Raising A Confident Female Child

Traditionally, young men and women preferred friends of their own sex and engaged in sex-specific activities with them. Male friendships centered on shared activities such as sports, cars, and contests (sometimes fighting with words, not weapons). Women’s friendships were more intimate and emotional, involving self-disclosing talk about health, romances, and relatives (p.437)

"Gender discrimination, also known as sexism, refers to prejudice or discrimination based on sex and/ or gender, as well as conditions or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on gender" (Women and Gender Discrimination). Sexism is a social injustice that is not applied only to women but, to men as well. Certain personalities and characteristics are expected from both genders starting as children. Little girls are expected to play with dolls, while little boys are expected to play rough. These small seeds planted into children over time grow, and produce the men and women who make up society. In psychology you have a term called norm, a norm is an unwritten role, or expectation for how a group should behave (Pastorino, 2013). Men and women both make up separate groups. In each group norms have been formed on how members of the group should conduct themselves. Masculinity is often associated with competition, emotional detachment, aggression and violence (“Gender Issues in the Media”). Femininity is associated with softness, vulnerability, and being able to submit to men. Needless to say, norms are not always correct or right. When you have people within a group who do not comply with the norms presented, then sexism comes into play. Both men and women can experience sexism though majority of the criticism is focused towards women. Women and men are expected to pose certain characteristics and if they aren 't then they are looked at

     This female inferiority idea has been imbedded in the world for many years. Fairy tales are a very good example of how this notion has been present in the United States. The themes that exist in these stories normally deal

Often times women’s studies are overshadowed by topics pertaining to other matters. Because of this, Steve Duck of University of Iowa calls women’s studies “understudied relationships”. In his book, Under-Studied Relationships: Off the Beaten Track, Steve delves into the complicated world that is friendship between women. He reveals that even the best of friendships, more often than not, will dissolve due to geographical distance, especially during the transition from high school to college. However, Duck claims that this occurrence is more detrimental to male friendships than female friendships. According to Duck, “…men’s inability to maintain distal friends may be due to a lack of awareness about and skills to utilize effective strategies that maintain a [friendship]” (184). This argument implies that men simply do not put as much emotional value into friendships as women do. While distance may seem challenging for women to overcome, they put more effort into preserving their friendship. Duck further instills this concept by explaining that “women’s same-sex friendships tend to be based more on intimate and emotional discussions than men’s…” (186). Men, Duck argues, lack the depth in their friendships that women possess and for this reason have difficulty sustaining a friendship that is met with the strain of distance.

Sexism still exists in the world we live in today!!! Many people in today’s world are very much sexist. Jealousy is as well, which can ruin lots of friendships and relationships. Honestly, nothing is worse than a jealous friend or partner. The worst of them all is betrayal. After someone betrays another there is almost no way in the they can gain their trust back. Betrayal is one of many ways of control.

Throughout the span of American history is can be said with confidence that the roles of genders have played a huge role in both the success and downfall of this great nation. From the rural up brings of the Puritans to the successful businessmen and women, politicians, and leaders that have propelled the Untied States to becoming a super power and force to be reckoned with in the world, we are still facing the unfortunate debacle of treating women differently or inferior when it comes to leadership positions. Some of our greatest leaders such as Mary Kay, Condalisa Rice, and Irene Rosenfied have been

Author and feminist Alix Kates Shulman said once: “Sexism goes so deep that at first it’s hard to see, you think it’s just reality” (McEneany). That quote sums up perfectly the way our society runs. There is no class teaching children how to act according the their gender. Yet little boys and little girls learn at a very young age what is expected of them. They get ideas about their gender roles from their parents, their school teachers and subconsciously from the toys they play with and the television shows they watch.

In the article Macho Man, Little Princess: How Gender Norms Can Harm Kids Everywhere discussed common gender problems that we are all familiar with. One was that there are kids and adults who still believe girls are vulnerable and that

Many women come across sexism in their every day lives often. It greets them in the morning when they have to wear high heels to work because of a mandatory dress code. It slides up to them in a meeting when their idea is dismissed, but a male coworker who presents the same idea gets praised. And it barrels down at them through advertising when society expects women to go to work and yet still have time to bake brownies for their child’s bake sale - shame on you if you don’t. Sexism is rampant, and it’s not acceptable. What has surprised everyone recently, however, is how young girls are when they experience it.

Throughout our childhood we are confined to gender roles, both intentionally and unintentionally, by those around us. “You’re such a girl”, “man up”, “you’re a pussy”, notice how the three most offensive (to men) and most vastly used insults compare a man to a woman: implying females are a weaker being. We are

Men and women are treated in different ways in our society due to the differenence in sex/gender because the misconceptions and specific stereotypes pertaining the female gender. A misconception can be viewed as view or opinion that is incorrect because it is based on faulty thinking or understanding. Society has the misconception that women are not equal in physical strength and willpower as their male counterparts. This leads to women not to be taken seriously in professions such as carpentry, construction, and plumming that demands strength and willpower. Another example of a misconception is when a women shows anger, they perceived as emotional and too sensitive. While anyone is capable of being emotional and especially senstivie,

Think of all the double standards, the slut-shaming, the rape culture, the hypersexualization of women in the media, the catcalling, and gender roles that are still prevailing today. Here are some double standards: men can boast about their sexual exploits and are dubbed as "players" or “studs” and their peers think highly of them, whereas if a woman did the same thing she would be labeled a "slut," "whore," "skank," etc. When a man takes charge he has “leadership ability,” whereas when a girl takes charge she’s “bossy.” When boys act loud and disorderly, adults will chuckle and say, “boys will be boys,” (an argument that carries the profoundly anti-male implication that we should expect bad behavior from boys and men and assumes that they are somehow incapable of acting appropriately, or treating girls and women with respect). Girls, on the other hand, are told that they need to act proper, quiet, docile, both manifestly by the adults around them and latently by their environment (particularly by the media). The media inconspicuously reinforces and creates a plethora of gender roles, in addition to hypersexualizing women and misrepresenting minorities. Think of the ads you see every day-- what does the body language of the men and women in the advertisements say? What does it subtly and unintentionally suggest? Think of how every single image of a woman you see in the media is photoshopped. Think of how unacceptable it is for a woman to be overweight, while

Not only are women more inclined to conjugate in groups, they are much more driven by the affirmation that friendships provide. In Friendships and Adaptation Across the Life Span, Willard Hartup and Nan

Built on the racial inequality discussed in the previous session, we continued to examine gender inequality and relevant social norms. It is interesting for me to see several female students, such as Teresa, Barbara, Katy, are not uncomfortable with being considered as inferior to their male counterparts in family and the external society. However, when imagining they had daughters, they unanimously said that they would love to teach their daughters to be independent and non-obedient.

Communication and patience is the key with children. Also the right amount of emotion and love is very important. I know raising children is not easy that’s why it’s not meant for everyone. And planning ahead I think makes a huge difference. My friends tell me when I talk about what I would do with my kid they tell me