Analysis of Judith Lorber’s Night to His Day
Every society around the world has traditional gender roles that are accepted as normal and are rarely even consciously thought about in any detail. The man’s role is often to provide for and protect the family, while the women’s role is to care for children and look after the duties of the home. Analyzing Judith Lorber’s Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender, will help understand the concept of “gender as a structure” and “gender as a social institution” along with demonstrating the significant differences that gender categories have for individuals and society.
Gender as a Structure
As humans, we are all born with a set of reproductive organs that identify us as either male or female. The majority of us are raised in very different ways depending on this seemingly simple distinction. Boys are given toy soldiers, guns, and sports equipment, while girls are given Barbie dolls, Easy Bake Oven’s, and jump ropes. Gender roles continue to have a significant influence through adolescence and into adulthood. This is especially seen when entering the workforce. “Gender scholars have argued that the workplace is fundamentally gendered” and “structured by beliefs that individuals and
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For individuals, this means learning and adapting form those around you. For example, our parents teach us how to walk and talk, we socialize with peers and share similar personalities and mannerisms, and as adults we tend to socialize with those of similar interests, careers, and social status. As individuals, over time we tend to develop the same habits, gestures, and beliefs as our peers and forms a perceived “normal” view of how men and women are to act (Rothenberg & Munshi, 2016). Through these interactions, we will eventually fit into a gender category and be bound by the expectations associated with that
The problem begins back in early childhood. Children are so innocently blind that they do not realize that occupational sex segregation appears in their every day life. An example of this is shown in Nemerowicz’s book, Children’s Perception of Gender and Work Roles. Nemerowicz asked fourth grade children to draw a man at work and a woman at work. Eighty-six percent of the pictures showed men in jobs associated with power and labour of some kind (Mackie, 1990). Men were drawn as construction workers, policemen, firemen, doctors and businessmen. On the other hand, women were shown as housekeepers, nurses, cashiers and secretaries. Using Nemerowicz’s results it is safe to say that children had to have learned occupational sex segregation somewhere. Was it their parents, their teachers or their toys that had this stereotypical affect on them? Since early sex segregation like this occurs, differences between men and women in a child’s future work environment are imminent.
Introduction: Nowadays most people would probably vote against gender stereotyping, however it can still affect them from time to time, such as when one is buying a car toy for a boy and a doll for a girl. When there is work to be done outside the house it is called the man's work and cooking the woman's work, man being the economic controller of the household being subservient. These are just examples traditional gender roles, domestic labour and power relationships.
When thinking of gender roles in society, stereotypes generally come to mind. Throughout history these stereotypes have only proven to be true. Major historical events have had a huge impact on the way men and women are seen and treated. In this way, women have always been secondary to males and seen as the fragile counterparts whose job is to take care of the household and most importantly, be loyal to her husband no matter the circumstance. Gender roles throughout history have greatly influenced society. The slow progress of woman’s rights throughout humanities led to an explosion of woman’s rights throughout the 20th century and that trend will only continue on into the rest of the 21st century.
Sandra Bem’s book, The Lenses of Gender, discusses the three lenses of gender: androcentrism, gender polarization and biological essentialism. The first sense of gender Sandra touches on is androcentrism, which is the idea that men create the standard for society and females do not meet the standard. The most important concept in this reading is the idea that women are naturally given the caregiver role because they bear children. This is important because men are given the responsibility of defending the family and collecting food, “because they were bigger and stronger and also because they did not have their mobility limited by the continuous presence of children” (Bem, 1993, p. 31). The significance of this is that it seems to be the biggest
A woman’s only job is to stay at home, take care of her family, and pleasure her man. What is a man’s job? “Men, they do everything,” quoted a fellow male classmate, “Men get the real money.” But it is the twenty-first century! Women are no longer expected to stay at home; they have taken roles as teachers, doctors, C.E.O.s, part of the military, and the list goes on. As for men, it is now acceptable for them to stay at home, take care of their families or even become nannies and nurses. Will Meek, creator of website “Psychology of Men”, defined gender role as a set of attitudes, behaviors, and self-presentation methods ascribed to members of a certain biological sex. Gender roles have changed throughout the course of American history;
For centuries, there have been many societies with stereotypical gender roles that usually involve the men holding the positions of power and the women doing the domestic chores. Historically, men are usually considered to be the stronger of the two sexes and in most societies, it is up to the men to take care of the family. During the twentieth century, women in America began breaking boundaries when they earned the right to vote. More recently, there has been a breakthrough with gender roles as women are beginning to take charge in the workplace. Now, gender roles are not as defined and clear.
