The Hierarchy Of Gender Is An Issue That The Entire World Has Faced For Many Years

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.

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,

Sexism in media against female candidates has a huge impact on their political success. For one, sexist remarks against female candidates influence their voters. Sexist remarks made by the media influences almost every potential voter less likely to cast a ballot in favor for the female candidate. A hypothetical congressional race between women candidate "Jane Smith" and male candidate "Dan Jones" was introduced to a group of survey participants. Half of the

Children learn as early as age two what it means to be a “boy” or a “girl” (Aina & Cameron). This is described as gender identity, a person’s sense of self as male or female. Gender stereotyping emerges hand in hand with the development of gender identity in Early Childhood (Halim). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females. When babies are born they are either put in pink or blue, as they grow up they still maintain the same “gender” colors. As young children start to socialize, they are playing with either “girl” toys or “boy” toys. When they get older they

Sociologist Dalton Conley wrote his book, You May Ask Yourself, addressing how “gender is a social construction” that is so normal for society to think how a man or woman should act towards the public. Society often categorizes roles that females and males are suppose to play in, but not only are they categorized they are also being taught what their gender role is suppose to do. The beginning of gender socialization can start with a child who is not born yet by simply having the parents purchase items that are all pink if its expected to be a girl, but if its expected to be a boy then everything they purchase will be blue. Conley states that gender roles are “sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany ones’ status as male or female” (Conley [2008] 2013:134). So even when a child is growing into their infant years, toys are made specifically for their gender. By examining how social construction places gender in categories it becomes apparent that males and females get differentiated a lot which emphasizes inequality between them.

It is only recently, all things considered, that women are playing larger roles in the United States political system. However, there is still a large gap in gender representation between men and women. Some women, like politician Wendy Davis, are working diligently to close this gap and represent issues important to women. Despite the progress that is slowly being made, there are still large issues that face women in politics today, and under the scrutiny of the public eye it can be difficult for women to prove their readiness for leadership roles (though this should not be the case). In this paper I will be analyzing Wendy Davis' campaign for

Current scholarly literature after the 2008 Presidential Election presented a clear existence of negative stereotypes and double binds facing Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin (Carlin & Winfrey, 2009). The Double Bind is a term for the balancing act female candidates face when they have to remain feminine enough to not be seen as overtly masculine (Jamieson, 1995). However, in doing so, female candidates have to also be masculine enough to be taken seriously on certain policy issues like the economy, foreign policy, or the military (Carlin &Winfrey, 2009; Jamieson, 1995; Schneider, 2014). This balancing act is almost impossible for women to maintain; and while female candidates face criticism for not maintaining the balance, their male counterparts

“Women belong in the private sphere. Men belong in the public sphere. Attempting to mix these two worlds is difficult.” (Zamfirache 2010:177). It is a woman’s duty to focus on her family. It is a man’s job to focus on his career. “Boys are told that they can become president one day; the best girls can hope for is to grow up to marry a man who one day may be president” (Renzetti, Curran, Maier 2012: 313). Adolescents are lead to believe that politics is a male-dominated institution, that there is no room for women in this arena.

In history books, males are always presented as the leaders of the United States. It has become a stereotype that men are the leaders in politics and business, but as the world has advanced, there has been a need for women representatives and leaders. In the documentary Miss Representation, “The U.S. in the world is 90th in terms of women in the national legislature”(Newsom 2011). The reason why the U.S. is 90th is because as the media has become a more powerful influence in the United States, women are experiencing more backlash from becoming leaders. The media is causing the U.S. to lag behind in the world’s progression of women leadership.Women should be able to rise up as leaders in America without discrimination from the media or faulty views of

In the world of toy marketing, choices are made with direction put in place for both genders (girl and boy). For example, as I walked down each toy aisle, I felt the gender conformity among the parents as they were with their children. With multiple aisles and two dominant colors (pink and purple) designated for girls, the message (in my perspective) marketed on the toy package yelled: “Your ambition is to be stylish, while a nurturing mother who partakes in domestic works!” In addition to the toy packages being in pink, the words (on the toy) were predominately frivolous and amusing. On the contrary, the boys’ aisle contained wide varieties of colors, although the color blue caught my eye the most. The boys’ toys entailed sports, building sets, as well as action figures. Conversely, the message in my perspective, marketed on the toy package screamed: “You have the power to do whatever you want; however, it is imperative that you build yourself physically, as well as train yourself in order to properly excel.” This type of act, referred to as the social role theory—“a gender difference that mainly results from the contrasting roles of females and males” (p.165),—gives a great cause of difference in gender regarding power, nurture, and

Specifically, that individuals may observe controversial gender dynamics in their home, workplace, or church which makes these stereotypes to seem reasonable when thinking about politics. Women may also be under pressure to be overqualified for a position simple because she is a woman due to these types of social norms that they are surrounded by. However, Brook`s research shows that male candidates suffer more than female candidates when it comes to inexperience. Specifically, people were more not more or less likely to support the inexperienced woman candidate overall, but they rated woman more highly on specific characteristics. Those characteristics being honestly and productivity in Washington. She believes that women are not in the disadvantage in politics at all and that if more women knew this perhaps more would be running for

She accomplishes this through the use of facts, and emotional connotations of various credible interviewers to relay the message that women can do something to achieve leadership in America, as well as change today’s statistics when it comes to positions of power. Since the year 1979, women have not made gains in Congress (Newsom). In today’s world, the media is the message as well as the messenger and it’s not too late for women to do something about it. Even though boys are growing up with the phenomenon that it is a necessity to be misogynist stereotypes, Newsom, effectively convinces her audience that these kids are conforming to hyper-masculinity, and leading women to be controlled and looked down upon by men. She presents such a powerful message by successfully demonstrating how media perceive women without supremacy through the use of pathos, ethos, and

The election between Clinton, the Democratic nominee, and Republican nominee Donald Trump was a greatly consequential one that strongly captured my interest, especially since I was now eligible to vote. I was excited at the prospect of the highest and hardest glass ceiling in the United States to finally be shattered, however, following Clinton’s surprise defeat from her rival Trump, the glass ceiling has been left intact. Throughout the course of the election, I had personally heard several remarks regarding Clinton’s gender and how it impacted one’s vote choice. Some of these remarks included that women are “too emotional” to hold such a position, and that it would be emasculating for a man to vote for a woman. Retrospectively looking at this past election cycle has brought my aforementioned research question to the forefront for me and has made me question just how much of an impact a candidate’s gender can have over vote choice in a United States presidential election. This is an important question to be researched as it can assist in addressing just how prevalent sexism and misogyny are in the country today. Women make up approximately 51% of the country’s population meaning that factors such as sexism directly affect over half of the population. In addition, Clinton’s gender may have assisted in

Our roles as men and women start at the hospital when we are born. Boys get blue blankets while girls get pink blankets. The toys we play with growing up are targeted at either males or females. Toys that are made

Gender socialization often begins early once parents are shown the sex of their child; from then on, baby showers are planned according to gender “appropriate” colors, which are often pink for girls and blue for boys. Even differences in how children are spoke to can be picked up easily in Western cultures. Girls are called pretty and sweet, whereas boys are handsome and strong. Ultimately, the way children learn to identify with their gender culture is in part due to not only family and friends, media, schools, and religion, but also from the toys that may inexplicitly advertise gender expectations. Gender-typed toys may be bought for children as a way for parents to encourage and reinforce gender-appropriate behaviors. However, recent debates have engulfed toy manufacturers and major retailers, which has brought about changes in toy design and marketing in an effort to make reflect more realistic and gender neutral options.