Sandra Bem's The Lenses Of Gender

Feminine characteristics are thought to be intrinsic to the female facility for childbirth and breast-feeding. Hence, it is popularly believed that the social position of females is biologically mandated to be intertwined with the care of children and a 'natural' dependency on men for the maintenance of mother-child units."

Throughout the history of society, women and men both have faced the constricting roles forced upon them, from a young age; each gender is given specific social and cultural roles to play out throughout their lives. Little girls are given dolls and kitchen toys, little boys are given dinosaurs and power tool toys, if one was to step out of this specified role, social conflict would ensue. Contrast to popular belief, sex is a biological construct, and gender is a social construct specifying the roles men and women are to follow to be accepted into society as “normal”. The effects of gender roles have had on women have proved harmful over the decades. Although the woman’s involvement in society has improved throughout the decades,

In today’s culture, I see gender being a person’s master status. In most aspects of my life, I notice that gender overrides other statuses such as my race or occupation. I believe gender does this because of the way it is instilled in every social institution. I imagine it is hard to inquire about my experiences without it coming from a woman’s perspective. It’s not what it means to be college-educated, but what does it mean to be a college-educated woman, and not what does it mean to be black, but what does it mean to be a black woman. Parenthood is near impossible to be understood without seeing it through a gender experience. Although gender is a social construction, it dictates individuals in a way that I cannot imagine any other social concept could.

As part of the larger movement for equal rights, this feminist mobilization focused on a broad spectrum of economic, political, and cultural dimensions of the distribution of power that entailed the discrimination of women. Political struggles targeted the stigmatization of women as caregivers and the devalorization of this role in relation to that of the male breadwinner, a mainstream culture of sexism permeating all spheres of life and cutting across income and educational levels, as well as women’s unequal access to and unequal positioning within the labor market. (Azmanova 751)

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.

In Sandra Bem's The Lenses of Gender (1993), Bem's last focus is on how the concepts of androcentrism and gender polarization create a gendered identity and form our society's institutions. The most significant aspect to this piece was if men and women were different, and if so, how to handle that difference in a society. It is very difficult to read this book as a women in America because the concept of equality seems so easy to me. Treating everybody with the same respect is a natural response for me, and to know that in this androcentric country I will not have enough time for my children is heartbreaking. With that said, in the passage a valuable point is made,

The story, “Boys and Girls” states “As soon as I was done I ran out of, trying to get out of earshot before my mother thought of what she wanted me to do next” (Munro 156). It shows a wide example of how gender roles are strictly implied in this household and how the little girl tries to avoid it as much as possible. The story follows between the lines between a woman being fragile and catering to men, and men not breaking and providing for the family. The feminist theory widely connects to the story because it gives an insight of the issue of the typical gender roles and what big of an impact it makes when they are not followed. According to the article “Gender Inequality in the Home,” by authors Janell Fetterolf and Lauren Rudman “Despite women’s increased presence and status in the workforce, there is still a disparity in domestic labor that disadvantages women” (Fetterolf 220). It proves a critical point that women will always be set to gender role standards that they are expected to follow. The 11-year-old girl struggles with wanting to be out with her father but still having to take responsibility for the tasks that are imposed and meant for her. According to the story, the girl’s father introduced her as his, “new hired man.” I turned away and raked furiously, red in the face with pleasure” (Munro 155). It seems as though she takes much pride in being seen as masculine figure, rather than being portrayed in the norm of a fragile “good girl” who is supposed to be at home doing housework. In the article, “Feminism as Critique in a Neoliberal Age” it states, “This imputed gender subtext proved to be “increasingly counterfactual” with only a very small proportion of the population conforming to a normative dualistic model of separate “masculine” and “feminine”

The Lenses on Gender by Sandra Bem (1993) focuses on gender polarization throughout chapter four. The most significant aspect the to passage to me was the concept of androgyny. At first, it was surprising to me that androgyny was harshly criticized, but I came to understand the issue with the word. Androgyny, although trying to escape the grasp of gender polarization, still encompasses gender polarizing qualities. Even knowing this, I find the word to be beautiful. It "provides both a vision of utopia and a model of mental health that does not require the individual to banish from the self whatever attributes and behaviors the culture may have stereotypically defined as inappropriate for his or her sex," (Bem, 1993, p. 124). In a society, one