One can see that gender is actually a social label that is produced from social expectations (Ore 99). These "gender norms" have led to the distinct inequality and oppression of women. Due to these norms, women are seen as incapable of being political or rational because their social duty is to stay at home and take care of the children (Glenn 23). The social creation of gender surely undermines the severe communal disadvantages that females take on. Humanity must forget these general notions that have been brainwashed into every day life.
The first thing people want to know about your future offspring is what color footy pajamas to purchase: baby boy blue or baby girl pink. The gender binary is enforced early on from the words used to describe an infant to the clothes and toys purchased for them. Whether intentional or simply because of the hard-coded gender norms in society, children are treated differently based on their perceived gender. From infancy through adulthood, these gender roles will be enforced repeatedly. Encouraging young girls to play with dolls and toy kitchen sets will enforce the idea that they need to be nurturing and take on household duties, while doctor and firefighter costumes for boys enforce the idea that they need a career and be the breadwinner of their future family. Gendering from an early age means girls will continue to choose “female professions” such as teaching, and boys will continue to choose “male professions” such as engineering; this then creates and perpetuates occupational segregation under the guise of
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 is a large facet of human life, evolving throughout history, and varying from culture to culture. Gender can be defined as the socially constructed concepts of behaviour that pertain to each sex (Leder, 2017). For example, in Western society, it is the wide consensus that females are to be stereotypically feminine, in that they do not have occupations that require physical strength, rather staying home to care for children, as females are viewed as emotional beings. On the other hand, males are seemingly expected to work many hours to earn a sustainable income, being the so-called breadwinners. While these notions of gender roles have shifted much since their conception, these traditional views still permeate Western society. Further,
It's there in the blackness, deep within the gloom of the shadows, poised just beyond the charcoal line that separates the night from the dark. If you listen you can hear the growl that rumbles deep down within its throat, and imagine the bared razor teeth, the drooling saliva, and those blood red eyes that can penetrate and discern the very fears of men. It lurks, cloaked in the murkiness of the night just beyond the perception of the human eye. It lays in wait; loathsome, poised, hungry.
It was just a normal and calmly morning on New York City on April 1, 2002. While Kendall a normal 12 year old boy was watching t.v he heard something, it was someone knocking on the door, which was unusual for him because no one has come to his apartment since a long time ago. When he went to check who it was he asked,“Who goes there?”, without seeing a person than something surprising started talking, “It’s me a little brown dachshund dog”. Kendall was very confused because he had never saw a dog talked before.The dog’s name was Roscoe and he barked a lot, Kendall even asked him why he was even knocking on the door and Rosco only answered by saying, “My dad told me to get a job so I came here”. Roscoe noticed how Kendall was the only one inside the apartment and he asked him where were his parents and then Kendall just answered by saying, “We played a game of hide and seek for family game night and they have been hiding for almost 7 years and I still can’t find them”. Roscoe wanted to help Kendall find his parents so
It is important to note that gender schema cannot be considered a monolithic entity in the field of gender. Children do no classify themselves as being a boy or a girl and act in congruence with that perception in all situations. Rather their gender conduct varies based on a variety of circumstances, and such variability is observed among adults as well. For instance, a woman can perform manly duties such as hard-driving manager while at the workplace and still be able to assume her traditional chores at home.
Gender roles are personas that one may take on to fit one’s biological gender. Each person wishes to be in a state of order in society and gladly would fall in line to be more feminine or masculine. As a majority of these two ideas develop from an early age, a major influence to each individual occurs in one’s school. The average student in the United States of America will spend “1,620 hours a year receiving their education” (Chalabi). In a school setting, the gender roles that are put upon the students include girls to be
Ever since the dawn of time, women and men have been associated with specific gender roles that can be seen controversial in the eyes of many. Traits and roles associated with a specific gender can be either innate or learned over time. Looking into the deeper concept of gender roles and stereotypes, it is clear that these fixed gender roles are not naturally born with, but rather taught, learned, or influenced by external forces.