The Relationship Between Attitudes and Communication

Throughout history, women have been regarded as of lesser value than men particularly in the public sphere. This is the result of gender stratification. Gender stratification refers to the issue of sexism, “or the belief that one sex is superior to the other” (Carl et al., 2012, p. 78). The theory that men are superior to women is essential to sexism. Sexism has always had negative consequences for women. It has caused some women to avoid pursuing successful careers typically described as “masculine”—perhaps to avoid the social impression that they are less desirable as spouses or mothers, or even less “feminine.”

Most people especially men believe that keeping the household, taking care of the kids and serving their men are women’s responsibilities by nature; nevertheless, most women did much for others and did barely anything for themselves. The hard work ruined their lives and nothing was made up for them. Indeed they can not vote, for women do not have equal rights as men and certainly can’t they pursue their own dreams! Women have had these unfair lives for years. If they do not fight for

Gender roles are defined differently by people and are usually centered on opposing conceptions of femininity and masculinity. They are a set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex. Gender roles now compared to back in the day have very much changed, but there still remains a strong influence as to the way a woman should act and how a man should act. In places such as America, now, women and men both have jobs and can still balance spending time with their family and taking care of children whereas back then, women were housewives and were not able to hold a job because that was the man’s responsibility. The traditional roles of men and women are also looked at, as well as behaviors of men and women that are considered socially appropriate. Gender roles vary greatly from one culture to the next, from one ethnic group to the next, and from one social class to another. But every culture has them, they all have expectations for the way women and men should dress, behave, and look.

Throughout history, men and women have been viewed in utterly different spheres. Men have been, and still are, believed to be the hard working individual who is in charge of “bringing home the bacon” and supporting the household finically. On the other hand, women are expected to have little to say, the house spotless, supper on the table, the children bathed, fed, in bed, and educated, all while maintaining a flawless hairdo and makeup. These stereotypes seem a bit offensive nowadays, but if you really consider it, it has been and most likely will be this way for our entire existence.

Traditional gender roles (men performing instrumental tasks and women performing expressive tasks) are viewed as important not only for the individual but also for the economic and social order of society. Failure to maintain the traditional division of labor is believed to lead to destruction of family life as well as higher rates of crime, violence, and drug abuse. Human capital theorists claim that sex differences in promotion rates are due to sex differences in commitment, education, and experience; women are believed to have less to offer employers. Even if these differences exist, this position ignores the fact that women are in a system of inequality, where social expectations prevent them from having qualifications that are similar to men. The conflict perspective emphasizes men’s control over scarce resources. The gendered division of labor within families and in the workplace results from male control of and dominance over women and resources. Differentials between men and women may exist in terms of economic, political, physical, and/or interpersonal power. Men remain the head of household and control the property. Also, men gain power through their predominance in the most highly paid and prestigious occupations and the highest elected offices. Liberal/Equal Rights Feminists – seek equal access for females within the current social system; focus is on equality of opportunity (e.g., civil rights and occupational equality). Radical/Transformative Feminists –

‘Women produce children; women are mothers and wives; women do the cooking, cleaning, sewing and washing; they take care of men and are subordinate to male authority; they are largely excluded from high-status occupations and from positions of power.’ (Haralambous and Holborn 1995, Sociology Themes and Perspectives, HarperCollins Publishers) These stereotypes have come from our past and have now become quite frequently used in today’s society. Women have been seen as the maintainers of the household while the men go out to work and earn a living. “When our ancient ancestors switched to hunting as a way of life, the relationship between males and females was dramatically

• Do the ideological structures appear to be natural when it comes to accepting the female's secondary position in society ?

What is the place of a woman? Throughout history, the role of women in American society has been called to question, as all equal rights movements eventually do. For the majority of America’s history, the role of women has been passive. Women, who are trained to be obedient and reserved, often did not take an active role in their rights. The woman who have stood up for their rights have developed how women have been viewed in the past two hundred years. As America developed and changed economically over the years, the resulting change impacted how others view the role of women. The role of women has changed alongside economical changes in the country, and feminists such as Catherine Beecher, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Beatrice Hinkle, Betty

In Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan writes about women 's inequality from men to women 's equality to men, while also writing about women accepting the inequality to women and then fighting for equality. Friedan encourages women to find worth outside of the home and explore her possibilities but, “for the sake of every member of the family, the family needs a head. This means Father, not Mother. Children of both sexes need to learn, recognize and respect the abilities and functions of each sex. He is not just a substitute mother, even though he 's ready and willing to do his share of bathing, feeding, comforting, playing. [...] If in that world he is interested, courageous, tolerant, constructive, he will pass on these values to his children” (Friedan 99). Friedan is attempts to tell her readers that no matter the circumstances, men are “handed” power when they’re assigned their gender and they dominate the world in every aspect- jobs, politics and at home. Since the beginning, women, believing they didn 't have any other choice, would blindly follow their husband, because they were brought up believing when a woman grows up, they are to only marry and have children. “Girls didn 't get excited about things like that anymore. We don 't want careers. Our parents expect us to go to college. Everybody goes. You 're a social outcast at home if you don 't. But a girl who got serious about anything she studied, like wanting to go on and do research would be peculiar, unfeminine.

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.

When my mother stayed at home nurturing and caring for my siblings and I without working to secure a job. I assumed that was females destiny in life to stay at home, but I did not like that idea I had to stay at home and be a servant to a man. Yet, the society told me I had to stick with that notion in another to have a happy life. Fortunately, things fell apart, as I grew older, I began to realize that it was tough for females to accomplish or success in the same career as men. Additionally, when I was in high school, the girls thrived in class, I never knew that the male teacher disliked the idea that girls were succeed than the boys. The men were filled with rage that they decided to confront the boys in the class and told the boys it was a disgrace against manhood. Once the teacher left, the boys were angry and said lots of awful hated speech towards the girls. They stated that girls, should not be in class and they should stay at home clean the house and raise their children. Nonetheless, I decided to fight back with that hateful speech and sooner or later the girls joined in. Finally, we won the argument. Regardless of the victory in class, I realized that the mainstream media portray women in a despiteful manner, low wages income, and nurturing the home. Although, things are changing gradually, ladies should still strive to make sure the equality last in the

Even though society has become more open minded and tolerant to women’s independence, there are still some sexists that believe that if women become more prominent within society, it would be an atrocity to the

Over the years, the perspectives of men and women have continued to be polar opposites. From the time we are children, society portrays gender as men being controlling and unemotional while women are the opposite. Young boys are brought up to “become men” and to adopt the roles society forces on them while women are dehumanized and portrayed as submissive to males (The Mask). These roles have altered slightly over the years but have always been separated by the characterized gender roles in society. Women are to be working in the kitchen and keeping the home, children, and man happy while the man of the household is the breadwinner and comes home to a wife making dinner while he rests from

We should be aware that there are many differing roles of the male and female in different societies. The United States is for the most part has established itself as a state of gender equality; whereas, in many places overseas the genders have different roles. As an example, in Africa the role of the male is still thought to be primarily the bread-winner and the female role still primarily centered on child bearing and rearing. This used to be the way of thinking in the United States until the World War II era, when the majority of the males went off to war, and many females entered the working industry.

Throughout many decades women have been struggling to be equal to men, both at home and in the work place. Women have come a long way and are certainly fighting to gain that equality, but gender roles are very important in our society. They have become important in life from birth, and society continues to push these gender roles. The treatment of the male gender is very different from that of the female, and this issue has become very important to me, as a woman. As children we learn and adapt to specific gender roles, and as we grow they become more evident and more important to our role in a society. There is a lot of discrimination against the female gender. Carol Gilligan argued that