The dynamic between male and female is extremely complex. Over the course of human history, men have primarily dominated over women in nearly every aspect of human interaction and daily life. Despite the large progress that has been made in recent decades, women are still heavily subordinated by the male gender both in the workforce and in the private sphere. Examples of this domination of men can be seen in many aspects of everyday life including: interpersonal and social interaction, family, among peers, in education, and in the media.

According to the latest data from the US Department of Labor, 57% of women participate in the workforce as opposed to 52% in 1980. More women are also participating in athletics, higher education, and politics. However, the results of a psychological study from New Jersey has found that gender stereotyping and classic roles are just as strong today as they were three decades ago. Based on the definition from study.com, gender stereotypes can be described as over-generalizations about the characteristics of an entire group based on gender. For example, the gender stereotype and role of women is that they are supposed to be shy, submissive, and do the cooking and cleaning. Men, on the other hand, are generally expected to be the ones to make money, be more physically strong, and do the fixing of the household according to their gender stereotype. The study- taking place in both 1983

The role of women has come a long way since the 1950s and 1960s, when the social expectation of a woman was to get married, please her husband, and have children. Now, in 2017, women are scientists, mathematicians, businesswomen, politicians, and so much more. In this project women’s occupation, salary, and education will be compared to that of men from the 1950s to today. The progress of women in the workforce, education, and salary will be looked at over this time period.

Over the past few decades, great strides have been made by women in the workplace. This increased number in women in the workplace does not mean equality however. Even with equal qualifications and achievements, women are still not given all the opportunities that men have. The chapter in the textbook, “Gender at Work”, shows us more of these inequalities in the workplace. Such inequalities cause gender segregation of jobs and can be linked with the pay inequality in the labor force. Even in jobs that are predominantly filled by women, men earn more than women. Women are often stereotyped as being family focused and not as able to travel, therefore they tend to get passed up for promotions (Garson p.353). This invisible barrier that keeps women from moving up the executive ladder is referred to as the “glass ceiling” (Baxter and Wright p. 346). Women also tend to do more domestic work, or unpaid labor and caregiving. This extra unpaid work is referred to as “the third shift” and is largely rested on the shoulders of women (Gersel p. 352). Consequently, this seems to be one of the biggest things holding women back from taking on jobs that are normally considered male

If perceivers often observe a particular group of people engaging in a particular activity, they are likely to believe that the abilities and personality attribute required to carry out that activity is typical of said group. “Both within and across different cultures we find great consistency in standards of desirable gender-role behavior. Males are expected to be independent, assertive, and competitive; females are expected to be more passive, sensitive, and supportive. These beliefs have changed little over the past twenty years within the United States and apparently around the world as well” (Hetherington & Parke, 2016, Chapter 15). These general beliefs and stereotypes likely stem from observations of women and men in differing social roles. In the workforce, women are more likely than men to hold positions of lower status and authority. Conversely, men are less likely than women to be homemakers and are more likely to be employed in the paid workforce. Although these stereotypes hold true in some cases, in today’s society, they are being shattered almost daily. Women are now holding higher positions of authority in the workforce than ever before. In some cases, the woman is the sole breadwinner whilst some men are now taking the role of homemaker and stay at home

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact social norms have on gender roles. Social norms can be described as group views of how affiliates should behave in a certain perspective (Baron, 2009). Gender roles are the behavioral norms that are considered appropriate for either males or females in a social or personal relationship (Baron, 2009). This inquiry will test the influence social norms has on gender roles in marriage. There will be a total of 100 college students who will participate in a correlational study, 50% female and 50% male, with an average age of 20 years. College students will be asked to complete a five-minute survey on cultural background and how they view gender roles in a marriage and participate in a twenty-minute focus group. This study will test the following hypothesis: Students who are most likely to have a traditional cultural upbringing will repeat more submissive gender role stereotypical marriages, than students who had a liberal upbringing. Traditional cultural upbringing can be described as conforming to conventional norms based on observational learning. Liberal upbringing is based on non-limited, views, laws and restrictions. The independent variable is the student’s cultural upbringing and the dependent variable is how they view gender roles in marriages.

