The Issue Of Gender Roles

The division of gender roles is deeply rooted in society. Throughout history men have taken upon the role of independent financial providers plus of course protectors, whereas women have been portrayed as loving wives and mothers, responsible for raising the children as well as housework. Although females and males are far from being equals, the differences between genders are incredibly smaller than in the past. Unfortunately, mass media still use gender stereotypes believing they are well known to their viewers and help them understand the content of the message they are trying to get across.

When a person is born, they are either male or female. Before they are born, their parents are going to set goals and expectations for them. Sometimes parents will name their child after a famous celebrity hoping they will be just as great as them. Each gender will have different ways they should live their life in order to stay within their gender role. Some will meet the expectations and other will not. That does not make them look less of their gender, they will just be expected to meet them. Over the years, some gender roles have submerged and others have risen above. They will be able to show how the gender roles are supposed to be in jobs, education, and marriage and also how they can benefit from stepping out of the gender roles.

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.

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.

The myth of gender roles plays a pivotal role in This Boy’s Life- A Memoir by Tobias Wolff. Specifically, the myth of masculinity shapes much of the actions and experiences that occur. Toxic masculinity is commonly described as socially-constructed attitudes that describe men as being violent, unemotional, and sexually aggressive. The rules of masculinity that are implied in the memoir include displays of physical dominance such as fighting against others, use of weapons for power and control, domestic violence, and trying to win at everything. Sexual virility is discussed as bragging about sexual conquests and talking crudely about women around other men but generally trying to be hyper sexual. Another, key aspect of masculinity is to not show any emotion as others will perceive you as being weak which leads characters being unable to express how they feel about themselves and their conflicts. Males are taught to not get mad but to get even; this means retaliating by stealing or other means in order to get revenge. Within the memoir, Tobias’ perception of masculinity and his idea of what man should look and act like is demonstrated through Roy. Qualities that include being: “an expert hunter, conventionally handsome, [a mechanic or handy in general], does not need to talk more than needed, having a tattoo”(14). The myth of masculinity pigeonholes males from This Boy’s Life- A Memoir by Tobias Wolff by making them believe that they must act in a certain way in order to be

Your _____ depends on whether you were born with distinct male or female genitals and a genetic program that released either male or female hormones to stimulate the development of your reproductive system.

When watching different advertisements people will notice that each market segment is usually portrayed in a certain way. Thought advertisements society gets a sense of how people in their age group should be. While sometimes the advertisements get the portrayals right, while sometimes they are off and can hurt the self-esteems of the people watching it. One segment affected heavily by advertisements is teenagers. Advertising defines a teenager as the "cool kid" who is confident and usually values materialistic things like clothing and cell phones. Additionally teens are usually portrayed as the popular person who has many friends and is fit and good looking. For example, in the fall in love Aeropostale advertisement the viewer follows a girl throughout her day at school. The girl used in

Societies today are highly affected by the way people are believed to act. Gender roles are created by society, and they are a way to define how a gender should or shouldn't act. In “Answers” by George Singleton, there is a husband and wife thinking about getting divorced, and they begin answering questions in a book, and realize that the other turned out to be less manly or trustworthy, than they believed to be. In “Public Relations” by George Singleton, a man and his wife are out eating with his boss and his wife. While eating he gets fired for talking about how women should act, and how they will amount to nothing without an education. In both of these stories, men and women act differently than the stereotypes put on them by their

Many people don’t know the difference between gender and sex. Sex is anatomical and biological. Gender role can be defined as a person’s inner sense of how a male or female should feel and behave. Culture and society are two important factors in relation to this particular topic. This implies that various societies and cultures may produce children and later fully grown men and women who may have diverse perspectives of a man or a woman’s place or role in the world around them; this is often determined by their culture’s gender stereotypes. Gender roles are the products of interactions between individuals and their environments, and they give certain cues about the behavior that is acceptable based upon their sex. Members of the society must learn the appropriate way for them to behave and what is actually expected of them as well as others. These roles are also based on norms or standards created by society.

Gender stereotypes have been around for quite some time now. It is important that as a society we recognize the harm that can come from these stereotypes. During the 2015 Super Bowl, Always, the brand of feminine hygiene products launched an ad pertaining to their campaign “like a girl”. This particular ad stood out and not necessarily for its humor. In this ad a diverse group of people (young boys and girls of various ages) were asked to perform tasks as a “girl” would.

Television commercials, newspaper sales magazines, and online promotional videos are all created each day with one goal in mind; to promote a product or products and to gain a sale. However, in recent commercial advertisings, companies are creating ads that leave the viewer(s) teary eyed and with a more profound idea of how we can make society or ourselves better; all without forcing a product to the viewer. The focus of my research is on the Always Campaign Commercial: Like A Girl, which aired during the 2015 Super Bowl. The purpose of this research is to understand what the commercial itself is portraying while not focusing on the slogan ‘Like A Girl’. For the purpose of this research, I have studied video clips from the creation and behind the scenes of the commercial, the actors within the commercial, articles and editorial videos with feedback about this commercial, as well as studied similar commercials that released around this same time.

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.

The topic of gender roles is complicated, controversial, and virtually affects all members of society. In my opinion, I think that while men are moving away from their traditional roles, it is much easier for women to the make the crossover and be accepted socially. Society’s view of a woman’s role has been changing over a hundred years. Woman have emerged and are pursuing careers in replace of traditional roles. Today, women are more integrated in male-dominated areas of society. While women have challenged previous expectations of their behavior, I believe that society’s view on the male population is still associated with aggression, strength, and dominance. It is still common for a male to be harassed if he portrays more feminine characteristics

Many people are familiar with the concept of gender roles. IT is the idea that one must look, act and think in a certain way due to their biological sex, and that anything, no matter how trivial, can be assigned a masculine or feminine connotation. Examples are scattered all throughout our various media brackets, unnecessarily gendered products, like these children’s toys:

An evolving concept of female independence is conveyed through the various images in each advertisement. The 1954 advertisement features four women standing outside of a building, wearing casual Levi’s attire. Each of the four women are very conservative in their clothing style, wearing high waist pants and showing hardly any skin. This adds a polite and old-fashioned feel to the advertisement. The 2009 advertisement represents a more modern day clothing style by showing the back view of a topless young lady, wearing only muddy and baggy Levi jeans. In the 1954 advertisement, each woman demonstrates an affirmative attitude with her pleasant facial expression, which brings about this optimistic feeling of self the women have established. Although the facial expression is hidden in the 2009 advertisement by only allowing the