Social Implications Tied to Gender in the United States Essay

Although gender is a socially constructed idea, it is often suggested to be a natural phenomenon. Society plays an important role in reinforcing gender roles in a way that disguises itself as natural, and is thus accepted without question. The United States’ gender system emphasizes gender hierarchy and a binary system that forces individuals to conform. In order to progress gender equality, it is important to denaturalize these social constructions of gender.

The concept of gender was debated and changed throughout time. The traditional logic on such concept regards a binary division, meaning, something that divides in opposites, for instance male and female. From this point of view, human beings are born with biologic characteristics that define if an individual as male or female, the biological sex, and that each of these extremes acts and behaves in a specific way. However, that is not the only factor when describing an individual. Gender, in a sociological perspective is understood as a social position in which a person identifies with certain traits of the imposed biological sexes. "A set of social arrangements that are used to differentiate people in a collective context, taking into account historical and cultural patterns attributed to men and women". Since gender is a social role, it can be constructed and deconstructed, meaning that it can be understood as mutable and unlimited. Considering that it is based on a social background some cultures have extremely specific gender roles.

Sexual characteristics inequality has been extremely diverse and wide spread. Women and men are disproportionate in every possible way in never-ending circumstances, both instant and durable, by both idea criteria and prejudiced experience. Therefore, what tally as gender difference in family life, education, workplace and politics? These social structures are assembly on the base of the masculinity and femininity, gendered role and gender identity society label to men and women.

Sociologists reject the idea that behavioural differences between men and women are biologically determined. Outline the key grounds for this rejection and discuss what this means for a sociological understanding of gender.

When defining the word gender from The Oxford Living Dictionary it describes it as “either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones” (Gender). Two authors who explain gender are Anna Quindlen and Amy Cunningham. They both talk about how women have a harder role in society than men. While Cunningham shows that society depends on women, Quindlen proves a better perspective of why people do depend on women more. Anna Quindlen offers more comparison between male vs. female, women's looks vs. feelings, and manly vs. proper.

Throughout history, humans have always been expected to act a certain way depending on their sex. These societal expectations are called gender roles. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These roles begin to develop even before a child is even out of the womb. A mother may decorate their nursery pink if they are having a daughter because “girls like pink,” and “boys like blue.” Gender roles should not be confused with gender stereotypes. A gender stereotype is a narrow way of thinking about how men and woman are obligated to behave. For example, men have always been considered to be the breadwinners of the family. Females, on the other hand, are seen more as the gentle homemakers that stay home to clean and take care of the children. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These types of stereotypes have caused certain out-of-the-home jobs to be mainly categorized for either women or men, causing an even more distinct line between the genders.

     Femininity and masculinity are topics that have been debated over in our society extensively, through psychological research and day to day interaction with people. Children learn from their parents as well as society the concept of “feminine” and “masculine.” The majority of people tend to believe that these conceptions are biological but I believe it is more cultural. From birth, female children are shaped by society as being sweet, caring, loving, and delicate and usually associated with the color pink. While male children are shaped by being tough, aggressive, and competitive and associated with the color blue. As these children grow, the boy is given a football to play with and the girl a

The concept of gender has a strong social impact on me. When I was born, I was immediately assigned to a biological sex as a female with two X chromosomes. I was then socially classified as a girl in the society with feminine gender roles. Gender is defined as a social principle which attribute to the roles and expectations of males and females through the years of different societies (Phillips, 2005). Gender can be considered as behavioural, cultural and psychological traits

The United States of America has made progress since it has been established. For example, slavery has been abolished, women and African Americans have gotten the right to vote, and homosexual marriage has been legalized throughout the nation. These are only a few of the great additions to our nation that have occurred since the unfinished pyramid on the Great Seal was created, but the pyramid is not yet finished.

Recent studies have shown that overcoming gender inequality could take up to 83 years (at the pace America’s going). But is there a way to speed this up? Gender inequality is simply when one gender is not treated as equally as the other. In fact, it has been around for a long time, and is still around today. It is mostly a problem with women because they are not given the same rights as men, though men can experience the same events. Gender inequality is still a problem in America, but there are ways to fight against it

With all of the social and economic gains made by women and ethnic groups through the past 30 years, it is amazing how America still focuses on both gender and racial differences. It doesn’t matter if you are African American, Caucasion, Asian or whatever. Society, no matter how “politically correct” it is claiming to be these days, still tends to stereotype all walks of life.

In 2018 the subject on the minds of many Americans is gender equality and Americans are fighting for equal pay for men and women by protesting and demanding equal pay from employers. First, protesting helps gender equality because it can bring people and communities together and help people realize that men and women should have the same rights and pay, regardless of their gender. Bringing the community together could make a greater impact to those in charge. The strength of many voices help everyone be heard. Protesting raises awareness, often getting news casted, so the more people who are aware of the inequality, the higher the chance of fixing the problem. The more people who know about the problem, puts more pressure on employers to change

     For many years society has embraced the idea that the difference between men and women were biologically determined. Thou through traditions, media, and peers we act accordingly to how others view us. Each individual has pressure placed upon them based on their gender. Our sex is determined by genetics while our gender is programmed by social customs. Some theories interpret that a women is tender and a loving mother while on the other hand men are aggressive hunters and are the dominant one of the family. People who support this theory seems to believe that men and women are happier when fulfilling the roles nature determined for them. Women are to be nurturing and men are to be providers by

In her paper on the biological differences in cognition between men and women, Doreen Kimura suggests that the social differences between genders arose out of biological necessity (Kimura 46). Even so, it is difficult to argue that social factors do play a large part in gender in society today. A closer look at both biological and social perspectives will reveal more about the processes that determine gender roles.

Society has clearly defined boundaries between what is considered to be male or female. The development of an individual’s gender role is formed by interactions with those in close proximity. Society constantly tells us how we should look, act and live based on gender. Family, friends and the media have a tremendous impact on how these roles are formed and the expected behavior of each gender role.