When you think about women in the work field today, what do you see? A successful lawyer, a doctor, perhaps. That’s true. In fact, there have been more females holding high employment positions in the late 20th and 21st century than ever before. According to Donald M. Fisk in “Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2003”, 60% of working-age women worked in the labor force in 1999. That’s 41% more than that of 1900, where only 19% of women worked in the labor force. Among these women, a vast majority have seen their salaries sky-rocket in the past two decades, almost surpassing those of male workers. However, it is not always this way.

Study on gender role stereotypes has shown that there are several negative effects of stereotyping. The study on how gender role stereotyping effects children is not as prevalent because most believe that it doesn’t matter, since children are just forming their stereotype so children do not care. However, some psychologists have done some research on it, and from their research found out that children used a mixture of moral and social conventional reasoning

While the significance of gender roles has declined in the past fifty years, they still play an integral part in our perception of others based on their gender. Gender roles create gender stereotypes that influence our view of someone and their aptitude in work and child caring. Gender stereotypes depict women as caring, compassionate, and kind; however, gender stereotypes also imply negative qualities for women such as cranky, overly emotional, and submissive. On the other hand, gender stereotypes classify men not only as dominant, assertive, and powerful, but also as aggressive, violent, and uncaring. Many people apply gender roles in how they view other’s aptitudes and responsibilities in a work or home setting, but by doing so they subconsciously discriminate against a person for his gender. Extreme Feminists focus on the discrimination and harassment women face in everyday life due to traditional gender roles and complain that “men have it so good”. However, extreme feminists fail to realize, due to their blind but justified hatred for traditional gender roles that supposedly benefit men, traditional gender roles disadvantage men as well. Similar to how many women fail to climb up the corporate ladder because their superiors view them as too caring and soft to hold a demanding leadership position, many people look down on men when they care for their own children considering them too tough and insensitive to take care of children properly and label their care as

“Gender Roles Attitudes since 1872 In social Trends..”, Campbell discusses the gender roles and their representations within numerous fields. In addition, Campbell mentions that the politics, in particular, have seen an increase in women involved within the government. Campbell mentions that during the 20th century, many women were not in the workforce. After WWII, they began seeing an increase of women entering the labor force. In 2000, 60%of wives with children younger than six entered into the workforce, as were 80% single women”(Campbell, 83). GSS measured numerous items about women in 1972 and got numerous responses.

Considerable changes have taken place over the past two decades (WGEA, 2017c). Women have become more prominent within the workforce (WGEA, 2017c). Participation of women in the workplace has risen from 45% to 60% over the last 40 years (WGEA, 2017c, ABS, 2017a). Women’s education attainment has risen, showing a 28% increase since 1996 (ABS, 2017b; WGEA, 2017c). Despite this, earnings are not equal between male and female undergraduates (WGEA, 2017b). One suggestion is that women are choosing lower paid professions, contributing to an unequal distribution among part-time and full-time work (WGEA, 2017b).

Men have been stereotyped as dominant, strong, brave and aggressive. Also there is an image of men being portrayed as harder workers than women and supposedly the more intelligent gender.

Researchers have proposed a variety of explanations for systematic gender inequality in the workplace. Cultural benefits, the actions of male employees, the actions of the female employees, and the actions of the employer can contribute to intentional or unintentional gender discrimination (Ngo, Foley, Wong, & Loi, 2003). It has also been mentioned that women make less money because their work environment is generally safer than the stereotypical male work environment; childcare, cashiers, and secretary positions as opposed to firefighters, truck drivers and construction workers (Parcheta, Kaifi, & Khanfar, 2013). Perhaps the most dominant reasoning for women receiving less pay is the carrying over of biological roles into the workplace. Female employees often take time off to have a family, take care of a family, and are the primary caregiver of said family.

In the United States, our concept of gender, and the differences between men and women, have deep traditional roots. Men are supposed to be strong individuals, who support and defend their families. Women are seen as nurturing, and motherly, more gentle and tame. We believe so strongly that the two genders are entirely separate, with such completely different traits, that it almost seems that men and women are just born with different qualities.

In “Becoming Members Of Society: Learning The Social Meanings Of Gender” by Aaron H. Devor is not very good for finding a solution to the problem that is that gender roles don’t matter because making one of the genders feel powerful could make one of the gender feel worthless or less valuable. However, in Devor he talks about the stereotypes about men. Devor says “Persons who display success and high status in their social group, who exhibit “a manly air toughness, confidence, and self-reliance” and “the aura of aggression, violence, and daring,” and who conscientiously avoid