Non-Traditional Gender Roles Still Relevant Today

Gender roles are defined differently by people and are usually centered on opposing conceptions of femininity and masculinity. They are a set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex. Gender roles now compared to back in the day have very much changed, but there still remains a strong influence as to the way a woman should act and how a man should act. In places such as America, now, women and men both have jobs and can still balance spending time with their family and taking care of children whereas back then, women were housewives and were not able to hold a job because that was the man’s responsibility. The traditional roles of men and women are also looked at, as well as behaviors of men and women that are considered socially appropriate. Gender roles vary greatly from one culture to the next, from one ethnic group to the next, and from one social class to another. But every culture has them, they all have expectations for the way women and men should dress, behave, and look.

Gender roles is a problem that takes place in both the workplace, domestic conditions, and society. Often signified through the age-old stereotype. That men are required of the more "challenging" or more "advanced" jobs, while women restrict themselves to the less grueling and less beneficial positions. Terms such as "that 's a man 's job" is a leading cause of inequality in the workplace. Not to mention, gender roles and standards are set in the homes of many families everywhere. The so-called "picture perfect family" situation; the husband goes to work while the wife stays home to tend to the children. While romanticized as ideal, this concept is the very essence of a patriarchal society. Meanwhile, the brutally vicious society we live in often berates women 's self-esteems in more way than one. Stereotypes of beauty, or who are skinny, pretty, white, and wealthy, are unfortunately the ideal standard of women and

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.

Men are only considered responsible for taking care of the family financially and shouldn’t do household duties or childcare. Meanwhile, women are expected to be charge of running the household and taking care of children, giving them the care and attention required. Do you agree? You may or may not, but guess what? These are traditional gender roles.

The role of women and men changed throughout the American history. Many people have different beliefs about the roles that women and men should have. In the 1800’s men would go out and work while women stayed home and take care of the house. In this current time it could be the opposite. Some women still stay at home while men go to work, some men stay at home while women go to work, or sometimes both the man and the woman in the household work.

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.

Even though things are different in today’s modern society, gender roles do give each sex their own jobs and specific roles. For example, the woman in the household is expected to clean while the male is expected to do the yard work. This eliminates any sort of confusion between who has to do what in the house. Although this can be true, we don't have to stick to our roles assigned to us by society. Each person can pitch in a hand wherever it is needed, maybe the husband can cook once in a while and help out with the laundry. The wife doesn’t have to stay home all day cleaning the

The existence of such roles are shown to be damaging to all genders, causing people to feel set on specific interests and life paths based only on gender. Tara Culp-Ressler concludes, “This constant effort to manage one’s everyday life in line with gender norms produces significant anxiety, insecurity, stress and low self-esteem for both boys and girls.” Previously, women were associated with cooking, cleaning, and other typically feminine activities, while men were associated with sports and other typically masculine activities. Men must be the providers of a family, while women are expected to be caregivers.

However, most women today choose to work as well as justify an apparent gender role of cleaning the house and taking care of the children. Unfortunately, gender inequalities often stem from social structures that have established thoughts of gender differences.

The male and female roles have been made since the beginning of time. The man is to provide for the family while the wife is to tend to the children and household duties. Now, instead of the traditional roles men and women are changing up the perspective. Gender roles in the 19th and 20th century have dissolved from the traditional roles to the inclination of the individual.

In recorded history both men and women have been assigned different roles in society, called gender roles, and while the contribution of both genders is important women were not, and still are not, perceived as equal when compared to men. In recent history, beginning in the early 19th century, there have been monumental strides toward gender equality and while the movement for equality and women's rights is heading in a positive direction there is still a lot that needs to be accomplished before full and complete equality between the sexes is reached.

Gender roles have drastically changed over time, however we still practice some of the same customs, even though times have changed. In the U.S. we used to live in a patriarchal society, patriarchy is defined as “a nearly universal system involving the subordination of femininity to masculinity” (Conley, 2015, p. 288). Men were expected to go out and get a job, while the women stayed at home and tended to the children and household. However, society has changed to a point where women have jobs, men stay home with children, and many people are single parents who do it all on their own.

The most controversial social dynamic I see in contemporary society is the idea of gender roles. I believe this is so controversial because it is a problem globally, yet it also causes problems in personal relationships. I think that it is the reason women are more sexualized by men, which is sometimes a smaller problem, but is also the reason for human trafficking and larger problems. Although that is extreme, the problem of gender roles is probably more familiar to us in our personal relationships. Traditional gender roles cause a lot of expectations in relationships and marriages and those unmet expectations are often the cause of divorce.

In a world that is so modern and fast passed, how can it be that it is stuck on something as prehistoric as stereotypic gender roles? Starting with the caveman to the men and women of the Victorian period and even to now in the twenty-first century, society has imprinted its own idea of what a man and women should be and the what role each should hold in society. The idea of what is appropriate in behavior and how one should act are most likely attributed to what gender they are. In the eyes of society, all are seen with a stereotypic lends. From the toys children are given to play with to how men and women are portrayed in magazines and to what types jobs are seen suitable for women and men to hold. Despite stereotypes playing a prevalent

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