As xxx argued, gender inequality is not an ahistorical fact. Despite little differences, there is nearly no obligated or assigned role for women as caregivers in hunter-gatherer societies and they have decision-making power. In these societies, childcare was a responsibility of all people. Childcare became the responsible for the family, especially as a mother, after sedentism due to men’s increasing responsibilities in hunting and warfare. Colonialism, industrialization and globalization have done nothing other than furthering the gender inequality. By providing cost-free daycare services, which are funded by the taxes that paid by the all, governments can retransform the women’s role in the society and end the housewifization of the women. Regardless of their employment status, all women must have access to daycare provision and its costs should be covered by the governments to make the childcare to the responsibility of all society

In “Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements”, American philosopher Martha Nussbaum explains why women do not dispute these claims saying “...women frequently exhibit ‘adaptive preferences’, preferences that have adjusted to their second-class status”(Nussbaum 34). Because women show ‘adaptive preferences’ , they are content being on lower footing than their male counterpart; society assumes a blind eye and incepts gender constructions that women are submissive and prefer being passive caretakers whereas men dominate and are regarded as active money makers. Moreover, Nussbaum claims that “Women’s current preferences often show distortions that are the result of unjust background conditions. And agency and freedom are particularly important goals for women, who have so often been treated as passive dependents”(Nussbaum 34). In a way, Nussbaum is acknowledging the gender construction set up by civilization. Due to the lack of enthusiasm to be in an equilibrium as men, women ultimately get ‘ the short end of the stick’. Due to passivity, they assume positions with less labor, such as being the main caregiver to children, and claim to be the docile weaker sex. Not because of biology, but because of failing to claim that they want to be equal. This dilemma of not owning up to equality, is displayed in media, particularly in the news. This

The women is only fit to take care of children doing laundry and making sure the house is clean and comfortable. Women is always culturally devalued and considered as sexual objects either privately or publically with a threat for sexual and domestic violence. But women ‘s growing opportunities are taken as evidence that the “woman’s problem” are fixed, by disregarding the problems still associated with female inequality. Unknowingly the stereotypes are used, depicting females in a negative way and drawing the conclusion that men are more important and influential than women. Family traditions are passed down to each generation considering that males are the head of the households and females simple housewives.

In the past, there has been a need for men and women to take on complementary roles for relationships and survival. As the law of comparative advantage implies, women have an inherent advantage to becoming the caregiver in a family—the caregiver for the children they have given birth to, therefore leaving it up to the other partner, the man, to become the protector and provider. Regardless of these traditional roles in history, there is no necessity for gender roles in today’s society. The technology and available resources for every human currently whatever their gender may be are equal by nature, until gender roles impose barriers created by society that may prevent one from reaching their

While explaining “Gender”, Kimmel argues some of the opinions and viewpoints regarding gender that have come out from the restraints of biology, psychology, anthropology and sociology. Kimmel discards the designs that gender distinctions are footed exclusively on biological legacy, utilizing cross cultural researches to expose the variety in societal values concerning the suitable parts and responsibilities of men and women and in their respective attitude across civilizations.

There are many benefits of changing the societal expectations of the sexes within famalies. Greater equality in responsibility between parents can be associated with less stress within the home, a higher functioning marital relationship, and ultimately a healthier family environment. Many child behavioral problems can be linked to problems within their parents marriage and inflexible division of responsibilities between the parents.(Bernard) Obviously, children need involvement from both a male and female figure. The rigid division of responsibility between mothers and fathers, has created a system where women are almost one hundred percent responsible for their children 's day to day needs, and fathers are responsible for bringing home a pay check. This traditional view on family has rendered America in a tough position. Women are now disrespected, and uninvited in the work place, and men are seen as week if they are stay at home fathers. The argument on gender equality in family is absolutely reliant on the notion that gender equality in the work place has been reached. Without equal opportunity, the division of labors in the home, based on gender, will not change.

Today, there lies a separation of the capabilities of men and women in the minds of some. This is based on a false understanding of gender roles, where women must ‘live up to’ their role of a procreating mother. As Anne Phillips explains in Engendering Democracy society has programmed young minds to think it is the women’s duty to “…[collect] the children and [make] the tea…” and this truly is “a vital political concern” (Phillips, 97). The issue lies in status quo, which the elite continue to apply in nations worldwide. By training young minds to believe they have a specific role to live up to, we are resisting citizen’s natural growth and are instead demanding citizens to follow what has always been done. Women are told to complete household and family duties while men are told to go into the workforce and bring in an income and support his family. This system of patriarchy allows men to become