The Change in Gender Roles

Gender roles have progressed since the 1950s, and there is now more equality between genders. According to the encyclopedia Credo, “Gender roles are the set of expectations a society has about males and females. These expectations are multifaceted and include specifications about appearance, personality traits, emotions, interests, abilities, and occupations” (Blair and Lenton 1). The majority of people conform to those roles very early on, but sometimes the line blurs between masculinity and femininity. The fifties were known and classified as the era of stereotyping, but as we move forward the equality of the gender roles is more recognized. Women have had to deal with the rubbish of being stereotyped as the least important gender due to

Throughout history, gender roles have been the foundation that determines the course of a civilization. These gender roles have undergone a change over time. It is important for every society to re-evaluate its preconceived ideas of gender and determine if that is still the norm for their society. When people think of gender roles we typically have set stereotypes in our head of what that means. Much of the time, what we believe, is not what is actually true. It is often argued what is right and what is wrong.

In many shops, there seems to be an obvious separation between boys and girls items, for example, the birthday cards, books, clothes, and toys. This is shown in a variety of ways the boy's items are mainly the color blue and the books have pictures of either action figures, superheroes or tools. Whereas the girl's items are mainly the color pink. The books show pictures of fairies, princess, and Bratz. The cards also have the theme of the color pink for girls and blue for boys. The girl's cards have a lot of sparkles and pretty pictures whereas the boy's cards are covered in camo kind of illustrations and also have action figures on the covers. The children's clothes are separated into sections where there are labels for the boy's clothes and labels for the girl's clothes. The girl's clothing is all pretty and pink, it is covered in sparkles. Whereas boys clothing has camo patterns, blue colors, and pictures of action figures.

At the inception of the United States, women had portrayed as being in the background of history. It was written that it was men who dictated the direction this country went in, women were just another passenger. This is however a misconception as women have played an integral role in the creation of this nation and its direction. Women have had limited power and say at in the early period of the United States. Over the course of history more women had started to become more outspoken over the inequality.

In present day all around the world, society has certain expectations for the actions and behaviors of males and females. There are many factors in our everyday lives that contribute to the gender norms that society has set. This essay will discuss how situations in life can play a part in how people treat other people based on their gender. It is believed that males are the leaders of our world, but in present day woman can do as much as men can do. From The Journal of Marriage and Family, Hu states, “Differentiated gender roles in adulthood are rooted in one’s gender role socialization. In order to understand the persistence of gender inequalities in the domestic sphere, we need to examine the gendered patterns of children’s housework time.”(2015, P.1). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females that they must be taught. These roles define how females and males are viewed in society, their household, and workplace. In The Journal of Sports behavior by Hardin, he states, “Although gender role differences from biological and “Natural” exists in popular consciousness, research has long demonstrated that instead, many are long time socially constructed… Individuals understand their gender because they are given names and treated in particular ways, such as dress in pink for girls and blue for boys, that reflect social construction of gender. Bandura's social cognitive theory is key in understanding the factors in socialization”(2009, P.3). Bandura's theory of of social cognition is that behavior, environmental events, and cognitive factors are the main keys that shape attitudes and actions of an individual. Although, gender roles play a very big part in our society, specific genders are treated differently while dealing with peer influence, media influence, as well as employment.

Study on gender role stereotypes has shown that there are several negative effects of stereotyping. The study on how gender role stereotyping effects children is not as prevalent because most believe that it doesn’t matter, since children are just forming their stereotype so children do not care. However, some psychologists have done some research on it, and from their research found out that children used a mixture of moral and social conventional reasoning

Gender roles have been changing throughout the centuries with both men and women. The most and drastic change has occurred in our 21st century to women. Women are now viewed as equals in the work and home, they are able to achieve just as much as men and no longer have limits suppressing them. There have been limits put on women since the beginning of time, women were to attend to the house and children but never other responsibilities beyond that. This change in gender roles has shaped our society in numerous ways making new jobs for women and breaking through social norms. Throughout history the role of women has dramatically changed, first with women being primary caregivers and up keepers of the house to women being able to have their own careers and lastly to being equal to men and no longer being inferior to them.

Gender roles became so complex in the twentieth century due how society has changed what men and women should be like. Men take being strong and independent as a God given right to them, while females on the other hand have had to work their way up in order to be titled independently strong. From growing up to early adulthood I faced the conflict of constantly worrying about how society wants me shape myself as a dependent and self-confident which was the complete opposite of me.

Women throughout time have experienced position changes more times than can be counted. Not just in modern times, gender roles began in the B.C.E era. In Egypt and India, gender roles were a huge part of society. In both locations, male’s word was law. What they said was the final answer and a woman could not change that. The gender distinctions were similar in ways that women had minimal power in familiar locations, like their homes. They had a small opinion about certain subjects, but they never ventured out of the comfort zone of subjects they were allowed to discuss. Men were treated better than women, yes, but the power women held was used for some of the most important topics.

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.

Even though gender roles have changed over time, females and males in the 1950’s as compared to today’s society has changes especially in social expectation. While researching about gender role I learn that females and male have become more equal than in the 1950’s. However in the 1950’s the men was the breadwinner of the house but in today’s society is much different now the women can now be the breadwinner of the house hold. Now the men have a choice to work or not to work they can stay at home and watch the children while the women is

For centuries men were distinguished as economic providers, while women were regarded as inferior, second class human beings. Considered inferior by nature and by law, women were inflicted with a low status in society, depriving them equal rights in their homes and in civic society. At the turn of every century, women occasionally made few headways towards the amelioration of women's ill treatment. As science and social attitudes evolved, the American society began adopting more liberal approaches toward things where conventionally conservative positions were the

Women used to be thought of as the stay at home mother by men. She was supposed to take care of the children and take care of the home. Seeing a woman in the workforce was desirable as long as she had an education. Women were seen working in factories or as teachers but they had no say in the government. Thanks to a few women dedicated to making a difference, women have become more independent and now have a say in the government if they choose too. The movie Iron Jawed Angels depicts a group of women who wanted women to have a voice in politics. First thing they had to do was get women the right to vote.

Society today places many ideals when it comes to proper behaviours regarding gender roles. These are considered societal norms that are widely debated and controversial. Society has created a norm, which encompasses specific expectations and rules that change the daily lives of men and women, giving them specific tasks and behaviours to abide by. These standards are known as gender roles, which are defined as distinguishing actions, thoughts, and feelings of males and females. Gender roles are said to be a result of nature, which is a natural process, every male or female is to follow. On the other hand it can be a result of nurture, which changes ones way of thinking and adapting their lifestyle to fit their environment. Either way gender roles are a part of someone’s life from the moment of their birth, as they develop, and long after that, this proves that gender roles are influential to a person’s life and development. This essay examines how media such as music, family life, and different parenting styles encompass gender roles and teaches behaviours regarding them. Therefore, gender roles define males and females are a result of nurture and not nature.

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