The Roles Of Men And Women

The roles of men and women in society, though they vary slightly from culture to culture, have been forged in such a way that that they have been ingrained in us, while being nothing more than a social construct, and we appear to be unable to shake them. Although we do try to be accepting of change, the very thought of an adjustment in our perceived gender roles typically results in a reaction that is a cross between a cringe for some and a furrowed brow for others.

While social change has brought on more changes than what women are a custom too, at one point in history women actually felt a form of importance in fulfilling their roles not only in the home; but outside as well. “These demographic shifts account for many new or altered roles, such as increased number of duel-earner families, later and fewer marriages, fewer children, increased life expectancy, and the massive migration shifting employees across a nation and across the globe” (Lindsey, 2011, pg. 275).

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.

Whether it is the past or the present, there have always been gender roles in society. In most homes, it is the woman’s responsibility to take care of the house. This includes cleaning, meal preparations, raising and taking care of the children as well as the husband. Compared to the men who take care of the more physical activities, such as yard work. It was known throughout many years that it was a woman’s responsibility to stay in the house while the man would go out and look for work to provide money for his family. Although the intensity of gender roles has changed, it still exists.

Who is supposed to take out the trash? The man or the woman? Gender roles have become norms within heterosexual relationships in our society. Beyond simple tasks being associated with gender—women washing dishes and men taking out the trash—power has also become tied to gender. Men have acquired an unbalanced hold of power that women have been denied. Ciara points out these unfair gender roles in her music video Like a Boy. To Ciara, men have been allowed to lie, cheat, be secretive, and come home late—giving men an unequal hold of power within the relationship. She refers to these actions as acting “like a boy.” In order to reveal the unfairness of these double standard gender roles, Ciara asks what would be if she, more broadly what would happen if women did these things; what if they acted “like a boy?” The video begins with shots of Ciara after switching roles and says: “2007 ladies, I think it’s time to switch roles.” She makes a call to women to switch roles, to critique the actions that have been deemed acceptable for men, but unacceptable for women.

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.

The roles of gender are changing rapidly. Throughout U.S. history men have played dominant roles and were always the family breadwinners. As women get more education and make more money they are becoming the primarily breadwinners of their families. More women are working outside the home and their earnings are important to the well-being of their families. What are the effect on their families, careers and equal wages?

For centuries, there have been many societies with stereotypical gender roles that usually involve the men holding the positions of power and the women doing the domestic chores. Historically, men are usually considered to be the stronger of the two sexes and in most societies, it is up to the men to take care of the family. During the twentieth century, women in America began breaking boundaries when they earned the right to vote. More recently, there has been a breakthrough with gender roles as women are beginning to take charge in the workplace. Now, gender roles are not as defined and clear.

Men in the American society are considered to be responsible for taking care of their family financially. They take their jobs as sole providers very earnestly. They also have the responsibility for guiding their family. Although they may listen what their wives have to say, they make the final decisions. In addition, men did not do chores and household duties. Women were expected to be in charge of running the household. Mothers did the laundry, cooked the meals, and cleaned the rooms. They also took care of the children, giving them the care and attention that was required (“Gender Roles in Society: Definition & Overview”). The biological and social evidence so far suggests that even when there is no external pressure, women and men tend to liberally choose varying roles in marriage and in society. And even when doing the identical jobs, men and women tend to approach things in a different manner than men. These different approaches often do follow the orthodox view of men taking a more intellectual and authoritative approach while women take a more emotional and relationship-oriented approach (“What are the Roles of Men and Women toward Each Other and in Society?”). In conclusion, the labor intensive and more prominent occupations that men hold, in comparison to the caring and maternal roles that women hold is what distinguishes men and women in the

Judith Butler once said, “Gender is not something that one is, it is something one does, an act… a doing rather than a being.” Around the 1800s-1900s men were the ones who would work and provide for their family. Women were the ones who stayed home to take care of the kids and the household. In today’s society we still see some families living that way, but in some cases it is different. Does gender play an important role in today’s society? The reason why gender is viewed differently is because of how society portrays male and female. Gender roles in the past have changed dramatically in both women and men alike, but the battle has yet to be won, and it might affect our future.

Long gone are the days when women were expected to stay at home and play “housewife”, cooking, cleaning, and making sure the kids got off to school, while their husbands worked a 9 to 5 in order to make ends meet. Today, women are no longer viewed as weak and incapable. A “superwoman” is the new woman. Men as the “breadwinners” have been replaced by “Ms. Independent.” The traditional male role has diminished as women fulfill bigger roles in society and exceed the expectations of their male counterparts in the household, workforce, and within social settings. We have abandoned old rules; no longer is it a “man’s world,” we now live in a shared world.

Women and men have had certain roles in society that were understood amongst them to be specified for their particular gender. Males were known to have the leading role as head of the house hold and the bread winner while the woman’s duty was to stay at home and take care of the house and children. While many people years ago deemed this way of life and practice to be the right and ethical thing to do, times have changed and so this kind of treatment towards a woman’s equality must be questioned. Even though times have changed, this mindset of a woman’s ability to be as good as a man has not completely gone away. In today’s society a woman contributes to the economy and her family as equally as that of a man. Therefore, women should share equal rights and opportunities as their gender counterparts.

Gender roles are a set of behaviors that indicate that a person should fit in to a category of either being male or female. This is society’s concept of how men and women are expected to behave. These gender roles were commonly accepted before the twenty-first century. Society viewed males as being the main financial providers for their family whereas women were viewed as the maker of the home, raising and taking care their children. Men were expected to be strong, athletic,aggressive,and dominant. While, women were expected to be weak, passive,nurturing,and subordinate.

Throughout history, women have been seen in many different lights. From a woman’s perspective she is strong, smart, helpful and equal to men. In the eyes of men, she is seen as the weaker being, the housewife, and the caretaker. By looking at the following pieces of writing, one can see that through the centuries, women have struggled to break out of the mold that man had put her in and make themselves known in society as important.